Tag: criticism

A Fundamentalist Self-Critique

~ Bob Hayton ~ 3 Comments

The last few years have seen the world wide web do a number on fundamentalism. I speak particularly of the independent fundamental Baptist (IFB) movement, and the influence of blogs like Sharper Iron (SI).

Jason Janz, SI’s founder, published his young fundamentalist survey, and soon thereafter Phil Johnson (of Pyromaniac fame), delivered his speech “Dead Right: The Failure of Fundamentalism“. A maelstrom of web action, interaction and reaction ensued which has yet to calm down. The fundamentalist blogosphere has been a place for theological critique and development, and has been the occasion for a slow exodus from the IFB movement.

Some, like myself, left the IFB from other considerations. Others were awoken to errors in extreme fundamentalism (IFBx) through the web. For all, the availability of conservative evangelical materials produced by John Piper and John MacArthur and others, has given a greater intellectual freedom to many as they can see what life outside IFB (or IFBx) halls looks like.

With the winds of change blowing strong, and with the emergent movement and other bleak theological developments on the horizon, many a fundamentalist leader and institution has taken a skeptical view of the web and of Sharper Iron and other fundamentalist blogs. This should not be surprising.

The reactions have not all been so stick-in-the-mud-like, however. Many fundamentalist leaders are jumping into the fray and being honest and open about the problems they see. Leaders like Dr. Dave Doran and Dr. Kevin Bauder and other contributors at Sharper Iron, give hope to fundamentalism as a willingness to change is displayed. The idea and merits of fundamentalism are being clearly put forth, and many a young man stays within the IFB ship hoping to play a part in righting it and seeing fundamentalism play a part in helping wider evangelicalism see the errors of its way (and there are many).

Now that I’ve brought you up to speed, let me encourage you to read this fundamentalist self-critique by Kevin Bauder. He has just started a series that will detail a history and critical examination of fundamentalism. His posts come first as essays in his online publication In the Nick of Time, from Central Baptist Theological Seminary in Minneapolis. Then they are showcased at Sharper Iron. Andy Naselli tipped me off to the article being available, and I’m sure this week SI will be publishing it there. You can read it now here (pdf). [Update: here’s the link for the article on SI]. Let me add an excerpt or two from it to entice you to read the whole thing. Part 1 is also available here.

…Because they are cut off from the Christian past, fundamentalists have little sense of the extent to which they have truncated the whole counsel of God. While they rightly insist upon the necessity of confessing certain fundamentals, they have little patience for careful doctrinal exploration and articulation, even when the doctrines under consideration are fundamental. They profess to love the Bible as an object, but even in the better neighborhoods of fundamentalism it is not difficult to find people who despise the attempt to understand biblical teaching in any depth.

Fundamentalists are all about defending the faith. Too often, however, all that they are willing to defend is a truncated faith of slogans and clichés. Even the most important areas of doctrine are reduced to rather pat formulae. Non-fundamental areas of the faith may be left completely unexplored.

Comparing Fundamentalist faith and practice to the faith and practice of historic Christianity is like comparing a hamburger to a filet mignon. The two obviously have something in common, but it would be misleading to say that everything in the steak is also in the hamburger.

Kirsopp Lake said that Fundamentalism is the “partial . . . survival of a theology which was once universally held by all Christians.” To the extent that he is correct, Fundamentalists should probably be a little less enthralled with his description. And I think that he is right.

A Gospel-Centered Response to Blog Attacks in Bandit Country

~ fundyreformed ~ 3 Comments

Carl Trueman has a great post on dealing with web critics or blog attacking bandits. I thought his advice was spot on, and his example of a Gospel-centered response to criticism quite helpful. I took the liberty of quoting Carl at some length, but I encourage you to read the full article.

This raises the question of whether one should respond to individual blog attacks. My advice is no, never, not under any circumstances. Now, one of the reasons I do not read these things (in addition to having a real life with real friends, real problems etc) is because I know that, if I did so, there would be times when the temptation to respond would be overwhelming, and that would be fatal. As soon as one responds, the attacker grows parasitically stronger, gaining an audience and a credibility previously denied him. And the victim has lost because he has taken the rant of some nutjob seriously enough to acknowledge it; he has granted it a status which it simply does not merit in and of itself; and in his efforts to refute it, he has perversely made it important, given it a constituency it did not possess. Look, to repeat: the web is bandit country. Let the wild and the whacky compete with the sane and the measured, the incoherent and rambling with the logical and well-argued, the extreme with the moderate. If people believe you are really a lizard from the Planet Iguanadon who has assumed human form and infiltrated a church or a seminary to make it the base for an Iguanaman takeover of the entire Christian church, then let them do so. Nothing you can say to the contrary will do anything other than convince them of the depth and sophistication of the extraterrestrial reptilian conspiracy. Their emotional and psychological needs are clearly more serious than your own; and if you respond to such nonsense, you give it credibility and allow the parasitic nature of the attack to succeed. Ignore it and it may not go away, but sane people will see it for what it is and walk by, slightly embarrassed, on the other side of the virtual information highway.

There is, however, a spiritual dimension to blog attacks which is, ironically, conducive to spiritual health and growth. Here I have learned much (as elsewhere) from the master theologian, churchman, public figure, and normal Christian believer, Martin Luther. It is well-known that in his writings in table conversation Luther would often refer to visits from the Devil, how the Devil would come to him and whisper in his ear, accusing him of all manner of filthy sin: “Martin, you are a liar, greedy, lecherous, a blasphemer, a hypocrite. You cannot stand before God.” To which Luther would respond: “Well, yes, I am. And, indeed, Satan, you do not know the half of it. I have done much worse than that and if you care to give me your full list, I can no doubt add to it and help make it more complete. But you know what? My Saviour has died for all my sins – those you mention, those I could add and, indeed, those I have committed but am so wicked that I am unaware of having done so. It does not change the fact that Christ has died for all of them; his blood is sufficient; and on the Day of Judgment I shall be exonerated because he has taken all my sins on himself and clothed me in his own perfect righteousness.’

…Those disturbed by web attacks on their good names should not be so. Believe me, you are much worse than they say, and God is much greater and more gracious than they imagine. It’s bandit country out there on the web but sane people know lunacy when they see it: let the nutters do their nutjobby thing; let the psychos babble; and let the vicious vent. And then, in the tradition of Luther, thank God for bandit country and use the malice you find there to help you appreciate Christ

Brotherly Reconciliation: Steve Camp's Humble Embrace of Mark Driscoll

~ fundyreformed ~ 4 Comments

I get leery of blog wars. Some are unavoidable. And I’m sure I’ve contributed to some that were.

A figrue who is especially polarizing in the Biblioblogosphere is Mark Driscoll. His edgy comments and modern methods make conservative evangelicals and especially fundamentalists nervous. But for all the hype that flows from Christian keyboards about him, you could think he was the antichrist of Seattle.

I’ve been careful in listening to his messages, and haven’t really done much of that. But the more I listen to him, the more I respect his wisdom and the more I benefit from his messages. That’s not to say I would imitate every expression he uses, but even then, the word on the street doesn’t quite match what actually is heard when you give him an honest hearing. For instance his recent series on the Song of Solomon was beyond excellent: very practical and helpful on the family and marriage (obviously). I listened to all the messages and some of the Q & A which followed them and there were only a couple times where I thought his illustration was a little inappropriate. Most of the time he was very low key and reserved when the opportunity was there for him to score points if he was trying to use sexual humor to his benefit. All in all it was appropriate for church, all the more so when one considers how few pastors even cover this book of the Bible in their ministries.

I say all that to set the stage for a wonderful blog post by Steven Camp, who has often been a critic of Driscoll. Steve humbly admits wrong, apologizes, and gives a positive assessment of Driscoll’s ministry. He models a Christ-like attitude. He doesn’t necessarily dismiss any previous concerns he had about Driscoll’s ministry, but he has a much more informed and appreciative view of Mark now.

I can’t do justice to the article. I just strongly encourage you to read it. Praise Christ that our union with Him is bigger than the occasional blog war. Let’s be sure the world wide webbers watching us Christians see more examples of this Christian humility and gracious deferment! That would be to the praise and glory of our dear Savior.

Comments, Kind and Otherwise

~ fundyreformed ~ 8 Comments

I suppose my blog is controversial enough to attract extra attention. Unlike some blogs, the comments around here aren’t limited to props from my group of online friends. You don’t have to look far to find debates and places where my own friends disagree with me, too. And then there are those occasional zingers.

Recently, I received all 4 kinds of comments I typically receive, and so I thought I’d highlight them in this post.

First, there are on-target comments which agree with my post. The first 3 comments under my recent “Big If” post stand as examples. 2 of the 3 are from blogging friends, the third is from a new commenter.

Second, there are opposing-view comments. These usually are on-target to the post/question at hand. And I welcome them. They can challenge me to defend my views. And the best ones have a humility of spirit which begs me to respond. I try to respond to most of them. I haven’t yet responded to today’s example under my recent “Oxygenating your Spiritual Life” post. Steve, I’ll respond soon.

Third, there are the drive-bys. Zingers. Gotchas. I’m not sure what to call them. Many of them seem to prove my point about fundamentalists. They are an example of harsh, mean spirited, judmentalism. And for some odd reason, these comments almost always display misspellings and blatant grammatical errors. What is it with hyper-fundamentalists and an inability to type?

Anyway, I recently got 3 comments registered under 3 different emails (so I am assuming they represent 3 different people), which perfectly embody this kind of comment. Since this exchange is so interesting, let me share their comments (with no editing) here:

DLM — You were never a true fundamentalis. 1 John 2:19 They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. If you truly embrass to Word of God and Jesus as your Saviour you would want nothing else. Unless you desire to consume it upon your own lust.

Pastor sm — Amen Brother it about time somebody with a spine logged in on the sorry excuse for a christian site.

Reggie — They wont leave the post up very long. They do not desire the truth theywould rather have their lascivious life style. Jude 1:4 For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.

What am I to do with comments like that? How are they even helpful? It almost seems like they are slapping each other on the back and congratulating themselves on how they put me in my place! If you’re interested you can read my response here. I don’t know if I’ll get a follow up response from them or not.

After dealing with comments like that, it’s so nice to read the final kind of comments. These are the general testimonial “Thank-you” comments. They sometime come via email only, but they usually encourage me to keep blogging on fundamentalism. Sometimes they come from those who have left the movement, other times from those within who are reforming.

Today I received a wonderful comment under my About page. It’s comments like these that keep me going. Thankfully, I’ve received scores of responses like this in one form or another over the years. (I need to go back and count, one of these days.)

I forgot to mention the spam comments. With WordPress, it’s rare that one squeaks through. What’s it up to now? Something like 45,000 spam comments on my blog alone! Crazy. You can see the number on my sidebar, down toward the bottom.

Oh, and one more thing. I regret to tell you that sometimes I am not so prompt at responding to comments. I try, but sometimes the opposing position comments require a bit of work to respond. And sometimes I can’t tell if the comment is worth responding to or not. As a general rule I try to respond. Please keep in mind my commenting policy, however. And give another comment if I haven’t responded yet. That will remind me and let me know you do wish to hear a response!

That’s it, I’ve spoken my piece. And whatever comments come, I’ll have to deal with them. Oh the joys of blogging! But hey, its usually lots of fun!