The Reformed Fundamentalist

Yes, this title is a rip-off of Yancey’s book “The Jesus I Never Knew”. No, I have never read that book. No, I don’t care what you think about my ripping off the title.

Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let me say what this blog post is concerning. This blog post is about the difference between the God of the Bible, and the God I was raised to believe in as a Fundamental Baptist. They are two different deities in many ways. Read the blog post to learn more.

Growing up, and going into my twenties, my perception of God was very different than it is now. In Fundamental Baptist Churches, as in most Evangelical churches, God is a God of grace and redemption. At least as far as Salvation is concerned. But that point is where that similarity ends. In Fundamentalism, at least most branches of Fundamentalism, God will save the most vile sinner, and redeem him. There are small twigs of Fundamentalism that believe that God will not save homosexuals, conveniently ignoring verses such as the following:

Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
(1Co 6:9-11 ESV)

Fortunately, I had almost no exposure to such Cretins until I was well into my twenties.

In the world I grew up in, God was a God of rules. That was the God I knew. My religious life was focused on the “do’s and don’ts” of Christianity. I’ve spoken of this some on my blog(just follow the tags on Fundamentalism or Fundamental Baptists to learn more). Growing up, I thought I was fine. I looked the part of a Christian. I played the part so well, that I convinced myself that I actually believed in who Christ was. It wasn’t until I was at Bible College, that I came face-to-face with the realization that I was lost, without a Savior. For that reason, I am thankful for Fundamentalism to an extent, because their passion for souls(although completely misguided at the college I went to, I was fortunate enough to have been taught the correct view of Salvation at my home church) forced me to confront the fact that I was unsaved.

After Salvation, life continued much the same as before for me. Christianity, as I saw it, was simply a bunch of rules that I had to follow. I could not go to the movies, but I could rent movies at Blockbuster and watch them at home. I could not listen to rock and roll. I could not listen to Country music. I could not touch a girl’s hand. Grace was a concept that I truly did not grasp. It was completely foreign to the sect of Christianity that I grew up in for so long. Grace was what saved you, but it was works that sanctified(see Gal 3:3).

I had always been taught that God expected us to behave a certain way in order to be holier. I never realized that God expected our actions to flow from our holiness. I didn’t understand that works were a natural result of faith. Where Catholicism believes that works justify the believer, Fundamentalists believe that works sanctify the believer.

I remember many sermons that were addressed towards behavior. I remember very few that were addressed towards the heart, and those were from my home pastor. While at college, or youth conferences(held at the same church where I went to college), I heard many sermons preaching against pants on women, against jewelry on men, against non-Christian music, against Christian contemporary music, against homosexuals and homosexuality. I heard sermons about how I was supposed to act and dress a certain way in order to “show the world that I was a Christian.” Apparently, being a Christian meant that I had to have 1950’s haircut, sideburns higher than the middle of the ear, no facial hair, no jewelry, and I had to wear a shirt and tie(preferably with a suit jacket) to church on Sundays.

There were quite a few things at college that made the list of Christian behavior, or things that Christians were supposed to avoid. I’ll list some of them below. These are things that weren’t just taught to the college students, but also at the church that ran the college.

Black people could not marry white people. They had to marry black people. White people, however, could marry whites, Latinos, or Asians. The reason blacks and whites couldn’t marry, is because “the black race was cursed by God when Noah cursed Ham and Caanan.”
Brothers and sisters couldn’t hug each other at college, somebody might think they were a boyfriend/girlfriend and the college would get a bad testimony.
Guys and girls couldn’t touch, unless the girl slipped on ice. Then the guy could help her up, but could only touch her arm.
Girls couldn’t wear pants. Ever. No matter how cold outside. Only skirts and cullottes.
Guys couldn’t wear jewelry, at all. Unless it was a wedding ring.
Criticizing the preacher was wrong. Always. Even if the preacher was clearly in sin or heresy, because the preacher is God’s anointed. Let God rebuke him, otherwise the she-bears might eat you(2 Kings 2:24).
The TV was sinful. You shouldn’t have a TV in your home. Unless you’re going to only use it in conjunction with a VCR. But even then, it’s dangerous.
Going to the movies is always sinful. The weaker brother might see you. And you’re supporting “Hellywood”. If you need to watch a movie, rent it.

It wasn’t until after I left Bible College, that things began to change for me. I discovered a Christian web-site online, that was visited by a few former members of the college I had gone to, and visited by many others who had not. Many of these people were, as I later discovered, against the college that I had gone to for a whole year(almost). This caused me no small amount of consternation for the first couple months that I was on there. But after reading some of the arguments put forth by some of the members, I started studying my Bible more, and comparing it to what I had been taught. Soon, I discovered, much of what I had believed for so long had been lies. I discovered that the God of the Bible wasn’t keeping a scorecard of how often I broke the man-made rules that I had so long adhered to. In fact, I discovered that despite the fact that I had kept the rules, I was still rotten on the inside. I carried a certain kind of arrogance in me, one that said I was better than everybody else because I followed the rules. I was struggling with certain sins in my life and heart, but I believed that I was okay, because I had been taught that God didn’t care about my sin if I was a soulwinner. I discovered that God cared about what was on the inside, more than He cared about what I was doing. Because no matter what I did at that time in my life, it was based in impure motives. My life was a fraud, I was working to attain spirituality in a way that God never intended me to do. I was hitting a brick wall in my relationship with God because I had been taught to follow formula after formula for spiritual success, instead of developing a real relationship with the Heavenly Father. But it wasn’t until a drastic change in my life that things started to turn around for me spiritually.

To be continued.

Tags: Fundamentalism, Hyles-Anderson College, Independent Fundamental Baptists, Legalism