Mark Tindall has been offering a bunch of articles to these groups critiquing fundamentalism. Mark has declared his personal interest in all this: fundamentalists have, he feels, disempowered him as a God-follower and he’s angry about that.

I’ve had the opposite experience with fundamentalists. I grew up with them. The first 21 years of my life, and 10 years of my Christian life, have been formed in the company of loving, prayerful, earnest fundamentalist Christians (Plymouth Brethren – or as they preferred to be called ‘Christian Brethren’). They taught me (their version of) biblical doctrine. I memorized large slabs of the KJV, but eventually, in the last half of my life, found that I was reading a different Bible to that of my fundamentalist friends.

For example, when Jesus confronted the fundamentalist Pharisees, people who were godly, good, tithing, fasting, Scripture-memorising, evangelical, evangelistic – and many were martyred for their faith – he told them they really had missed the point! Which is justice (#1 for Jesus in the two Gospel diatribes – Matthew 23:23, Luke 11:42 – quoting, in Matthew, Micah 6:8), plus love, mercy, faith.

So: if you want to know whether a Christian is a fundamentalist, ask two simple questions (among others): [1] how often do they preach on social justice (and is social justice in their creedal/confessional/doctrinal statements)? [2] Is their demeanour loving? Do they love their enemies – or, like the ancient Pharisees, consign them all to hell?

More: http://jmm.org.au/articles/579.htm and http://jmm.org.au/articles/9664.htm

OK why are some people fundamentalists?

Mainly through fear (particularly of a new idea – it’s called ‘cognitive dissonance’ by the social psychologists) and insecurity. They can’t easily live with ambiguity (see eg. http://jmm.org.au/articles/9018.htm )

But also there are personality/pathology factors at work as well. Throughout a lifetime of mixing with people in hundreds of churches, and in a decade of newsgroup posting, and from my counselling practice I’ve come to the realization that people with ‘borderline personality disorders’ (BPD’s) – amongst other ilnesses – will sometimes find refuge in the certainties of fundamentalism. Some of the symptoms of BPDs may include

a.. marked mood swings with periods of intense depression, irritability, and/or anxiety lasting a few hours to a few days; a.. inappropriate, intense, or uncontrolled anger; a.. unstable, intense personal relationships with extreme, black and white views of people and experiences, sometimes alternating between “all good” idealization and “all bad” devaluation; a.. marked, persistent uncertainty about self-image, long term goals, friendships, and values; a.. frantic efforts to avoid abandonment, either real or imagined. etc. a.. cannot easily give or receive love to/from someone perceived as ‘the enemy’ etc. etc.

But let me make myself clear: most fundamentalists *do* have disordered thinking about the Bible and Justice/Love, but most fundamentalists *do not* suffer from BPD. But some do. (Now stop making specific judgments about certain people… I know what you’re thinking :-)!!!

Fundamentalists are black and white thinkers. For example, the Bible is absolutely, totally inerrant (even though the Bible does not posit this of itself). God’s grace cannot possibly extend to one prayerful godly lady who happens to worship currently in a Mormon church. God’s grace could not possibly save Hitler in the last seconds of his life. Christians who do not subscribe to the five/ten ‘fundamentals’ cannot possibly be Christians. People who are not fundamentalists will agonize in hell forever etc. etc.

(For various Christian approaches to hell – pick the fundamentalists – see http://jmm.org.au/articles/9663.htm .)

What’s basically wrong with fundamentalist doctrinal thinking is their desire to put (modern) boundaries around certain affirmations. There are several varieties – Bible Belt American, Genevan Calvinist etc. etc.

They don’t realize that our little systems – in which we try to confine God – have their day and cease to be,,,

—

Shalom!

Rowland Croucher