Fundie/Fundie Lite/Conservative Christian

[nolongerIFBx]

I personally differentiate between Fundie Lights and Evangelicals.  Because before I turned my back on organized religion I would have considered myself Evangelical.  The last church I belonged to I would have classified as Fundie Light in leaning.  They were very conservative and the history of that particular church is that they broke off from the SBC back in the early 50's because they thought the SBC was getting a bit too liberal.  My attraction to it was because, although it was fundie light leaning it was also what I considered to be an educated church.  The Senior Pastor taught Biblical Greek classes every year to people in the congregation who were interested (and also went from Mid-Missouri into St. Louis weekly to teach at a seminary).  (They also get a fundie light and not evangelical nod from me because they had a Bright Lights program - that I helped co-lead.  Bright Lights is written by Sarah Mally and I consider them to be Fundie).  

Pretty sure that is the church I attend. . .it really is a small world. I've found people in my ATI Student Recovery Group that attend there and now a former attender on FJ. For me, that church is so far removed from the IFBx world I grew up in (PANTS!, drums, not KJV-only, education encouraged!, no mandatory attendance at at least three services a week,no SOULWINNING OR BUS ROUTES, and NO INVITATION!!, , AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO CONSULT THE PASTOR OVER EVER LITTLE THING etc.), it is hard for me to classify it as fundie, but there certainly are no perfect churches, and even those that might come close can't demand that fundie leaning people not attend and participate. Anywhoo, hello from a fellow COMO-ian!

[Gimme a Free RV]

In regard to Pentecostals, it has been my experience that they place heavy importance on the "manifestation" of the Holy Spirit, primarily shown by speaking in tongues.  As a conservative Baptist Christian, I believe that the believer receives the Holy Spirit at the very moment he/she comes to God, professing faith in Jesus Christ as being God's only son, as Jesus being fully God and fully human went he walked on earth, that Christ's death paid the debt for the sins of the world and by confessing that he/she is a sinner (in other words, not perfect) and in need of a Savior.  That's when, as the phrase goes, "Jesus comes to live in your heart."  To me, this is in the form of the Holy Spirit, who, like God, is omnipresent.  I, like the particular denomination I identify with, believe that once salvation has been received, it cannot be revoked, if the person made a genuine choice to invite Jesus to be the center of his/her life.

For the Pentecostal, per my understanding, salvation can be gained, lost, gained, lost, ad infinitum.  (My take on that is that this line of thinking believes, whether they admit it or not, that Jesus' one-time substitutionary death wasn't enough to save a person once and for all.)  Anyway, the Pentecostal can be saved but not possess the Holy Spirit.  The Holy Spirit (I guess given the "right circumstances") "falls" on a person and that person begins speaking in unknown tongues (babbling that you may have seen in videos or documentaries or TV broadcasts), and/or conducting supernatural healing, prophesying, handling snakes, drinking poison, etc.  (There are varying extremes.)  I have ex in-laws who believe a lot of this.

Personally, I think a lot of what I mentioned about Pentecostals is the result of an emotional frenzy...sort of like a person declaring he/she is in love because they are sexually aroused (feelings) vs. a person saying she/he is in love because of the sense of commitment and not solely feelings.  That's a crude comparison, I know.

There are as many facets of Christianity out there as there are personality types--wild and frenzied, calm and conservative, take control, lay back and let it happen, love and peace, rules and penalties, etc.  However, I believe in faith in and a relationship with Jesus Christ.  Religion is man's invention to try and please God.  

FWIW, my fellow Conservative Christians would probably be BUG-EYED if they saw the snark I participate in here.  (I just can't stand seeing people like John Shrader and Jill-Rod having people believe you MUST live, look, act, talk, and make the decisions they do to prove something to people and to God.

[CyborgKin]

I think there's room for a differentiation between the views someone holds, and how far they go to make everyone else share those views.  Like, some may have some fundie views but not go to fundie lengths to exclude anyone who dares not believe and do the same.

 

The Dominionists are scary.  Anyone who wants to know more about them and their whackadoodle beliefs- Google Rushdooney.  Not only do they advocate for being gay as a crime, but for their punishment to be death by stoning.  Oh, and slavery; not only was it a good thing, abolishing it was going against God. 

I recently heard Mark Rushdoony say that the 'two witnesses' rule would apply to such stonings, so it would only be done if someone was intentionally performing such behaviour in public as a 'revolutionary act'.  Also that such societal changes would be a gradual bottom up change, not something enforced from the top down in a 'statist' way. I don't remember him saying anything about slavery, so I don't know whether he's taken a more moderate view on that compared to his father.

[clueliss]

Pretty sure that is the church I attend. . .it really is a small world. I've found people in my ATI Student Recovery Group that attend there and now a former attender on FJ. For me, that church is so far removed from the IFBx world I grew up in (PANTS!, drums, not KJV-only, education encouraged!, no mandatory attendance at at least three services a week,no SOULWINNING OR BUS ROUTES, and NO INVITATION!!, , AND YOU DON'T HAVE TO CONSULT THE PASTOR OVER EVER LITTLE THING etc.), it is hard for me to classify it as fundie, but there certainly are no perfect churches, and even those that might come close can't demand that fundie leaning people not attend and participate. Anywhoo, hello from a fellow COMO-ian!

north CoMo?  And I liked that church.  I just needed to personally back away from religion.  (and it was a great church)

 

[foreign fundie]

As a former IFB (raised in it, not living in it), I wholeheartedly agree with every bit of this. 

Well, again, just my experience and with all due respect -- But there is no freedom in any fundamentalist sect. Perhaps some conservative evangelicals allow a little more wiggle room, but ime, fundamentalism denies freedom of thought and action at virtually every level.

Not all fundamentalists are part of sects. There is a lot of it in regular churches which do not function like sects.

Secondly there may not be freedom in fundamentalist sectarian theology (gothardism as an example) but there are plenty of people who are in restricting religious communities who find this freedom in themselves and in God. I know many people who adhere to the external rules for peace' sake, but inside carry non of that fear or guilt. They have understood the biblical essence of freedom from judgement. Yes, sooner or later there may be a clash with what they are supposed to believe and what they really do believe. And this may mean that they have to leave the church or group. But others stay in churches with dysfunctional theologies or practises in the hope that their presence will change something for the better.

[Jasmar]

I think it is hard to pin down a real definition. My version of fundie might not be another person's. I don't really go by how a person dresses or even if they let women work, because there are people who let women wear pants and have jobs who still hold extreme fundamental religious beliefs that they are more than happy to force on the rest of us. 

Yeah, this strikes a chord with me, too. The reason I'm interested in thinking and talking about this is because I want to understand my own semi-recent history better, and because I've still got a lot of friends and acquaintances within the Life.

I really appreciate all the thoughts and discussion here.