Still a Christian, but a former fundamentalist.

[SouthCarolinaGirl79]

I've been visiting this board on and off for a few months to read about the Duggars. I've finally decided to register and start posting. While I was never involved in ATI, I grew up in a Southern Baptist church and have friends who are Church of God/Holiness. If there is anything you would like to know about fundamentalism in general, feel free to ask. From reading about the Duggars and ATI/BG, most of it is the same as how I was raised I can safely say that each sect differs only in leaders and buzz words, the teachings and supporting scriptures are the same. The church I was raised in was of the Jack Hyles brand. While I can't give you inside informationa on the Duggars, I can shed some more light on "why do fundys do this or that?".

[BravaAmica]

Why do fundys want everyone on the planet to be their brand of Christian? They make it sound like they're on a constant membership drive for an exclusive club.

[SouthCarolinaGirl79]

That's an easy one! Fundys honestly believe that non-fundys will go to hell and that their souls must be saved from eternal damnation. Hard core fundys do not believe that Catholics are Christians. Many believe that Catholics serve the Pope and worship Mary. Most also believe that mainstream protestant Christians are just too mainstream and worldy to be chosen for salvation. Others are more picky and believe that if a person isn't going to their particular church or listening to their chosen leader, then they can't be saved. In the church where I was raised, we where told to invite even our church-going friends to our church because our preacher was convinced if they weren't in his pews then they weren't hearing the gospel truth.

[SouthCarolinaGirl79]

*weren't in his pews. (sorry)

[BravaAmica]

That's an easy one! Fundys honestly believe that non-fundys will go to hell and that their souls must be saved from eternal damnation. Hard core fundys do not believe that Catholics are Christians. Many believe that Catholics serve the Pope and worship Mary. Most also believe that mainstream protestant Christians are just too mainstream and worldy to be chosen for salvation. Others are more picky and believe that if a person isn't going to their particular church or listening to their chosen leader, then they can't be saved. In the church where I was raised, we where told to invite even our church-going friends to our church because our preacher was convinced if they were in his pews then they weren't hearing the gospel truth.

But do they actually CARE about my soul? Seriously do they actually care about total stranger's soul? Because a lot of it seems to be a contest for how many notches you can get in your pew.

I can't help but think that if they truly cared about a stranger's soul, they would do things, for example, like feed the widows and orphans in their community instead of calling the single mothers lazy whores and their kids bastards.

[SouthCarolinaGirl79]

I can't speak for all of them, but most individual members do care about people's souls. They also do work of the type you speak such as work in homeless and women shelters. Some of the hard-core fundys go on bus "soul winning" nights where they will go around neighborhoods and try to witness to people. I do think some of them feel like it makes them look good to witness to people. Many fundy ministers will brag about how many thousands of souls they've save in cattle herd like altar calls.