What Should Young Fundamentalists Be Doing? Part 1
 

• Some older Fundamentalists were/are authoritarian in their leadership
  • Perceptions of the Young Fundamentalists
    • Older Fundamentalism had strong personalities that were dominant and too often used this gift in fleshly ways and became domineering.
    • Older Fundamentalists abused their authority and demanded compliance to their extra biblical opinions.
    • Older Fundamentalists seemed more concerned with loyalty to the leaders of Fundamentalism than they were with truth about sin, subtle false doctrine, etc. in those leaders' lives.
  • Perspectives from Scripture
    • Authoritarian leadership is unbiblical. (Matthew 20:25-28; Mark 10:42-45; Luke 22:25-27; 1 Peter 5:3)
    • Raising human rules (derived authority) to the same level as Biblical commands (direct authority) is at the very least spiritually dangerous. (Matthew 15:8-9; Colossians 2:8)
    • Human rules kept by human means will not produce spiritual growth (Galatians 3:1-3; Colossians 2:6).

• Some older Fundamentalists are not truly exegetical in their preaching
  • Perceptions of the Young Fundamentalists
    • There were failures in properly attaching the pulpit ministry only to the word of God.
      • Topical messages were more common than textual or exegetical messages. Many of the messages were characterized by simply reading the text and then telling stories to illustrate some (too often obscure) understanding of the text.
      • Some sermons were full of scripture that sounded like they supported the assertions being made, but upon further scrutiny actually were out of context or did not really support the point being made.
    • This at times indicated a lack of true loyalty to God's Word; and may have indicated instead a loyalty to a sub-culture or tradition.
    • There was a surface orthodoxy in doctrine over which separation from Liberalism, Neo-orthodoxy, New Evangelicalism was made (more on lack of rigorous theology later).
  • Perspectives from Scripture (Matthew 7:15-20; Isaiah 8:20; 50:10-11)
    
    • We must never preach man's ideas as if they are God's. (Mark 7:5-9; Isaiah 8:20)
    • We must always anchor our thinking and study in the main point of the text even when we choose to focus on a valid, but less significant, other point in the text. (2 Timothy 2:15)
    • We must avoid preaching "good things" from the wrong texts. (2 Timothy 2:15)

• Some older fundamentalists are more interested in external performance than internal conformity to Christ
  • Perceptions of the Young Fundamentalists
    • This makes them more concerned with rules than one's relationship with Christ.
    • This makes them seek to motivate others to keep the standard instead of engaging in real discipleship.
    • This makes them more concerned with external indicators of spiritual maturity (music styles, clothing styles, versions, other standards) than they are about truly and vibrantly teaching and living the truth of scripture.
  • Perspectives from Scripture
    • External things are only an evidence of internal realities; sin comes from the heart, not unwashed hands. (Matthew 15:1-20; Mark 7:5-23)
    • Over emphasis on externals to the neglect of internals leads to hypocrisy; at the very least it is backwards in priority (Matthew 23:25-28)
    • Emphasis on self-effort to keep rules denies our desperate need for dependence on Christ. (John 15:5)
    • This pursuit will either be frustrating or false. (Romans 7:14-25)

• Some older Fundamentalists are interested in explosive growth through "revival" and not satisfied with significant growth over a period of time.
  • Perceptions of the Young Fundamentalists
    • This may lead to the use of methods that seek to produce this more immediate response which are often man-made, man-centered, and thus temporary and not God-glorifying.
    • This often leads to a focus on numerical results which is a faulty method to gauge spiritual success if the glory of God is really the highest standard.
    • This often leads to discouragement for those with small ministries and pride for those with larger ones.
    • More damaging is that the sanctification process is short-circuited because it is not properly understood.
  • Perspectives from Scripture
    • God is interested in real change towards holiness -- this is often done in a process of growth, not an explosion of change. (Matthew 13:18-23)
    • Revival should be understood as an event whereby a person (or group) truly humble themselves, confess sin, commit to righteousness, and regain a true walk in the Spirit. This may be a part of the sanctification process, but it is by no means the whole picture. (Isaiah 57:15; Galatians 5:16-17)
    • Sanctification is a process made up large and small events of revival and growth. (Ephesians 4:11-16; 2 Peter 1:4-9; 3:18)

• Some older fundamentalists are not tolerant of free thinkers; although change is not taboo, challenging the status quo is frowned upon.
  • Perceptions of the Young Fundamentalists
    • There is a stifling of new ideas that would assist the cause of Christ. (ie use of certain technologies)
    • There is a "group think" that suffocates beneficial change.
  • Perspectives from Scripture
    
    • Certainly there are a significant number of bad new ideas out there, but a more robust discipleship mentality would be more effective than just squelching the out-of-the-box thinkers (Matthew 28:19-20; 2 Timothy 2:2).
    • The whole body of Christ (the church) ought to be seeking to use each member in ministry and see each one gifted and enabled by the Holy Spirit to do that ministry. New, fresh ideas from Spirit-empowered believers should be evaluated on the merits of the idea; not rejected simply because they are new. (1 Corinthians 12; Ephesians 4:16)
    • This demands a knowledge of Biblical guiding principles rather than a set of traditions, as well as the ability and willingness to evaluate the meaning (ultimate ends) of new ideas rather than accept or reject them based on whims. (I Thessaloninans 5:21; Philippians 1:10)

• Some older fundamentalists have seemed to be missing a rigorous theology.
  • Perceptions of Young Fundamentalists
    • The theology of some fundamentalists seems contrived rather than thoroughly studied and thoughtfully articulated.
    • There is at times a lack of precision with the text (see earlier concern about exegetical preaching) that taints the plausibility of any teaching/preaching presentation
    • This leads to a lack of trust.
  • Perspectives from Scripture
    • We must be diligent and precise in our handling of the Word (2 Timothy 2:15)
    • We must be understandable in our presentation of the Word (1 Corinthians 14:2,3, 9-12, 19-20)
    • We must seek to be consistent in our understanding of the Word.
      • This calls for a systematized theology (1 Corinthians 2:13)
      • Furthermore, the immutability of God supports the expectation of consistency of biblical truth (James 1:17)
      • However, we must be careful about adding information to fill in gaps of revelation. (Deuteronomy 29:29)

• Some older fundamentalists have abused the doctrine of separation
  • Perceptions of Young Fundamentalists
    • The modifier "some" should be changed to "many" or "most."
    • The practice and preaching of separation in Fundamental churches has become more about separation over doctrines of man (which ought to be considered preferences) rather than doctrines of God (which are clearly taught in scripture).
    • The culture of Fundamentalism has become about separation rather than a reluctance to separate.  In light of the Biblical doctrine of unity, it should only be practiced when necessary.
  • Perspectives from scripture
    • The doctrine of unity of believers is a pervasive NT truth (John 17; Ephesians 2:12-22; 4:3; Philippians).
    • The teaching of separation is driven by the Holiness of God but flows out of the foundation of unity. (2 Corinthians 6:14-18; Romans 16:17, 1 Timothy 6:5; 2 Thessalonians 3:6)
    • The demands of God's word for separation apply to both doctrine and practice (Acts 19:9; Romans 16:17-20; 1 Timothy 6:1-5; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-14).