funda-MENTAL-ism

This is the first of a series on different types of Christianity. I hope this opens some dialogue and hopefully some hearts.

I grew up with a fairly fundamentalist view of religion. I have since chosen a more compassionate path. I want to start this diatribe by explaining that I do not think that my fundamentalist friends or loved ones are crazy, fanatical, or non-Christian. I just think they are misguided.

For much of my life I was under the impression that spiritual growth had no place for questions or doubts. In fact, they were very discouraged. If you questioned something, you just didn't have enough faith. If you doubted, you just needed more faith. The problem I had with that is that I need answers in order to have faith.

For me, fundamentalism is a head game. (hence funda-MENTAL-ism)
The basic concept is something like McCarthyism of the 1940's and 50's here in the U.S. We are right. Anyone who disagrees, or protests our beliefs is wrong, is evil, or worse. The contributing factor in both McCarthyism and fundamentalism is FEAR.

It is true that we tend to fear what we do not understand. So, in order to maintain our standard of living we instill a "healthy" fear in our followers. We explain how important it is to our movement that we do not associate with those types. We warn of the downfall of our system, which would come at the hands of these wrong people and (gasp) our followers who have been compromised by them. We explain that the only way for us to maintain this system is to establish ourselves as correct; to assume that we have all the answers; and to squlech any creative, skeptical, or critical thinking within our ranks.

This fear leads to a type of hatred that only the religious types could possibly call "holy." Is there any reason why so many fundamentalist groups seems to walk a fine line of being cultish?

When we look at the life of Jesus, his 1st Century followers, and of the Apostle Paul, we do not see fear. What we most often see is hope and compassion.
Why then is it necessary for so many "American Christians" to live in fear of everything around them? To be honest, I blame McCarthyism. It set the stage for our modern fundamentalist thought, but it goes back much earlier.

When the Church became a political machine for the Roman Empire, fear was instilled in those people who were "outside the circle of power." Fear enabled the Church to take land from people, to take money from people, and in a far more greusome betrayal of Christ: to take the lives of people.
It has been reported that during the European Witch Hunts, the Crusades, and the Inquisition, the Church put to death nearly 6 million men, women, and children. This is roughly the same amount of Jews put to death under Hitler. How is it that Hitler is seen as a monster, but we are not disgusted by our own ecclesiatic history?

Denial.

You move forward a few hundred years, and the colonies have become populated. Some colonials search for freedom from political tyranny. Some search for freedom from oppression. Others search for freedom to practice their version of Christianity without the fear of persecution.

The problem with a fear based system is that there ALWAYS has to be someone to fear. Since the modus operandi of fear based systems is to eleminate those we fear, we end up needing to find a near group to fear. The downfall is that if, hypothetically, we eliminate everyone we fear, then what happens to our system? It falls in on top of itself. Because fear is instilled and mistrust is a virture in this system, eventually followers fear each other and turn on one another. This is the last straw.

Don't get me wrong. I have pointed out a lot of flaws about fundamentalism. But there is one overarching "upside." The followers of this version of Christianity are very devoted. They may take things to a place I would choose not to go, but they are fully behind whatever teaching they have learned. I can't say the same for many other versions. Most of us barely know what we believe.

If we really are going to give a message of hope and compassion to people, we need to do so in a hopeful and compassionate way. fundaMENTALism is not an answer. It never has been, it never will be.

A King & A Kingdom

Now, I admit that I am not the biggest fan of Derek Webb, but this song definitely resonates with me.

who's your brother, who's your sister
you just walked passed him
i think you missed her
as we're all migrating to the place where our father lives
'cause we married in to a family of immigrants

my first allegiance is not to a flag, a country, or a man
my first allegiance is not to democracy or blood
it's to a king & a kingdom

there are two great lies that i’ve heard:
“the day you eat of the fruit of that tree, you will not surely die”
and that Jesus Christ was a white, middle-class republican
and if you wanna be saved you have to learn to be like Him

but nothing unifies like a common enemy
and we’ve got one, sure as hell
but he may be living in your house
he may be raising up your kids
he may be sleeping with your wife
oh no, he may not look like you think

Birthday Wishes

Anyone out their looking for a birthday gift for me, here you go. Only $1100. Not bad, if you ask me.

Seeking Truth in The Davinci Code: It Isn't Dan Brown's Fault That Christians Are So Uneducated About Their Faith's Past

Ok, to be honest, I am tired of all the "da vinci hype" going on from both supporters of the film and its critics. But I came across an article today that really helped me gain some perspective.

Here is an excerpt, see what you think:

Christians aren’t stupid, not in general. Why, then, is our community so hung-up on a piece of writing that is simply inaccurate? Evangelicals typically have less contempt for the so-called Gnostic Gospels or the Apocrypha than they do for fiction that outsells the Bible.

And then I realized it.

We’re afraid of this fiction for the same reason small children are afraid of the dark. It’s the fear of the unknown. The reason that the inaccurate statements of Leigh Teabing in Da Vinci strike such a nerve amongst evangelicals is because so many believers are so poorly equipped to rebut them. Pastors know this about their flocks, and as a result, may be inclined to instruct their followers not to read the book. As the Body of Christ, we know so horrifyingly little about the history of what we believe that any information presented with authority may very well threaten to skew our understandings.

to read the whole article, go to Relevant.com

"With God On Our Side" Straylight Run

Oh my name it is nothin'
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I's taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that land that I live in
Has God on its side.

Oh the history books tell it
They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries charged
The Indians died
Oh the country was young
With God on its side.

I've learned to hate others
All through my whole life
If another war starts
It's then we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side

Oh the First World War, boys
It closed out its fate
The reason for fighting
I never got straight
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don't count the dead
When God's on your side.

When the Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side.

But now we got weapons
Of chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God's on your side.

In a many dark hour
I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you
You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.

So now as I'm leavin'
I'm weary as Hell
The confusion I'm feelin'
Ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
That if God's on our side
He'll stop the next war.