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Francois

There's a great article by a fundy in the current Salon. Here's an excerpt from the top of the story, followed by the link. Enjoy:

Seeing the light
A former Christian fundamentalist recalls a life of ferocious, intractable faith -- and the moments it began to crumble.

- - - - - - - - - - - -
By Carolyn S. Briggs

Dec. 21, 2001 | This morning I drive to work thinking about the lipstick on my front tooth that I can't fix until I exit the freeway, my college freshmen students who will not be prepared for class and firemen, my new heroes. I turn on NPR. An interview.

A scholar explains how difficult it is for a religious fundamentalist to function with the concept of multiple identities. While most of us are comfortable defining ourselves in several different roles, a fundamentalist cannot. She is called to forsake anything that challenges her mission as a single-minded follower of God. Even good things can distract her from the narrow road. Once the image of "zealot" has been forged, the radical will cling to that self-definition and disregard anything but her mission of serving God with her whole heart, soul and strength.

Can the zealot be a city councilman, a lover of literature, an expert at chess or backgammon? Unlikely. These pursuits have the potential to hinder the believer from becoming a sold-out follower of God. The Old Testament God who consumed his servants' sacrifices in a blinding flash of fire is not a God content to be a suburban pursuit, a scheduled event on a crowded calendar. The zealot capitulates in the face of this demand and is rewarded with sure answers secreted in inerrant scriptures and promises of eternal security. In a chaotic world, the clarity of seeing oneself simply and irrefutably as a child of God is immeasurably comforting. No need to quibble about what is important and what is not -- God is important and everything else is not.

If you liked it so far, here's your link:

http://salon.com/mwt/feature/2001/12/21/fundamentalist/index.html

Francois

Seeker

Interesting article, with obvious parallels to JWs. Two quotes I liked:

I knew I had the answer of the universe. I knew I was right about the path to God. And for years, I didn't doubt it, not for a minute. I didn't waver in the face of others who embraced another religion as fiercely as I. They were mistaken. They had been deceived by their own desires, their prejudice, their allegiance to the Father of Lies, Satan himself.

Sounds like the fundies among us.

The fundamentalist is intractable. Can you convince her to compromise in any of the tenets she holds sacred? You cannot. Even in the most benign case, she will see you as a contaminant. Your values and your ideas are not worthy of her consideration because they are wrong. The fundamentalist does not need to understand you and has no desire to try: You are of your father, the devil, the deceiver, the one who is the enemy of her soul. You are not redeemable as far as the fundamentalist is concerned. Your fate is sealed. You, in fact, are dead already.
That is why it's not such a leap for these fundamentalist extremists from another part of the world to see others as nonentities. As far as they are concerned, those outside the true faith might as well be dead. Unbelievers have missed out on the only real thing on planet Earth, the only opportunity for redemption and a ticket to paradise. Through their own choice and because of their own rebellion, they have sealed their fate.

This is why fundamentalism is so dangerous. It's a short leap from thinking a person deserves death to thinking I'm going to kill him.

picosito

Thank you for that fine link, Francois. I think back on all the years I accepted the WT assertion that "we're not fundamentalists."

gumby

Quote:Can the zealot be a city councilman, a lover of literature, an expert at chess or backgammon? Unlikely. These pursuits have the potential to hinder the believer from becoming a sold-out follower of God.
I don't feel this is true in many believers lives although some are so extreme in their misguided views they act this way.

unclebruce

. It was clearly a case of "us" and "them." We were the sanctified, the born-again, the elect of God. The others were lost. The others didn't have a clue. My seventh-grade Sunday school teacher warned the knobby-kneed bunch of us 12-year-old girls that the unsaved would trip us up, bring us flat and destroy our faith. We were to be watchful. Yes, she told us, tell the unbelievers about Christ, but don't become friends. For the love of Jesus, don't let the unbelievers influence you to compromise or turn away from the one true God.

Thanx Francois,

Are Witnesses fundny's? .. too right they are. I watched a debate yesterday about the teaching of 6 day Creationism alongside Evolution in American schools. Unbelievable. As far as I know, in Australia there is no such debate even in christian schools.

Why is it Americans are driven to go over the top with everything?

unclebruce

Francois

Over the top?

Or in the case of JWs, slithering underneath.

Frank

Rex B13

>This is why fundamentalism is so dangerous. It's a short leap from thinking a person deserves death to thinking I'm going to kill him.

NOPE, your generalization is a slur on any who hold to the Biblical standards. Again, you mistake fundamentalism for 'cultism', either not knowing or not acknowledging the difference. Slurs are exactly what some ath/ag/liberal use in their demonization of those who oppose their ideas and assertions......
Rex

Rex B13

Francois,
Using generalizations to slur fundamentalists is a dishonest tactic. You cannot keep confusing cultic individuals with Christian fundamentalists and get away with it.
Rex

Seeker

>This is why fundamentalism is so dangerous. It's a short leap from thinking a person deserves death to thinking I'm going to kill him.
NOPE, your generalization is a slur on any who hold to the Biblical standards. Again, you mistake fundamentalism for 'cultism', either not knowing or not acknowledging the difference. Slurs are exactly what some ath/ag/liberal use in their demonization of those who oppose their ideas and assertions......

OK, so you haven't made that leap, and probably never will. I didn't say ALL fundamentalists become killers. Just that this sort of thinking is a step in that direction. If you think some people deserve death, you are more likely to kill them than someone who doesn't think that. That's one of the ways a soldier is able to kill -- his normal thinking process has been broken down and then built up so that he is prepared to kill someone who deserves to be killed.

A basic fundamental thought of the Bible is that there are those who are deserving of life and there are those deserving of death. This is not a slur, nor a generalization, but the truth of the Bible. And as we have seen throughout history, in various religions, a few people go over the top from thinking 'God is gonna kill that person' to 'I'm gonna kill that person.' Those who target abortion doctors for death come to mind as just one example of this sort of thinking in action.

I'm not accusing you of this, Rex. All I did was point out how to get to that point it helps to first start thinking that this person deserves death. The Bible teaches this concept when you accept it on fundamentalist terms.

No slur. No generalization. Reality. Fortunately, most Christians never go that far as the extremists do.

Rex B13

Well Bro. Seeker, when you 'splain yourself it makes more sense. I can see what you mean about making people easier to kill by removing their humanity or making them 'deserving' of death because of 'whatever'. That's kinda like the NOW girls do with womb babies, call them 'fetus' or 'fleshly material' makes them easier to kill...until they see the 'material' has arms, legs, head, toe, fingers. No wonder they protest as 'unfair' when anti-abortionists show films of the procedures!
Thanks for the assist.
Rex
P.S. For any ladies out there who have had this done: yes, God's grace can cover this sin and anything else.

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