Back to fundamentals

MANY OF YOU may be asking why a former politician is giving a Bible lecture to an assembly of highly qualified Christian leaders. My only credential is experience. I began teaching Bible lessons as a young midshipman at the U.S. Naval Academy, and have continued this practice for the past 62 years--now as a deacon at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia.

I've been in a quandary about what subject to discuss. I have decided to use one of the letters of St. Paul that addresses the most serious blight that presently exists among believers in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior: divisions within the powerful river of faith that are dividing us into swirling eddies and meandering tributaries. The divisions and even animosities are a cancer that is metastasizing within the body of Christ, obsessing us with diversions from his ministry and presenting to the world a negative image of Christians.

In the letter to the Galatians, Paul shows us that he not only deplores such disharmony but also understands its root causes. The three churches in Galatia were established at Lystra, Iconium and Derbe on Paul's first missionary journey. He was proud of these congregations, but soon learned that they had departed radically from the foundation of their faith. They had become divided because some of their leaders took the clear and adequate message of the gospel of Christ and began to add other requirements for acceptance or retention in their fellowship. This caused disagreements, arguments and acrimony.

This is an almost exact description of a plague that is threatening the unity and effectiveness of the Christian community today. Elements of fundamentalism are used to denigrate or exclude others. The healing factor that saved the early Christians was the realization that drawing nearer to Christ reduced the importance of human differences and brought the worshipers closer to one another.

After identifying himself and establishing his credentials in the first few verses, Paul lashes out in the strongest possible fashion: "I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting the one who called you in the grace of Christ and are turning to a different gospel-not that there is another gospel, but there are some who are confusing you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ. But even if we [apostles] or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that one be accursed!" (Gal. 1:6-8).

Of what crime were the Galatians guilty? Their church leaders were departing from the basic gospel of Christ by adding their own requirements for fellowship and salvation. In this case, they proposed adopting facets of Jewish law, including circumcision. Other congregations were imposing a creed concerning the eating of meat sacrificed to heathen idols, or which Sabbath day to choose. Some were arguing about who was the most authoritative apostle as spokesman for Christ.

Redefining the gospel has been a temptation for many centuries. Sometimes the message is so diluted that it is meaningless. At other times, powerful men adopt strict rules and regulations based on their own opinions and impose these creeds on others. The latter characteristics are part of a trend toward fundamentalism.

I would describe fundamentalism as, first of all, a movement led almost invariably by authoritarian males who consider themselves to be superior to others and who have an overwhelming commitment to subjugate women and to dominate their fellow believers. Second, fundamentalists draw clear distinctions between themselves, the true believers, and others. They are convinced that they are right and that anyone who contradicts them is inferior and beyond the purview of God's full blessing.

Third, fundamentalists are militant in fighting against any challenge to their beliefs, are often angry and sometimes resort to verbal or even physical abuse against those who oppose the implementation of their agenda. Finally, they tend to make their self-definition increasingly narrow, to isolate themselves, to demagogue social and emotional issues and to view change, cooperation, negotiation or other efforts to resolve differences as signs of weakness.

An example of enforced belief that was promulgated and commonly accepted by Christian denominations when I was a child was the requirement that a congregation not include both black and white people. Although some elements of this racism still persist, the legal nature of the exclusion has been removed in most places.

We know that man-made issues are causing serious and debilitating schisms among Baptists, and also among Methodists, Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Mennonites, Quakers, Catholics and others who are professed believers in the gospel message that Paul was defending. For incomprehensible reasons, the leaders of the Southern Baptist Convention unfortunately decided to withdraw from the Baptist World Alliance. I don't think the general membership of the SBC agreed with that decision. No differences are important enough to prevent reconciliation. We should all hope and pray that in the not too distant future, we Baptists can be completely reunited.