Thursday, October 16, 2014

Burned by the Fire of Fundamentalism



                                              "Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord."

                                                                                            Psalm 130:1
                                 
                                                          
And when Man gained dominion
over land and the oceans
he began to harm the planet
with his asphalt and his toxins
and to lay the forest bare
and to poison even the air
and he killed every beast
and taught the seas how to bleed
Burned by the fire we make,
what a shame...

"Burned by the Fire we Make"
 Andrew Belew

------------

"Losing My Religion"

R.E.M.



Oh life, it's bigger
It's bigger than you
And you are not me
The lengths that I will go to
The distance in your eyes
Oh no, I've said too much
I've said enough

That's me in the corner
That's me in the spotlight
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don't know if I can do it
Oh no, I've said too much
I haven't said enough

I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

Every whisper
Of every waking hour
I'm choosing my confessions
Trying to keep an eye on you
Like a hurt, lost and blinded fool, fool
Oh no, I've said too much
I've said enough

Consider this
Consider this, the hint of the century
Consider this, the slip
That brought me to my knees, failed
What if all these fantasies come
Flailing around
Now I've said too much

I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

But that was just a dream
That was just a dream

That's me in the corner
That's me in the spotlight
Losing my religion
Trying to keep up with you
And I don't know if I can do it
Oh no, I've said too much
I haven't said enough

I thought that I heard you laughing
I thought that I heard you sing
I think I thought I saw you try

But that was just a dream
Try, cry, why try
That was just a dream
Just a dream
Just a dream, dream
it was just a dream...

                                                              

Yesterday I received an email from someone I have not spoken to in several years. He started off the email, with the following words,

"Hope that you are doing well at Princeton. Be careful of all of the liberal theology."

This is not the first email or exhortation I have received like this. I have received incessant emails and phone calls warning me over and over again about perceived and alleged "liberalism" at the school and community I have chosen to earn a master's degree at.

I understand their concern, I really do. It is in the very fabric and cultural ethos of American Evangelicalism to attack perceived liberalism in everything and anything that comes its way.

I am personally burned out with this sort of fundamentalism. "Burned out" is actually a major understatement. I have been shredded bare by fundamentalist Evangelicalism. I am burned to a crisp and can not take any more. Specifically, I am opposed to the Christian fundamentalism that began in the early 20th century here in America as a reaction against alleged theological liberalism and cultural modernism in some mainline churches and in society. The worst case of this sort of fundamentalism was on display in the 1925 Scopes Trial and exists today in such denominations such as the Southern Baptist Convention.


I have wasted almost my entire life being part of an expression of Evangelical Christianity that sees as one of its main functions is to attack liberalism.


As for me, I am not a fundamentalist anymore. I am not sure if I really ever was. I am just a Christian guy trying to make his way in this harsh and bitter world.


I have nothing more to give to a fundamentalist Christian movement that only criticizes culture and does a very bad job even doing that.

Yes, it is true. All the rumors are correct. I have lost my "religion" I have thrown away the fundamentalist creed of attacking what I we do not understand. I am done with that. I have lost the religion of fundamentalism for sure. In its place I have found the God of historic Christianity.

I should have been with Him in the first place. I still believe in God, the Trinity and all the essential truths of the historic Christian faith. I still can say this with all my heart.
I believe in God, the Father almighty,
creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord,
who was conceived by the Holy Spirit
and born of the virgin Mary.
He suffered under Pontius Pilate,
was crucified, died, and was buried;
he descended to hell.
The third day he rose again from the dead.
He ascended to heaven
and is seated at the right hand of God the Father almighty.
From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body,
and the life everlasting. Amen.

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