It’s interesting how certain things intersect. Mark Driscoll on the Resurgence blog has an eight-minute video about “fundamentalists” and their problems: “7 Ways to Know If You Are Becoming a Fundamentalist.” Personally, I think a better choice of word would be “legalist,” but who am I? 🙂 I do think he makes some good criticisms of “religious” types.
Also, just recently Faith Baptist Bible College’s newest Faith Pulpit came out with an article by Dr. Rick Shrader. In it he argues against using the “fundamentalist” label in a popular context and argues for a stricter definition of legalism and liberty than used in evangelical circles. I’m not sure I always agree with him either, but I do appreciate the more careful use of terms and argumentation that Dr. Shrader supplies.
Dr. Shrader refers to a great quote from Charles Spurgeon in the Downgrade Controversy: “Many good men lament the fact that liberty is, in certain instances, degenerating into license, but they solace themselves with the belief that on the whole it is a sign of health and vigour; the bough is so fruitful that it overruns the wall. . . . It is a pity that such loyalty to liberty could not be associated with an equally warm expression of resolve to be loyal to Christ and his gospel. It would be a grievous fault if the sons of the Puritans did not maintain the freedom of their consciences; but it will be no less a crime if they withdraw those consciences from under the yoke of Christ.”
See Faith Pulpit page 1 and page 2 PDFs (since it’s not online yet).
