Fundamentals of Fundamentalism
Christian
The Bible is blunt. Its characters are portrayed in merciless
reality, with no more selective respect than an earthquake. Extreme defects are
revealed among its greatest heroes -- adultery, murder, cowardice, and
hypocrisy are among them. The Bible confronts its readers the same way. The
deepest secrets of the heart are laid bare without alarm or fanfare. Failures
are not blamed or excused; they are simply recognized and managed. The Bible
demands reality, and offers its readers the power to live in reality.
Fundamentalism accepts the Bible as written, along with it’s
assessment of human nature. This is perhaps best stated in Jeremiah chapter seventeen,
verse nine: “The heart is more deceitful than all else, and is
desperately sick: Who can understand it?”
The spiritual consequence of this condition is
that of a monumental barrier
between mankind and God. There can be no relationship between the two while
this status of sin remains.
The ancient sacrifices represented man’s
acknowledgment of his condition (or of specific acts of wickedness) and the
acceptance of God’s forgiveness. By presenting a sacrifice, a man was
accepting full responsibility for his guilt without excuse or blame. He also
recognized and accepted that this sin resulted in separation from a perfect
God. The animal, most commonly a lamb, represented an innocent and perfect
soul, devoid of sin. The sins of the man were ritualistically placed upon the
animal, and then the animal was slain, receiving a death sentence for sins that
it had never committed. The petitioner, having had his guilt-debt paid, was now
free to communicate with God.
These sacrifices were in turn symbolic of the sacrifice of Jesus
Himself. Jesus s’ ministry was introduced by the pronouncement of John
the Baptist: “Behold the lamb of God, which takes away the sins of the
world.” When Jesus was crucified, the veil of the temple was ripped from
top to bottom, declaring that the sin barrier between God and man had been
eliminated. God had both provided and accepted this sacrifice.
All that remains now is for people to accept it
on an individual basis. The form of this acceptance is similar to that required
in previous times: (a) A desire for a relationship with God (b) Acknowledgment
of disqualification because sin. (c) Accepting sin-free status before God,
based upon Jesus having been sacrificed in the petitioner’s place. This
is what the Bible is referring to when it uses the term “born
again,”
These basics define the core doctrine of Christianity, and
separate it from other religions. Because the theme of blood atonement is so
ingrained throughout the scriptures, there is little opportunity for disagreement
among those who actually study them.
The nature and identity of Jesus is perhaps the clearest point of separation between Christianity and the many look-alikes. The Bible declares Jesus to be the agent by and through whom all things were created -- whether physical or spiritual. Although the mechanics of this boggle the mind and spawn various theories, Jesus is repeatedly portrayed in the Bible as an integral part of God. All other religions employ a different Jesus, who is less than the unique expression of the power behind the universe. The more typical departure is to make their Jesus some form of prototype, concept, ascended, or super human.
Beyond these issues (i.e. the acceptance of the Bible as true, blood atonement, and the identity of Christ), there are many things about which less clear information is given. This latter category has resulted in variations in institutional practices, as Christianity has been applied to an endless variety of cultures over the past two millennia.