What is a Fundamentalist?

by Missionary David Cox (c) 2003

Definition of a Fundamentalist - It seems everybody has their own definition of what is a Fundamentalist, and what is Fundamentalism, so here is yet another, my definition. "Fundamentalism is the view that there are essential doctrines of the Christian faith which one must hold firmly to or else he compromises the very essence of what defines us as Christians."

Isn't everything the Bible teaches "fundamental"? No. The idea that everything the Bible teaches is equal in importance is simply not so. God has priorities, and in these priorities, there is a big difference between being a Christian with some confusion on minor points, and "missing the boat" because you have not held to the essence of Christianity. The Jewish rulers obviously were very strict in their observance of what God had given them as instructions, but in their implementation, they obviously missed the most obvious point of all, a personal relationship with the Messiah. We must understand and acknowledge that there are degrees of revelation about different matters. 

Black and White Issues: God has made some issues very clear ("black and white") by simply saying, "thus saith the Lord, thou shalt ..." or "thou shalt not ...". For example, lying, murder, fornication, adultery, etc, all fall in the realm of having a very clear definition about them by God. They are unilaterally sin. That is not to say that there are not details that can get confusing. (Murder for example is different from capital punishment or taking a life in a war or battle situation which is a different word in Hebrew.)

Guiding Principles: But God has not chosen to define every possibility and situation in life, and to give us a commentary on it all as to what to do. Many things God has simply given us general principles which are to guide us, help us, and give us direction as far as what is wrong and right in God's eyes. Much of this relies on understanding the character of God and with whom we deal with. This topics are often lacking in many churches and preaching in our day. A clear understanding of the holiness of God, His mercy, faithfulness, grace, longsuffering, way of working, etc., helps us understand what to do in any given situation even though we do not direct revelation about it. An example of this is what about different foods. In the Old Testament they were forbidden to eat pork. (The Old Testament Law was God giving a people in a certain time and culture the general principles and their applications in their situation and for their time.)

In the New Testament, God rescinded that prohibition, teaching all foods are to be accepted providing they are first blessed and God is thanked for that food. The point is not very clear, but apparently eating pork (an unclean animal) was designed by God to teach the Israel's to live different from the rest of the pagans around them. Living in the conditions of the day, most probably there entered in a degree of concern about pork (with no refrigeration) causing sickness (the eternal principle is that our body is the temple of God and therefore we should not do things to damage it), and the other principle of separation from pagan cultures and practices.

Convictions: A biblical conviction is something that is not a straight teaching of Scripture, but rather a derived or deduced conclusion based on biblical principles and one's own experiences and life view. It is incorrect and confusing to equate every Bible teaching with being a "conviction". For example, a person who has had problems with smoking or drinking in the past, but now is a Christian, may very well have a conviction that he will not enter a restaurant that has any smoking or that serves any alcoholic beverages. These are convictions. They are not clearly stated in the Scriptures, but there are principles in play that the individual takes and makes deductions. 

Paul makes gives an example of a personal conviction in 1 Corinthians 8 when he deals with meats offered to an idol. The point that Paul is making to the Corinthians is that their personal conviction about not eating meats offered to idols is flawed. First of all, there is no such thing as an idol. They are all creations of men and demons. Idols do not really exist. There is only one God, and that is the true and living God. While the unsaved do not have this knowledge, every Christian should understand this. So their conviction (the reasoning behind it) is simply based on a false premise. 

Secondly, Paul says those with the stronger (more restrictive and rigid) standards is the "weaker brother". The point here is that it is not wrong to make personal convictions, this is what God wants us to do. 

But we must understand that there are degrees or levels to all of this. First, what God has clearly said. Second, there are very clear deductions from these general principles of God (applications). And third, there are deductions that are not quite so firm. These we must allow our Christian brethren to differ with us without accusing them of heresy or cutting fellowship with them. There is to be room for differences in other words. 

Major on the majors, minor on the minors. It is extremely unfortunate that in our modern world, and in the realm of Christianity, nobody seems to have any balance, nor can anyone distinguish between the essentials of the Christian faith, the important matters, and the minor matters. Preachers regularly "preach to death" their own personal views of what should be personal convictions. Nothing wrong with expressing them and the biblical principles and reasoning behind them, but a lot wrong with equating anyone taking a different view from their view as a heretic, not being a Christian, or as being divisive or Satanic.

So this brings us to the million dollar question, What are the Fundamentals of the Faith? Well, we are not quite there yet. Before discussing the Fundamentals of the Faith, we must have some framework for deciding what is and what is not a Fundamental of the Faith. We cannot discuss this without establishing some kind of legitimate criteria for deciding what is and is not a Fundamental.

Criteria for defining a Fundamental of the Faith

Last updated: 02/02/08
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