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Fundamentals


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I THINK THE BIGGEST ISSUE IN SETTING THE 'FUNDAMENTALS' IS PROPERLY DEFINING WHAT A 'FUNDAMENTAL' IS.

...

So, what DOES make up a fundamental?

For this answer, I'll re-post my original.

Speaking about the movement of Fundamentalism in general, the following have been considered "fundamentals of the faith":

- The inerrancy of the Bible

- The literal nature of the Biblical accounts, especially regarding Christ's miracles and the Creation account in Genesis

- The Virgin Birth of Christ

- The bodily resurrection and physical return of Christ

- The substitutionary atonement of Christ on the cross

From a historical perspective, the rise of Fundamentalism and what defined it were the above 5 issues. Without these, the Christian faith is either undermined or altogether not at all Christian, which is why the became the benchmark way back when (early 1900s I believe). Additionally, without these one cannot have any assurance of salvation, even though they are not all salvation-specific issues. I would argue that fundamentalism today, including the IFB variety, still holds on to these 5 tenets, even if they have added something to them.

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For this answer, I'll re-post my original.

Speaking about the movement of Fundamentalism in general, the following have been considered "fundamentals of the faith":

- The inerrancy of the Bible

- The literal nature of the Biblical accounts, especially regarding Christ's miracles and the Creation account in Genesis

- The Virgin Birth of Christ

- The bodily resurrection and physical return of Christ

- The substitutionary atonement of Christ on the cross

From a historical perspective, the rise of Fundamentalism and what defined it were the above 5 issues. Without these, the Christian faith is either undermined or altogether not at all Christian, which is why the became the benchmark way back when (early 1900s I believe). Additionally, without these one cannot have any assurance of salvation, even though they are not all salvation-specific issues. I would argue that fundamentalism today, including the IFB variety, still holds on to these 5 tenets, even if they have added something to them.

So my view on the timing of the rapture doesn't exclude me from the ranks of historic fundamentalism, then.

But clearly, what makes up a fundamental today seems to change vastly. I suspect there are quite a few peripheral doctrines that might make up fundamentals, as well, today-reality of Heaven and Hell, and others.

Edited by Ukulelemike
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So my view on the timing of the rapture doesn't exclude me from the ranks of historic fundamentalism, then.

But clearly, what makes up a fundamental today seems to change vastly. I suspect there are quite a few peripheral doctrines that might make up fundamentals, as well, today-reality of Heaven and Hell, and others.

Correct, I would say a post-trib/pre-wrath position would not inherently exclude you from fundamentalism. I would say the preponderance of eschatological issues do not have any direct bearing on the issue. In truth, fundamentalism has always transcended denominations that have wildly different views on the topic. Now, if we were to talk about the Independent Fundamental Baptist variety of fundamentalism, it gets a little more narrow and most are traditionally dispensationlist of some variety, but even then I don't know that it gets more specific than that in most places. I would assert that fundamentalism is not a monolithic movement beyond the aforementioned 5 fundamentals of the faith. I would also agree that other things like you mentioned have crept in as a benchmark in some circles, but I don't think it necessitates exclusion from the ranks (as it were). For example, there are so many varieties of KJV-only, which has become another hallmark of fundamentalism, and we see that here on this website alone.

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thank you very much for the 5 tenets.  I think that is what I'm looking for :)  We have come so far since the beginning of fundamentalism, so many things have changed in society, and unfortunately the church has been changing with it (and not in a good way) that getting back to where it all began might be a good thing to do.

sorry to hear that about Chafer.  of course, I was quite surprised to learn of Spurgeon's leanings, since he is held in such high esteem by IFB pastors I know.  Doesn't seem to be any truly sound IFB theologians, or at least a systematic theology.  will have to check out Geisler.  we used some of his books at the college I attended.

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thank you very much for the 5 tenets.  I think that is what I'm looking for :)  We have come so far since the beginning of fundamentalism, so many things have changed in society, and unfortunately the church has been changing with it (and not in a good way) that getting back to where it all began might be a good thing to do.

sorry to hear that about Chafer.  of course, I was quite surprised to learn of Spurgeon's leanings, since he is held in such high esteem by IFB pastors I know.  Doesn't seem to be any truly sound IFB theologians, or at least a systematic theology.  will have to check out Geisler.  we used some of his books at the college I attended.

Well, Spurgeon, despite being pretty Calvinist, was also very evangelistic, so it almost negates his Calvinism. Not completely, but some.

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Doesn't seem to be any truly sound IFB theologians, or at least a systematic theology. 

There really isn't unfortunately. Most IFB theologians who are capable of doing it are wholly engaged in ministry. That's not at all a bad thing, it just leaves the bookshelves a little replete of quality material. If I can ever find a way to pay for a doctorate (and rebuild my wife's patience for schooling), I'd like to write one. We'll just have to see what the Lord's plan is on that one.

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If you look here:  http://www.wayoflife.org/publications/index.html    you will find some excellent books, written from an IFB perspective.  One this I have been wanting to get, is the Fundamental Baptist Digital Library, which is composed of 4100 books and articles pertaining to the faith. Some of the items included are:

WAY OF LIFE’S ELECTRONIC BAPTIST/WALDENSIAN HISTORY LIBRARY which includes the equivalent of 16,000 printed pages of material including:
-
A History of the Baptists by Armitage (1890)
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History of the English Baptists by Ivimey (1811)
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Bye-Paths of Baptist History by Goadby (1871)
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A History of the Baptists by Christian (1922)
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General History of the Baptists in America by Benedict (1813)
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A History of the Christian Church - Waldenses and Albigenses by Jones (1812)
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History of the German Baptist Brethren by Brumbaugh (1899)
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History of the Donatists by Benedict (1875)
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Bogomils of Bulgaria and Bosnia by Brockett (1879)
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Early English Baptists by Evans (1862)
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Evils of Infant Baptism by Howell (1852)
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Divine Right of Infant Baptism Examined by John Gill
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A Concise Baptist History by Orchard (1855)
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Baptists Not Protestants by Carroll
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Did They Dip: An Examination of the Practice of Baptism by English and American Baptists Before 1641 by Christian (1896)
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History of the Ancient Churches of Piedmont by Allix (1690)
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Miller’s Church History (1881)
- History of the Papacy (1888) and A History of the Waldenses (1860)
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A History of Protestantism (1899) by Wylie
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History of the Inquisition in Spain by McCrie (1879)
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Protestant Persecution of Baptists in America by Joseph Banvard
-
Popery Drunk with the Blood of the Saints by Dowling
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Annals of the English Bible by Anderson (1845)
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History of the Ancient Christians in the Piedmont Valleys of the Alps (1618)
-
History of Pentecostalism by Cloud

**So what you have is not just David Cloud, but some excellent writings all the way back into the 17th century.

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Ukelelemike,

Thank you for bringing to our attention Bro. Clould's resource library. Excelent material by different authors.

Alan  

And that's just one item you can get for like, $50, and there's a lot more than that, too. I suspect some of these things you'd be hard-pressed to find in print anymore.

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Well, Spurgeon, despite being pretty Calvinist, was also very evangelistic, so it almost negates his Calvinism. Not completely, but some.

Like so many other "Calvinists" such as William Carey, considered the father of modern evangelism; as well as others like George Mueller, Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield.

It's a misnomer that "Calvinists" don't share the Gospel. As Spurgeon said, we don't have to understand how God uses such we just have to do as He commands and spread the Gospel.

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If you look here:  http://www.wayoflife.org/publications/index.html    you will find some excellent books, written from an IFB perspective.  One this I have been wanting to get, is the Fundamental Baptist Digital Library, which is composed of 4100 books and articles pertaining to the faith. Some of the items included are:

 

That's a really good list of resources, and I really like a lot of Cloud's material. Unfortunately, there isn't much circulation and you have to know about them to find them and they are generally history or single-topic works rather than a fully developed systematic theology. What I would love to see is a quality fundamental systematic theology on common store bookshelves that the average person can reach for instead of some of the Calvinist and liberal garbage currently published. The problem is, nobody who is capable wants to go to the trouble to do it.

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