Does anyone here really know what fundamental Christians believe?

Question

It seems that many of you think you are experts on fundamental Christianity, but you are actually using it as a catch phrase for anything you believe is backward. So would you please state what you believe are the doctrines of fundamental Christians.

See, Gorgeous, that's what I'm talking about. Where does that come from?

Greg, is that any way to speak to your sister?

Thank all of you for your thoughtful answers. This gives me a reference for when I read the term "fundie." Rhio9, I found your answer very interesting. My opinion aligns most closely with Doc Razor and Jean, although I believe everyone (except Greg) has valid points.

Tyr's Own--I was asking for opinions.

Answer 1

Yes. Here are some of the ideas and doctrines of Christian fundy's. Check out the link and read it for yourself.

1)Apocalyptic Violence - A central tenet of Cristo-fascism is the belief that after the Rapture or Christ's returns to rescue Christian believers and take them to heaven, a period of seven years, or the Tribulation, will ensue in which an Anti-Christ will dominate the world, and every horror imaginable will be unleashed on humankind. Those who do not submit (again a pivotal word for Christian fascism) and accept Christ as their personal savior, will be martyred but will be assured of spending eternity in heaven with Christ. Those who do submit will be condemned eternally to hell. After the Tribulation period, Christ will return again with the "army" of Christians in heaven, and the battle of Armageddon will be fought against the Anti-Christ and his armies. The latter will be slaughtered by Christ and his followers who will set up Christ's kingdom on earth where he will reign for one thousand years, followed by the total and complete destruction of earth as Christ and his followers return to heaven.

2) One reason Hedges labels these individuals fascist has not only to do with their positioning themselves on the political right, but specifically, their fanatical insistence on submission to theocratic government. Had George Orwell been a born-again Christian, twenty-first century Cristo-fascists would probably declare him a saint. (War is holy, and killing is sacred.) Their preferred polity is biblical totalitarianism in which the principles embraced by secular society are perceived as untrue and antithetical to their God and his Word. Unquestioning obedience to fundamentalist Christian theology and its resultant theocracy are the cornerstones of Cristo-fascism in twenty-first century America.

3) As a result, adherents are diametrically opposed to a secular world view and the tenets of modern science. As I have commented in other articles in recent years, fundamentalist Christianity generally distrusts, and often despises human reason. Millions of children in America are being home-schooled, and 75% of them are children from fundamentalist Christian homes. Home-schooling can offer an extraordinary alternative to attending public school, but for fundamentalist Christians, it serves, among other things, to shield their children not only from grappling with such issues as evolution and global warming, but learning the scientific method itself and the basic principles of critical thinking and logical analysis.

Cristo-fascism is overwhelmingly a white Anglo-American movement. While one sees growing numbers of African Americans and Hispanics joining their ranks, the movement remains predominantly white and rabidly Islamophobic. Most outspoken on this issue is San Antonio's megachurch pastor, John Hagee, who perceives Islam as the new Satan which must be destroyed by Israel and the United States.

5) While Christian fascism cannot give enough lip service to the "culture of life" it is morbidly death-obsessed in its raging support of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and capital punishment. The popularity of the grisly, sado-masochistic "The Passion Of The Christ" among fundamentalist Christians, as well as the Jesus Camp's indoctrination of children to be willing and proud to "die for Jesus" further belie Cristo-fascism's death fetish.

6) A new Christian Gestapo is in the works as the Christian right is working vehemently to take control of military chaplaincies and create in Hedges words, "America's Holy Warriors." He points out that during the last century communist and fascist movements each built paramilitary forces that operated beyond the reach of the law. The frightening popularity and proliferation of the private security firm, Blackwater, founded by a mega-millionaire right-wing Christian, Erik Prince, has not only become a giant mercenary force in Iraq, but was heavily used in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. Increasingly, Cristo-fascists are becoming more blatant about their wish to force conversion to Christ through the barrel of a gun. A typical image of this concept, dripping with testosterone, may be viewed at the website of Force Ministries.

Just this week, conservative theologian, Doug Giles, appeared on Fox News arguing that Christian males should be tougher because "Jesus wasn't a bearded lady". Christians, he said, should stop raising nice boys and raise warriors who can fight terrorism.

In answer to the question of what is to be done, I would assert as I usually do: Knowledge is power. Fundamentalist Christianity is inherently delusional. One cannot reason with its adherents nor influence them with facts. What one can do is understand first of all that the United States has become a fascist empire. If one takes seriously Mussolini's definition of fascism, "the corporate state", then this nation was well on its way even before the ascendancy of the Bush II administration and September 11, 2001.

Furthermore, it is time for those who consider themselves politically progressive to stop "tolerating" Cristo-fascists. Certainly, these individuals have every right to believe whatever they choose to believe, but when one comprehends the inherently fascist nature of both their religion and their politics, one must necessarily confront not only their ghastly disregard for separation of church and state, but their implacable commitment to engineering a fundamentalist Christian theocracy in the United States.

The exponential growth of the Cristo-fascist movement in the past six years is yet another symptom of empire and a somnambulant society in the throes of collapse. Whether or not one embraces Christianity or any religion, for that matter, it is instructive to engage in reality-checking the actual teachings of Jesus in the New Testament, and specifically, the gospels and other sacred writings which were excluded from the bible in the fourth century for political and socio-economic reasons in order to streamline Constantine's hierarchical, imperial, Christian regime - the world's first but not last, Christian theocracy.

Answer 2

Fundamental Christians usually believe the following:

1.Republicans are their friends and share their political interests when it comes to their religious aspirations in politics

2.President Bush is God's chosen president

3.Evolution is an attack on the idea of creationism in-spite of it's insurmountable amount of evidence versus that of the creation belief.It seems easier to chalk everything up to the Adam and Eve story and ignore anything that disputes that story or the time line alleged by many who embrace a young Earth.God forbid a fundie to think perhaps evolution and creation might both be true.I at least consider it a possibility and I am an Atheist.

4.Gays choose to be gay and are sinners- not really because the Bible says so but because they just don't like gays.If they really knew anything about the actual ORIGINAL text of the Bible, homosexuality and homosexual committed relationships are not mentioned or discussed anywhere in the Bible.

5.Abortion is murder.They have no problem sending young men and women to fight in a war that really has no intention other then stabilizing an oil rich nation even if that goal is unrealistic.Nor do they have a problem with capital punishment. But if it is a fetus, oh well, that is murder and murder is a sin.

6.Everyone is out to "get" Christians.This is a victim role played not because it is true but because it is easier to legislate against people you don't agree with when you are crying "I am a victim because of 'those' people".

7.Universal health-care is wrong.Even for children.But remember, Jesus loves us.Yeah, so much that he would rather poor kids and poor families go without healthcare then abandon privatized healthcare.

8.Hell is that place everyone goes who doesn't fall in line with what Christians interpret the Bible to say about everything and anything.Hell, of course, being a scare tactic that really doesn't work against non Christians.But fundies seem to think it works or you would never hear phrases like "sinners go to Hell".

9.Non Christians worship the devil- that one is so funny to me since first you have to believe something exists to worship it.If a person is a non Christian it stands to reason they don't believe in the Christian idea of the devil

10. The end is coming ----- Yeah, and has been every couple hundred years or rather when Christian fundies see "signs" of the end rather then deal with the problems.The end is just another way to avoid a world that Christian fundies think is evil since not everyone in it is Christian.

Answer 3

Are you talking about the actual denomination Fundamentalist? Or are you talking about the general term itself, meaning those Christians who adhere to the Fundamentals of the Bible? If it's the latter, then that changes with each Christian. There are Baptists who claim to be Fundamentals, but place more importance on Baptism. There are others in other denoms which will place more importance on just Claiming Jesus as Savior (over Baptism itself).... While others will say you Must claim Jesus IS God, and not just Savior. The "Fundamentals" are different with each person... there isn't any set Fundamentals that are given for this general term. As for the actual denomination "Fundamentalist", I don't think they're around anymore... if they are, they certainly aren't as big as they used to be and would probably be closer to the Southern Baptists than any other denom.

I certainly know the difference.... that's why I call those who are extreme Fundies... not Fundamentalists.

Answer 4

Well, it seems that each group of fundamental Christians believes different things. There are so many different interpretations and opinions about what the scriptures say that over 30,000 denominations now exist. New churches spring up every day because of fundamental Christians disagreeing on certain doctrines.

Evidently, they believe that the Bible can mean whatever you want it to say. They also seem to believe that anyone who is not a fundamentalist is going to burn in hell. (I can't count the number of times I've been damned by a fundamentalist.)

I suppose the more interesting question would be: Do fundamental Christians know what fundamental Christians really believe?

Answer 5

the concept that dinosaurs in no way existed comes from strict adherence to biblical texts. in accordance to the Bible, our international is approximately 6000 years previous. There are some who have confidence that the dinosaur fossils stumbled on right now have been invented by utilising scientists to help disprove God. notwithstanding, i can assure you that not all Christians (in fact i could say that a great way below a million/2) have confidence the two that dinosaurs ever existed or that guy walked on the area of dinosaurs. The years and an prolonged time given in the bible are actually not conventional as absolute fact, e.g. the Bible says that God created the international in seven days and that guy could have risen around the comparable time as dinosaurs, nonetheless scientifically it quite is thoroughly fake. it won't be a rely of religion.

Answer 6

Fundamentalism is a movement growing out of the controversy with religious liberalism at the beginning of this century, when godly Christian leaders insisted that certain truths were fundamental to Christianity and could not be compromised. These included divine creation, verbal inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture, the virgin birth of Christ, His deity, substitutionary atonement, bodily resurrection, physical return, and the existence of a heaven and hell.

Though good Christians might disagree in other areas, to deny these essentials is to abandon the Christian faith of which some have. History records the sad accounts of some who refused to accept scriptural authority and made shipwrecks of their faith. For example, Diotrephes opposed an epistle from John, and then began harming the ministry of faithful Christians under his influence (3 John 9, 10)

Christians are wise to build their lives and ministries upon the solid foundation of Christ's teachings (Matt. 7:24,25)

God is truth and God has absolutes that cannot be changed, altered or misstated.

Answer 7

I think some answers on here are actually superbly put..cristo facists..uuhmm I like that term.
You cant re educate a fanatic cultist without intense pschotherapy so it doesn't matter that facts prove them wrong as does science and common sense so why bother,christians are entitled to their beliefs as are muslims etc...just as long as it doesn't affect me or they won't get the chance to turn the other cheek.....ooooh some of theses nutters from the US need sterilising so we don't get anymore true haters I mean believers hehehehehehehehehe
Peace oh brothers an sisters....time to sit in the garden and commune with mother nature.....I believe all squirrels are angels sent to gather nuts,then they organise themselves in "churches" and knock on your door offering salvation...at only $9.95 either that or they give you the option of buying roasted chestnuts...it's true..god told me hehehehehehehehehehe
christians and muslims putting "mental" back into fundementalism....to those who want me to burn in hell,I don't mind cos it's bloody freezing today in old blighty land of the non believers....

Answer 8

It varies greatly; especially notable since some groups attack each other. But a rough sketch of the common features:
Belief in the Christian God, salvation through the grace of God and sacrifice of Jesus alone, literal reading of the Bible as the sole means of understanding God's will (although personal revelation sometimes seems to come into this). Everyone else is damned regardless of their moral or ethical worth. Scientific evidence that contradicts a literal reading of the Bible is of Satan. Other religions or philosophical positions are valueless since they are false. Political positions often include a reactionary conservatism, a hearkening back to an imagined idyllic past (the fifties, the Middle Ages, Jesus' first century Palestine). 'Truth' supercedes 'fact'.

Again, not all groups have all features, many individuals within the groups may give lip service to the official values while still living more sensible lives.

Answer 9

Jesus promised, "I will build my Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18). This means that his Church will never be destroyed and will never fall away from him. His Church will survive until his return.

Among the Christian churches, only the Catholic Church has existed since the time of Jesus. Every other Christian church is an offshoot of the Catholic Church. The Eastern Orthodox churches broke away from unity with the pope in 1054. The Protestant churches were established during the Reformation, which began in 1517. (Most of today’s Protestant churches are actually offshoots of the original Protestant offshoots.) Only the Catholic Church existed in the tenth century, in the fifth century, and in the first century, faithfully teaching the doctrines given by Christ to the apostles, omitting nothing. The line of popes can be traced back, in unbroken succession, to Peter himself. This is unequaled by any institution in history: Even the oldest government is new compared to the papacy.

The Catholic Church has existed for nearly 2,000 years, despite constant opposition from the world. This is testimony to the Church’s divine origin: Any merely human organization would have collapsed long ago. The Catholic Church is today the most vigorous church in the world (and the largest, with 1.3 billion members: one sixth of the human race), and that is testimony not to the cleverness of the Church’s leaders, but to the protection of the Holy Spirit.

Jesus’ Church is called catholic ("universal" in Greek) because it is his gift to all people. He told his apostles to go throughout the world and make disciples of "all nations" (Matt. 28:19–20). For 2,000 years the Catholic Church has carried out this mission, preaching the good news that Christ died for all men and that he wants all of us to be members of his universal family (Gal. 3:28). Nowadays the Catholic Church is found in every country of the world and is still sending out missionaries to "make disciples of all nations" (Matt. 28:19). The Church Jesus established was known by its most common title, "the Catholic Church," at least as early as the year 107, when Ignatius of Antioch used that title to describe the one Church Jesus founded. The title apparently was old in Ignatius’s time, which means it went all the way back to the time of the apostles.

http://www.catholic.com/library/Pillar.asp

Answer 10

1.The Bible is the infallible, inerrant, inspired Word of God and contains everything we need to know for salvation and living a life pleasing to God.

2. There is one true and living God who eternally exists in three co-equal and co-eternal persons: The Father, The Son, and the Holy Ghost.

3. Man is sinful by nature, and is incapable of erradicating his own sin.

4.That Jesus Christ is God The Son.

5.Jesus was sinless.

6. Jesus died a substitutionary death for the sins of the world.

7. Jesus rose from the dead in the same body in which He died.

8.Salvation (deliverence from the consequences of sin) is obtained by God's grace alone through our repentance and faith in the person and work of Jesus christ.

9. The need for regeneration- A person must be "born again" by the Holy Ghost to receive eternal life.

10. The reality of Hell- All of humanity stands guilty before God and while no person could ever pay completely for their sins, they will pay what they can by spending eternity in Hell unless they come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ.

11. Jesus is THE ONLY WAY- God provided only one means of forgiveness of sins, and that is repentance and faith in Jesus Christ.

Answer 11

Would you like my HONEST opinion?

I think fundamental Christians believe that the bible is the absolute 100% word of god, and that they use that as a weapon against others, especially women and children and ANYONE who is different than them.

I think fundamentalist Christians would LOVE to see the government run and controlled by THEIR church and everyone FORCED to believe the way they do.

I think fundamentalist Christians don't care about the environment because they have it in their heads that the earth is not important, that it was given to us as a gift to do with as we see fit.

I think fundamentalist Christians will never rest untill every woman is subservient and complient to the will of a man.

I think fundamentalist Christians favor the bible over all other forms of education and if they could, they would ban the teachings of math, science, art and philosophy, perhaps even music and have ONLY bible study in school.

I think that fundamentalist Christians would LOVE to see the downfall of ALL scientific venues such as MIT and NASA.

Anything else?