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Jun
2008

On Commending Fundamentalists?

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02 Jun 2008

Fundamentalists are usually the last people to be commended. Coming from Bob Jones country (Greenville, SC) I have come to realize that the only view non-fundamentalists have of Bob Jones is a negative one. I have often tried to commend what I see as positive in fundamentalism, despite the fact that there are negative things to aviod (as is true in all our lives)!Here is a link to John Piper’s list of reasons why he doesn’t take potshots at fundamentalists, and I agree with most of his reasons.

About Post Author

Nick Batzig is the senior pastor of Church Creek PCA in Charleston, SC and an associate editor for Ligonier Ministries. Prior to serving at Church Creek, Nick was a pastor at Wayside PCA on Signal Mountain, TN. Formerly, Nick served as the founding pastor of New Covenant Presbyterian Church (PCA) in Richmond Hill, GA and as the editor of Reformation21 and the Christward Collective--sites of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. He frequently writes for Tabletalk Magazine, Reformation 21, He Reads Truth, and the Christward Collective. Nick was also the host of East of Eden, a podcast devoted to the Biblical and Systematic Theology of Jonathan Edwards. You can friend him on Facebook here and follow him on Twitter @nick_batzig

4 Responses

  2. Nicholas T. Batzig
    Reply

    Yeah, I thought it was pretty well thought out. I’m not sure that I agree with everything Piper says here though. I know a lot of fundamentalists who do not care for the social needs of their neighbors because they are too consumed with being separatists.

    I will, however, commend Bob Jones for loving the ignorant “Soul Force” (i.e. the militant homosexuals for Christ group) who came to protest Bob Jones’ stands against homosexuality. As they made their violent rantings in front of the campus, Stephen Jones quietly found out the names of all eight of the protestors and had a lunch made for them. Then he wrote a personal letter to each and every one of them telling them that Bob Jones was not responsible for the malicious counter-protest going on outside, and that he wanted them to know the saving love of Christ and the fogiveness that can be found in Him. It was a very impressive act of Christian love.

  3. Jeff Waddington
    Reply

    Of course I would not identify with everything that Fundamentalists believe or do anymore than J. Gresham Machen did in his day. I am not enamored of Dispensationalism nor premillennialism either. However the stand for truth is what I especially applaud.

  4. Nicholas T. Batzig
    Reply

    Jeff,

    I agree! I appreciate the reference to Machen. He had no problem standing with the fundamentalists of his day until they started pushing the premill, dispensational issue. We should always be ready to commend those who defend the inspiration, inerrancy, and sole authority of Scripture.

    I also believe that we should acknowledge that dispensationalism, however faulty the system may be, did produce some good in the face of the higher critical movement that was spreading from Germany to America. When many American’s were giving up on the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture the publication of Darby’s works really helped many weak believers accept the Bible as God’s word in its entirety. The sad part was that they gave the church no real, coherent system of theology the way historic covenant theology did. Anyway, I suppose we should be thankful for whatever good came out of dispensationalism as well. Maybe!

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