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Holy Week resources and reflections

Proud to be a Fundamentalist

In 1922, a young Baptist minister delivered a sermon before a Presbyterian congregation in New York City, entitled “Shall the Fundamentalists Win?” It resulted in his leaving that pulpit to become one of America’s most influential Protestant preachers. Harry Emerson Fosdick, both loved and reviled, delivered intelligent and often controversial sermons from the church that John D. Rockefeller provided for him on Moningside Heights. The Riverside Church has stood for decades as a bastion of progressive theology.

Others might proclaim that the Riverside pulpit, and those kin to it in America have stood for important fundamentals of faith. Not a few would consider Riverside a place where “modernism” prevailed in the not-to-distant past.

When Fosdick asks if the fundamentalists will win, I reply, “I certainly hope so”, since I deem myself a convinced fundamentalist, devoted to a number of core beliefs related to my faith.

You may have guessed that I am not the sort of fundamentalist that Fosdick described in his diatribe.

I claim, with some pride, the label “fundamentalist”. I do, however, name these fundamentals with a sense of humility, since I am not given some infallible list of religious beliefs that separate me from the rest of humanity.

My short list:

Believing in God means that I acknowledge that nothing I possess is mine by right. Everything that I call my “net worth” is from the generosity of the Eternal One who gives me the responsibility to be a good steward of what I consider my own. I cannot look around at my house, my vehicles, my automatic icemaker, my central heating, and my indoor plumbing as something that I have earned and possess as a right. When I was a lad, sometimes the minister would take the offering plates from the collectors and we would sing: “All things come of Thee, O, Lord, and of Thine own have we given Thee”. I liked that, even when I was unfaithful to its central premise.

Trusting Jesus means that I must wrestle with his agenda. In his preaching, he tells sometimes unwilling listeners that peace is far better than war, that covetousness is dangerous to the human spirit, and that I am to pray for my enemies. For a whiner like me, it is very hard work to pray for those who despitefully use anyone. Prayer for our enemies is hard work, and ordered by Jesus, who prayed for his tormenters while he suffered on the cross.

Now, let me turn to the Holy Spirit, which we traditional Christians call the Third Person of the Trinity. One of the great prayers of the Christian Church is “Come, Holy Spirit and renew the face of the earth”. By God’s Spirit, and inspired by that Spirit, we are led to preserve the earth and its resources. These resources include what we call “nature” but also gather in all the living things in the world. We are led to see our care for the world as an extension of the work of the Spirit. Traditional belief portrays the Spirit as blowing upon creation, and bringing into life that which was seen as inanimate, dead, devoid of life.

Finally, the quartette of fundamentals includes a regard for all people, and a willingness to listen to all expressions of faith, or no faith. That does not mean that for you or me all faiths are of equal value, but it may mean that I don’t see converting another to my viewpoint as always the right way to go. It is God’s will that all be saved, and holding that belief as a precious one is a part of my fundamental faith.

Have I convinced you to be a fundamentalist with me?

Perhaps so. Perhaps not. I must confess that my beliefs are not mine alone, but the beliefs of many people, of the fathers and mothers of the church, of those who have lived before, and those who will live long afterwards. It is not an easily expressed faith, and may seem to some to be reduced in scope. But, I confess that these fundamentals are dear to me, and I could hope that they will be dear to you as well.

Folks who are reading this may protest. “My church has certain precious and unique gifts, and a specific, demanding, faith.” You embrace them, and life would be empty without them. I hold certain beliefs to be precious, and include how I view Jesus, worship God, and respond to the Divine Mercy. Fundamentals are fundamentals, however, and the four I have laid out here are especially precious to me. Yes! I am proud to be a fundamentalist.

LAWTON W. POSEY is a retired minister living in Charleston, W.V.

 

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