WHAT IS A FUNDAMENTALIST AND BIBLICAL SEPARATION

In Part One on this topic I listed 10 points : YOU ARE NOT A REAL 2008 FUNDAMENTALIST IF: (so they say)

To say you are a Fundamentalist, it seems you have to say you are to be separated from certain groups that do not follow certain guidelines. Biblical Separation is the topic. Some say its an important doctrine in the Bible, almost as important as the Doctrine of Salvation.

Here is what got my attention about this issue of Fundamentalist and Separation:


Pastors that teach that its biblical to separated from liberal pastors who do not separate themselves from those areas that their church does. And they will generally mention Jerry Falwell. That is fighting words.

• 2 John 1:9-10 Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. 10 If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: 11 For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

Let’s look at the “DOCTRINES OF CHRIST” what are they? Does every church need to have the same point of view that our church has in order to have fellowship together?

The definition of liberals in scripture is what? According to David Cloud

• “The same is true for neo-fundamentalists such as Jerry Falwell and the Baptist Bible Fellowship today. When I hear Jerry Falwell standing up boldly for Christ on Larry King’s television program and in other public forums, I am thankful for him and love him in the Lord, but I could not work with him because I am convinced he has determined to walk in a path of compromise and disobedience to the Bible.” David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service http://www.wayoflife.org/fbns/biblicalseparation.html

Separation from another church, organization, biblical, scriptural, should be theologically not personal ideas.

I TOO WAS A STRANGE FUNDAMENTALIST FOR A LONG TIME:
The issues I remember having while a pastor would be some of the following:

1. Who is going to preach in the pulpit of our church?
2. Who would I preach for?
3. What church group of kids would I want to come to our youth camp?
4. What church’s VBC would I say would be okay to attend?
5. Would I attend and preach at a community Easter service?
6. There is a community-wide Memorial Service and I am asked to speak, do I?

I could not do any of these six things if these practices are done in a church:

1. If I say the Gospel alone is the criteria for fellowship, I might have to narrow that down to my Calvinist view of salvation rather than the “come to Christ” approach.
2. If I say having no fellowship with churches who belong to a denomination that practices infant baptism, or sprinkling, yet they hold to the biblical view of salvation. (Some say infant baptism is not salvation) Am I being biblical?
3. If I say there will be no fellowship with any church who belongs to the Southern Baptist Convention because I hold all those churches responsible for all that the SBC does as a whole, am I being biblical?
4. If I say that I will not fellowship with any church whose pastor is a Bob Jones’ grad, am I being biblical?
5. If I say that I will not fellowship with those churches that do not believe in the rapture, the 1000 year reign of Christ and do not believe in the Tribulation, am I being biblical? In other words, they hold to doctrinal views that do not line up with my belief.
6. If I say I know of some folks in another Baptist Church that are Elders or Deacons or Sunday School Teachers that own a bar, or watch TNN on TV, or three members of that church have been put in jail for stealing, and child abuse and wife abuse, do I have biblical grounds to say, I will not fellowship with that church?
7. If a church has the view that salvation is part man’s responsibility and part God’s responsibility, would I be biblical to not have fellowship with that church?
8. If the pastor of another church preaches from another translation and does not use the KJV, am I biblically correct in not having him preach for our church?
9. If a church uses VBS material that has scripture verses that are NIV or NASV or ESV, etc. I would be safe to say to my people, don’t let your kids go to that VBC?
10. As a church I could not attend or take part in a Billy Graham, Franklin Graham meeting, nor any other kind of meeting that was not Baptist, Independent Baptist, Fundamental KJV 161l, I would be biblical?
11. If a church has Elders rather than Deacons, I would not fellowship with that church, that would be biblical grounds for not preaching in that church?
    

I mean really, these are come problems that pastors have in having fellowship with other pastors because they don't line up with their view of Biblical Separation.

SO LET US LOOK A LITTLE INTO THIS MATTER OF BIBLICAL SEPARATION, NEXT TIME.

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