Seems to me to be some sort of intermingling of flock behavior, bondage and religion which tend to override logic.

Which Nazarene preacher are you talking about?  Yours, or theirs?

Everyone's Jesus is different, after all.  Their Jesus probably wouldn't agree with your Jesus, if they were physical people who could meet in person.

Azgardi

I don't think I like their Jesus! He carries a big gun! And shoots people! 

Hi Darryl Tessier,

I think that is a fair analysis.  Biblical even, when one remembers 1 Samuel 16:  7.

Grace and peace to you.

John

I try not to judge other people or their understanding of their relationship with God and the world.  However, in my opinion there are many things about American style Christian fundamentalism that are not very Christian.

And in their opinion, your beliefs are not very Christian, either.

And you both have scripture to back up your points.

This is one of the obvious and fortunate flaws of Christianity and the bible, in that it can be used to justify multiple positions on a wide range of topics.  All you have to do, is choose the parts you agree with, and say that these verses somehow supercede or otherwise trump the verses that disagree, and there are lots of ways to do that, including appealing to older versions and translations, claiming that meanings of words have changed, claiming that the NT supercedes the OT, claiming that words attributed to Jesus carry the most weight, etc.  Many here know more justifications for cherry picking bible verses than I do, though I've heard a lot of them.

The Bible tells us that no man can serve two masters. Fundamentalists choose to worship dogma/ conservative political ideology and not JESUS.

I think the behavior / attitude you are describing would more qualify as being hypocritical rather than heretical.

Hi jon71,

So, do I just accept this as authoritative or can the assertion be challenged?

To be fair your post is sloppy.  I know we are talking about American Style Christian Fundamentalists and that such individuals overwhelmingly lean towards the Republican party.  A Fundamentalist is not automatically "conservative" they are automatically extreme in their worldview.

So lets go back and address your statement.  Christian Fundamentalists do not, as a fact, worship dogma or conservative political ideology.  The claim that they do is either you making a mistake which you can correct or it is you baring false witness.

Christian Fundamentalists worship Jesus not dogma and not political ideology.

The problem then is not the what of worship but the how of worship and I submit that this is true universally of Fundamentalists no matter what it is that they are fundamentalist about.

Dogma becomes the how.  It places binders/fetters on faith and limit it.  True faith, from a fundamentalist perspective, is only those beliefs which fall into a narrowly proscribed range.

I have yet to see any research showing why Christian Fundamentalists tend to favour Republican Political ideology.  By looking at the founding ideologies of the Republican Party and Christian Fundamentalism I can see possible links.

For example, Republicans historically favour classical liberalism in that classical liberalism limited the reach of government and supported the liberty of individuals particularly the freedoms of religion, speech, assembly and the press.  They also championed a free-market.  Republicans have also traditionally supported paleoconservatism which favours tradition, limited government, anti-colonialism and anti-federalism.  Republicans have also historically embraced progressivism though it wouold be interesting to see if it still actually belongs within the contemporary Republican paradigm.

Historically Christian Fundamentalists are a reaction to modernism and nothing among the distinctives of Christian Fundamentalism translates directly to the political ideology of the Republican Party.

I suspect that affiliation with the Republican Party precedes the historical formation of Christian Fundamentalism in which case it is the inherent political ideology which shapes the way the Bible is read and the believer responds.  In essence Christians who voted Republican tended to adhere to the principles of Christian Fundamentalism and where Christian Fundamentalism is silent the Republican ideology filled the silence.

Again, dogma and political ideology are not worshipped.  The are formative, the lenses through which many Christian Fundamentalists see the world.

Not really all that different from how anybody else views the world through lenses of their own.  Except for the fact that Republicans and Christian Fundamentalists appear not to accept that the prescription for their particular lenses is not a one size fits all thing.

I disagree with Christian Fundamentalism,' emphasis on inerrancy and literalism.  I am sympathetic to their views of the Virgin Birth, Substitutionary Atonement and the bodily resurrection and physical return of Jesus.

That doesn't mean that they are Heretics.  It means that we disagree.

Grace and peace to you.

John

Heresy is just being at odds with what is accepted or being opposed to the orthodox (unorthodox), having a controversial opinion...

It was once heresy to think the world was round...

Part of Peter of Bruys heresy was teaching that the epistles were the work of men. Marguerite Porete's heresy was, in part the taboo that she wrote in Old French rather than in Latin. Sheesh, Galileo and  Joan of Arc.... Michael Servetus for rejecting the idea of predestination and the idea that God condemned souls to Hell regardless of worth or merit. He believed God condemns no one who does not condemn themselves through thought, word or deed. BTW it was not just Roman Catholics the doing killing (look up Servetus) Martin Luther for opposing "indulgences", the sale of "time out" slips from purgatory....

Pomponio Algerio, a student in his 20's, got boiled in oil for saying:

"I say that the Church deviates from the truth in so far as it says that a man could not do anything in any way good on his own, since nothing praiseworthy can proceed from our corrupt infected nature except to the extent that the lord God gives us his grace."

Rather than attempt to understand or concede, pious authorities decide someone is not only incorrect, but that their ideas are fundamentally evil.

Masturbation, divorce, extramarital sex.... mortal sins...

Homosexuality a gift from God....

The heresy of one age becomes the orthodoxy of the next. --- Helen Keller

I think it is a way of using religion that Jesus stood against. In fact I have no doubt, that they very people Jesus embraced, they would reject, and those that Jesus stood against (religious and political authorities) they raise up and praise.