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Friday, August 27, 2010

Pick A Fundamental, Any Fundamental

Posted by Bird @ 8:52 pm CDT
Filed under: General

Back in the day, about 100 years ago or more, liberal Protestant theology was all the rage (or at least gaining in popularity). As a result a group of conservative Protestant clergymen published a truckload of essays that are collectively known as The Fundamentals. From that fertilized egg, the modern fundamentalist movement hatched. (And depending on your point of view, the resulting bird is either a chicken or an eagle.)

Being a center-right guy myself (though not a fundamentalist), I thought it would be fun to ~~start another world-conquering, King James-based movement~~ kick around some ideas of what you all think are the fundamentals of the Christian faith.

Here's the way it works, without thinking too much about it, and without looking up your proposed position in Wikipedia, leave a comment detailing your "fundamental" and why you think that point of theology or doctrine is essential to authentic, orthodox Christianity. (You'll get bonus points if you have Scripture to bolster your position. Unless of course your position is something like, Church Tradition Trumps Scripture Every Single Time.) This isn't an attempt to start a flame war, and there won't be any getting up in anyone's face (at least not on my side of things). In short, be nice.

So, I'll start:

My fundamental is baptism. It's essential because a) we're commanded to do it (along with repentance) (Acts 2:38), b) JESUS linked it closely to salvation (Mark 16:16, etc.), c) inasmuch as it is an "appeal to God for a good conscience" it "now saves you" (1 Peter 3:21), d) there is no such thing as a non-baptized Christian in the New Testament.*

That's it. That's my fundamental. It's not what I think to be the primary fundamental of the faith, but I do consider baptism to be essential to an authentically lived Christian life.

Now, what's yours?

*Update -- Except for the thief on the cross.

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Comments on "Pick A Fundamental, Any Fundamental":

1. Jared - 08/27/2010 10:43 pm CDT

there is no such thing as a non-baptized Christian in the New Testament

You mean besides the repentant insurrectionist crucified next to Jesus? ;-)

2. Bill - 08/27/2010 11:04 pm CDT

The resurrection.

3. Bird - 08/27/2010 11:18 pm CDT

You mean besides the repentant insurrectionist crucified next to Jesus? ;-)

Oh you had to bring that up.

I can't wait to talk to that guy in Heaven one day to see what he thinks about being Christianity's universal loophole. :-)

4. Bird - 08/27/2010 11:22 pm CDT

And to weasel my way out of that inconsistency, I'll remind you, Rodrigo, that "the disciples were first called Christians at Antioch." :-)

5. Jared - 08/27/2010 11:48 pm CDT

Well, he's not the universal loophole. Just the loophole to the "every Christian was baptized" rule.

I agree with you, of course, that baptism is a commandment and virtually inextricable from receiving salvation.

6. Alex Costa - 08/28/2010 12:13 am CDT

He's also a loophole non-Lordship people. Even though he really shouldn't be one.

7. Bird - 08/28/2010 8:40 am CDT

Just the loophole to the "every Christian was baptized" rule.

Very true, of course. I think without the example of the thief on the cross you'd have those who would doubt the validity (or efficacy) of death bed conversions, thinking that baptism was necessary for salvation.

8. Jared - 08/28/2010 9:29 am CDT

Yeah, def.
When I think of the thief on the cross I think of the parable of the late-hired workers who got paid as much as those who'd worked all day.

9. Brian in Fresno - 08/28/2010 12:33 pm CDT

My fundamentals are enumerated in the Nicene Creed. Is this cheating?

10. Bird - 08/28/2010 12:41 pm CDT

Very succinct, BiF. Not cheating at all. :-)

11. norma j hill - 08/28/2010 1:45 pm CDT

God loves me.

(Is that too simple?)

12. nhe - 08/28/2010 1:46 pm CDT

My fundamentals are enumerated in the U2 Catalog. Is this heresy?

13. Bird - 08/28/2010 1:53 pm CDT

My fundamentals are enumerated in the U2 Catalog

You have the wisdom of Solomon, my brother.

14. Manders - 08/28/2010 2:46 pm CDT

Justification by faith alone through grace alone. I will punch people in the face over this one if necessary.

15. Bobbi - 08/28/2010 4:48 pm CDT

Apostle's Creed and the Bible is the Word of God.

16. Fred - 08/28/2010 7:11 pm CDT

Jesus is Lord,and the resurrection.

17. James Abrahams - 09/01/2010 5:27 am CDT

Jesus is Lord, and the ressurection

and "Thou shalt not take the Lord's name in vain by attaching copyright"

18. Andy - 09/01/2010 9:03 am CDT

Trust the one whom is sent:

Jesus Christ for justification/salvation
The Holy Spirit for sanctification.

19. Shrode - 09/01/2010 12:33 pm CDT

My list's too long. :-)

Nature of God
Nature of Jesus
Nature of Man
Fact of Sin.
God's plan for salvation
Christ's incarnation, death as substionary atonement, and his resurrection
The Bible as the ultimate and final authority this side of heaven.

There's probably more. :-) But I don't include baptism in there, because of this: If you are wrong about Baptism, you can still be in heaven.
Be wrong about one of the above, though I know one can make arguments about specifics, you probably aren't saved.

You and I may be thinking in different categories though. In terms of doctrine, I don't see Baptism as a fundamental.

But in the normal practice of the Christian life, I think I agree with you.

So does that mean that a list of fundamentals in "orthopraxy" would be different than a list of fundamentals in "orthodoxy"?

20. Shrode - 09/01/2010 12:39 pm CDT

Woops, I forgot about this sentence you wrote.
It's not what I think to be the primary fundamental of the faith, but I do consider baptism to be essential to an authentically lived Christian life.

In that case, I think we're on the same page. But you asked US about doctrine and then you gave an answer about practice. No fair. You switched categories dude. ;-) (Now aren't you glad I've never been to a moot. You guys would have thrown me out before you finished your first O'Doul's.)

21. Bill - 09/01/2010 11:45 pm CDT

Now aren't you glad I've never been to a moot.

No. A thousand times, no.

You guys would have thrown me out before you finished your first O'Doul's.

Not likely. Our moots are normally rife with heresy (all resolved back to orthodoxy before we hit IHOP at 4:00am).

Weren't we supposed to SA-Moot this summer?

22. Shrode - 09/02/2010 10:06 am CDT

Yes, bill we were. What happened to that? I'm sorry if I dropped the ball.

23. Bill - 09/02/2010 10:31 am CDT

Nah, it wasn't you. I've been having trouble keeping my head above water with all the busyness this summer, and we haven't made it to SA yet.

24. salguod - 09/04/2010 2:34 pm CDT

Maybe 7-8 years ago, as a good CoC'er, baptism would have been #1 on my list. Not now. I'm now convinced that a genuine faith in Jesus as Lord is the minimum needed. Of course, that faith I think will lead to baptism and any number of other things folks label as 'fundamental'. But faith in the lordship of Jesus is where it starts.

Interestingly, that sort of faith was all the thief had, right?

As an aside, looking at how Romans 6 ties baptism to the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus, the thief on the cross couldn't have had a Christian baptism because Christ hadn't died yet, let alone be buried and rise again.

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