Blog on the Lillypad
Thursday, December 11, 2003
 | A Quick Guide for New Comers
I see that I have been linked by http://www.benedictionblogson.com/, which appears to be a commentary blog on religious blogs of all denominations. Also, A kind review and a link from http://martinrothonline.com/ has sent several readers my way. So if you’ve come from either site, you’re probably too mainstream to comprehend the intricacies of the IFB-KJVO movement. Here are some basics. |
Christian Fundamentalism at one time was interdenominational. At its best, it was a religious movement that stipulated that the Bible is the sole authority of the Christian faith, so even though people might disagree on some points of interpretation, every issue must be taken to the Scripture. Therefore, diligent study of the Bible and ongoing research to comprehend the ancient languages and their context was the purpose of all theology and Christian practice. At its worst, Christian Fundamentalism has always been a refuge for those who gather up odds and ends of overlooked verses and minor texts and spring ridiculous notions on unsuspecting people. But because of the overall emphasis on thorough study, the kooks were kept in check in the first few decades of the movement, if not eliminated.
Over time, as the authority of Scripture has been more pervasively challenged and mainstream denominations have tried to encompass more conservative members, Christian Fundamentalism has become almost entirely Independent Baptist. Another reason for this shift is that the Fundamental Baptists themselves have insisted upon a severe and rigid doctrine of separation from anybody who has fellowship with those who are viewed as “compromisers”. Thus the Fundamentalists pushed out those of similar sentiment because they would not leave their denominations. Methodists and Presbyterians were harried by arguments of separation and so they left Fundamentalism. The Pentecostals stuck around in the movement a little longer, but the extremes of certain subsets of Pentecostalism (the Oral Roberts visions, etc) got to be too goofy in their brand of Fundamentalist kookiness, so all Pentecostals were eventually were pushed out.
| Eventually, the emphasis on separation led to an emphasis on independence. Independent Baptists view the autonomy of the local church as the Scriptural method of church government (in spite of the fact that Paul acknowledges himself as being an authority over many churches). And this has led to a dangerous isolationism as well as an incredible authoritarianism that makes the Independent Baptist pastor a pope in his own church. |  |
About 25 years ago, just as the “Baptist-Bride” nonsense was dying down (the belief that the Bride of Christ is made up of Baptists), a notion that the King James version of the Bible is a perfect, inspired translation moved in to fill the stupidity vacuum. The idea caught on slowly at first, for a generation of educated men had to be pushed out by a new generation of dunderheads.
| At the same time, the Jack Hyles style of church practice was catching on. Jack Hyles headed up a movement that teaches that making a church grow in numbers is the primary work and duty of the Christian. He also taught a strict and rigid legalism colored by gross misogyny. The combination of strict legalism, church growth, and the minimizing of Scripture as a convenient tool designed for English speaking people (no longer requiring diligent and regular study) has created the IFB-KJVO movement. It stands for “Independent Fundamental Baptist – King James Version Only”. |  |
The IFB-KJVO movement hosts a plethora of corruption that remains un-addressed by its leadership. And when I say corruption, I mean the real thing: sodomizing of little boys, molestation of little girls, child abuse, wife abuse, rampant adultery, pornography, and violence. Not every church is guilty of these things, but the occurrence is far higher than even I had supposed until I started to research it. Reception to my writing about these abuses has been attacks upon my character, baseless accusations, and a silly defensiveness that points out the sins of other denominations (which, as you recall, were pushed away by Fundamentalists years ago because of their compromise). When I present Scripture to the IFB-KJVO preachers to rebut their foolishness, they resort to namecalling and mockery. So far they have failed to produce any Scripture to justify the rampant IFB-KJVO disobedience to the Scriptural demand for purity in the pulpit and purity in church leadership. Read this blog to get the details. Check the list of links to the right.
 | Currently, the watering hole for IFB and former IFB (and recovering from IFB) people is the Fighting Fundamentalist Forums web site, or FFF for short. Over there, people of all shades of Fundamentalism argue, and you can get a good snapshot of the gross ignorance of Scripture in those who most loudly declare the Bible to be the rule for faith and practice. I recommend that you check out the Hyles-Anderson forum to view the IFB-KJVO people in the greatest numbers. If you want to see more detail about the most vociferous posters, you can check out my Cast of Characters |
