Fundamentalism as the Key to Church Unity
A Doug Wilson quote from the recent Auburn Avenue Pastors’ Conference:
“The Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, are statements of faith that separate Christian from non-Christian. Did you see good old [anti-theist] Christopher Hitchens witnessing to that lady this last week? I’ve gotten to know Christopher pretty well and have really appreciated him. He was interviewed by a Unitarian lady minister. She was complaining in the interview,
‘Why do you always debate fundamentalists? Why do you debate the “true believers”? Why don’t you debate more liberal Christians, like myself, for instance?’
And Christopher Hitchens said, ‘Look, if you don’t believe that Jesus was God incarnate and that He died on the cross for our sins, and that He rose again from the dead, you are in no meaningful sense a Christian.’
(laughing) Go Christopher!
…The Westminster Confession does not divide Christian from non-Christian. The Apostles’ Creed divides Christian from non-Christian.”
Auburn Avenue 2010 Pastor’s Conference: The Necessity of the Reformation. Lectures available here.
January 10th, 2010 at 6:43 am
There are several different popular definitions of the word “fundamentalist’. In this sense i agree that fundamentalism is the key to church unity. But that is not what the general public believe “Christian fundamentalism” is. (Also I am slightly knocked off guard by the fact that Hitchins would say something like that. Guess I hadn’t been giving him enough credit.)
January 10th, 2010 at 9:10 am
Kelby
Yes, he does deal with that. One point he makes is that it is those who can cope with highbrow doctrinal nuances that are often the least likely to be able to “tell the difference between a boy and a girl”, but those who do get the obvious are also the most likely to believe that the New Jerusalem will descend out of the sky like the space shuttle. If forced to choose a side, he would choose the latter.