BJU, Fundamentalism, the Pharisees and More
This post will not make me popular in certain circles, but that is not my goal. Maybe it will spark some discussion and that I think would be (or at least could be) profitable. But I am writing it for the same reason I write most of my blogs, simply to process.
For those of you that do not already know this improbable fact about me, I graduated from Bob Jones University. For the subset of that group that has never heard of Bob Jones, it is an extremely conservative, independent, fundamental college that prides itself on the degree of separation it maintains from the rest of culture and society. Just to give you the highlights, while I was there interracial dating was prohibited and then suddenly allowed after Bob Jones III was interviewed by Larry King about it. Males and females were not allowed to touch the other sex even to straighten a tie or pat someone on the back. Girls could only wear pants if their job demanded it or their activity would be "more immodest" if they did not. Our skirts were to cover our knees, we were to wear hose at ALL times if we went outside our dorms, and we were to be in bed by 11 p.m. every night including weekends.
I struggled with these rules when I entered BJU as many people did because I had more freedom in high school than I did in college. I still think that the preponderance of rules does not grow healthy adults ready to enter the world and function alone...which actually brings me to the reason for this blog. It's been 7 years since I left the campus in Greenville, South Carolina and returned to Texas to start the rest of my life. In those 7 years I have not maintained much contact with the people I attended college with. I still speak to two of my roommates on a very regular basis, but beyond them I only intermittently interact with anyone from the school or that time period.
Apparently mistakenly, I assumed that while we had all hopefully maintained the core of our beliefs surely we had also grown into free-thinking adults who would analyze Scripture for ourselves and arrive at our own belief system apart from any kind of religious order or system. I have no problem with organized denominations or like-minded groups encouraging each other, but I do have an issue with blind faithfulness to fallible men and women. I can't adequately express my feelings about legalism-driven entities who teach people (by their actions, and sometimes even explicitly through their words) that your relationship with God is dependent on your behavior, that you can not be "right with God" if you do not fit their mold, or that the more dos and don'ts you get right the more "godly" you become.
As I have begun to hear from a few old friends here and there, I am saddened to find that some have not been able to leave this thinking behind. They have continued to revolve in circles where these beliefs are reinforced and cemented. While I am talking about this, though, let me stop to explain - there are some of the people I went to school with and was friends with that are still involved in the realm of uberconservatism and yet I still hold a great deal of respect for them. Let me explain the difference.
Some of these men and women grew up in ultra-conservative homes. They attended churches and schools throughout their lives that taught the same dogma. Bob Jones was simply one more step in the process. What was refreshing about these kids is that they were consistent in what they believed and how they lived it. I truly think their actions fall under the biblical dictate that every man should be persuaded in his own mind. Even more unusual than that is these were usually the ones who were less likely to condemn someone else for not believing or behaving the same way they chose to. I'm sure they still thought that those people were wrong, but they were consistent enough in their theology to believe all of Romans 14, including verse 10. These were the people who lived what they believed through and through.
The problem I have is with those who wear what they believe like a showy Christian t-shirt. They want people to watch them, to notice that they are different, to applaud them for it or at least persecute them for it because then they will gain the Kingdom of God. Where is Christ in these people? Do I think He joined in with the base behavior of the culture around him? NO. Do I think He alienated people by obnoxiously announcing what He believed at every opportunity or using His "separateness" as a wedge to prevent fellowship with other believers? NO. I believe He loved, He stated the truth in love, and He sacrificed continuously for relationships with sinners like me.
Would that God will tug at our hearts so that we never stop striving to be more like that.
For those of you that do not already know this improbable fact about me, I graduated from Bob Jones University. For the subset of that group that has never heard of Bob Jones, it is an extremely conservative, independent, fundamental college that prides itself on the degree of separation it maintains from the rest of culture and society. Just to give you the highlights, while I was there interracial dating was prohibited and then suddenly allowed after Bob Jones III was interviewed by Larry King about it. Males and females were not allowed to touch the other sex even to straighten a tie or pat someone on the back. Girls could only wear pants if their job demanded it or their activity would be "more immodest" if they did not. Our skirts were to cover our knees, we were to wear hose at ALL times if we went outside our dorms, and we were to be in bed by 11 p.m. every night including weekends.
I struggled with these rules when I entered BJU as many people did because I had more freedom in high school than I did in college. I still think that the preponderance of rules does not grow healthy adults ready to enter the world and function alone...which actually brings me to the reason for this blog. It's been 7 years since I left the campus in Greenville, South Carolina and returned to Texas to start the rest of my life. In those 7 years I have not maintained much contact with the people I attended college with. I still speak to two of my roommates on a very regular basis, but beyond them I only intermittently interact with anyone from the school or that time period.
Apparently mistakenly, I assumed that while we had all hopefully maintained the core of our beliefs surely we had also grown into free-thinking adults who would analyze Scripture for ourselves and arrive at our own belief system apart from any kind of religious order or system. I have no problem with organized denominations or like-minded groups encouraging each other, but I do have an issue with blind faithfulness to fallible men and women. I can't adequately express my feelings about legalism-driven entities who teach people (by their actions, and sometimes even explicitly through their words) that your relationship with God is dependent on your behavior, that you can not be "right with God" if you do not fit their mold, or that the more dos and don'ts you get right the more "godly" you become.
As I have begun to hear from a few old friends here and there, I am saddened to find that some have not been able to leave this thinking behind. They have continued to revolve in circles where these beliefs are reinforced and cemented. While I am talking about this, though, let me stop to explain - there are some of the people I went to school with and was friends with that are still involved in the realm of uberconservatism and yet I still hold a great deal of respect for them. Let me explain the difference.
Some of these men and women grew up in ultra-conservative homes. They attended churches and schools throughout their lives that taught the same dogma. Bob Jones was simply one more step in the process. What was refreshing about these kids is that they were consistent in what they believed and how they lived it. I truly think their actions fall under the biblical dictate that every man should be persuaded in his own mind. Even more unusual than that is these were usually the ones who were less likely to condemn someone else for not believing or behaving the same way they chose to. I'm sure they still thought that those people were wrong, but they were consistent enough in their theology to believe all of Romans 14, including verse 10. These were the people who lived what they believed through and through.
The problem I have is with those who wear what they believe like a showy Christian t-shirt. They want people to watch them, to notice that they are different, to applaud them for it or at least persecute them for it because then they will gain the Kingdom of God. Where is Christ in these people? Do I think He joined in with the base behavior of the culture around him? NO. Do I think He alienated people by obnoxiously announcing what He believed at every opportunity or using His "separateness" as a wedge to prevent fellowship with other believers? NO. I believe He loved, He stated the truth in love, and He sacrificed continuously for relationships with sinners like me.
Would that God will tug at our hearts so that we never stop striving to be more like that.
well done melis. :)
ReplyDeletei am pleased to be one of the two that you stay in contact with!
Hello Melissa,
ReplyDeleteI am sorry you've had such a bad experience with regards to fundamentalism, but I do not think it is fair to associate that experience with all of fundamentalism. There are those fundamentalists who are not seeking to be pharisees, but just seeking to live a holy life and follow the Lord as closely as possible. They aren't doing this to try to merit favor with God (as the pharisees did) or to look holy in the eyes of men (as the pharisees did) but only because they love the Lord and want to please Him. In addition, these same folk desire to spur their fellow brothers and sisters on in the same way.
We need to be careful how we speak on this subject, otherwise, we end up doing the same thing we accuse others of - "judging"
This is not meant to be "confrontational." So, please do not count me as an enemy. Just a concerned brother in Christ.
If you want to respond to what I wrote, you can at gregory.cooper@lmco.com. I don't really check my gmail account :)
In Christ,
Gregory Cooper