Fundamentally Reformed Former independent fundamental Baptist discusses errors & weird traits of extreme fundamentalism, IFBx, KJV-only debate, contemporary Christian music [CCM], Calvinism/Covenant Theology, & the Bible, while promoting Christian unity & magnifying grace. Statistics Unique Visitors: Total Unique Visitors: Outgoing: Total Outgoing: 0 7538 5 7345

Articles from Fundamentally Reformed

Helen Roseveare: Her Suffering & Her Challenge 2007-07-20 08:48:49 I posted the following post on Kingdom Surge, and thought it would work well to post it here as well. In her book Faithful Women and Their Extraordinary GodNoel Piper presents a biographical sketch of the life of Helen Roseveare, missionary to the Congo for over 20 years. The above video clip is a 4 minute condensed version of Helen’s life presented by Noel (HT: Desiring God’s Blog). Helen is now 82, and still travels around speaking about the great need for missions. She will be speaking at the 2007 Desiring God National Conference: “Stand: A Call for the Endurance of the Saints“. Helen Roseveare’s Suffering On the heels of Zioneer’s post The Blood of the Martyrs, it is perhaps fitting that we pause and reflect on one of the many modern day missionaries who faced severe suffering for the sake of Christ and His Kingdom. Helen upon graduating from medical school, took her promising future and went to serve in one of the poorest and most remote places ... Amp

Bobspotted Blogroll: July 18, 2007 2007-07-18 11:54:42 Many of you might not remember the last time you saw a Bobspotted Blogroll post. The last time I did one was in March! Technological advancements have made me lazy in this regard. If you look left, you will notice “Bob’s Blog Finds” towards the top on the sidebar. If you haven’t paid attention to that before, you really should. Many times you may come to this blog and see no updates. If you check out Bob’s Blog Finds, however, you may see that I’ve been busy enjoying other people’s excellent blogs. And if you are interested, you can read what I’ve been reading. Better yet, you can subscribe to a feed of all the blogposts I enjoy on a regular basis. You could even do what I do, and add that feed to the side of your blog (kind of like I do with Thirsty Theologian’s blog finds, see my left sidebar, further down). For instructions on how to make your own “blog finds”, you can start with this post. So with such wonde ...

Morality, Music and the Bible 2007-07-16 15:33:31 Imagine if you will an Indonesian bushman we will call Fred. Fred has heard a strange message about Jesus and forgiveness of sin. An islander from a different tribe testified of the power of God being greater than that of the spirits, and he gave Fred a copy of the Bible that he had received from some foreign missionaries. Fred takes the Scripture portion home with him, as he journeys back to his home tribe. There isolated from almost any foreign influences, he comes to believe in the Jesus of the Bible, and a small band of believers emerges. Now Fred has a New Testament with the Psalms. And in the Psalms, he finds numerous exhortations to sing to the Lord, and to sing a new song. So he and his fellow believing tribesman pick up their native instruments and start composing songs for their newfound Savior. There is one problem with this story, though. Fred and his friends are singing songs with the same instrumentation and the same cultural sound as those they used to sing before ...

Responding to Error: A Comparison Study between Fundamentalism and Hyperfundamentalism 2007-07-13 14:33:03 Recently, I was startled by a sharp contrast over how 2 different men responded to error. These two responses provide a comparison study which illustrates just why fundamentalism (IFB) and hyperfundamentalism (IFBx) should be distinguished. Definitions Before we move to the study, we should pause and provide some definitions for those who may be unfamiliar with the independent Baptist fundamentalist movement. Fundamentalism describes the position of adhering to the fundamentals of the faith and also being willing to separate over these fundamentals. For independent Baptists, such separation usually extends to believers who cooperate with those who deny one or more of the fundamentals. And the movement dictates how such separation looks and around which personalities it centers. Hyperfundamentalists, also known as IFBx, elevate cultural standards to the level of doctrine, and separate accordingly. Many leaders in this group exert an inordinate control over the lives of their follow ... Error

Jesus’ Demands — Fear Him Who Can Destroy Both Soul And Body in Hell (#11) 2007-07-11 14:13:50 Note: these are devotional posts based on John Piper’s new book What Jesus Demands from the World. This post is number 11, because I started the series a while ago. If you like this post, check out the other posts in the series. But most importantly get the book (it’s also available to read online)! Now, on the heels of demand #10 Rejoice and Leap for Joy, comes a more startling and sobering demand… Demand #11 — Fear Him Who Can Destroy Both Soul And Body in Hell And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28) But as for these enemies of mine, who did not want me to reign over them, bring them here and slaughter them before me. (Luke 19:27) Then he will say to those on his left, “depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” . . . And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into etern ...

The Surge Is On 2007-07-09 15:09:49 It’s official! Today marks the launch of Kingdom Surge, a new team blog devoted to missions. This project will aim to harness some of the excitement and energy spent in the Christian blogosphere and direct it into thinking about and aiding the cause of missions, particularly to the unreached people groups. The team (with the exception of myself) are all involved with missions. I consider some of them to be experts in missiology, and I know they all have much to say which can help motivate and equip others for missions to the unreached. So, head on over and check out our first post. Consider linking to this blogging enterprise, and then continue to stop by as the missions discussion unfolds. See you there! NOTE:  Now is your chance to leave the first comment on Kingdom Surge.  Years from now, you will look back and count that an honor! ...

With One Voice by Alex & Marni Chediak 2007-07-02 10:39:30 I’ll get right to it. With One Voice: Singleness, Dating and Marriage to the Glory of God by Alex & Marni Chediak is one of the best books I’ve read in a while. Aside from skillful wordsmithing and intuitive organization, the book hits a home run when it comes to addressing the topic at hand. There are not too many books out there which deal with how to find a mate, yet are written from a wholly Christian and Biblical perspective. And even then, some of the books which qualify as Biblical and Christian major on a specific dating (or anti-dating) method to the detriment of a well-rounded Christian philosophy of dating in general. This book provides just that: a distinctly Christian approach to the philosophy of singleness, dating, and marriage. Alex Chediak, with the help of his wife Marni, begins the book by detailing the pervasive cultural changes which influence our view of dating. He shows how a changing job market has spread out families, and focused on the value of ... Amp

Bible, the Sole Authority? 2007-06-30 08:06:26 “The Bible is our sole authority for faith and practice.” I bet you have never heard that line before. Oh wait, if you are Baptist, you probably have. Sadly, while many affirm this in principle, in practice they deny it. Tradition or culture often dictate a particular application of Bible principle. In the end, this application becomes Bible teaching and dogma. Alcohol, movies, pants on women, specific styles of music, specific translations of the Bible — the list of topics on which Scripture is “steered by tradition” could go on and on. To compound this, doctrinal positions, where the Bible seems to allow for competing yet Biblically faithful interpretations, again morph into “its just plain Bible”. So if one doesn’t agree with a pre-trib rapture position, for example, he is rejecting the Bible; yet the facts of the matter stand differently. The one who denies a pre-trib rapture, only denies it on the basis of another Biblical posi ...

With Friends Like These 2007-06-29 09:37:51 One of the joys of blogging, is interaction with many new acquaintances. Virtual community, web camaraderie, electronic friendships — these are achieved in a very real sense. It is fun to meet new people as you gain readers, interact with comments, and interact on other blogs as well. In part, this is what makes blogging, blogging. We could all just publish web pages with tons of content. But without the interaction, the appeal of blogging would wane. Of course, part of the interaction and the thrill of blogging, is recognition from blog-peers, and the joy of being linked to. This along with a constant following of your blog stats (numbers of hits and page views), tend to encourage bloggers to be narcissistic and egotistical, and present a very real danger to a Christian blogger. Then again, a wider readership is part of the goal of blogs and even more so with theology blogs. With these thoughts in mind, I want to publicly recognize the blogs that link to me. I appreciate ...

10 Points on the Music Issue 2007-06-28 07:52:25 My sporadic blogging of late has led me to ignore several outstanding posts on my favorite blogs. My friend Nathan Pitchford, earlier this month, put together an excellent piece on the ever controversial music issue. His post is entitled “10 Observations Against the Style-Specific Position on Music in Worship“. Let me copy his 10 Observations here and encourage you all to read the fuller discussion of these points along with Scriptural defense over at his blog. You will find the comments provide an excellent defense of the post. There is some charitable back-and-forth over this issue that many will find profitable. So here are Nathan’s 10 observations: God commands that we use music in worship. It is commanded or exemplified that in doing so, we ought to use every available instrument. It is commanded or exemplified that we ought to do so with the utmost emotional intensity. It is commanded or exemplified that we ought to do so with the expression of every concei ...

Desiring God Book Sale 2007-06-26 20:34:23 I thought you all should know that Desiring God is having a special book sale for 2 days only. Tomorrow, June 27th through the 28th, every book at desiringgod.org will be priced at the incredibly low price of $5! Just go to Desiring God’s online store to take advantage of this deal. Also, note it is an online deal only. This is a great time to check out what Desiring God offers. Pick up one of Piper’s biography books, or order What Jesus Demands from the World. Purchase the recent ECPA Gold Medallion winning Don’t Waste Your Life. Or you can go for Piper’s earlier books, Let the Nations Be Glad and Desiring God. There are many more titles, so take advantage of the sale!                    ...

Amazing Grace and a Contest 2007-06-25 16:59:52 I haven’t yet featured this excellent resource on the study of Reformation Theology. Amazing Grace: The History and Theology of Calvinism is a first-class video production and a resource second to none. I have not yet actually purchased and viewed it, but I have enjoyed the several video clips of it that are available online. We plan on purchasing it sometime, and asking some of our relatives who are somewhat biased against Calvinism, to at least watch this DVD presentation. The reason I am bringing this up now is that there is an opportunity to win a free copy of this DVD. Rhett Kelly has a contest running over at his blog, and promises to award the winner a free copy. I didn’t win, but perhaps one of my readers will. So go over and check it out. Also, Rhett made me aware of a special sale price of 14.95 for the DVD through the NiceneCouncil.Com. This price is so good that it beats Monergism.Com’s longstanding sale price of 17.95! The DVD usually retails for $ ...

Calvinism ? Categorized Scripture List 2007-06-24 16:52:59 categorized Scripture list of the doctrines of grace recently a few weeks back.  It is the best such list I have found. It lists the 5 points of Calvinism along with some sub-points and brief explanatory notes, then it merely cites Scriptural references which support each of the points.  Although the list is simple, being primarily Scripture references, it is quite thorough.  It was designed specifically for those unfamiliar with Calvinism, yet it will prove a handy reference tool for those who from time to time still debate the issue with non-Calvinist friends. Nathan’s posting on his blog includes hyperlinks to all the verse references; so you can easily click on most of the reference and read them online.  He also will kindly email you a copy of the list with all the verses typed out in full.  Monergism.com has also posted the full version of the list, if you prefer. This list is definitely worth checking out, even for you non-Calvinists.  It clearly lays out the abundant Scri ...

The Kingdom is Coming 2007-06-24 08:08:57 ...

Powerful Preaching? ? A Case Study 2007-06-19 17:45:57 One of my favorite posts on this blog, was one I did in March 2006 on fundamentalist preaching: Stomping Toes and Stomping Souls: The Moralistic Bent to Fundamentalist Preaching. The title might overstate my case a little, but the problem is all too real. Recently, someone posted a smart comment on that post, lamenting that I hadn’t listened to the fundamentalist sermons I heard in college. That is not the first negative comment I’ve received from that post. It is quite polarizing, in part, I believe, due to the subject matter. Anytime someone attempts to criticize preaching or preachers, he is sure to reap righteous indignation. To an extent, this is admirable. I may not have come across as humble enough in my first critique on this subject. I do hold strongly to my opinion on this subject, as I believe much damage is being done in the name of “powerful preaching”. In this post, I hope to provide a case study to show what exactly I mean by “moralism& ...