In Fundamentalists have a problem with Jesus, Mark Wingfield and Mitch Randall write, “They [i.e., the Fundamentalists] have remade Jesus in their own political image. They have replaced Jesus of Nazareth with a Jesus of American nationalism...” I do not doubt this is an apt description of some fundamentalists. The stone-casters might look within to find that “We have remade Jesus in our own political image. We have replaced Jesus of Nazareth with a Jesus of the Liberal imagination.” Just ask them to tell you about their Jesus and compare that to the complete picture presented in the Bible.
“The root problem with fundamentalist theology is a disdain for the red letters of the Bible,” says Winfield and Randall. As stated, this reflects their own liberal view that discounts the inspiration and verity of the entire Bible. Yes, some (many?) fundamentalists pick and choose what they like. So do conservatives, evangelicals, neo-evangelicals, moderates, progressives, and liberals. Perhaps the great sin of fundamentalists is that they claim to believe the entire Bible while not being too keen on the hard parts. On the other hand, the great sin of the liberals is not even claiming to believe the entire Bible, neither relying on it as our only rule of faith and practice. I trust a fundamentalist more. At least I can check out his or her claims against the Bible itself. Many liberals believe in the Jesus imagined in their own minds. It is hard to investigate their imagination.
Let’s search the Scriptures. If what we have been taught is so, then believe and practice it. If what we have been taught is not so, chunk it while searching the Scriptures more to find out what is so. Believe and practice according to the light we have, and pray for more light. Some fundamentalists and liberals blather on as if they have arrived. Others of us figure we are on a journey. Arrival is future. The destination will not be completed in this life. Nevertheless, be on the journey.
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