Fundamentalist Mindset

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Contarini said:
Your use of the term makes no sense.

Indeed, I’m not sure what you are saying.

Edwin
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My link was to the REAL scientists pages (instead of pseudoscience)

fundamentalism can be found among atheistic worldview
in spite of clear scientific evidence they keep on lying about creation
They know what really happens in genetics and inside a living cell
yet they insist believing on “alchemists” like Darvin

Rom 1:20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made. His eternal power also and divinity: so that they are inexcusable.
Rom 1:21 Because that, when they knew God, they have not glorified him as God or given thanks: but became vain in their thoughts. And their foolish heart was darkened.
Rom 1:22 For, professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.
 
JustaServant said:
For me, the more I read the Bible, the less of a fundamentalist I became. The dispensationalist interpretation made no sense. Much of what I read in “commentaries” simply contained a world view that was opposite of what I was reading. Like many revisionists, they simply did not understand the Biblical world, Old or New Testament.
Another aspect was seeing the result of thier “born again” philosophy simply not playing out in reality.
When faced with that, fundamentalists simply slip into denial. That’s called cognitive dissonance, acting differently than who you are. It creates anxiety, tension and problems in functioning in society.
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I just looked up cognitive dissonance on the internet. Pretty interesting reading. It also shows how much you can mess with someone’s mind, and how playing with people’s belief is dangerous. However, I would also say being overly zealous in attempting to persuade someone their beliefs are flawed could equally be dangerous.
 
JustaServant said:
For me, the more I read the Bible, the less of a fundamentalist I became. The dispensationalist interpretation made no sense. Much of what I read in “commentaries” simply contained a world view that was opposite of what I was reading. Like many revisionists, they simply did not understand the Biblical world, Old or New Testament.
Another aspect was seeing the result of thier “born again” philosophy simply not playing out in reality.
When faced with that, fundamentalists simply slip into denial. That’s called cognitive dissonance, acting differently than who you are. It creates anxiety, tension and problems in functioning in society.
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You must understand that because a catholic takes a literal position on certain prime matters of sacred scripture, it does not mean he accepts all things literally. The literal interpretations one takes as a catholic must not conflict with magestrium teachings. A catholic embracing a literal Genesis for example is not automatically some soap box Fundamentalist. Many including myself defend catholic doctrines with scripture. The ALL fundamentalist mindset comes from reading rotely and disregarding context, AND most importantly looking at tradition as some kind of non existent happening.
 
johnnyjones said:
The flood or Genesis is not disproved in the NT.
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It’s not “proven,” either. Sure, the six days of creation or the Flood may have been mentioned in the New Testament. That does not, however, mean they happened exactly as Scripture describes them.
It can not be shown that Jesus is making a correction by saying the flood didn’t happen or Genesis was just a story you could understand about origins.
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It can equally not be shown that Jesus was treating them as actual, historical events.

Further, since I don’t believe the Flood was global or that the six days of creation were 24-hour Earth days, I can safely conclude that Jesus was using these Old Testament accounts to teach us the theological truths concerning our origins.
The reason “the parables of Jesus” are separated by calling them just that, is because they are fictional stories to explain a point,
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Which is exactly what I was explaining to jericho. But how do you go from me explaining that the parables were fictional stories to me claiming Genesis is merely a parable?
while as the rest of the NT is considered actual events, otherwise you wouldn’t have to separate them by calling them the parables.
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I agree.
Yes a parable is a story
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Exactly my point. 👍
but Noahs Ark & Genesis are not categorized as one of them in the NT. That would be an inference.
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And that means you’re making both a bad and an illogical inference based on what I wrote.

Jericho: “God doesn’t tell stories.”
Me: “Yes, He does. Jesus told parables, didn’t He? What were the parables? Fictional stories used to convey truth about God and Heaven.”

Please explain to me how my response implies or infers that Genesis is a parable.
The church does allow you to believe the flood and Genesis are allegories which is a choice issue and not a definite parable (story) from the NT.
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You think I don’t understand that? I never claimed, implied, or inferred that the creation accounts or the flood narrative are parables.
 
minkymurph said:
I just looked up cognitive dissonance on the internet. Pretty interesting reading. It also shows how much you can mess with someone’s mind, and how playing with people’s belief is dangerous. However, I would also say being overly zealous in attempting to persuade someone their beliefs are flawed could equally be dangerous.
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Isn’t that what election year is all about?
😉
 
minkymurph said:
I just looked up cognitive dissonance on the internet. Pretty interesting reading. It also shows how much you can mess with someone’s mind, and how playing with people’s belief is dangerous. However, I would also say being overly zealous in attempting to persuade someone their beliefs are flawed could equally be dangerous.
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Most people I met in my fundy days WANTED to be convinced. The tangible benefit is emotional, not intellectual or spiritual. They walk through the doors with preconcieved notions they want verified. That’s why its easy to get them to the altar to get “saved” and then back to the altar the following week to “get right with God”.
If they do not fit into the cookie-cutter, “Father knows Best” fantasy world of what Christianity looks like to them, they pretend. I knew a preacher once whose favorite pulpit saying was “fake it till you make it”.
So they “fake it”, and find very quickly they cannot be two different people.
 
JustaServant said:
Most people I met in my fundy days WANTED to be convinced. The tangible benefit is emotional, not intellectual or spiritual. They walk through the doors with preconcieved notions they want verified. That’s why its easy to get them to the altar to get “saved” and then back to the altar the following week to “get right with God”.
If they do not fit into the cookie-cutter, “Father knows Best” fantasy world of what Christianity looks like to them, they pretend. I knew a preacher once whose favorite pulpit saying was “fake it till you make it”.
So they “fake it”, and find very quickly they cannot be two different people.
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I found the same thing in JW’s. While they’re not strictly fundamentalist, they have the same approach and mindset. There are so many people who ‘fake it,’ pretending to be happy when in fact they are desperately unhappy. Outwardly professing they accept everything that is said when inwardly they have doubts. Feeling they don’t fit the ‘cookie cutter’ and thinking everyone else does, so it must be them, when in fact so many others feel the same way but can’t tell anyone. One thing I found really sad in the JW’s not many people make real friends, because making a real friend is too high a risk as it involves telling someone what you really think and feel, and letting others see you as you really are.
 
minkymurph said:
I found the same thing in JW’s. While they’re not strictly fundamentalist, they have the same approach and mindset.
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Well, they’re “heretical fundamentalists”!

But “fake it till you make it” actually strikes me as a very orthodox and Catholic principle. It’s very Aristotelian, and contrary to the basic error of Protestantism, which is to think that being so precedes doing as to be unaffected by doing. In other words, traditional Protestantism (and fundamentalism) teaches that if you do the actions without being spontaneously motivated to do so by an interior transformation you are simply a hypocrite.

When fundamentalist preachers say “fake it till you make it,” they are conforming to reality and compromising their own erroneous principles.

Edwin
 
Contarini said:
Well, they’re “heretical fundamentalists”!

But “fake it till you make it” actually strikes me as a very orthodox and Catholic principle. It’s very Aristotelian, and contrary to the basic error of Protestantism, which is to think that being so precedes doing as to be unaffected by doing. In other words, traditional Protestantism (and fundamentalism) teaches that if you do the actions without being spontaneously motivated to do so by an interior transformation you are simply a hypocrite.

When fundamentalist preachers say “fake it till you make it,” they are conforming to reality and compromising their own erroneous principles.

Edwin
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Okay professor, ya lost me.😃
No matter how much I fake being a gorilla, the San Diego zoo will not admit me.
My essence of being, my DNA will remain human no how many bananas I eat. No matter how hard I pretend to be holy, to have all the spiritual answers, and to “fit in with those who do” I am still hopelessly human and flawed. “Pretending” and lying to oneself does not acheve the same result as accepting who I am and relying on God to change me.
You totally lost me with how that is a Catholic/Orthodox concept.
One of the reasons I returned to the Catholic Church was to escape the fake world of fundamentalism and re-enter reality.
 
Contarini said:
Well, they’re “heretical fundamentalists”!

But “fake it till you make it” actually strikes me as a very orthodox and Catholic principle. It’s very Aristotelian, and contrary to the basic error of Protestantism, which is to think that being so precedes doing as to be unaffected by doing. In other words, traditional Protestantism (and fundamentalism) teaches that if you do the actions without being spontaneously motivated to do so by an interior transformation you are simply a hypocrite.

When fundamentalist preachers say “fake it till you make it,” they are conforming to reality and compromising their own erroneous principles.

Edwin
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I think JW’s can and should be classified as ‘fundamentalists,’ but I would say they are not exactly ‘Christian fundamentalists’ in the sense it often understood, in that they do not share many beliefs of Christian fundamentalists. For instance, they do not believe, among other things, the six creative days of Genesis refer to six 24 hour days as they have their own interpretation of that - each creative day was, give or take a bit, 1 000 years.

You raise a good point in saying if you do the actions without being spontaneously motivated to do so by an anterior transformation you are simply a hypocrite. However, I would say there is a difference between ‘faking it’ and doing things that you maybe don’t really want to do, but you do it because it’s the right or kind thing to do. There are people who ‘fake it’ in that they set a double standard, in that they don’t really believe something themselves but demand it of others, expect others to live by standards they don’t and don’t want to, and compel others to believe something they don’t believe themselves, and in fact know to be wrong. Now that’s hypocrisy!
 
JustaServant said:
Okay professor, ya lost me.😃
No matter how much I fake being a gorilla, the San Diego zoo will not admit me.
My essence of being, my DNA will remain human no how many bananas I eat. No matter how hard I pretend to be holy, to have all the spiritual answers, and to “fit in with those who do” I am still hopelessly human and flawed. “Pretending” and lying to oneself does not acheve the same result as accepting who I am and relying on God to change me.
You totally lost me with how that is a Catholic/Orthodox concept.
One of the reasons I returned to the Catholic Church was to escape the fake world of fundamentalism and re-enter reality.
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Yes, but what if everyone else believed you were a gorilla because they wanted to believe that? 😃
 
minkymurph said:
You raise a good point in saying if you do the actions without being spontaneously motivated to do so by an anterior transformation you are simply a hypocrite. However, I would say there is a difference between ‘faking it’ and doing things that you maybe don’t really want to do, but you do it because it’s the right or kind thing to do. There are people who ‘fake it’ in that they set a double standard,** in that they don’t really believe something themselves but demand it of others**, expect others to live by standards they don’t and don’t want to, and compel others to believe something they don’t believe themselves, and in fact know to be wrong. Now that’s hypocrisy!
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Good point. If you really believe something to be true, that creates inner motivation. “Faking it”, to me is simply being an actor. I might get an Academy Award for “looking like a Christian”, but the real test comes in what I do when no one is looking.
Believe it or not, Bob Jones Sr. said that.
 
JustaServant said:
Good point. If you really believe something to be true, that creates inner motivation. “Faking it”, to me is simply being an actor. I might get an Academy Award for “looking like a Christian”, but the real test comes in what I do when no one is looking.
Believe it or not, Bob Jones Sr. said that.
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Sorry, who is Bob Jones Sr?

What I saw in the JW’s is people who really believe it, but get depressed because they can’t meet the expectations - like anyone can.:rolleyes:

The reality is, all the people they think meet the expectations don’t. They are just better at ‘faking it,’ leading people to believe that yes they have their ‘weaknesses’ but by and large fit the ‘cookie cutter.’ Those who can’t meet the expectations feel they have to be like them, and if they are not they think it is because there is something wrong with their faith.

There are others in the JW’s I would seriously question if they really believe it. In fact, I would even question if they believe in God. I say this because they tell others to fear judgement, yet they seem to have no fear of it themselves.

You know, I am glad I joined this thread. It’s good to exchange views with others who have had a similar experience. I don’t know plenty of people in my part of the world who have left the JW’s, but I don’t know any who have converted to Catholicism. I know some who have become Protestants, but not Catholic. I seem to be unique here and it can be a very lonely station because no one really understands what you have to deal with.
 
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