Skip to content

Sivin Kit's Garden

Planting Seeds for a Better World

Menu
  • About
  • Church
  • Disclaimer
  • Education
  • Writing
Menu

Fundamentalism – not FUN

Posted on 19 March, 2004 by admin

“I must admit that my distaste for fundamentalism comes from a deeper well than an intellectual disagreement about the Bible. I do not have the constitution a person needs in order to be a fundamentalist; the literalism and absolutism of fundamentalism run against the grain of my stature. I seem to have been born with a need to look at both sides of the question: fundamentalism is dead set against giving me permission to satisfy this need. I certainly know fundamentalist who display richer grace and stronger love than I do. Their God is my God, their Savior is my Savior. And yet, I would not invite any of them to join me on a six-day fishing trip. I embrace fundamentalists as my brothers and sisters in faith, but we are not likely to become the closest of friends” ~ Lewis Smedes (emphasis mine, pp. 141-142, My God and I: A Spiritual Memoir)

I needed to get this out of my system. I wish I could vanish when I meet some people. I sometimes hope that I never need to deal with others. I need to keep stuff as general as possible … I hear the internet is dangerous!

But yesterday was a strange day … after some mini-conversations with a couple of people not from BLC, I really don’t like somethings breeding in the wider Christian community in Malaysia and we’re only 9-11% of the populations depending on how you want to count the stats.

What do you say to someone who’s played a part in helping you come back to a faith journey in Christ but who insists on telling you what to do and not listening? (e.g. just keep on saying your wife is “a good thing” and your marriage will blossom … hey! my wife is not a thing she’s human. Or there’s always these whatever non-sensical but good-sounding formula for money woes to family feuds dished out for our cosnsumption)

What do you do when you hear the same problem of so-called sincere people insisting their own ways that fragment the church ministries rather than integrate everyone in one common vision? (e.g. the best resources or the most energetic ones must all be chanelled into this one “solve-it-all” programme or area and the rest must just fall in line, hey what happened to the big picture?)

What do you do with those who want to live according to their own rules and ignores the rest of the leadership body? (e.g. one or two get special treatment because of some title in front of their names and the rest of the lot has to slog through the normal proper and right process – which is actually more beneficial)

What do you do when you see trends and patterns certain so called Christian businesses operate (usually in the name of GOD and mission) that some how smells more like it’s about money and power and possibly fame? (e.g. they just want to keep on expanding and expanding with no regards of how it affects the people whom are working in their so called establishment … tell me how much time can one have to think, reflect and get re-connected with GOD is you’re arriving for work before some of us get up for work and leaving when most of us would be having dinner … we’re not counting KL traffic time for you to get home!)

There’s a lot more … but I’ve already watered down my tone on these matters. But seriously and honestly, I was comforted by what Smedes wrote. I felt I was not alone. Smedes always had a way to put into words what I felt and how I could respond (or affirm my present resonse to matters like this).

In Malaysia, there are times we pride ourselves as conservative against the liberals in the west. But, the lines are not that easily drawn. a lot of us are more like “fundamentalist” than we think we are (I’m warning myself here), and this is not just a religious thing. I’ve come across people who are fundamenlist in other areas as well ranging from views in dieting to their career.

More and more, my once “innocent-I-think-I can-relate-to everyone mindset” has accepted the fact that I too (like Smedes) “embrace fundamentist (in whatever shapes and sizes -whether religous or secular) as fellow humans or even brothers and sisters in the faith, but we are not likely to become the closest of friends”. And I won’t likely invite any of them to join me on something that close friends do together. I used to feel guilty and even shameful about this. Now, I just need to move on and grow up.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recent Posts

  • Moved to Medium
  • The End | The Beginning
  • I Will be Back …
  • It’s Been a While …
  • GE13 Malaysia: Who to Vote for? (A Christian Contribution)

Recent Comments

  • Malaysia: Government Vows to Review Web Censorship Law After Protest · Global Voices on STOP 114A: INTERNET BLACKOUT DAY
  • List of Participants in Internet Blackout Day! « #Stop114A on STOP 114A: INTERNET BLACKOUT DAY
  • Join Us and Support Internet Blackout Day « #Stop114A on STOP 114A: INTERNET BLACKOUT DAY
  • JB on Imagining My PhD Journey
  • Alex Tang on Imagining My PhD Journey

Enter your email address:

Delivered by FeedBurner

CALENDAR

March 2004
M T W T F S S
1234567
891011121314
15161718192021
22232425262728
293031  
« Feb   Apr »
  • Academics
  • Bangsar Lutheran Church
  • Beyond
  • Bible
  • Blogging
  • Books
  • Christian Year – Lent
  • Church
  • Conversations
  • Emergent/Emerging Churches
  • Events
  • Family
  • Five Sentences
  • Friends in Conversation
  • Fun stuff
  • Gracious Christianity
  • Ideas
  • Images
  • Leadership
  • Learning
  • Lists
  • Lutheran
  • Lutheran Church in Malaysia & Singapore
  • Malaysia
  • Meditation
  • Micah Mandate
  • Mission
  • Movies
  • Music
  • New Stuff
  • Norway
  • Norwegian Notes
  • Personal
  • Philosophy
  • Podcast
  • Preaching
  • Prezi
  • Project 365
  • Random Links
  • Random Thoughts
  • Random Tweets
  • Random Utterances
  • Religion
  • Resources
  • RoH Malaysia
  • Second Thoughts
  • Seven Series
  • Simple Steps
  • Spirituality
  • Technology
  • Theology
  • Travel
  • Uncategorized
  • Video
  • World
  • Worship
  • Writing

Archives

  • November 2020
  • November 2014
  • April 2014
  • February 2014
  • April 2013
  • February 2013
  • January 2013
  • December 2012
  • November 2012
  • October 2012
  • August 2012
  • June 2012
  • April 2012
  • March 2012
  • February 2012
  • January 2012
  • December 2011
  • November 2011
  • October 2011
  • September 2011
  • August 2011
  • July 2011
  • June 2011
  • May 2011
  • April 2011
  • March 2011
  • February 2011
  • January 2011
  • December 2010
  • November 2010
  • October 2010
  • September 2010
  • August 2010
  • July 2010
  • June 2010
  • May 2010
  • April 2010
  • March 2010
  • February 2010
  • January 2010
  • December 2009
  • November 2009
  • October 2009
  • September 2009
  • August 2009
  • July 2009
  • June 2009
  • May 2009
  • April 2009
  • March 2009
  • February 2009
  • January 2009
  • December 2008
  • November 2008
  • October 2008
  • September 2008
  • August 2008
  • July 2008
  • June 2008
  • May 2008
  • April 2008
  • March 2008
  • February 2008
  • January 2008
  • December 2007
  • November 2007
  • October 2007
  • September 2007
  • August 2007
  • July 2007
  • June 2007
  • May 2007
  • April 2007
  • March 2007
  • February 2007
  • January 2007
  • December 2006
  • November 2006
  • October 2006
  • September 2006
  • August 2006
  • July 2006
  • June 2006
  • May 2006
  • April 2006
  • March 2006
  • February 2006
  • January 2006
  • December 2005
  • November 2005
  • October 2005
  • September 2005
  • August 2005
  • July 2005
  • June 2005
  • May 2005
  • April 2005
  • March 2005
  • February 2005
  • January 2005
  • December 2004
  • November 2004
  • October 2004
  • September 2004
  • August 2004
  • July 2004
  • June 2004
  • May 2004
  • April 2004
  • March 2004
  • February 2004
  • January 2004
  • December 2003
  • November 2003
  • October 2003
  • September 2003
  • August 2003
  • July 2003
  • June 2003
  • May 2003
  • April 2003
  • February 2003
  • August 2002

Meta

  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.org

Pages

  • About
  • Church
  • Disclaimer
  • Education
  • Writing

Social Media

© 2022 Sivin Kit's Garden | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme