H.L. Mencken — certainly no fundamentalist, in fact, an opponent of
fundamentalists — wrote an obituary of one of the leading
"fundamentalists" of the day, J.
Gresham Machen. In that obituary, Mencken disagrees with Machen's
fundamentalism, but claims that fundamentalism is more logical than
liberalism, which doesn't even have a claim at being a legitimate
religion. Liberals claim to be Christian but don't even agree with all
the fundamentals of the Christian religion. Why do they bother going to
church or dressing up like clergymen? At least fundamentalists are
trying to be consistent with principles with which Mencken and other
liberals don't agree. Mencken's obituary, "Dr. Fundamentalis,"
appeared in the Baltimore Evening Sun (January 18, 1937), 2nd
Section, p. 15, is available
online here, and is well worth reading.
When Princeton Theological Seminary abandoned the fundamentals in
favor of liberalism, Machen formed the Westminster
Theological Seminary. Machen was booted out of the liberal
presbyterian church and founded the Orthodox
Presbyterian Church. These events were front-page
news in the New York Times, back in a day when Americans
still cared a little about true
religion and the press was not as frequently criticized for "liberal
bias."
Machen's book Christianity and Liberalism could have been
titled, Liberalism vs. Fundamentalism.
Machen shows that liberalism is a hypocritical crock. It has no
legitimate claim to being Christian at all.
Where
Fundamentalism Misses the Mark
Fundamentalism went into social
and political retreat after the Scopes Trial in 1925. It began to
emphasize being "raptured" away from
social problems. But even before 1925, Fundamentalism was socially
irrelevant. It could not have turned any empire upside
down.
Look at the list of "fundamentals" below,
and see if you can find any answers to the problems of the day. (To
review, the world had just exited "the Great War" [not the last
World War, but only the first], the "Great Depression,"
and was about to enter another World War. The Federal Reserve and the
Income Tax were both born in 1913. During the so-called
"Presbyterian Crisis," Soviet Socialists were systematically
wiping out millions in the Ukraine.) During the 20th century there have
been an average of 10,000
murders per day, with nary a peep from
"fundamentalists." Fundamentalists are correct in claiming
that Moses wrote the Pentateuch, but they were oblivious to the fact
that Darwinists and others challenged the Mosaic authorship of the
Pentateuch in order to destroy Christian ethics and establish a
socialist/fascist dictatorship.
Consider this
list of issues each of which is addressed from a Biblical viewpoint.
Why are "the fundamentals" generally limited to pure theology?
Another explanation for the fundamentalist retreat (in addition to
the 1925 Scope's evolution trial) is the rise of
"dispensationalism." Without going into the arcane concept of
"dispensations," the key trait of dispensationalism is pessimism
regarding the future of human society on earth prior to
the Second Coming of Christ. Dispensationalists are not going about
trying to build the Kingdom of God on earth, they are waiting for "the
Rapture."
Millennialism
And Social Theory
Rapture Fever
The Orthodox Presbyterian Church founded by Machen -- which carried
the tradition of B.B. Warfield and other intelligent Bible-believing
authors of The Fundamentals -- is today too often characterized
by the same pessimism as the dispensationalists. The OPC and similar
Reformed/Presbyterian denominations are tiny and stagnant.
In key areas, dispensationalists share the same disbelief in
Scripture that characterizes liberals. In the early part of the 20th
century, both worked together -- liberals as battlefield tacticians and
dispensationalists as cannon-fodder -- to transform the old Presbyterian
church from a Bible-believing denomination to a Bible-denying
denomination that is now considering putting homosexuals in the pulpit.
See Crossed
Fingers - How the Liberals Captured the Presbyterian Church by
Gary North.
It is surely interesting that both Jews and Dispensationalists are
characterized by unbelief. Jews do not believe that Jesus
Christ is the long-promised Messiah. Neither do dispensationalists. Oh
sure, Dispies would say Jesus is the Messiah by right, but
not in fact. And working to make it a fact is wrong.
He will not become the Messiah and begin exercising His Kingly authority
until after the Rapture. Dispies join orthodox Jews in waiting for a
future coming of the promised Messiah. (Liberal Jews, like
Liberal Christians, do not believe in any promises made in the Bible, or
any other antiquated, irrelevant religious text.)
Jews Against the Torah, the Remnant, and the Messiah
The problem with Liberals, Jews, and Dispies is ethics. They
all reject distinctively Christian social ethics. All
three groups retain pagan notions of kingship, political domination, and
coercion. All three groups reject laissez-faire
capitalism and embrace state socialism or fascism to various
degrees:
- Liberals, of course, support big government. See Benjamin
Ginsberg, The
Fatal Embrace: Jews and the State, Univ. Chicago Press, 1993
- The more conservative Jewish paradigm is 1
Samuel 8. See Zeev Sternhell, The Founding Myths of Israel, Princeton
Univ Pr, 1997.
- Half of all evangelicals voted for Bill
Clinton. The other half voted for George
Bush. 'Nuff said. [2012 update: Many Conservative Christians refused to vote for the candidate they were directed to vote for by the Republican Party Establishment: Mitt Romney. This is progress.]
The "free market" tradition in America and Western
Civilization is grounded in a favorable attitude toward Old
Testament Law. It starts with "Thou
shalt not steal" and includes the
rest of the Ten Commandments. It then embraces the theocratic
vision of the Old Testament, seen through
Christian eyes (love of enemy, self-sacrifice, etc.).
This is the heart and soul of Christian social ethics.
And it also requires a basic optimism
regarding the present age.
Neo-fundamentalism (dispensationalism) and Judaism lack both
Christian ethics and "optimillennialism."
And this makes both of them "anti-Christ."
- The Fundamentals — A Testimony to the Truth
- Ed. R.A.Torrey
Contents
Chapter
1. THE HISTORY
OF THE
HIGHER CRITICISM
-
By Canon Dyson Hague, M. A., Rector of the Memorial Church, London,
Ontario. Lecturer in Liturgics and Ecclesiology, Wycliffe College,
Toronto, Canada. Examining Chaplain to the Bishop of Huron.
Chapter
2. THE MOSAIC
AUTHORSHIP OF
THE PENTATEUCH
-
By Professor George
Frederick Wright, D. D., L. L. D., Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio.
Chapter
3. THE FALLACIES OF THE HIGHER
CRITICISM By
Professor Franklin Johnson, D. D., L. L. D. [see also, The
Hoax of Higher Criticism, by Gary North.]
Chapter
4. THE BIBLE
AND MODERN
CRITICISM
-
By F. Bettex, D. D., Professor Emeritus, Stuttgart, Germany. (Translated
from the original German, by David Heagle, D. D.)
Chapter
5. THE HOLY
SCRIPTURES AND
MODERN NEGATIONS
-
By Professor
James Orr, D. D., United Free Church College, Glasgow, Scotland.
Chapter
6. CHRIST AND
CRITICISM
-
By Sir Robert Anderson, K. C. B., L. L. D., Author of “The Bible and
Modern Criticism,” etc., London, England.
Chapter
7. OLD TESTAMENT
CRITICISM AND
NEW TESTAMENT
CHRISTIANITY
-
By
Professor W. H. Griffith Thomas, Wycliffe College, Toronto, Canada.
Chapter
8. THE TABERNACLE
IN THE
WILDERNESS: DID
IT EXIST?
- A Question Involving the Truth or Falsity of the Entire Higher Critic
Theory, by David Heagle, Ph. D., D. D., Professor of Theology and
Ethics, Ewing College; Translator of the “Bremen Lectures;” Author
of “Moral Education;” “That Blessed Hope,” etc.
Chapter
9. INTERNAL EVIDENCE
OF THE
FOURTH GOSPEL
-
By Canon G. Osborne Troop, M. A. Montreal, Canada.
Chapter
10. THE TESTIMONY
OF CHRIST
TO THE
OLD TESTAMENT
-
By William Caren, D. D., L. L. D., Late Principal of Knox College,
Toronto, Canada.
Chapter
11. THE EARLY
NARRATIVES OF
GENESIS
-
By Professor
James Orr, D. D. United Free Church College, Glasgow, Scotland.
Chapter
12. ONE ISAIAH
-
By Professor George L. Robinson, D. D., McCormick Theological Seminary,
Chicago, Illinois.
Chapter
13. THE BOOK
OF DANIEL-
By
Professor Joseph D. Wilson, D. D., Theological Seminary of the Reformed
Episcopal Church, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Author of “Did Daniel
Write Daniel?”
Chapter
14. THE DOCTRINAL
VALUE OF
THE FIRST
CHAPTER OF
GENESIS
-
By the Rev. Dyson Hague, M. A. Vicar of the Church of the Epiphany;
Professor of Liturgics, Wycliffe College, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Chapter
15 THREE PECULIARITIES
OF THE
PENTATEUCH WHICH
ARE INCOMPATIBLE
WITH THE
GRAF-WELLHAUSEN
THEORIES OF
ITS
COMPOSITION
-
By Andrew Craig Robinson, M. A., Ballineen, County Cork, Ireland. Author
of “What about the Old Testament?”
Chapter
16. THE TESTIMONY
OF THE
MONUMENTS TO
THE TRUTH
OF THE
SCRIPTURES
-
By Professor George
Frederick Wright, D. D., L. L. D., Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio.
Chapter
17. THE RECENT
TESTIMONY OF
ARCHEOLOGY TO
THE SCRIPTURES
-
By M. G. Kyle, D. D., L. L. D., Egyptologist. Professor of Biblical
Archaeology, Xenia Theological Seminary; Consulting Editor of “The
Records of the Past,” Washington, D.C. (The numbers in brackets
throughout this article refer to the notes at the end of the article).
Chapter
18. SCIENCE AND
CHRISTIAN FAITH
-
By Professor
James Orr, D. D. United Free Church College, Glasgow, Scotland.
Chapter
19. MY PERSONAL
EXPERIENCE WITH
THE HIGHER
CRITICISM
-
By Professor J. J. Reeve, Southwestern Theological Seminary, Fort Worth,
Texas.
Chapter
20 THE INSPIRATION
OF THE
BIBLE - DEFINITION,
EXTENT AND
PROOF
-
By Rev. James M. Gray, D.D., Dean of Moody Bible Institute, Chicago,
Ill.
Chapter
21 INSPIRATION
-
By
Evangelist L. W. Munhall, M. A., D. D., Germantown, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. Author of “Highest Critics vs. Higher Critics.”
Chapter
22 THE MORAL
GLORY OF
JESUS CHRIST,
A PROOF OF
INSPIRATION
-
By Rev. William G. Moorehead, D. D., President of Xenia Theological
Seminary. Xenia, Ohio.
Chapter
23 THE TESTIMONY
OF THE
SCRIPTURES TO
THEMSELVES
-
By Rev. George S. Bishop, D. D., East Orange, New Jersey.
Chapter
24 TESTIMONY OF
THE ORGANIC
UNITY OF
THE BIBLE
TO ITS
INSPIRATION
-
By
the late Arthur
T. Pierson.
Chapter
25 FULFILLED PROPHECY
A POTENT ARGUMENT
FOR THE
BIBLE
-
By Arno C. Gaebelein, Editor “Our Hope,” New York City.
Chapter
26 LIFE IN
THE WORD
-
By Philip Mauro Attorney at Law, New York City.
Chapter
27 IS THERE
A GOD?
- By Rev. Thomas Whitelaw, M.A., D.D., Killmarnock, Scotland.
Chapter
28 GOD IN
CHRIST THE
ONLY REVELATION
OF THE
FATHERHOOD OF
GOD
-
By Robert E. Speer, Secretary of The Board of Foreign Missions of the
Presbyterian Church, U.S.A., New York City.
Chapter
29 THE DEITY
OF CHRIST
-
By Professor Benjamin
B. Warfield, D. D., LL.D., Princeton Theological Seminary,
Princeton, New Jersey.
Chapter
30 THE VIRGIN
BIRTH OF
CHRIST
-
By Rev. Professor
James Orr, D. D., United Free Church College, Glasgow, Scotland.
Chapter
31 THE GOD-MAN
-
By the Late John Stock.
Chapter
32 THE PERSON
AND WORK
OF JESUS
CHRIST
-
From “Some Recent Phases of German Theology,” By Bishop Nuelsen, D.
D., M. E. Church, Omaha, Nebraska.
Chapter
33 THE CERTAINTY
AND IMPORTANCE
OF THE
BODILY RESURRECTION
OF JESUS
CHRIST FROM
THE DEAD
-
By Rev. R.
A. Torrey, D. D.
Chapter
34 THE PERSONALITY
AND DEITY
OF THE
HOLY SPIRIT
-
By Rev. R.
A. Torrey, D.D.
Chapter
35 THE HOLY
SPIRIT AND
THE SONS
OF GOD
-
By Rev. W. J. Erdman, D. D., Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Chapter
36 OBSERVATIONS ON
THE CONVERSION
AND APOSTLESHIP
OF ST.
PAUL
-
By Lord Lyttelton, Analyzed and Condensed by Revelation J. L. Campbell,
D. D., Cambridge, Mass.
Chapter
37 CHRISTIANITY NO
FABLE
-
By
Rev. Thomas Whitelaw, M.A., D. D., Kilmarnock, Ayreshire, Scotland.
Chapter
38 THE BIBLICAL
CONCEPTION OF
SIN
-
By Thomas Whitelaw, M. A., D. D., Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland.
Chapter
39 PAUL’S
TESTIMONY TO
THE DOCTRINE
OF SIN
-
By Professor Charles B. Williams, B. D., Ph. D., Southwestern Baptist
Theological Seminary, Fort Worth, Texas.
Chapter
40 SIN AND
JUDGMENT TO
COME
-
By Sir Robert Anderson, K. C. B., L. L. D., London, England.
Chapter
41 WHAT CHRIST
TEACHES CONCERNING
FUTURE RETRIBUTION
-
By William C. Proctor; F. Ph., Croydon, England.
Chapter
42 THE ATONEMENT
-
By Professor Franklin Johnson, D. D., L. L. D. Author of “Old
Testament Quotations in the New Testament,” etc., Chicago, Ill.
Chapter
43 AT-ONE-MENT,
BY PROPITIATION
-By
Dyson Hague, M. A., Vicar of The Church of the Epiphany, Toronto,
Canada. Canon of St. Paul’s Cathedral. London, Ontario (1908-1912).
Chapter
44 THE GRACE
OF GOD-
By
C.
I. Scofield, D. D., Editor “Scofield Reference Bible.”
Chapter
45 SALVATION BY
GRACE
-
By Thomas Spurgeon, London, England.
Chapter
46 THE NATURE
OF REGENERATION
-By
Thomas Boston
(1676-1732).
Chapter
47 REGENERATION, CONVERSION,
REFORMATION
-
By George W. Lasher. D. D., L. L. D., Author of “Theology for Plain
People.” Cincinnati, Ohio.
Chapter
48 JUSTIFICATION BY
FAITH
-By
H. C. G. Moule, Bishop of Durham, Durham England.
Chapter
49 THE DOCTRINES
THAT MUST
BE EMPHASIZED
IN SUCCESSFUL
EVANGELISM
-
By Evangelist L. W. Munhall, M.A., D. D., Germantown, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania.
Chapter
50 PREACH THE
WORD
-
By the Late Howard Crosby, Chancellor of the University of the City of
New York.
Chapter
51 PASTORAL AND
PERSONAL EVANGELISM,
OR WINNING
MEN TO
CHRIST ONE
BY ONE
-
By John Timothy Stone, D.D., Chicago, Illinois, Ex-Moderator of the
General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church, U. S. A.
Chapter
52 THE SUNDAY
SCHOOL’S
TRUE EVANGELISM
-
By Charles Gallaudet Trumbull, Editor “Sunday School Times,”
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Chapter
53 THE PLACE
OF PRAYER
IN EVANGELISM
-
By R. A.
Torrey, D. D., Dean of the Bible Institute of Los Angeles, Los
Angeles, California.
Chapter
54 FOREIGN MISSIONS,
OR WORLD-WIDE
EVANGELISM
-
By Robert E. Speer, Secretary of the Board of Foreign Missions of the
Presbyterian Church U. S. A.
Chapter
55 A MESSAGE FROM
MISSIONS
-
By Charles A. Bowen, A.M., Ph. D., Olympia, Washington.
Chapter
56 WHAT MISSIONARY
MOTIVES SHOULD
PREVAIL?
- By Henry W. Frost, Director for North Ammerica of the China Inland
Mission. Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Chapter
57 CONSECRATION
-
By Henry W. Frost, Director for North America of the China Inland
Mission. Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Chapter
58 IS ROMANISM
CHRISTIANITY?
(Catholic church)- By T. W. Medhurst, Glasgow, Scotland.
Chapter
59 ROME, THE
ANTAGONIST OF
THE NATION
-
By J. M. Foster, Boston, Massachusetts.
Chapter
60 THE TRUE
CHURCH-
By the late Bishop
Ryle.
Chapter
61 THE TESTIMONY
OF FOREIGN
MISSIONS TO
THE SUPERINTENDING
PROVIDENCE OF
GOD
-
By the late Arthur
T. Pierson.
Chapter
62 THE PURPOSES
OF THE
INCARNATION
-
By G. Campbell Morgan, D. D., Pastor of Westminster Chapel, London,
England.
Chapter
63 TRIBUTES TO
CHRIST AND
THE BIBLE
BY BRAINY
MEN NOT
KNOWN AS
ACTIVE CHRISTIANS
-
“Their rock is not as our Rock, even our enemies themselves being
judges,” Deuteronomy 32:31.
Chapter
64 MODERN PHILOSOPHY
-
By Philip Mauro, Attorney-at-Law. New York City.
Chapter
65 THE KNOWLEDGE
OF GOD
-
By David James Burrell, D.D., L.L. D. Minister of the Marble Collegiate
Church, New York City.
Chapter
66 THE WISDOM
OF THIS
WORLD
-
By A. W. Pitzer, D. D., L.L. D., Salem, Virgina.
Chapter
67 THE SCIENCE
OF CONVERSION
-
H. M. Sydenstricker, Ph.D., West Point, Mississippi.
Chapter
68 THE DECADENCE
OF DARWINISM
-
By Henry H. Beach, Grand Junction, Colorado.
Chapter
69 THE PASSING
OF EVOLUTION
-
By Professor George
Frederick Wright, D. D., L.L. D., Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio.
Chapter
70 EVOLUTIONISM IN
THE PULPIT-
By
an Occupant of the Pew.
Chapter
71 THE CHURCH
AND SOCIALISM-
By Professor Charles R. Erdman, D. D., Princeton Theological Seminary,
Princeton, New Jersey.
Chapter
72 MILLENIAL DAWN:
A COUNTERFEIT OF
CHRISTIANITY
(watchtower, Jehovah’s Witnesses)-
By Professor William G. Moorehead, D. D., United Presbyterian
Theological Seminary, Xenia, Ohio.
Chapter
73 MORMONISM: ITS
ORIGIN, CHARACTERISTICS
AND DOCTRINES
-
By R. G. McNiece, D. D., for twenty years prior to 1897, Pastor First
Presbyterian Church, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Chapter
74. EDDYISM, COMMONLY
CALLED “CHRISTIAN
SCIENCE
-
By Maurice E. Wilson, D. D., Dayton, Ohio.
Chapter
75 MODERN SPIRITUALISM
BRIEFLY TESTED
BY SCRIPTURE
(channeling)-
By Algernon J. Pollock. Weston-Super-Mare, England.
Chapter
76 SATAN AND
HIS KINGDOM
-
By Mrs. Jessie Penn-Lewis, Leicester, England.
Chapter
77 WHY SAVE
THE LORD’S
DAY? -
By Daniel Hoffman Martin. D. D., Glens Falls, New York.
Chapter
78 APOLOGETIC VALUE
OF PAUL’S
EPISTLES
-
By E. J.Stobo. Jr., B. A., S. T. D.
Chapter
79 DIVINE EFFICACY
OF PRAYER-
By
Arthur T.
Pierson, D.D.
Chapter
80 THE PROOF
OF THE
LIVING GOD,
AS FOUND
IN THE
PRAYER LIFE
OF GEORGE
MULLER, OF
BRISTOL
-
By Arthur
T. Pierson, D.D.
Chapter
81 OUR LORD’S
TEACHINGS ABOUT
MONEY
-
By Arthur
T. Pierson, D.D.
Chapter
82 THE SCRIPTURES
-
By A. C. Dixon. D. D. Pastor Metropolitan Tabernacle Church, London,
England.
Chapter
83 WHAT THE
BIBLE CONTAINS
FOR THE
BELIEVER-
By George F. Pentecost, D. D., Darien, Connecticut.
Chapter
84 THE HOPE
OF THE
CHURCH-
By John McNicol, B. A., B. D., Principal of the Toronto Bible Training
School.
Chapter
85 THE COMING
OF CHRIST
-
By Professor Charles R. Erdman. D. D., Princeton Theological Seminary,
Princeton, New Jersey.
Chapter
86 THE TESTIMONY
OF CHRISTIAN
EXPERIENCE
-
By President E. Y. Mullins. D. D., L.L. D.Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.A.
Chapter
87 A PERSONAL TESTIMONY
-
By Howard A. Kelly, M.D.
Chapter
88 A PERSONAL TESTIMONY
-
By H. W. Webb-Peploe. Vicar of St. Paul’s. Onslow Square. London, and
Prebendary of St. Paul’s Cathedral.
Chapter
89 THE PERSONAL
TESTIMONY OF
CHARLES T. STUDD
-Charles
T. Studd.
Chapter
90 A PERSONAL TESTIMONY
-
By Philip Mauro. Attorney-at- Law, New York City.
Compassion
vs. Greed
Left vs. Right
Liberalism means taking money from conservatives and giving it to
liberal social action groups. Liberals don't seem to want personal
responsibility and personal generosity as much as federal control of
giving. Coercion, not persuasion, is the liberal method. Taxation
out-ranks giving from the heart.
The
Tragedy of Liberal Compassion
In heated arguments, one can often hear conservatives telling
liberals "I don't give a rip about the poor." This is because
the conservative is tired of hearing about raising tax rates to fund
programs which do nothing to solve poverty by getting people off welfare
and into jobs. But this same conservative often will not hesitate to
open his doors to a co-worker or neighbor who is in need. Conservatives
reject liberal government programs which do not reward conservative
behavior.
Charity and Welfare
Perhaps you're familiar with the
"red-blue" map: that's the map that shows the rural
conservative counties that voted for Bush in red and the liberal urban
counties that voted for Gore in blue. By some measures, the
fundamentalist counties are the more compassionate, while the liberal
counties are the stingiest.
