Quote of the Day: “For men are so simple and yield so much to immediate necessity, that the deceiver never lacks dupes.” Machiavelli
"Denial? Self-deception seems an integral part of BJU-styled fundamentalism. Many BJU-ers reject truth and feign ignorance as twin acts of self-preservation. At BJU it is often easier, religiously or career-wise, to ignore the truth (II Tim. 3:13). Blithe ignorance can be bliss while honest inquiry and the application of immutable biblical principles often prove fatal."
In 1998, Pensacola Christian College released a video called the "Leaven of Fundamentalism." I have never reviewed that video. However, I did review the Open letter sent in response to that information by Dr. Thurman Wisdom, Dean of Religion at Bob Jones University, and Dr. Bob Jones III, which was signed by 25 members of the Bible department of Bob Jones University.
It was my position that Bob Jones University should recuse itself from the debate because of its "71-year reputation." I also wrote a letter to Dr. Wisdom and Dr. Bob Jones III. I will be posting that letter in the future.
Dear Brethren: October 15, 1998
At certain times in each of our lives we are faced with a ‘moment of truth’ in which we realize that certain men or institutions have betrayed our trust. Paul faced such a personal moment of truth with Alexander, who “did me much evil”. Yet, Paul publicly warned his brethren of this breach of trust, “be thou ware also…,” (II Tim. 4:14-15) because trust is the cement that secures voluntary associations.
Like many before me, I made fundamentalism and its leaders the objects of personal inquiry. I reviewed the open letters of Drs. Wisdom and Jones concerning Pensacola Christian and the gratuitous self-worship about BJU’s “71-year reputation”. While reputation is important in a debate, self-adulation never builds a real reputation. By definition, a reputation consists of the observations of others.
I graduated from BJU in 1980 trusting that it was the Fortress of Faith and confident that it was administered by God-honoring men. I fell for BJU’s 5th Avenue imageering and its grand facilities, manicured grounds, modestly dressed young ladies, clean-cut men, and doctored professors. Many an undergrad has failed to detect Bob Jones III’s obsession with never being found wrong, his adolescent talent for dodging Christian responsibilities, and his irreligious sociopathy toward anyone who would hint at his many inconsistencies. His faults were cloaked in constant self-promotion and double dealing.
In the winter of 1990, while I was a fellow church member at Northside Baptist in Charleston, SC with Bob and Beneth Jones III, I observed Bob in the wilful disregard of biblical and temporal truth. I watched carefully to see how Bob Jones III and his crowd handled God’s Word and dealt with spiritual infidelity. I watched the underlings in BJU-styled fundamentalism quietly pit their careers against their consciences and weigh their loyalty to men against their devotion to God. Machiavelli rightly said, “For men are so simple and yield so much to immediate necessity, that the deceiver never lacks dupes.”
I was most impressed with Bob Jones III’s disregard for the truth. I watched Bob’s dissembling rejection of the facts concerning his own home church from one side of his mouth (“the university does not get involved in local church matters”) and his false witness concerning those same matters from the other. Bob’s devotion to truth and Christ (Jn. 14:15) seem subservient to his love for himself, BJU, and fundamentalism. After comparing Bob Jones III’s religious talk to his religious walk, I concluded that he is simply brimming with empty gestures and is one who is more content to say than to do.
So, it seems that it’s not talk alone that leavens a religious student’s spiritual nature. An educator’s example leavens as well (Lk. 12:1). What the BJU example teaches is that biblical principles can be remarkably flexible in the hands of religious narcissists and religiopathy (unchristian behavior in Christ’s name) is inevitable when we replace God-ordained structures of authority with nepotism or cronyism.
In 1991, I became aware of several letters from former staffers and board members rebuking the Bob boys’ reputation for gross inconsistency, duplicity, deceit, disregard for the truth, the compromises of biblical principles, and harsh, high-handedness in dealing with the brethren – exactly the same traits I had observed. Those traits repeatedly surfaced during scores of interviews with BJU’s friends and foes.
Generally, fundamentalists and their institutions have bad reputations. Wally Metts, author of Faith Brokers, wrote about his negative experience with David Gibbs’ so-called Christian Legal Association:
“To be quite blunt, many organizations I encounter [profess a belief in the fundamentals] to maintain peer status, but lie, cheat, steal, carry on corrupt business practices, slander, commit fraud, and practice bitterness and hatred. But as long as they [believe the fundamentals], they are accepted by their peers. It would be hard to imagine a more hypocritical stance.”
More recently, Douglas McLachlan observed that fundamentalism is disintegrating and plagued with denial and ethical corruption. In his excellent book, Reclaiming Authentic Fundamentalism, he says,
“[The solution to our problems is to be] transparent about our problems rather than masking, disguising, camouflaging, or even denying that we have them.” … “[W]hen our behavioral patterns begin to match with our belief system, Fundamentalism will once again become the effective agent of redemptive change.” … “The time has come for all true fundamentalists to acknowledge that doctrinal correctness is never a justification for ethical corruption.”
Lying? Some of the slickest, most practiced liars cloaked in religious garb earnestly contend they are fundamentalists. Denial? Self-deception seems an integral part of BJU-styled fundamentalism. Many BJU-ers reject truth and feign ignorance as twin acts of self-preservation. At BJU it is often easier, religiously or career-wise, to ignore the truth (II Tim. 3:13). Blithe ignorance can be bliss while honest inquiry and the application of immutable biblical principles often prove fatal. Ethical corruption? Take time to “enquire, and make search, and ask diligently” (Dt. 13) of those who have been treated to the complete BJU experience. Bitterness and hatred? There are scores of commonly reported instances detailing BJU’s religious sociopathy and wanton acts of bitter hatred. All this does not matter because BJU has convinced its followers that it “stands for the absolute authority of the Bible”. Who can reason with “Petimus Credimus, BJU is right and everyone else is wrong”? Religious people who cannot, or will not, differentiate between good conduct and bad are bound to breed religious sociopathy.
God ordained His Church, a living organism consisting of independent, local bodies of believers to do His work. God has never ordained a private academic corporation to manipulate, merchandise, and lord over His Church. Christ alone “stands for the absolute authority of the Bible” and He does not need BJU’s sanction. There is one absolute authority at BJU, the president. Many a man has sacrificed his Christian liberty and compromised his Christian character for the sake of a “well done” from a Jones.
Fundamentalists need to return to biblical leadership and “God-ordained structures of authority”. As Dr. D. Moberg says in the book What Happened to the GARBC, the last stage in the death of a religious organization is the “disintegration state”. He writes,
“This is the final state. Lack of responsiveness by the leadership to the constituents causes loss of their confidence [trust]. Many withdraw from the group. Meanwhile, the leaders attempt to preserve the dying institution, but it is too late.”
It appears from the angry, whining tone of BJU’s response that Pensacola Christian has hit a Jonesian nerve with this talk of the “leaven of fundamentalism. When I read BJU’s self-glorification of its reputation, it seemed that an open letter detailing BJU’s other reputation was in order. Indeed, there is nothing like the Nathanic finger and the recitation of one’s dark side to balance the vain, gratuitous self-adoration of cynical religious narcissists. BJU’s other reputation – the reputation steadfastly ignored by those who blindly follow BJU – undermines BJU’s credibility and moral authority to speak ex cathedra on matters of Christian faith and practice. [One need only open his eyes to observe] the methods, attitudes, and philosophies which permeate, or leaveneth, if you will, BJU-styled fundamentalism.
The saying goes that “once a dog sucks and egg he’ll always be an egg-sucking dog.” False witness is a contagion, not only in the life of the one who tells lies, but in the lives of those who embrace lies. Christian trust is built upon ecclesiastical, philosophical, intellectual, and temporal truth and honesty. ["...that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." I Timothy 3:15] How is it that fundamentalists entrust their movement and their doctrine-making to those with a reputation for a willful disregard of truth? Groups of people who turn a blind eye to mendacity need look no further than Paul’s rebuke of the Cretians to see the path’s end for those apathetic regarding truth-telling. Those who are conditioned to march blindly in lockstep to BJU’s self-serving tunes should not that willful ignorance and self-deception are the most thoroughly corrupting forms of dishonesty.
To those who dare take notice, it appears that BJU’s mixture of nepotism and authoritarianism has fermented into religious sociopathy. The cement holding BJU-styled fundamentalism together is neither truth nor trust. BJU’s binding cement is manipulation, blind loyalty, willful ignorance, the fear of losing BJU’s patronage, and the cynical distrust of those who dare raise the Nathanic finger. Even so, I hope some brethren will embrace a ‘moment of truth’ concerning the true nature of BJU’s reputation.
Sincerely,
Mark Fitzhenry
