Protestantism

» pink101 - The Fringe Element of Christianity

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I was raised in the classical family environment heavily oriented toward what came to be known as Christian Fundamentalism.
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I know--precisely--the way Christian Fundamentalism came into being in the part of America where I was born and raised. I know the experience intimately and can separate the blather from reality.
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The church with which my family was affiliated broke away from a group affiliated with a modernist Baptist church. There were several core families in the break-a-way group, mine and some that had moved into Michigan's industrial Saginaw Valley area from Ohio for work with General Motors. These Ohioans were members of a group that had originated in Tennesee.
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At the time, the advent of radio broadcasting was sweeping America. It might be a little difficult for present day Americans to realize that radio as a braodcast media was only in its first full decade during the 1930s. It provided a boom in communications that had only been barely imagined in the past. One of the major effects was the distribution of the Christian messages of various preachers.;
"*1900_1940 - The founding and proliferation of Bible Institutes with a Dispensationalist perspective; the growth of evangelical churches in spite of the modernist- fundamentalist controversy; the beginning of Dallas Theological Seminary with its premillenial, literalist view of Israel's future; the influence of powerful, politically active Baptist pastors like J. Frank Norris of Fort Worth, a strong premillenialist with a total church membership of 25,000; a wide radio ministry and a major paper; the rise of radio ministries led by Dispensationalists who believed in Israel's right to Palestine, involving such men as Charles B. Fuller, M.R. DeHaan, Theodore Epp and many, many others ... all of this enhanced the increasing mindset of America toward support of the Jews' aspirations and claims." (Retrieved from: http://www.pre-trib.org/article-view.php...
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Two of these men directly influenced the development of the church group to which my family belonged--Charles B. Fuller and Frank Norris. It was popular in those days for travelling evangelists to visit communities in efforts to build local interest for church building activities.
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My recollection, as a child growing up in this environment, reminds me of the Fringe Elements that grew in our congregation. As I recall, each occurance was part of a reacurring process in which ideas were sifted out and either accepted or rejected by the greater group. Funmdamentalist doctrine evolved this way. Each such Fringe Element seemed to be associated with different groups that were entering the congregation from the greateer local community--Nazarenes, Pentacostals, Spiritualists, Methodists, and others who came in as a result of the Revival meetings that were held by the travelling evangelists. I remember many evening meetings in which different persons would stand and give their ideas to the greater congregation. They either stayed and were integrated or they were ejected--one or the other. It was quite an active process.
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The idea of the Fringe Element is nothing to scoff at. Actually, I think such groups as we see that have attained national prominence today such as those under the guidance of Robertson, Falwell, Dobson, Kennedy, Copeland, and many others of that ilk have grown out of Fringe Elements.
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In the 1930s, they would have been repudiated and sent packing. Today, they are getting their fingers in a throttle hold on American Christianity--specifically they are exerting great influence on--not only--present day Protestantism in America but our politics as well. Who will stand and repudiate them?
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-- posted by pink101