You Can’t Get More Closed-minded Than That!

In sharing my testimony with people about how I first encountered the Lord Jesus Christ, the response has sometimes been something along the lines of, “I’m a Christian too, but I’m not a fundamentalist … I don’t base my Christianity solely upon the Bible, like you do.” When asking what else it is they base their Christianity upon they’ve referred to a variety of things: holding to church traditions, religious rituals and ceremonies, extra-biblical writings or, books and teachings of their church leaders and theologians. Whatever their answer, it has usually been one to impress upon me that they’re open-minded and I’m closed-minded.

In other words, “Fundamentalist, I’m not. Fundamentalist, you are.” According to the dictionary, fundamentalism means ‘a form of religion that upholds belief in the strict, literal interpretation of scripture.’ Some meanings of the word fundamental – ‘forming a necessary base or core; of central importance; the essential nature of something; the crucial point about an issue; a central or primary rule or principle on which something is based.’ Fundamentalist is a dirty word in this truth-hating, truth-denying, truth-compromising world, especially when it concerns Bible-based Christians and Christianity. Based on those meanings though, there are multitudes of fundamentalist Christians … few resting with thoughts and accusations of being closed-minded.

There’s been much spoken and written about on this subject since the 1920’s, some of it helpful, lots of it unhelpful; so for the purposes of this post I want to draw our attention to the absurdity of those who say, “I’m a Christian too, but I’m not a fundamentalist.” God Almighty Himself is a fundamentalist. There is only one God. “There is no other God besides Me, a just God and a Savior; there is none besides Me” Isaiah 45:21. You can’t get more closed-minded than that! The Lord Jesus Christ, God Almighty Incarnate is a fundamentalist. Jesus Himself said, “I am the way, the truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Me” John 14:6. You can’t get more closed-minded than that!

Upon earth, God Almighty has revealed Himself plus His nature and character in no other book but one, the Bible. Not only that, but the Bible is the actual word of God and is to be taken literally word for word Matthew 5:18. Too, this is the book each one of us will be judged from, and rewards given according to our belief or unbelief. In addition, it’s an inerrant book – free from error and contradictions. You can’t get more closed-minded than that! People criticize the Bible saying it’s too difficult to understand. I love what the late Henry M Morris said in relation to the book of Revelation because it can be applied to the rest of the Bible. He said, “It’s not difficult to understand, it’s difficult to believe. Believe, then you’ll understand.”

A Christian who believes and embraces the Bible’s teaching with regards the Virgin birth and deity of Christ is a fundamentalist. That is; believe the Lord Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary and conceived by the Holy Spirit and that He was and is the Son of God, fully human and fully divine and that’s the category they fit into. You can’t get  more closed-minded than that! What about the doctrine of substitutionary atonement through God’s grace coupled with our faith? In other words, believe that Christ was crucified for all the sins of humanity, and because of that one perfect sacrifice all humanity can find salvation through faith in Him, and you’re a fundamentalist. You can’t get more closed-minded than that!

I’ve never met an open-minded Christian who doesn’t say they believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus – a belief that He was crucified and died and on the third day, He rose from the grave and now sits at the right hand of God the Father in heaven. Both Roman Catholics and Protestants believe this. Where does the information come from? The Bible. You can’t get more closed-minded than that!  When it comes to verifying  the authenticity of the Lord Jesus’ miracles, there’s only one place to go and that’s the Bible. You can’t get more closed-minded than that! The same applies to the return of Jesus Christ. The Christians I’ve spoken to about this have all said they believe in His return.

Bible-based Christians should never be embarrassed or ashamed in standing up for these truths of the Bible; they are the foundations upon which Christianity stands. We need to remind ourselves of what Jesus taught about the house built upon the rock Matthew 7:24-25. And when the so-called open-minded Christian comes among us saying he’s not a fundamentalist, we can say, “Yes you are! What you believe about God, the Scriptures and the Lord Jesus Christ comes from the Bible.” The fact that they compromise or deny much else from the Bible makes them no less a fundamentalist. It’s a bit like the woman who says, “I’m a little bit pregnant.” No … she’s pregnant!

Like most people, many Christians don’t know what the words ‘fundamentalist’ and ‘fundamentalism’ truly mean. They simply parrot what others say about it, trying to sound clued-up. But there are others who label us with those words as some kind of defense. In other words, in their heart of hearts, they are embarrassed to admit that they’re ignorant of what the Bible specifically says about lots of matters. And rather than abase themselves and become teachable, they go on the attack and abuse. Perhaps there’s someone reading this post right now and you know the Holy Spirit is speaking to you. If so, here’s what else God and the Bible say about themselves … be open-minded with the view to becoming closed-minded about them at the finish.

Psalm 18:30 tells us God’s way is perfect; His word is proven and He is a shield to all who trust in Him. There are hundreds of verses saying similar things, with the writers testifying to the divine hand of God in every area of their life. If your faith foundation is built on church traditions, extra-biblical writings, books and teachings of leaders and theologians, you’re unable to give such a testimony. You have the wrong foundation; you are building your spiritual house on sand. When the storms of life come, you fall over. Let’s look at some names of God – the Supreme Being, the Almighty Being: ‘Most High God’ ‘Everlasting God’ ‘Everlasting Father’ ‘Heavenly Father’ ‘Eternal God’ ‘Mighty God’ ‘Lord God’ ‘Living God’ ‘Holy God’ ‘I AM’ and ‘King.’

More … ‘Counselor’ ‘Helper’ ‘Deliverer’ ‘Savior’ ‘Redeemer’ ‘Advocate’ ‘Alpha and Omega’ ‘Author and Finisher of our faith’ ‘Ancient of Days’ ‘Bread of Life’ ‘Bridegroom’ ‘Glorious’ ‘Word of God’ ‘Word of Life’ ‘Lord’ ‘Lord of all’ ‘Living Bread’ ‘Prince of life’ ‘Prince of peace’ ‘Shepherd’ ….the list goes on and every name implies relationship and fellowship with God, not slavish obedience to a religious tyrant and a set of rules. You can’t get more closed-minded than that! I’ve never heard an open-minded Christian ever speak of God as a Friend. But that’s exactly what Jesus calls those of us who do His will John 15:14-15. How foolish to think yourself so open-minded when you forfeit such a reality.

Closed-minded Christians cannot be silenced when proclaiming the word of God. That’s why they endure insults and abuses from open-minded Christians. Here’s why. God’s word (there’s only one) is described as ‘pure’ ‘perfect’ ‘restraining’ ‘trustworthy’ ‘true’ ‘enduring’ ‘effectual’ ‘sanctifying’ ‘harmonious’ ‘inspired’ ‘living’ ‘active’ and ‘powerful’. God compares His word to ‘a lamp’ ‘a fire’ ‘a hammer’ ‘seed’ and ‘a sword’. God’s word is the agency to ‘heal’ ‘make free’ ‘illuminate’ ‘bear witness’ ‘produce faith’ ‘make wise’ ‘convict’ ‘rejoice the heart’ ‘create the world’ ‘regenerate’ and ‘destroy the world’. In the realm of experience, open-minded Christians know little of such realities, which is sad … they are to be pitied and prayed for.

How absurd for the open-minded Christian to reject or remain in willful ignorance on what the word of God says, yet blindly lay foundations on those other religious things 1 Corinthians 3:11. That’s not life, that’s death! “God works in mysterious ways,” they say, without one iota of an idea that it is Jesus Christ alone who reveals life’s mysteries and gives answers to life’s meaning. Apart from the foolish and fleshly kind, I have never known an open-minded Christian to express joy; not so, the closed-minded Christian. Biblically, ‘joy’ means: ‘great gladness of heart.’ The Bible describes such joy as, ‘everlasting’ ‘great’ ‘full’ ‘abundant’ and ‘unspeakable’. The open-minded Christian sees that joy in and upon a closed-minded Christian, but it angers them.

Open-minded Christians know next to nothing about God’s divine guidance. They pray for it, they hope for it; but they also go out of their way to work for it. They step up their church-going, they increase their giving of time and money, they modify their speaking and behavior, but they don’t rest in God’s promises on divine guidance. They can’t rest because they don’t know what it means to be instructed so as to meet the conditions of promise. Not so, closed-minded Christians. We know we have God’s continual guidance both in the ups of life and the downs of life. We experience guidance in His strength and we experience it on every side. We are divinely watched over and continually guided, “I will guide you with My eye,” God says.

More. Just like King David was, we too are guided by the skillfulness of His Hands Psalm 78:72. The guidance of God – skillful, unchangeable, faithful and wonderful. Something else. Closed-minded Christians know they’ve been chosen by God; open-minded Christians believe they are choosing God. The purpose of all their religious activity is that of reconciliation; they’re busy reconciling themselves to God. But this is an affront to God. It is the exact opposite of what the Bible teaches, ..…all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ……God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself…… 2 Corinthians 5:18-19. In other words, God stooped to our level so He could lift us up to His level, it’s not the other way round.

Open-minded Christians have nothing to offer a dying world, nor a dying church. They are the dying church! On the other hand, closed-minded Christians have everything to offer and all of it from God – all of it revealed in the Bible. Now, what every closed-minded Christian possesses, every open-minded Christian can possess too. But it’s your choice. I speak of the mind of Christ Himself 1 Corinthians 2:16. How do you get His mind? You get it by laying down your own along with everything you think you know and you exchange it for His. It’s called repentance. Once you get a touch of God’s mind, you’ll want nothing to do with any other. You can’t get more closed-minded than that! “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind” Ephesians 4:23. “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus” Philippians 2:5.