arbilad wrote:

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rayb wrote:

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Are fundamentalist Christians as dangerous as Fundamentalist Islam?

Discuss...

--Ray

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Rosie's just upset because we won't redefine marriage to mean whatever she wants it to mean at the moment.

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Right on!  She and her ilk believe that Fundamentalist Christains are dangerous because we won't let them run rough shod over hundreds of years of traditions, morals, and standards.  Her statement was meant to be inflamitory and get her press in her new job on the view.  It also played to her crowd of folks.  Of course, my wife and no one she knows watches The View so I guess she is just playing to her liberal audience anyway.

Funny how the world works.  Those who respect traditional values and morality are seen as extreme and dangerous. Those who want no rules or moral judgements are supposed to be seen as more caring and enlightened. 

When the British surrendered at Yorktown their drums and fifers played a song entitled, "The World Turned Upside Down".  Seems a fitting song to be played today!

rayb wrote:

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While I don't equate the two factions of fundamentalism, I do think that fundamentalism is seriously at odds with Mormonism (from a theological standpoint), because it denies the very nature of continuing revelation and creates "A Bible! A Bible! We've already got a Bible!" type thinking.

--Ray

 

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Yes that is true but the lefties in this country use the term fundamentalist to describe anyone who belongs to a traditional religion that has some sort of standards not inline with today's world.  If you say that homosexuality is against God's plan you will be labeled a fundamentalist religion. 

Don't ever tell yer mission president that you come from a "fundamental" LDS / mormon background as a way of expressing coming from a "sheltered" conservative upbringing... particularly if yer mission president is from Arizona...

It wasn't until a couple years after my mission that I finally understood the strange response and look I got from him () at that moment AND the additional questions he put forth.  I was naive enough not to know (as I wasn't from that part of the nation) there were actually communities made up of the cult-like polygamist groups who called themselves "fundamentalist" mormons / LDS / etc.  I guess I was so naive as to not even realize there were groups who thought it was their right to practice bigamy.  

Dictionary definitions of fundamental:

1fun·da·men·tal Pronunciation: "f&n-d&-'men-t&l
Function: adjective
1 a : serving as an original or generating source : PRIMARY <a discovery fundamental to modern computers> b : serving as a basis supporting existence or determining essential structure or function : BASIC
2 a : of or relating to essential structure, function, or facts : RADICAL <fundamental change>; also : of or dealing with general principles rather than practical application <fundamental science> b : adhering to fundamentalism
3 : of, relating to, or produced by the lowest component of a complex vibration
4 : of central importance : PRINCIPAL <fundamental purpose>
5 : belonging to one's innate or ingrained characteristics : DEEP-ROOTED <her fundamental good humor>
synonym see ESSENTIAL
- fun·da·men·tal·ly /-t&l-E/ adverb

2fundamental
Function: noun
1 : something fundamental; especially : one of the minimum constituents without which a thing or a system would not be what it is
2 a : the principal musical tone produced by vibration (as of a string or column of air) on which a series of higher harmonics is based b : the root of a chord
3 : the harmonic component of a complex wave that has the lowest frequency and commonly the greatest amplitude

So, based on what we see as "fundamental" and "fundamentalism" these days as opposed to what the terms actually mean, maybe it would be best to come up with a new paradigm when using the term with "fundamentalist" people and groups and ideologies... namely, let us break the word down some to, hmmm.... let's see...

fund-a-mental...

"With the enemy combined, it is so vital to keep “in the right way.” (Moro. 6:4.) Orthodoxy in thought and behavior brings safety and felicity as the storms come, including “every wind of doctrine.” (See Eph. 4:14.) Happily, amid such winds the Holy Ghost not only helps us to recognize plain truth but also plain nonsense!" May 1993 "The Enemy Is Combined"

There are those who wish to define traditional values into a vacuum of relativism.  Such mantras as "you can't legislate morality", and "your values are no more superior than any other's" has led us to where we are now: a disorientation of civilization. It has led to thinking maybe those terrorists are just as noble as our patriots, that a gay couple is just as capable of raising children as a strait couple.  It has led us to think that anyone with firm convictions (orthodoxy) is  a close minded bigot.  To be tolerant has become the supreme virtue, and it has allowed every vice imaginable to become clinically acceptable.

Can you blame those who honstly wish to have some type of anchor in this life for resorting to what some might call Christian "fundamentalism"?  When they see Britney Spears and Madonna making out on TV, do they have a Prophet to inspire them to rise above it?  With the gift of the Holy Ghost, we can avoid extemes and be led aright. Persons without this gift don't have the luxury of being "moderate".  Let's not be too quick to compare Christian fundamentalists with those in the middle east who wish to see us be converted or die. 

Jeffery_LQ1W wrote:

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I agree but I would also like to pose a caveat.  One could argue that the pharasees were "fundamentalists" or "traditionalists" and Christ came to break those "traditions" of man.  Given that most traditions are those of man, is fundamentalism an acceptance of such traditions?  Or is the true fundamental stance one that may indeed be radical from the accepted practices, such as when Joseph Smith introduced them to the world?

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What if one of those traditions was changing 2+2=4 to 2+2=5?