by Hal Eaton » Thu Jun 16, 2005 10:01 am
David -- Let me repeat one of my favorite Oldadisms:
There is no such thing as an old fundamentalist, except for W. A. Criswell.
By the grace of God, we outgrow the simplistic measures of faith thrust upon us in our early years. The "new" SBC cannot rid itself of the nostalgia bred into most of us by our earliest Sunday School experiences. Naivete, ignorance posing as innocence, trust in our first mentors, all contribute to the current jumble of "authentic" doctrines taught by the monolithic, uniform, intractable church of our fathers.
Said church is not the first, or only, commitment we have left--or which has left us--as we have grown, improved, matured, ripened, aged, mellowed, developed, whatever. Thomas Wolfe's "You can't go back" applies. It's a little akin to realizing the inadequacies of your first elementary school "crush," which contained lots of feelings, but very little reason or experience to ameliorate and alleviate the pressure to conform.