Today Kevin Bauder posted a Nick of Time article in which he reprinted letters and emails that he received in response to his previous two articles about Fundamentalism’s recent controversy over Calvinism. Dr. Bauder printed responses that disagreed with him as well as ones that supported him. The whole list is quite a read.

One recurring theme in the letters/emails caught my attention and raised a question in my mind. Here are several quotes that highlight that theme:

• I’ve often wrestled with some of the very issues you have brought up in your article, and am trying to think through them a little.
• I was beginning to think that I stood all alone.
• Thanks for saying so clearly, what everyone else is thinking!
• Thanks for representing CBTS, men like me who are tempted to shed the label at times, and the cause of Christ in general, with such grace and clarity.
• I just got off the phone with my dad who is a Bob Jones Institute guy and he, 65 years old, is fed up. Another pastor who is 62 years old just wrote me and said thanks to me for highlighting Sweatt’s egregious message. He’s been quiet for 40 years, like my dad, and I personally believe that they too are going to see this statement as a failure on the part of the FBFI leadership (and in their minds, the leadership of fundamentalism because that is the microcosm they are a part of.) … It’s guys like my dad who told me that Sweatt’s message was no different than what he heard thousands of times and never dared to critique who started secretly reading Piper because their sons turned them on to it.
• May you have continued courage to speak the truth that needs to be spoken. … We are in desperate need of this slight upheaval to our comfort zone; I would not be surprised if you are feeling pressure to soften your words.
• As a 28 yr. old conservative, fundamental Baptist pastor I want to thank you for voicing what I have felt over the last several years since I entered seminary (FBTS) until today.
• Thank you so much for addressing issues within Fundamentalism which have been close to my heart ever since 1982…
• You see, Dr. Bauder, the problem that we “young-ones” see is that the message from Pastor Sweatt was not a “new phenomenon” for the FBFI or for fundamentalism in general. I highly doubt that the message truly “caught the leadership of the FBFI by surprise.” (I know it did not catch me by surprise – it has been preached from the pulpit of my alma matter for the last two years.)

The connecting thread, I hope, is obvious now. There is a definite vein of “Thank you for stepping up to say what’s right even though I haven’t done that” running through some of the letters written to Dr. Bauder.

These words show that leaders in Fundamentalism have known about the problem that started this snowball (a trend of exegetically void, factually weak preaching that was carried more by the preacher than by Scripture or accuracy) for years – and many of them have simply kept quiet. These letters were written by several pastors, a retired pastor and a college president!

What caused this awkward silence? Why have these leaders stood quietly while other Fundamentalist “leaders” were allowed to misuse Scripture to fight non-essential doctrinal wars against brothers in Christ? I could suggest that fear of the wrong, yet vocal, minority was a factor, but it would probably be more effective if I let the people who wrote letters to Dr. Bauder tell you that:

• In standing up to these giants recently, who happen to be some of the only believers we can fellowship with [on a foreign mission field], we have risked being “savaged by them.”
• I will not be surprised if you take much flak for writing this…
• I cannot thank you enough for going to bat against the big talkers who are spoiling fundamentalism.
• I wish more than ever that I would be available to attend the FBFI meeting in June. I will be eager to hear what, if anything, is done to address this problem.
• I was going to ask, have the FBF men canceled your membership after that Sweatt reply?
• My background is the very camp of fundamentalist bullying that you address. I knew most of the men you list (Hyles, Rice, Roloff, et al). I aspired to be like them until I began to see the cracks in their armor in the light of Scripture.
• I found that the loud, aggressive “leaders” wanted you to park your brain at the door and let them do all your thinking and values setting for you. That may produce followers, but it does not produce mature disciples.
• I know my dad is writing Dan Sweatt a personal letter, but Dad knows that he’ll be rebuffed by the arrogance that has so long typified big-shots in fundamentalism.
• I would not be surprised if you are feeling pressure to soften your words.
• The FBFI is a strange organizational animal and it is difficult to expect much more in the time constraints given them. I do, however, expect MORE at the annual meeting. I am pessimistic that such will happen.
• Your criticism may well have provoked a gracious response from Fundamentalist leaders, but can anyone seriously hope that such a careful path would have been chosen if the critic (however gracious) was a lesser-known pastor, teacher, or layman?
• I believe that the greater issue at stake is how long will this “duplicitous and abusive leadership…pulpit tirades, doctrinal tomfoolery, and political gamesmanship” be allowed and tolerated in mainstream fundamentalism?

These are not the concerns of wild-eyed, headstrong, young and foolish college students. They are the words of several pastors, a missionary, a seminary graduate, an FBFI representative, a college board member, a college professor and a college president!

Could it be that the bullying response they fear has begun already? Let’s look at the words of those who disagree with Dr. Bauder and see how they voiced that disagreement to him:

• Is there really a need for this level of saber rattling?
• After reading your essay and seeing  that you attended Denver Baptist Theological Seminary, Trinity Evangelical Theological Seminary, and Dallas Theological Seminary, I understand that you are espousing the new evangelicalism you were taught. Hopefully, you will see the error of your way and repent. Of course, most men who graduate from new evangelical institutions look upon faithful fundamentalists (Bob Jones, Jr.) with an air of contempt and superiority.
• I have suggested to Drs. Vaughn and Smith that they need to cancel you as a speaker at the National [FBFI] Meeting. … I am not saying you are not a fundamentalist, but I do have questions as to whether you are the militant type fundamentalist as those were with whom I had fellowship in the founding days of the FBF.

These comments come from a pastor, and writer without credentials and an FBFI board member emeritus. Their gist is clear: “don’t make such a fuss about this,” “you’re a new evangelical,” and “we’ll get you demoted from your position to speak at the coming FBFI meeting!”

Do you see the logic of their argument? Dr. Bauder said that Pastor Sweatt’s message made a great deal out of a non-essential debate, that it did not represent genuine Fundamentalism and that such messages are not appropriate for FBFI meetings. His opponents have chosen the “I know you are, but what am I?” response: “Oh yeah? Well, you’re making a big deal out of nothing, you’re not mainstream Fundamentalism, and you shouldn’t be allowed to speak at FBFI meetings either. So there!”

So what’s my point? “Bauder is right and the anti-Calvinists are wrong”? No, the issue is much bigger than that. My point is this: if poorly argued anti-Calvinism is fringe and everyone who knows better is quietly waiting for someone bigger to take a hit for the team, then Fundamentalism needs both strong, godly leaders and faithful, biblical team players.

I’m writing as a young man within Fundamentalism who is training to serve God in a position of Christian leadership. I really don’t care about loyalty to a group of human leaders, to a movement or even to a set of good ideas or ideals. I really don’t think that the rest of the young Fundamentalists are real keen on that kind of loyalty either. What we regard as non-negotiable is loyalty to Jesus Christ and to the Scriptures.

I speak now to the men who expressed their gratitude to Dr. Bauder for saying what they did not say. I implore you as a son to his father, please, stand up! In respect and love, I ask you Paul’s question: “Are you seeking the approval of men, or of God?” (Gal. 1.10). Your fears of being bullied and labeled “new evangelical” or “trouble-maker” may be justified – but they do not matter. If the stand taken by Kevin Bauder (and many others) is right and godly, then you must take it, too. Please stand up for the sake of young Fundamentalists (we don’t have the history with the movement that you do – some young men may respond to the pressure by stepping away from Fundamentalism). More importantly, please stand up for Jesus Christ and the truth of his Word!

To other young Fundamentalists, I’d recommend holding tight. We don’t like it when someone else is reactionary against our position; let’s not be reactionary in our response to this issue. Fundamentalism is working through this and the final resolution isn’t clear yet. Let’s see what happens at the upcoming June FBFI meeting. Let’s keep our pastors and teachers and leaders in prayer. Let’s not let every blogo-wind blow us around to leave one movement or join another. Let’s be fervent in personal devotion and compassionate evangelism. Let’s be faithful to God’s Word in both our theology and our conduct. If there were ever a time for us to take I Tim. 4.12 seriously, this is it.