Page 265 - Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible Christianity. Based on the King James Bible

FRO - FUNDAMENTALISM

FRO. Back and forth (Ge. 8:7). 1900s. As theological modernism began gaining
FROG. A small amphibian which lives in water and adherents in U.S. denominations, regenerate Christian
on land. Frogs are born in the water and spend the first leaders who believed the Bible took a stand against it.
part of their lives growing from the tadpole stage to a The theological battle that followed was called the
full grown frog. As tadpoles they do not yet have fully Fundamentalist-Modernist controversy.
developed legs and feet for living on the land (Ex. The stage was set for this conflict by the publication
8:2-14; Ps. 78:45). of a series of books that were written to expound
FROM THY HAND. From you (Ge. 4:11). fundamental doctrines of the Christian faith. Published
FRONTLET. Something bound on the forehead. God over a five-year period from 1910-1915, The
commanded the Israelites to make His Word so Fundamentals comprised 90 articles written by 64
prominent in their hearts and lives that it would be like authors. With the financial backing of California oil
frontlets (De. 6:8; 11:18-20). But after the Babylonian magnates Milton and Lyman Stewart, some three
Captivity, the Jewish leaders turned this into a vain million copies of the 12 paperback volumes of The
tradition. They invented the phylactery. [See Fundamentals were distributed to Christian workers in
Phylactery.] the United States and 21 foreign countries. The articles
FROWARD. Perverse; wicked (De. 32:20; Pr. 2:12, defended the infallible inspiration of Scripture,
14, 15; 3:32; 4:24; 16:28, 30; 17:20; Is.. 57:17; 1 Pe. justification by faith, the new birth, the deity, virgin
2:18). The Hebrew and the Greek terms translated birth, miracles, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, and
“froward” refer to crookedness and distortion. The other cardinal Bible doctrines. Not only did The
Hebrew term, ikkashe, is also translated “crooked” (Pr. Fundamentals address the heresy of theological
2:15) and “perverse” (Pr. 19:1). The Greek term, skolios, modernism, but also of Romanism, Socialism, and some
is also translated “crooked” (Lk. 3:5) and of the Cults. Contributors included W.B. Riley, James
“untoward” (Ac. 2:40). This term describes evil in Gray, G. Campbell Morgan, H.C.G. Moule, James Orr,
general, but also emphasizes the fact that the wicked A.T. Pierson, Thomas Spurgeon (son of Charles), J.C.
(1) are crooked in their dealings, and (2) have distorted Ryle, Philip Mauro, W.H. Griffith Thomas, R.A. Torrey,
the good ways of God. [See Sin.] and B.B. Warfield.
FUGITIVE. A deserter; runaway; vagabond; The Fundamentalist cause was further advanced with
wanderer (Ge. 4:12; Jud. 12:4; 2 Ki. 25:11). the gathering of the World Conference on Christian
FULL. (1) To be filled with; replete; having within its Fundamentals in Philadelphia in 1919.
limits all that it can contain; at capacity; saturated (Ge. It is said that the name “fundamentalist” was first
15:16; 25:8; Ex. 8:21). (2) Completed (Ge. 41:1; Le. used in 1920 by Edward Lee Laws, editor of the
25:9). (3) Fully (Jn. 7:8). Watchman Examiner, a Northern Baptist publication.
FULLER. One who cleans garments (Mk. 9:3). Laws coined the term “to describe a group of concerned
Baptists who had just met at the Delaware Avenue
FUNDAMENTALISM. The term “fundamentalism” Baptist Church in Buffalo, New York, to discuss the
has come to mean any number of things and is problem of modernism in the Northern Baptist
commonly used in a derogatory and slanderous way by Convention” (David Beale, S.B.C. House on the Sand? p.
those who do not believe the Scriptures. It is used to 195).
describe all sorts of dangerous extremism, such as In England few accepted the name Fundamentalist,
Islamic terrorists, Pentecostal snake-handlers, the racist preferring to remain known as Evangelicals. Peter
Ayrian Nations, and psychotic cult leaders such as Jim Masters, pastor of the Metropolitan Tabernacle in
Jones who caused the mass suicide of his followers. London, says: “In the UK the term fundamentalist has
Biblical fundamentalism has no affinity with any of not been much used” (Are We Fundamentalists? 1995, p.
these things. Let’s consider the origin of the name 4). G. Campbell Morgan said: “I dislike the word
“fundamentalist.” ‘Fundamentalist’ as much as I dislike the word
Fundamentalism arose from the doctrinal ‘Modernist.’ I always decline to be labeled by either
controversies that embroiled American churches at the designation. My own position is that of holding the
beginning of the 19th century when theological Evangelical faith in its fullness” (“Fundamentalist
modernism began to take control of seminaries, Bible Foibles,” The Biblical Evangelist, Oct. 12, 1984).
colleges, and leadership positions in the denominations. The Fundamentalist movement was never
In America, the church situation was significantly homogenous even in its earliest days. There were many
different than in Europe and even in England. There types and divisions.
were no state churches, and the nation was blessed with
powerful revivals in the 1700s, 1800s, and the early

Way of Life Encyclopedia of the Bible & Christianity 265