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Page 4 of 5 Again, although most evangelicals do not agree on which doctrinal beliefs are "essential" or primary and which are "non-essential" or secondary, this list, which is not necessarily exhaustive, contains "essentials" all evangelicals would agree with or accept. However, the items listed under non-essentials are different. Almost all modern evangelicals would view one or more of these items as being essential, which explains not only the disunity and variety which exists among evangelicals, but which exists throughout the larger church.An often-asked question raised in this kind of discussion is: What is the major difference between fundamentalism and evangelicalism? As far as doctrinal beliefs are concerned, there is hardly any difference at all, except fundamentalists see certain beliefs in the non-essential column of the table on the next page as definitely being essential, such as the timing of Christ’s second coming (premillennialism). Remember, fundamentalism emerged in response to the rise of liberal theology (in the early 20th century) which, among other things, denied the traditional doctrine of original sin and built on Darwin’s dogma of evolution. - ESSENTIALS
-Authority and inspiration of Scripture - the sole rule for faith and practice
-Trinuneness of God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit equally God
-God created the universe
-Sin separates man from God. Man cannot save himself
-Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper which, with baptism, are the church’s two ordinances
-Jesus is fully God and fully man, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary
-Jesus’ death on the cross makes forgiveness of sins possible, of which baptism is the outward and visible sign
-Jesus physically rose from the dead and ascended into heaven
-Jesus will physically return again to resurrect the dead, judge all men (hell), and rule the new heavens and the new earth
NON-ESSENTIALS -Scripture without error of any kind vs. infallible only in matters of faith and practice
-God is absolutely sovereign vs. man is granted some measure of freedom by God
-Young earth vs. old earth
-Global flood vs. local flood
-Jesus died only for the elect vs. Jesus died for whosoever will come
-Meaning of the Lord’s Supper
-Fate of the unevangelized
-Eternal security of the believer based on continuing faith vs. God’s sovereign election
-Baptism: when, for whom, how, and why it is significant
-Use of charismatic gifts
-Ordination of women
-Millennium views (at least 4)
-Hell: unending torment or total annihilation In its response to liberal theology, fundamentalism placed stress on the "fundamentals" of the Christian faith, particularly the virgin birth of Christ, the substitutionary atonement of Christ, the inspiration of Scripture, the physical resurrection of Christ, and His physical return. These doctrines were widely-dispersed in 1909 by Lyman and Milton Stewart’s funding of three million copies of twelve paperback books known as The Fundamentals, mailed to every minister in America. Prominent writers in the series included James Orr and W. H. Griffin Thomas.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 06 January 2007 )
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