"Love did often make me choose to be provocative, but provocation caused me not to love."
I really appreciate Bixby. Maybe he should just take a break.
Another chunk of his post I appreciate (one of many)
[Bob Bixby]…though I have often been over-zealous, sometimes sinfully abrasive, and often inarticulate I have also been driven by a love for the Body of Christ that I perceive to be as One Body that cannot be artificially carved into culturally dictated categories and segregated by an impassible crest called “our application of secondary separation.” I want to be known as passionately for Christ; not passionately against some variation of fundamentalism.Love him or hate him, he’s always 100% geunine Bob. I’m glad he says in there somewhere that he is not done writing for good.
Views expressed are always my own and not my employer's, my church's, my family's, my neighbors', or my pets'. The house plants have authorized me to speak for them, however, and they always agree with me.
- He is strongly a local church guy! I appreciate the missions emphasis of his church
- He is bold and fearless in a a Christlike way!
But I wanted to write. I wanted to speak out against a kind of fundamentalism that I was coming to deplore. I wanted to highlight the spiritual abuse of a system of thinking that was sapping the life out of the hundreds of fundamentalist churches that I had personally seen through my missionary travels….I had been exposed to countless “inside” discussions and when, suddenly, I found myself banished from the fellowship and felt firsthand the effect of a sectarian manipulation of Scripture to justify so-called “biblical separation,” I suddenly had an angle on the conversation that was very different than that of the established “insiders,” and I had a platform in the conversation that was more powerful than anyone realized in 2002, the blog. Countless others who had similar experiences to mine had no way to speak out. They had to flee to other parts of the vineyard to find refuge. I could just hang out in a no-mans land and stand on my soap-box…. am not a part of the FBFI style of fundamentalism. I never will be. There are men there that I admire profoundly and secretly long to emulate. But those are the individuals. The collection is not something that I can helpfully be a part of. We would only continue to frustrate each other. My comments on fundamentalism mostly agitate a group I can never really become a part of anyway. It’s pointless now.
Though often weak, love has motivated me to rock the fundamentalist boat. Love for truth has emboldened me to be provocative. I know that there was indeed a holy motive, though often lost in my blustering. But there were un-Christlike flies in the ointment, I confess. Love did often make me choose to be provocative, but provocation caused me not to love.
Maybe I’m offering too high of praise, but I think that Bob accomplished what he intended to…he revealed the third option of staying where you are and at the same time pointing out both the good and the bad of the IFB movement. His blog was a “must read” for IFB’s old and young.
The blogosphere was not a sphere of joy and peace for me. It was a battleground. And I found myself having increasing difficulty managing my indignation and losing all sense of proportion.
This was very insightful; I’ve noticed the same thing sometimes with being here on SI. It’s a good reason to step back and consider what we’re doing or saying and why.
But God is gracious to sinners like me. It is a sure sign of grace that He begins to work in us a desire to actually want the gifts He has already given us. When one wants to repent it is clear he has already been given the gift of repentance. Gradually I have come to realize that now the liability of my blog outweighs its advantages. I will blog again in the future, but it will be from a different venue, in a different setting, and rooted in a new motive.
This is exciting. Sometimes caterpillars have to crawl up into cocoons in order to complete their transformations into butterflies; hopefully, that is what will happen. I’m looking forward to the new blog, whatever it is.
"Our task today is to tell people — who no longer know what sin is...no longer see themselves as sinners, and no longer have room for these categories — that Christ died for sins of which they do not think they’re guilty." - David Wells
[Jay C] Maybe I’m offering too high of praise, but I think that Bob accomplished what he intended to…he revealed the third option of staying where you are and at the same time pointing out both the good and the bad of the IFB movement. His blog was a “must read” for IFB’s old and young.
Quote:[Bob Bixby] The blogosphere was not a sphere of joy and peace for me. It was a battleground. And I found myself having increasing difficulty managing my indignation and losing all sense of proportion.This was very insightful; I’ve noticed the same thing sometimes with being here on SI. It’s a good reason to step back and consider what we’re doing or saying and why.
1) I really appreciated Bixby, he offered some of many reasons (that I came to discover after leaving movement fundamentalism) for hoping in a future reformed or to use Bixby’s term, “refreshed” fundamentalism.
2) Bixby’s “emerging middle” is a great concept which sees a coming together of Type Bs and Cs. I hope this continues to happen. I think various young fundamentalists depending on circumstances, God’s direction, and geographical location will find themselves on either side of the middle (B or C). But wherever we find ourselves we should aim for the strength of the whole movement (the whole “upward slope” group, to use Minnick’s analogy).
3) Blogging often runs its course and serves a purpose. It can denigrate into fighting endless brush fires and battle skirmishes. I’ve seen my blogging change course drastically over time and I can see a time when I hang it up altogether too. Bixby offers a wonderful picture into a wise man’s wrestling with the advantages and disadvantages of blogging. That was perhaps the best thing I took out of his excellent “aur revoir” post.
Striving for the unity of the faith, for the glory of God ~ Eph. 4:3, 13; Rom. 15:5-7 I blog at Fundamentally Reformed. Follow me on Twitter.
Bob, I don’t post much, but I wanted to say I am very thankful for your blog and posts here on SI. Years ago, a pastor friend of mine reminded me of what our job is - Taking people from where they are and leading them to Christ-likeness. Your writings (and those of others in your church) have done that in my life. You are an excellent example of Iron Sharpening Iron and what I feel SI is all about and your blog did the same thing for me. Thanks.
From Day One Ministries - Ministering to the local church, from the very first verse
I appreciate Bob Bixby. I believe his writings have been profitable for many of us. My favorite post was the one about “He Shall Save His People From Their Sins.” There’s hardly been a day that I have not dwelt on that verse since reading that post.
When it comes to the FBF, I am thankful that Bob had the guts to address the issue of misrepresenting Calvinism in sermons. It needed to be done. When it came to the FBF Annual Meeting, it was easy to get the impression that this event descended into something where there were critics from the blogosphere running around this conference trying to get a scoop on the latest dirt in the FBF. I hope that this was not the case.
Bob’s friends have counseled him to write. I hope he does. I hope that he will share some of his writings by posting them right here at SI.
May God continue to bless brother Bob Bixby and the ministry there in Rockford, IL.
When it comes to the FBF, I am thankful that Bob had the guts to address the issue of misrepresenting Calvinism in sermons. It needed to be done. When it came to the FBF Annual Meeting, it was easy to get the impression that this event descended into something where there were critics from the blogosphere running around this conference trying to get a scoop on the latest dirt in the FBF. I hope that this was not the case.
Bob’s friends have counseled him to write. I hope he does. I hope that he will share some of his writings by posting them right here at SI.
May God continue to bless brother Bob Bixby and the ministry there in Rockford, IL.
I posted at his website the following thoughts:
The bad and the good:
Your worse statement:
“Cynicism is cancerous and evil. Cynicism is the delusional conviction that mature thinking is to assume that everybody is motivated by self-interest.”
It was too absolute. Our Lord was rightly cynical toward the Pharisees. It is the improper use of cynicism that produces cancer and evil.
Your best statement:
Provocation can be addictive. Provocation gives the immature mind a sense of power. That’s why my two year old deliberately provokes his older sister.
Not just a home run but a majority principle that, in light of the social, political and religious atmosphere of our day, one might be more than wise to keep this, not at arms length, but at lips length in evaluating the words and actions of others, particularly believers with believers and leaders of believers. Great observation.
The peace of our Lord to you as your continue your journey out of fundamentalism and into the fundamentals of the faith.
*And yes, your sheep, the ones to whom you are called, they indeed are your concern. Exegete until you cannot exegete anymore!
Alex
The bad and the good:
Your worse statement:
“Cynicism is cancerous and evil. Cynicism is the delusional conviction that mature thinking is to assume that everybody is motivated by self-interest.”
It was too absolute. Our Lord was rightly cynical toward the Pharisees. It is the improper use of cynicism that produces cancer and evil.
Your best statement:
Provocation can be addictive. Provocation gives the immature mind a sense of power. That’s why my two year old deliberately provokes his older sister.
Not just a home run but a majority principle that, in light of the social, political and religious atmosphere of our day, one might be more than wise to keep this, not at arms length, but at lips length in evaluating the words and actions of others, particularly believers with believers and leaders of believers. Great observation.
The peace of our Lord to you as your continue your journey out of fundamentalism and into the fundamentals of the faith.
*And yes, your sheep, the ones to whom you are called, they indeed are your concern. Exegete until you cannot exegete anymore!
Alex
Discussion