Fundamentalist Compassion???

Do you ever feel like there is a lack of compassion in the Independent Fundamental Baptist Community? I know it is hard to make a generalization of this sort because we are not a denomination, per se, because we don't have a hierarchy outside of the confines of the Biblical model of the local church. Your church may be compassionate, but let's try to look at a bigger picture. I don't like complaint sessions that are useless. Complaints are a valid form of communication if they are used to bring about change or reform but they are a hideous thing when just used as a vehicle for hatred and disdain.

With that said, I want to register my formal complaint against fundamentalism. I am about as fundamental as you can get, down to no mixed swimming, no CCM etc. but I have a terrible problem with some of my fundamental brethern who seem to have transcended their sinful flesh and reached their perfected form on earth.

It seems to me that we have a problem in fundamentalism of shooting our wounded. When we see someone fall into sin or even show doubt for a long held tenet (I dare not say doctrine, because much of what is held by many of the fundamental churches today is tradition as much as the Catholic church or any other "mainline" denomination is.) we tend to want to disassociate with them as quickly as possible. To shun them and set them aside from our fellowship. We call it church discipline and we call it Biblical.

Let me clarify this for a moment, I believe whole heartedly in Church discipline, but I don't really ever see us practice it as the Bible lays it out. We don't because it is hard, it requires us to be completely in the right, whether we are pastors or youth leaders, it means that we have to be right with God and on the complete side of right when we address the persons sin with them personally. It means that we have to find someone who is godly-minded and Christ-centered to go with us to address the individual if they refuse to hear us or repent the first time. If we look at the Biblical model it is hard because it takes a lot of effort.

And that is my point, we as fundamentalist don't want to take the effort to reconcile people to God in our churches. We are content to throw them out to the world or to some other church that may have some false doctrine that they preach. And we slap our hands together and go on our way... but my question is this... Is this compassion? Is this how Christ came to us? Did he say... "Here is your one chance... get saved now because you won't have another"? God is long suffering. He is compassionate. If you were about to lose your spouse, would you just say... oh well, that's what they chose... there are more fish in the see? Why do we let our fellow fundamentalists struggle and slip away the same way.

If we are honest with ourselves I think we would find it is easier to do that and have someone that agree's with us 100% than to fight for the faith and have to stand on what we believe.

I am not writing this because of my personal struggle with fundamentalism. I am writing this because I have read too many testimonies of people who were saved in an Independent Fundamental Baptist Church and were left to sink or swim because they doubted or fell into sin and the memebers of their church didn't want to wade into the water and get wet to save them. They didn't want to get dirty to pull them out of the quicksand that they were in.

But Christ models this differently. He came and got dirty, and bloody. He left the 99 and sought the 1. Am I off base? Am I the only one who sees all the hurt souls that have been left to struggle while their church whistles "Amazing Grace". A song about grace, which is best defined as "receiving something we don't deserve". Isn't that what it's all about?