Johnny Mac Defending the Faith on Larry King Alive (again)

KING: You’re definitely a fundamentalist Christian.

MACARTHUR: Yes, in the positive sense of proclaiming the fundamental truths of the Scripture.

KING: Is there a danger in some aspects of fundamental Christianity?

MACARTHUR: No, I don’t think there’s any danger in it. I think there’s a danger in the prostitution of Christianity. Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world.”

Jesus said to Peter, “Put away your sword.”

There’s nothing in Christianity that calls for any kind of dominant power, national power, government power, takeover, war, none at all. This is about a personal relationship with God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

KING: But so many of the fundamentalist Christians are what might be called political hawks, aren’t they?

MACARTHUR: They are. And that is not, in my judgment, a true representation of biblical Christianity.

* * * *

MACARTHUR: . . . the [political] power will never belong to me [or to] those who represent true biblical Christianity because the Kingdom advances one soul at a time through the belief in the Gospel in Jesus Christ. Anything [else] is a prostitution. Look, the New Testament says the powers that be are ordained of God. That was the word of God to people living under Roman government, under a Caesar. Don’t overthrow that power. That’s what God has put in place. We work within that to advance the Kingdom one person at a time.

KING: Barry?

[BARRY] LYNN: See, I would disagree with that. That is a literal belief. Many of us do not have a literal belief in the words of the — not God written and produced but man written and produced Holy Bible for Christians.

MACARTHUR: Well, there’s the huge divergence right there.

LYNN: That’s a huge difference. It is a huge divergence, but it’s one of the things that makes the Christian community and many of the other communities we’re talking about here very diverse and very different.

MACARTHUR: Barry, if you don’t believe the words of the Bible, then you can’t be legitimately called a Christian because that’s all the Christianity there is, [it] is what is revealed in the word of God, not the Christianity you can invent outside of the meaning of Scripture.

- A couple of questions for anyone that wants to answer:

1. I have always struggled in seeking to discern what role Christians are to play in cultural and political activism or reform. MacArthur has said for years that Christians should focus less on passing laws and more on spreading the Gospel. I find this approach refreshing, yet have a sense that it may be unbalanced. What do you think?

2. Would you be willing to call yourself a fundamentalist? What about all the baggage that term seems to carry today?

3. Didn't MacArthur do a wonderful job at getting to the real issue in that last comment? If we are serious about pursuing reformation and revival in our churches, is not a main issue whether or not our people can rightfully call themselves Christians and yet cheerfully deny both the doctrines and commands of the Bible? Mustn't we help our people see that to be a true Christians is to submit ourselves fully to His Word, trusting His wisdom better than ours, and doing what He says?

JN