I believe in God the Father, maker of heaven and earth.And in Jesus Christ His only son, I believe in the virgin birth.
I believe in the Man of Sorrows, bruised for iniquities.
I believe in the lamb who was crucified, and hung between two thieves.
I believe in the resurrection, on the third and glorious day
I believe in the empty tomb, and the stone that the angel rolled away
He descended and set the captives free
And now He sits at God's right hand and prepares a place for me
This is my creed
I was raised as Fundamentalist Evangelical Christian as a youth. There are three clear parts to that identity I hope to explain.
A religion and faith based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Christians believe that Jesus is the Christ, or Messiah, who was foretold in the Old Testament of the Bible. Jesus's story is told in the New Testament of the Bible. The foundational tenets of the faith are also found in the New Testament.
Christian Fundamentalism is marked by having a strict literalism as applied to Christian scriptures, dogma, and ideology. That is, it is defined in part by having a literalistic interpretation of the Bible.
Biblical inerrancy and infallibility are two concepts one must deal with as a Fundamentalist. Biblical inerrancy refers to the belief that the Bible does not affirm anything contrary to fact, that it is without error. That the Bible is true. Biblical infallibility refers to the belief that the Bible is God's inspired Word and is always useful and true in regards to Christian faith and practice. That the Bible is trustworthy. Some will hedge both these statements with the idea that these two concepts hold only for the original manuscripts [1].
Regarding dogma and ideology, a Fundamentalist accepts the tenets of their faith as literal. Accepted dogma and ideology are not open to other interpretations.
Evangelical Protestantism is a movement that holds that the essence of the Gospel, Jesus's message in the New Testament of the Bible [2], is that of salvation of your sins by God's grace alone, through faith in the sacrifice Jesus Christ made when he was crucified. When you accept Jesus's sacrifice and confess your sins you are 'Born Again' in receiving salvation. Only those thus 'saved' will go on to enter Heaven upon the return of Jesus to the Earth in his 'second coming'. Jesus's first coming to the Earth was to teach humankind and he was destined to be crucified on the cross and in thus dying create the opportunity for salvation for humankind.
A Christian Evangelical Fundamentalist then has certain requirements of their faith. The Fundamentalism interacts with the Evangelicalism so that the Christian believes that Jesus lived as an actual person, who was Divine, and who died so that our sins could be forgiven. Three days after his crucifixion, Jesus literally rose from the dead and visited his apostles before ascending to Heaven where he waits to return in judgment of the Earth and humankind. The stories, both in the Old and New Testament, are literal true happenings. In this regard the Bible is history in addition to teachings and stories. The events in stories such as that of the Garden of Eden, the fall of the Tower of Babel, and so forth really happened.
This literal interpretation of the Bible leads also directly to Young Earth Creationism. That is, the belief that the Earth was created 5,000-12,000 years ago - 'young' compared to contemporary science which suggests an Earth about 4 billion years old - literally as depicted in the creation story of Genesis of the Old Testament.
There exist Fundamentalist Christians who are not Evangelical. So too exist Evangelical Christians who are not Fundamentalist. The blend of those two movements create a particular breed of Christian who at times are unlike many other types of Christian. It also leads the Fundamentalist Evangelical Christian to the belief that they are the only 'true' Christians. As other types of Christians may deny the literalism of the Fundamentalist or the salvation narrative primacy of the Evangelical they are not 'true' Christians in this view.
While the dogma and ideology of a Fundamentalist Evangelical Christian can be nuanced and complex there were several central tenets and themes that were explicit in my youthful instruction:
It is the duty of a Christian to spread word of Jesus's teachings and offer of salvation to as many people as possible. In an effort to help save as many souls from an eternity in hell as possible we as Christians were called to this. As I was 'saved' I had no reason to fear hellfire and damnation, yet I often did.
Primarily the fear I had was for others. Family, friends, strangers who did not conform to our belief system. I feared for them. I feared for them greatly, constantly. Much of my earliest religious memory is this fear. Gnawing and aching sorrow that those I loved could be condemned to an eternity of suffering.
There was another fear, however. That I was not truly 'saved'. That I harbored some sin too great to warrant salvation. That I had some doubt unrealized that would damn me. Some spiritual misstep that would send me straight to Hell upon my eventual death.
So it is that the strongest memory I carry from childhood is existential fear and dread. Fear of the fires of Hell both for myself and others. Fear of a God who would damn his children for failure to utter the correct words. Who would damn those who spurned his ever-loving grace. A God who held eternal life in Heaven in one hand and eternal suffering in Hell in the other. He made it clear you must choose, for there was no third path or other way.
Why anyone would defy God confused and eluded me as a child. The stakes were so clear. How great the temptation of sin must be for those adults in life I knew who were not our breed of Christian. How weak the will of humankind to deny the salvation that was freely available.
My journey as a Fundamentalist Evangelical Christian thus is rooted in fear and confusion. As I grew and encountered classmates, teachers, store clerks, strangers along the way my first thoughts: are they saved, is it my duty to share Jesus's teachings to them? How can I forgive myself, let alone seek forgiveness from God, if I do not witness to them? Shame became a fast companion to fear. Shame at my inability to overcome shyness and anxiety. Shame at not sharing the Gospel at every chance I had.
Shame, fear, confusion - cloaked in the skin of a child - is how I entered the world.