No one considers Graham a Fundamentalist.
I have stated that I do, and I am certainly someone. Just ask my mother.
Firstly, I myself am a fundamentalist, in the original sense of the word. I stand opposed to Liberalism in these 5 ways. If Franklin Graham is not a fundamentalist in this way, please demonstrate where he fails this test.
1) The inerrancy of scripture
2) The virgin birth of Christ
3) Substitutionary atonement
4) Christ's bodily resurrection
5) The authenticity of the miracles of Christ
Secondly, the term Fundamentalist has evolved and taken on a negative connotation. I'll paste a quote describes those changes. If Franklin Graham is not a fundamentalist in this way, please demonstrate how.
. . .fundamentalism soon strayed from its noble beginnings by tacking on many non-fundamentals as every bit as important as the true essentials of the faith. By the 1920s, it was common for fundamentalists to espouse a host of “non-fundamentals” as just as important or even more important than the short list of doctrines which they had originally identified as fundamentals of the faith. That tendency, which I will call “Non-Fundamental Fundamentalism,” continues to this day.
Many secondary doctrines and matters of opinion found their way to the essentials list of the Non-Fundamental Fundamentalists. I will discuss teetotalism, preservation of the white race, and separatism in subsequent articles of this series. In this article, I will discuss two primary non-essentials which early on became intertwined with the very definition of Christian fundamentalism: dispensationalism and premillennialism.
• Dispensationalism is the belief that God has dealt with humanity differently during different ages (e.g., before Christ and after Christ) and with different groups of people (e.g., Jews and Christians). The majority of the original fundamentalists were dispensationalists. C.I. Scofield popularized dispensationalism with the publication of his Scofield Reference Bible in 1909. Clarence Larkin’s immodestly titled book,
The Greatest Book on Dispensational Truth in the World, much beloved by dispensationalists to this day and featuring Larkin’s hand-drawn dispensational charts, was published in 1918.
Many Protestants today are dispensationalists by default, unaware that there are other ways to interpret God’s word. The primary alternative to dispensationalism in Protestant churches is covenant theology. However, the choice between dispensationalism and covenant theology is certainly not a fundamental of the faith. There are genuine Christians among the adherents of both schools of interpretation. Dispensationalism is not a fundamental.
• Premillennial eschatology: Closely connected to dispensationalism is premillenialism, the belief that Bible prophecy provides a detailed literal description of end-time events, including a rapture of the saints, a horrific period of tribulation, the Second Coming of Christ, and a literal 1,000-year reign of Christ on Earth.
Many excellent Bible scholars are dispensationalists and/or premillennialists, while many equally excellent Bible scholars hold to other systems of interpretation. However, the vast majority of original fundamentalists were premillennial dispensationalists. As a result, both premillennialism and dispensationalism became distinguishing characteristics of the Fundamentalist Movement.
WHY I AM NO LONGER A CHRISTIAN FUNDAMENTALIST: PART 2 “Non-Fundamental Fundamentalism” and Premillennial Dispensationalism | Joshua One Ministries
Here's a little history which you may find helpful:
In 1910 the Presbyterian General Assembly, in response to some questions raised about the orthodoxy of some of the graduates of Union Theological Seminary, adopted a five-point declaration of "essential" doctrines. Summarized, these points were: (1) the inerrancy of Scripture, (2) the Virgin Birth of Christ, (3) his substitutionary atonement, (4) his bodily resurrection, and (5) the authenticity of the miracles. These five points . . . were not intended to be a creed or a definitive statement. Yet in the 1920s they became the "famous five points" that were the last rallying position before the spectacular collapse of the conservative party. Moreover, because of parallels to various other fundamentalist short creeds (and an historian's error), they became the basis of what (with premillennialism substituted for the authenticity of the miracles) were long known as the "five points of fundamentalism."
paleoevangelical: The Five Points of Fundamentalism: What Are They Good For?
