The Danger of Neglecting Fundamentals
by Richard Massey

It is never safe to neglect the fundamentals of God’s Word. Fundamentals are the basic facts of the Holy Scriptures. They are the foundational principles upon which other tenets are built (Heb. 5:11-14). Our learning process must begin with fundamentals. In grade school you first learned your A-B-C’s. Next, you learned words. Following that you moved on to sentences. Finally, you advanced to other matters of comprehension. But, learning the alphabet was crucial to your educational advancement.

Some folks were never fully grounded in the fundamentals of the Gospel. This handicaps their spiritual development. If they try to be teachers and preachers of the Gospel, they become a danger to the church. Their teaching is skewed and their doctrines destructive. They are like a person trying to teach the subject of math, having never understood the fundamentals—i.e., adding and subtracting. Such individuals do not make good math teachers. The same is true with teachers of the Gospel.

How can the following be true? “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth” (2 Tim. 3:7). How can these learn biblical information, but not know the Truth? Perhaps they never understood the basics. In the church today there are preachers that see no sin in the use of mechanical instruments of music in worship. Some will have spiritual fellowship with anyone that calls God “Father” and Jesus “Savior.” They no longer believe that baptism is necessary for salvation. This is a far cry from Jesus and the apostles. It is not what preachers of the past stood for.

What is bringing about these changes? Why has this become so widespread? Believe it or not, it has a lot to do with a neglect of fundamentals. Brethren in the pew are not as fundamentally sound as in years gone by. Many elders have not been grounded in the basics. They are, in part, to blame for the success of false teachers across the brotherhood. They should be removing false
teachers from the pulpits, instead they are not able to recognize false teaching when they hear it.

Fundamentals must be taught in all of our classes. We need to start early in grounding our children and new Christians in the elementary facts of the gospel. It is an important step in bringing real strength to the church.