I like to run barefoot. If you're like most people you probably just winced, hearing "run" and "barefoot" in the same sentence. But running (and doing as much as possible) barefoot has skyrocketed in popularity in the new millennium, as many have discovered that the big cushy shoes on our feet may contribute to, rather than prevent injury. Cushy sneakers allow us to run/walk any old way, jarring our body all the way up the spine as we indiscriminately let our feet jolt the ground with our heel first.
I could go on about the various health detriments of athletic shoes (such as being incubators for various fungi, encouraging bad posture, etc.), but I will digress, as it is not the purpose of this devotional. (I have a couple "barefoot" Christian friends who call it "the lesser gospel" - if you are interested in delving further into the benefits of going barefoot, here is an excellent book by a devout Christian: The Barefoot Book)
If, however, for the sake of argument, you wanted to start running barefoot, you would think that slowly "tapering" to less and less shoe would make sense, but this is not the case. The most effective way is to begin barefoot, because your weak, sensitive feet will be your best teachers to not go too hard and fast too early, thus preventing injury. For the experienced runner this will mean sacrificing most of your weekly miles for something new: building on a new foundation from which you will become stronger, starting from the bottom of your feet up.
In my Christian walk, which has been around seventeen years now, I seem to be becoming more and more what would today be called "fundamentalist". Webster's 1828 dictionary defines the noun 'fundamental" as "A leading or primary principle, rule, law or article, which serves as the ground work of a system; essential part; as the fundamentals of the Christian faith". So a "fundamentalist" is really only someone who adheres to the basics, or foundations, of the faith.
As you are no doubt aware, for quite some time in today's society "fundamentalist" has been a negative term, generally meaning someone who is overly-religious and close-minded. This view particularly seems to be directed at people who believe the events in that most foundational of books of the bible, Genesis (literally "beginning") to be real, and not metaphorical events.
In the beginning of my walk I didn't see what the big deal was whether you believed in the theory of evolution or in creation. But, through hard-fought scripture searching and "open-mindedness" (see Romans 12:22), now I see how foundational the first chapters of the book of Genesis are. The events in Genesis lay the groundwork for everything to follow: the creation of the earth/universe, the creation of man and woman, and the fall from that perfect creation, requiring God's intervention in the form of that most wonderful second "Adam", Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:22).
Without a "creationist" worldview, the entire salvation story falls apart, and there really is no reason for Jesus to die on the cross. For example, if to be a disciple of Jesus Christ it is essential to "put off our old man (i.e., sinful nature) which is corrupt" (Ephesians 4:22), how can we do this if a sinful nature is only a concept? Indeed, in most of our modern churches you'd be hard pressed to find a preacher who truly believes humans even have a sinful nature. And if we accept Christ only for the forgiveness of past sins, where did those sins originate? Where is room for morality and sin in the evolutionary story?
One only needs to look at the world today to see that a pervasive evolutionary worldview leads to an "anything goes" mentality. Christians who believe in the theory of evolution (and I was one of them) really haven't given enough thought to the spiritual implications of an evolutionary worldview. (There are also glaring scientific problems with the theory of evolution, which I won't go into here, but coincidentally the author of The Barefoot Book also has a book debunking the "science" behind evolution called Sometimes Deceived.)
So, to reiterate, "fundamentalism" really isn't about being close-minded, but about adhering to the basics of the faith. Those of us classified as "fundamentalists" will never be thought of as open-minded by the world, but a mind renewed by the Spirit of God will be always be open to the things of God, and by extension the truth (see John 16:13). May we never be afraid to re-assess our beliefs, even if it means starting from scratch, so our feet can be placed on a firm foundation.
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