Illustration: Detecting Counterfeits
It’s time now for another widely used illustration from the halls of fundamentalism…
When an aspiring agent of the U.S. Treasury is going to learn how to detect counterfeit money, how do you imagine that they are taught to tell the fake stuff from the real stuff? Do they look at counterfeit bills? Do they learn about color-shifting inks, watermarks, ultraviolet glows, and fiber quality? Certainly not! Their training consists of one thing and one thing only: endless hours of touching, ogling, and sniffing real money. For if a person knows what the genuine article looks like then they’ll never accept a counterfeit.
With this story the fundamentalist proves once and for all that it’s not necessary to ever study another point of view other than the one held by other like-minded fundamentalists. Indeed studying other religions, sects, or factions could be extremely dangerous and cause evil questioning. Only the very strongest fundies may risk exposing themselves to such ideas and then only for purposes of maligning, mockery, and misquotation.
If your beliefs cannot hold their own in the vast arena of ideas, are they really worth having? Thankfully for fundamentalists, they’ll never have to find out. They’ll be safely hiding from the world, sniffing their money.
Posted by Darrell
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Yeah, that illustration sounds quite familiar. I’ve never heard it carried to that logical conclusion, but from the context in which I heard it, that conclusion was probably implied.
I do wonder about the poor kids who are sheltered throughout their elementary and secondary school years, who are then shipped off to an approved indie fundy college; what will they do when they encounter the “real world”? When they encounter myriads of ‘counterfeit ideas’, how do they respond?
As an employee of a large bank, and having been a supervisor of tellers at the same bank, I find that this tends to be the STUPIDEST example people use. Tellers do not handle “tons” of money to get the feel right – they are to look for the clues listed in the picture above – and, most of the time, it’s pretty easy to see the difference between real and fake.
Well, as one of those poor kids who was sheltered throughout my elementary and secondary school years, I have some perspective on that. Thankfully, I was not shipped off to an “indie fundy college” as you put it. My sister went to Hyles Anderson, but I decided not to go to any Christian college.
The thing is, once I entered the “real world”, I quickly adapted and realized the fundamentalist perspective was not the only one. I think I’ve done quite well adjusting to “secular” life, and am thriving now. There are still some things ingrained in me that are hard to shake, but for the most part, I think I managed to catch up nicely to the rest of the world.
When I saw “The Message” Bible did it look so wrong to me because I’d only been handling my KJV for so many years, or because it smelled vaguely like the few NIV’s I had secretly peeked at from time to time?
A more accurate illustration would be someone is being trained to spot fake bills, but they have been given fakes to study while being told they are real! Now that’s a problem, wouldn’t you say?
From the link:
“Please Note: There is no financial remuneration for the return of the counterfeit bill, but you will have pride in doing the “right thing” to help combat counterfeiting.”
A sermon in itself! lol . . .
For some reason, I feel as if I’ve head this illustration several times as of late. But not sure it was in fundy circles…I don’t remember.
I too was sheltered, per say, as a child. Not only from other ideas, but from basic media. I didn’t even know who the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were! That aside, I, like Ben, have done some adjusting. Haven’t gone off to college yet, but being in the work force has exposed me to some of the “real world.” Takes some adjusting, and still am working on it. Still catching up too.
Gotta love hiding inside a shell your entire life.
“When I saw “The Message” Bible did it look so wrong to me because I’d only been handling my KJV for so many years, or because it smelled vaguely like the few NIV’s I had secretly peeked at from time to time?”
Yes, sniff out that apostasy! Contend for that Old Time Religion!
And remember: Jesus spoke in red.
(Sigh.)
As a former fundy and current Treasury employee myself, I wrestled with the implications of this popular illustration for a years. For this reason, I offer a hearty Amen! to your point that “If your beliefs cannot hold their own in the vast arena of ideas, are they really worth having?” and your characterization that “Only the very strongest fundies may risk exposing themselves to such ideas and then only for purposes of maligning, mockery, and misquotation.”
I’ve seen it all too often, and even lived it myself for a while.
I’ve never heard of this example being used in SUPPORT of fundy-ism.
Most “discernment ministries” absolutely wallow in (what they *deem* to be error) to the vast exclusion of anything real or true. So they’re spending large quantities of time studying the counterfeit bills.
This is a really old illustration. When it was first used there were no color shifting inks or security threads or other high tech stuff used in bills. Some illustrations become obsolete. This one has. But I think it made a good point in its day.
It may be old but it’s still used.
SFL: Anachronisms.
I heard this illustration a few years ago and the term “counterfeit” is still going strong in fundy circles. My youth pastor actually gave out real dollar bills and told us after the message that they were fakes that he borrowed from his banker friend… Everyone in the service up to this point believed they were holding REAL bills but we had all
been fooled by a counterfeit….. however, my youth Pastor confided in me after the service that the bills were in fact REAL US dollars.
The entire illustration was a lie. We were double counterfeited….. Pesky old Satan
I heard this illustration many times and accept it for what it means–focus on what you believe, not on what you don’t believe. I graduated from a fundy college after growing up fundy, and I’ve never had any problem dealing with lots of people from any and all other walks of life in my extremely secular job.