Re: new ubf -- RSQUBF discussion forum

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Date Posted: 02:15:36 10/06/04 Wed
Author: Chris
Subject: Re: new ubf
In reply to: Hannah 's message, "Re: new ubf" on 23:50:41 10/05/04 Tue

The thing is, not EVERY UBF leader is like what happened in the past. I mean I guess ex-UBF members can criticize every single one,

Hannah, we are not here to criticize PEOPLE in the first line. The main point is that we found out that Samuel Lee had made UBF into a spiritually abusive SYSTEM. All leaders more or less copy his style and use his methods which are in themselves harmful and potentially abusive. We know that most leading members are not only perpetrators, but also victims of the system.

Also, please understand one point. We know that all people are sinners, and all churches have problems, as a matter of fact. But the problems comes in when people do not repent for their sins and churches to not care for sins of members (including leaders) and reported grievances, but brush them under the carpet, and have no mechanisms to correct themselves and to be held accountable. The UBF system is a) authoritarian and b) it has no checks and balances. When people tried to hold Samuel Lee accountable, he simply answered "God will punish me if I did anything wrong." Any such system, where you have people in authority but without accountability, will inevitably run out of the rudder and turn into an abusive system, simply BECAUSE all people (including leaders) are sinners. Sarah Barry is the same. When we as long-time UBF members wrote her a letter with some questions to be answered, she did not even write back. The UBF leaders believe they need not be accountable to anybody.

Also, please understand that power corrupts people. Maybe you know the famous saying "power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." This is what we have seen in UBF, too. If you will become a leader in an authoritarian system, and nobody holds you accountable, but they only praise you, you will become corrupt in the end, too. Don't believe that everything automatically becomes better with better leaders. Also, UBF tends to make those people leaders who are already pretty corrupt and who are already "organization people" - not contemplative people like you. They want what they call "leadership material" - people without conscience who know how to manipulate people. And if it ever happens that a good man becomes a leader, and wants to reform anything, he will be called a "rebel" and removed quickly. Some nice people have been UBF chapter leaders in the past, but they all have been chased away. Do you know what happened to Augustine Song in Moscow or James Kim in Toledo? Do you know what happened to all the reform leaders of 1976 or 2000? Please get informed about the history of failed UBF reform attempts (here).

Again, I want to repeat my point. We are not here in order to criticize individual people. The main problem is the UBF "system," i.e. its doctrines ("theology"), methods and practices, the way it operates. Maybe you believe because they make "Bible study" it ought to be very biblical. Unfortunately, this is not the case.

Read for instance, this article to understand what is wrong with the UBF concept of mission. There are many other wrongs in the UBF system, like the concept of arranged marriage or the whole concept of authoritarian church leadership. And this is not a "theoretical" problem. It brings disgrace to God, brings harm to people, leads to quarrels and fights, makes many people turn away from God, destroys families and lives of members. Some of the people on this board sound so bitter and sarcastic because UBF has abused them so heavily or destroyed their families. In the case of one person posting here, UBF is still trying to separate husband and wife though they have 5 children - simply because the husband wants his wife to come out of UBF.

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