“Christ is central, Christ is essential, and anything which calls itself Christianity which does not go on repeating the blessed Name is ultimately a denial of Christianity.” Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Ephesians – God’s Ultimate Purpose)

As previously shared, some use Rebekah’s lying and deceit to help Jacob receive the blessing to support that Christians can lie and deceive if it leads to receiving God’s blessing or fulfilling God’s will. This is surely improper exegesis and application.

So how did I came up with this list? It is primarily based on what people have personally experienced in UBF and which I obtained from three sources:

1) what people have shared publicly on UBFriends.
2) what people have shared privately with me in emails and facebook.
3) what people have told me in person, usually with varying degrees of angst, and sometimes even with tears.

So these 10 commandments are primarily based on how people in UBF have felt from their respective UBF leaders and chapters. Most of the people who shared their stories had left UBF, while some are still in UBF. Usually, when they begin to share their stories, it is usually just a matter of time before they leave, because they are not able to share their concerns in their own UBF chapter, without getting shamed, rebuked, trained, guilt-tripped, disciplined, threatened and accused in some subtle or blatant way.

Here is a link a current UBF person sent me, which the person says is what their own personal experience is over their years in UBF even to the present time: http://www.gotquestions.org/spiritual-manipulation.html

Yes I have seen this and I myself viewed myself as a victim while in ubf: “So, while exerting oppressive amounts of control over the lives of their members, they imagine themselves as the victims of injustice.”

And any outside connection is often merely to affirm and justify such a view. To outsiders, ubers look “so good” and ask such “good questions” and seem “so wise”.

How do you explain to an outsider what it’s like to be an ex-member of ubf? It’s not like anything I can find. The closest situation I can find is a homosexual being mistreated and condemned with the bible by Christians. Your 10 commandments, Ben, perhaps are a way for outsiders to begin to understand what goes on behind closed doors.

love the paraphrase, joshua! keep going… you could paraphrase the entire bible like that. but of course as someone wrote here (probably ben), the ubf people see themselves as the “victims” being “attacked” by us.

Christ-centered inclusivity vs. UBF-centered exclusivity. The law is a guardian/tutor until Christ comes (Gal 3:24). Can these “10 Laws” eventually enable UBF to be more inclusively Christ-centered (instead of remain exclusively UBF-centered)? Be more Christ-like and gracious toward current UBFers, ex-UBFers, and non-UBFers?

My point is that UBF wants you to be a UBF-type/style Christian before you are welcomed as a full fledged Christian in UBF. One of my points in these 10 Commandments is that you should be a Christian first and foremost, and the UBF-type/style methods, legacy and so-called “core values” are really “non-essentials of the Christian faith.” But I felt that in UBF it has become the essential element of being a UBF Christian. So, even if you are a Christian, but if you reject UBF core values, methods and legacy, you suffer some negative repercussion. Does this make sense?

What I was trying to say was that since Christ and grace is clearly not prominent in UBF, perhaps we need the Law to lead us there. I felt that if UBF abides by these 10 Commandments tailored to UBF (which they cannot), grace and Christ would begin to shine through when the Spirit works in the hearts of UBF collectively. Does this make sense?

“Love is patient enough to not force people to come to conferences before they are ready. Love is kind enough to respect their “yes” or “no”. It does not envy other chapters for their large numbers, and so push their members to drive up the numbers. It doesn’t boast by putting sheep’s names on a bulletin board. It is not proud that we are the marines of Christ. It does not dishonour others who leave, it does seek to justify oneself, it is not easily angered when a junior disagrees, it keeps no record of the weaknesses and wrongs shared in testimonies in order to remind the junior how much the shepherd has helped him. Love does not delight in evil practices done in the past and glorify them by recording them in a blue book, but rejoices in bringing error into the truth. It always protects those who are weak and marginalized who don’t have a voice, not the leader at the top, always trusts people to make their own decisions following the leading of the Holy Spirit, always hopes that God who is Sovereign will lead the sheep in the right way and so doesn’t need the shepherd to intrude into their life, always perseveres in preserving the relationship even after the sheep has left. Love never fails.”

I’m wondering if you could explain how the law is currently our “guardian/tutor until Christ comes”? Galatians 3 seems to be making the opposite point, that the law *was* a guardian, but now faith has come and we have the Holy Spirit as our guide into all truth. For Christians, the law is no longer our supervisor. So in my observation, ubf is trapped in the law and needs Christ to come. Thoughts?

Galatians 3:23-25 “23 Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. 24 So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. 25 Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.”