can’t beat ’em, join ’em; i am the master race…i will not give, i will get…i am entitled…i will live in fantasy world of all is well..

Here’s a “cute” true story. When a Korean missionary was helping an American shepherd to marry, she strongly proposed to have Korean food for his wedding. He adamantly refused because he prefers American food. This missionary later told me that he is racist because he refused a Korean menu. The American later also told me that she is racist because she was so strongly insistent on having Korean food at his wedding. I find such stories cutely entertaining. Sorry if this story is racially offensive.

Had I received a Christian response from the leadership before I decided to leave (when I was trying to stay) or even after leaving, I don’t think I would be so jaded. I would have other problems, but I wouldn’t be jaded. (and just a quick shout out to a few friends in Toledo who have recently started to have a good response, I thank you.)

So your feedback is huge, fermi. One reason I am so jaded is because of the dead silence I mostly receive from ubf people. Often I am over-the-top angry or bitter because 1) I know anger/bitterness is real and 2) it might make someone frustrated enough to start talking to me!

Sweeping generalizations really are distasteful aren’t they? I hope that everyone can be more sensitive to this. I was discouraged whenever I heard statements by UBFers that started with “Canadians are …”. First of all, Canadians are so diverse, even we struggle to define ourselves, and this difficulty in pin-pointing who we are is a big part of our identity. So when people make such generalizations, it really rubs the wrong way.

Now if only I could follow my own advice!

Intriguing observation, joshua, thanks. If you have a two-legged stool, then yes, you have a chicken and egg situation where you are always balancing “what” do to with “how” you do it. The third leg to add for balance is “why”.

Or another way to look at it, which we’ve mentioned somewhere before, is to consider these three: orthopdoxy (correct belief), orthopraxy (correct actions) and orthpathy (correct emotions). That is an oversimplified expression of the “pathy’s” (as I call them). But I think you get the point.

We human beings need to care for our mind, our body and our soul. ubf constantly teeters on the brink of implosion because they ignore the soul/emotion/feeling part of human beings. Often, as I look back, I stood on a one-legged stool–just trying to focus on orthopraxy, ie. how to behave.

The good points the author mentions are very true, and certainly represent only a sample of the many wonderful attributes of UBF and the people in UBF.

The negative points are also very accurate. It’s interesting that the negative points (seem) to deal with primarily theological, ecclesiastical, and soteriological issues (i.e. doctrine) and less on practical issues. In contrast, I’d say that the discussions on UBFriends is weighted more towards the practical issues. I’d like to see an article describing how the doctrinal issues and practical issues overlap and correlate. Do practical issues drive the doctrinal inadequacies, or vice-versa? Is it a chicken-and-egg sort of thing?