Comments on: An Introduction to Lessons from Travis

By: forestsfailyou

Fri, 03 Oct 2014 23:23:07 +0000

Although come to think of it, since I left he registered the group with the college under the name UBF.

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By: forestsfailyou

Fri, 03 Oct 2014 23:19:23 +0000

In my experience the term UBF can barely be applied to that chapter. They do not do any sort of the practices that lead to abuses. In fact I suspect he has come under fire from hardliners for this break from tradition.

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By: David W

Fri, 03 Oct 2014 23:09:26 +0000

I think the approach John Lee uses has wisdom. I never heard the term “ubf” until I changed chapters and was asked at the first sws how long I had been in ubf. I was highly confused by that question. – See more at: http://www.ubfriends.org/2014/10/03/an-introduction-to-lessons-from-travis/#sthash.mmFFrRD8.dpuf

Intentionally withholding the name of your parent organization from new recruits. Is that really a wise practice or is something else going on?

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By: forestsfailyou

Fri, 03 Oct 2014 22:06:06 +0000

As far as I know Travis is a real estate agent in Kansas, so if he is a pro basketball players that’s the best part time gig ever. I personify UBF, because it is an organization whose members tend to have a (mostly) uniform set of beliefs. I am not alone in this distinction, as I have heard some pretty broad sweeping generalizations about this organization in here. UBF is an organization that holds an ideology that is unique. Interestingly when people want to point out that ubf isn’t bad they start making claims that their ideology is the same as other groups (like the navigators, or -and I am serious here- the Catholic church), but when people want to make ubf appear good then suddendly the ubf methodology and ideology is unique. That ubf heritage website is full of reasons why ubf is unique and how we need to return to what makes us special. This type of contradictory reasoning is elsewhere present. Ubf is a small part of the body of christ; ubf is worldwide. Ubf churches are small and humble; ubf has over 7000(!) members. Ubf is back to the bible; use the ubf daily devotional, otherwise it’s not daily bread, etc.

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By: BrianK

Fri, 03 Oct 2014 20:00:55 +0000

Something stood out to me, forests, as an odd wording in your article:

“…UBF is right when it says…”

Why is UBF personified? And why use the “it” pronoun? This speaks to what I’ve been saying: ubf leaders condition you to submit your self to the UBF ideology/training system.

The UBF system exists for people to serve the the system of thought and behavior. The harmful teaching propagated by ubf leaders is this: you exist to serve the ubf mission. This is like the Office Space slogan “What can you do for the company?” The better teaching is: the ubf mission exists to serve you.

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By: BrianK

Fri, 03 Oct 2014 19:51:35 +0000

Thanks for that clarification Forests. There is a basketball player with that name…was that your youth pastor?

This looks to be an interesting series. I am glad you have not cut off your pre-ubf self. The norm is that ubf shepherds condition you to view your pre-ubf identity as sinful, unspiritual and just plain bad.

One of the best counseling words my wife and I got from our Christian pastor was to re-connect with our pre-ubf self and to find our authentic narrative. Only then can we participate in a healthy way in community. If we all wear masks and cut off our genuine identity, we build a community that is not sustainable.

That pastor advised us that one big issue with ubf training (very noticeable to him) is that they give you a new identity and ignore your pre-ubf life. That is a big red flag to identify a cult.

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By: forestsfailyou

Fri, 03 Oct 2014 19:17:32 +0000

To be more clear, Travis was my youth pastor when I first became a Christian when I was 13-14

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