Comments on: The Tank Man: Language Defines Reality

By: MJ Peace

Sat, 18 Jul 2015 01:46:14 +0000

Thanks for sharing this. Its so interesting how the same stimuli can be interpreted in so many different ways. For example, two can look upon the same black starry sky and see 1.)emptiness/meaninglessness or 2.) the vastness and glory of God. Humans are meaning seekers/interpreters /story tellers. I like the ending of the article where it says life is not what we live but what we remember. It s the stories that we tell ourselves that remain. The whole 3 part life testimony is a type of narrative. While talking to one of my friends about writing a life testimony she said sadly, “you sinned before you met Jesus, but I sinned after I met him.” However, that is not true. My friend was just more honest than I was.

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By: forestsfailyou

Fri, 17 Jul 2015 16:59:36 +0000

This is really eye opening. I have never understood why someone would pidgeon hole their life story into this Prodigal son story. You are everything that have made you as God has planned, you disgrace God and yourself when you attempt to rewrite your story.

Last night a life testimony was given at the conference that followed these lines. From a terrible person before coming to UBF to a faithful disciple after. He was set free from worldly pursuits to dedicate himself. He married (Godly) and now he seeks to double down on his efforts becoming a prayer warrior.

But the problem is is this is not true. As I know this person I know he was raised Christian, I know he was not baptized in UBF, I know he dated and yet remained abstinent until marriage. I do know that when he was set “free” from worldly pursuits he means he gave up a lot of his hobbies. If those hobbies were bad for him I don’t know, but to universally categorize them as ungodly on the basis of some duelist identity is the mark of fanaticism. I even know his ex girlfriend who noted that he left all his friends, he seemed to abandon them and even at his wedding his “friends” were left asking who he was even marrying.

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By: BrianK

Fri, 17 Jul 2015 16:18:27 +0000

Good point Chris. Thanks for tagging the excellent post about spiritual abuse. We need to keep those topics front and center if we are to be any kind of friend to ubfers.

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By: BrianK

Fri, 17 Jul 2015 16:16:28 +0000

MJ,

Here are my thoughts on your other questions:

“Do you agree that language determines reality?”
> I cannot agree with that statement, as worded, because language often determines fantasy as well as reality. The ubf loaded language is one such case. It is possible to distinguish between reality and fantasy. I do however see the essence of this statement as being true. Language is so important and so very powerful. Language does indeed often determine our reality for us. My only point is that other factors also determine our reality, such as relationships, geography, etc.

“What is the story that you will share with the world?”
> I took back the power ubf had over me by telling the story of my life from my perspective. I reject the Shepherd X narrative given to me. You can of course read all about my story in my three books :)

“Do you Question Everything?’
> Yes.

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By: David W

Fri, 17 Jul 2015 13:54:59 +0000

Mark Driscoll is playing a similar victim card which appears to be working wonders for him. His new ministry will most likely be up and running soon.

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By: Ben Toh

Fri, 17 Jul 2015 13:14:53 +0000

+1 I was very sorry to hear about Tchividjian’s infidelity. But I was even more sorry (disgusted even) at the way he basically blamed his wife for starting it and/or causing him to fall.

It’s like a church, any church, blaming negative press for causing their people to leave the church.

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By: Joe Schafer

Fri, 17 Jul 2015 12:02:59 +0000

MJ, thanks for a thoughtful article. Our language not only shapes our perception of historical events, but our personal life stories and identity.

Here is a fascinating article about the (very predictable and utilitarian) ways that evangelical Christians share their life testimonies.

http://religiondispatches.org/i-was-a-wild-man-how-to-decode-evangelical-testimony/

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By: Chris

Fri, 17 Jul 2015 10:58:44 +0000

I deliberately do not mention the Russian information warfare here, because I can predict that it will lead to unproductive dispute and discord with our Russian readers, who are exposed to that propaganda every day on all channels in Russia, many of which I fear bought into the world view that is propagated there. Though it may be useful to discuss these things, better let’s not do it here, because it will distract from the real topics of this site, and cause unnecessary tension and quarrel.

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By: BrianK

Thu, 16 Jul 2015 22:11:50 +0000

MJ, this is another deep-thinking article. I don’t have a lot to say in regard to the events you mentioned. I do see myself as the “tank man”, standing in front of the ubf authority figures. And I just love this part of the quote you mentioned: “When you tell your own story, you take control over reality.” This is exactly why I wrote my three books, and working on my next book, about ubf. This is something ubf just fails to see: This is MY life. This is MY story. You lost ALL power over me.

Here are my thoughts on your questions:

What are your reactions to this article?
> Well, my reaction is rather odd. June 5, 1989. That was just a few months after my father’s untimely death from ALS. It was likely exam time for me, either just finishing or just starting final exams for my second year of college. I had already moved into “ubf common life” and was just about to fully get lost in the ubf system, jumping head first into the ubf ideology and fully adopting the KOPAHN ubfism lifestyle. How ironic that the “tank man” incident on June 5, 1989 was the vision of who I would become to ubf?

Have you heard about the Tiananmen Square Masssacre, the Armenian Genocide, Holodomor or the Malaysian Airliner shot down July 2014 before?

> Yes I have hear about all of these, but I know very little. From what I know, your thoughts on Russia and Ukraine are spot on. But I will leave such things to Chris and others who have much more insight than I do.

I’ll answer the other questions later on.

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By: forestsfailyou

Thu, 16 Jul 2015 18:53:40 +0000

People are entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts.

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By: Ben Toh

Thu, 16 Jul 2015 15:04:26 +0000

Thanks for sharing this, MJ. I really can’t think of anyone who would have any serious or major objections to what you wrote…except those who want to control some narrative based on their own agenda.

Two quotes come to mind, both of which I’ve shared on previous posts:

“Until the lions have their own historians, the history of the hunt will always glorify the hunter.” Chinua Achebe, Nigerian novelist, poet, professor, critic and author of Things Fall Apart. – See more at: http://www.ubfriends.org/2015/07/08/is-america-free/#comment-18784

“You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.” Anne Lamott.

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