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.

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.

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

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/

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.

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.