Reward and Punishment -- RSQUBF discussion forum

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Date Posted: 08:56:36 01/27/05 Thu
Author: Tom Fosler
Subject: Reward and Punishment
In reply to: Definition of Love 's message, "How beautiful" on 01:46:35 01/27/05 Thu

One of the things that the poster here is claiming is that the rewards these people aspire to are not earthly, but heavenly. However, I contend that the very reason the Shepherds and Missionaries do what they do is for praise from others, for acceptance, and to maintain that "high feeling" from being in the spotlight and being in favor with the hierarchy of UBF. They don't do it to save people, but to save face. They may think they are doing rightly by "fishing" and getting people to study the Bible, but so do the Jehovah's Witnesses, the Mormons, the Satanists, Scientologists, the Local Church, the Family, the Brotherhood, the Muslims, the Judaists, and everyone else whose religion is based on a conditional God. Their whole doctrine is based on reward and punishment. If you got the numbers and made the quota, then you are rewarded by God. If you did not, then you will suffer, as if God's relationship with us is circumstantial.

The poster also claims that the "help" that UBF people offer is sincere, is based on God's will, and is part of God's discipline. This could not be farther from the truth. Who are they to decide what is and is not God's will? The Pharisess and Sadduccees were doing the very same thing to the people of their age; this is a typical red flag of a cult and cult leaders. Most of the "help" these people give is not needed, and is based on some kind of UBF conformity issue and not on conforming to Christ. It is also typically superficial. (Just like the relationships there.) Change your weight, your hair, your dress, your speech, your friends, et cetera. No thanks! I don't want to fellowship with other believers to be more like them; I want to be more like Christ. The catalyst between believers is to know and be known; to love and be loved. To be close friends with others and share your life with them, not to partake in pointless meetings and traiditions that have nothing to do with my relationship with Christ or my problems. Or your problems.

Poster, your naivete is only showing your own lackadaisical attitude toward Truth and toward your fellow man. The common shepherd you picture was what many of us were; duped into believing what we were doing was for God's glory, and continually indoctrinated with the hollow doctrine that is UBF. Why shouldn't we generalize? We were there; we know exactly what happens, we went through the same struggles everyone else is going through. We were the common shepherd. Now, we are the common Christian, able to see truth clearly and able to call UBF leaders to the carpet and demand their repentance, for their own sake. "Oh, UBF isn't so bad. They may do some things that aren't normal, but they do study the Bible with college students. Is that wrong?" Of course it is! Why do you think Jesus got into it with all of the religious leaders of the time? For fun? No! To call them on the carpet and show them up for the falseness that they truly are.

My point is this: there is no more room for people to turn a blind eye to UBF just because they look and act good on the outside. There is real abuse going on there, and there are too many people with the wrong idea. To use the excuse that "everyone makes mistakes" is not good enough. That's like saying that UBF ministry is "good enough for government work". (For our non-Americans, that's a joke in the working world for substandard quality.) There IS a standard that the rest of the world church needs to live up to, and UBF isn't even trying to raise their own bar. Quit trying to let UBF hide behind the "nice and sincere" slogan and start asking real questions about what matters.

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Replies:

Re: Reward and Punishment -- Unworthy (Definition of Love), 01:40:52 02/01/05 Tue
- "Guides" -- Chris, 03:12:33 02/01/05 Tue
- who says I can't judge you and your behavior? -- Nick T., 09:04:39 02/01/05 Tue