Why So Many Are Done With UBF
Admin note: Committed Christians–including more and more 2nd gens–leaving UBF is a reality that some leaders do not wish to face, acknowledge, address or discuss. So I thought that Joe’s recent comment was a such a short, sweet and succinct as well as savory, succulent and scrumptious comment. I felt bad that this would so easily get lost in the thousands of comments that UBFriends has. So I decided to re-post it as a short lead article. Continue reading →
Utmost Love and Respect
[Admin note: This is a letter recently sent to the ubfriends admins from a UBF leader. He wanted to share his letter to the UBF elders and also with those who left UBF. The author is still in UBF. He loves UBF very much not in spite of many problems but because of them. The letter is entitled: “Utmost Love and Respect for the Brides of Christ”. As admins here, we are encouraged by this letter and see it as a positive contribution to the issues we have been discussing here. Please read and share your reactions and thoughts.]
UBF’s Expectations or God’s?
Admin Note: This is a comment to Sin Is Having An Identity Other Than In God:
“For 27 years my (Ben Toh’s) identity was in my faithfulness to never miss a UBF Sun worship service, never miss any meetings, never miss writing a testimony every week, never missing any UBF conferences, having 10 1:1 Bible studies a week, etc. I did well as a UBF man. Yet, though I love Jesus, my identity was not in Christ but in what others in UBF expected of me.”
This is what is so blinding here. I think people can attest to these things that you listed. These are some of the expectations for a faithful member of UBF. As long you do these things, you’re growing. Well that’s what it seems to be. Continue reading →
Christ is Risen!
Christ is risen, Christ is living,
dry your tears, be unafraid!
Death and darkness could not hold him,
nor the tomb in which he lay.
Do not look among the dead for
one who lives for evermore;
tell the world that Christ is risen,
make it known he goes before.
I Will Awaken the Dawn
My heart is steadfast, O God;
I will sing and make music with all my soul.
Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.
I will praise you, O LORD, among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.
For great is your love, higher than the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens,
and let your glory be over all the earth.
— from Psalm 8, of David
This is the Night
This is the Night,
Which throughout the world
Frees all who believe in Christ
From the vices of their time-shackled existence,
From the lightless dungeon of sin,
And restores them to grace: unites them to holiness.
This is the Night
In which Christ broke the chains of death
And rose in radiant victory
From the pit of Hades.
— Ancient hymn of the Easter vigil, author unknown
The Brain Science of Ambition
Yesterday, after we published Gerardo’s article on theories of intelligence, a fascinating article appeared on Scot McKnight’s Jesus Creed blog:
This article was written by ‘RJS’ who is a frequent contributor on the Jesus Creed website. RJS is a sincere Christian, a woman, an accomplished scientist, and a faculty member at a secular university. She writes primarily about the relationship between faith and science and occasionally about the role of women in the church.
In this article, she discusses what brain imaging technology (fMRI) has revealed about some of the Seven Deadly Sins. She reports that lust, especially in males, “sets nearly the whole brain buzzing,” producing a biochemical response that can be very addicting and destructive. Envy produces patterns of brain activity that reflect ‘a kind of social pain,’ and when the object of envy (the person who incites it) experiences a downfall, the response is a kind of pleasure which is well described by the German word schadenfreude.
A Question from Ray
Dear friends: Today a comment arrived from one of our readers. It was originally addressed to Joshua Yoon in response to this:
Because of its length and scope, we have decided to run it as an article. Take a look and see if you can offer him any advice. Thanks!
Overcoming the Male-Dominated Culture of UBFriends
When this website was launched in the summer of 2010, we had a grandiose vision of a cyber-cafe where people of many different backgrounds could meet and connect with one another. A safe haven where we could discuss all sorts of issues pertinent to UBF and to life beyond. A place where new friendships would form and grow.
That has happened. God has blessed us with lots of interesting articles and lively discussion. Even during the recent holiday period, when our pace of publishing slowed down to less than one new article per week, we were still averaging about 50 site visits per day by readers from all over the world.
But one aspect of UBFriends has been gnawing at my conscience: the overwhelming majority of posts and comments have been written by males.
Commenting Has Been Fixed
Dear Readers:
Over the last few weeks, some of you have tried to leave comments and experienced difficulty. Without our realizing it, commenting privileges were restricted to subscribers only, and then all comments were being held for moderation.
We believe the problem has now been fixed.
If you tried to leave a comment on UBFriends and were unsuccessful, please accept our apologies. This website is dedicated to open discussion, and we don’t want to exclude anyone who is willing to join in. If you continue to experience any difficulties, please send a note to admin@ubfriends.org
Thank you.
Last 30 Comments