Maria and Peter's response

God bless you, and greetings in Jesus’ name. I wanted to acknowledge receipt of your letter to Maria and Peter and let you know that it has been passed on to them. Thank you for your explanation about your site and its purpose. Like you, Maria and Peter are not interested in debating Family writings. It is obvious that we don’t agree on certain issues, but that is not surprising, considering the many theological differences between even the vast number of Christian churches in the world, and Maria and Peter do not expect everyone to understand or agree with the Family’s doctrines and literature. We respect your beliefs, and hope you respect ours.

Thank you for the 20 years of service you gave to serving the Lord with the Family. There are others, like you, who have served the Lord with us over the years, and then went on to other ministries or places of service. Maria and Peter wish them, and you, all the best, and that even though we are no longer traveling on the same path, you, like us, will continue to fulfill the Lord’s commission to preach the Gospel and witness and win others to faith in Christ.

Sincerely,

Ashley, for Maria and Peter

Chris’s Comments

The response from Maria and Peter via their secretary is brief and does not address any of the major issues I broached in my letter. It appears intended to be conciliatory or written in the attempt to bring closure to my doctrinal disagreements with the Family. It contains several presuppositions that are worth commenting on.

First, about conciliation. Ashley writes, “We respect your beliefs, and hope you respect ours”. An important point should be made here regarding the principles behind Make Straight Paths. The authors of this web site have determined that, among other goals, they will uphold the truth of the Bible first and foremost, that they will examine Family doctrines in the light of the scriptural truths, and that they will do so in a manner that does not personally attack individual Family members, past or present. Therefore, on a personal level, there is not a great deal that needs conciliation. On the other hand, the Bible expresses the absolute necessity of searching its pages to determine truth, and therefore a diligent study of the Bible to discover whether or not Family doctrines are true is the God-commanded duty of every Family member, past or present, specifically including Maria and Peter themselves. To spell it out, if Maria and Peter consider themselves Christians, if they acknowledge the sovereignty of God and the lordship of Jesus Christ, then they are under divine obligation to study the Bible, unequivocally discarding anything that breathes the slightest contradiction with the express will of God. This is not optional. Likewise, each and every Family member is personally responsible before God to examine the Bible for him or herself. Note that this does not mean scanning the GNs for Bible verses or reading through the Word Basics. An honest examination of the Bible must first lay aside all Family writings in order to let the Bible speak for itself.

Therefore, while I acknowledge that Maria, Peter and all Family members have the right to believe whatever they want to believe, I also have the right to examine those beliefs in light of the Bible. In fact, speaking as a person who was a Family member for about 20 years, I have all the right in the world to examine what the Family believes. In other words, if Maria and Peter hope that I respect their beliefs, I can certainly say that I respect their right to hold certain beliefs if they so choose, but as my examination of the Bible has shown that many of those beliefs are incorrect, then I am under no obligation whatsoever to respect the actual beliefs.

Another point is one I made in the letter. Speaking with someone about their eternal soul does not constitute a personal attack on that person. On the contrary, that is exactly what Jesus Christ commanded us to do when He gave the Great Commission. Witnessing is no more or less than explaining to people that their sin is inexcusable before God, Who provided His own Son as atonement if we throw ourselves on His mercy. The command to ‘preach the Gospel’ does not leave any room for ‘respecting the beliefs’ of the lost sinners to whom we preach!

Ashley writes, “Like you, Maria and Peter are not interested in debating Family writings.”

Perhaps a point of clarification is necessary. In my letter to Maria and Peter, I was speaking to them directly about their souls, about their position before God. In the letter, my main concern for Maria and Peter was that they return to God, because it is my opinion that their position before God is extremely precarious. My letter to them, therefore, was not the place for an extended discussion of a number of Family doctrines. The most important consideration was that they get right with God. This is still my fervent prayer: that Maria and Peter fall on their knees to beg God for mercy for the way they have led so many away from the truth of the Bible.

Regardless of the content of that particular letter, it should be manifestly obvious from the content of Make Straight Paths that I am extremely interested in discussing Family doctrines. Make Straight Paths discusses numerous Family doctrines in great detail. Therefore it is rather misleading to say that I am “not interested in debating Family writings.”

However, it seems to be true that neither Maria nor Peter are interested in engaging in such a debate. The issue here is not one of debate, arguments or negotiation, but whether or not the Family is living according to the Bible. It is only the Bible that is “able to make you wise for salvation” (2 Tim 3:15 NKJV) and there could be no more worthwhile pursuit than to learn its truth.

Presuppositions

There are a number of assumptions or presuppositions in Maria and Peter’s response which are worth identifying:

The Family is a Christian group: “you, like us, will continue to fulfill the Lord’s commission to preach the Gospel.”
The Family has basically Christian motives, to “win others to faith in Christ.”
The Family is one place where people can serve the Lord: “serving the Lord with the Family.”
The issues Make Straight Paths raises are little more than “theological differences” with the Family.
Many people simply don’t “understand or agree with the Family’s doctrines and literature”.

It’s worth dealing with each of these points in a little more detail.

Is the Family a Christian group?

At this point I want to be careful to explain that I do not believe that all Family members are necessarily ‘unsaved’. Such a sweeping generalization has no value. However, neither is it possible to believe that all Family members are actually genuine Christians, considering the decidedly unchristian behaviour exhibited by some. In other words, I am willing to admit that there may be people in the Family who are actually ‘saved.’ Such a judgement (whether or not someone is saved) belongs only to the Lord, so no human is in the position to examine another person’s heart, what is or is not within. Therefore, it may be possible that there actually are saved ‘born-again’ Christians within the Family. I realise that this statement will never be positive enough for current Family members, or negative enough for some in the ex-Family community.

I also want to make it very clear that it is impossible to come to any other conclusion but that there are people within the Family who are not ‘saved,’ who are not ‘born-again,’ who are not Christian. It is hard to believe that people who wilfully persist in behaviour that the Bible condemns as sin can possibly be part of the kingdom of God. This web site goes into a lot of detail about these things, so it is not necessary to deal with specific sins on this page. An important point about ‘sin:’ Sin is not defined by whether or not you knew something was wrong. If the Bible says that God regards something as wrong, it is sin whether or not you know it, whether or not you are able to justify your action with noble motives, whether or not you can find Bible verses that seem to support your action. Sin is that which God regards as sin. That is His right. However in His mercy, He laid down the details in the Bible for us to read. Unfortunately, a major problem within the Family lies in its propensity to justify its own teachings using misapplied or inappropriate Bible verses. This returns us to the need for all Family members to study the Bible for themselves.

So, having concluded that there may be Christians within the Family, and that there almost certainly are those who are not Christian, is the Family itself a Christian organisation as it claims? I’d prefer to rephrase the question like this:

Do Family members respect the Bible? In general, yes.

Does the Family as an organisation promote Bible memorisation? Yes.

Does the Family encourage personal Bible study? No, all Bible study in the Family is superseded by study of Family publications. In fact, personal Bible study has been explicitly discouraged.

Do individual Family members really know the Bible? No, there is, at best, a superficial knowledge.

Does the Family conform to biblical principals? No, there are a number of Family doctrines that explicitly contradict Bible precepts.

Do individual Family members obey the Bible? Again, on a superficial level, perhaps. On the other hand, the non-biblical Family doctrines are so entrenched in Family life and culture that it is almost impossible to avoid participation.

Do Family members obey Jesus Christ? Selectively. There are certain instructions that Christ issued that are certainly not obeyed in the Family. Possibly there are others that are carried out.

So, is the Family a Christian group? It seems that if your definition of ‘Christian’ is ‘vaguely biblical,’ then the Family is certainly more ‘Christian’ than they are ‘atheist’ or ‘Muslim’. However, if ‘Christian’ means actively following Christ, and striving to obey biblical commands, then unfortunately we must conclude that the Family as a group is not a Christian organisation.

Does the Family have Christian motives?

This is debatable. Unfortunately, it is not sufficient to claim that the Family’s main motivation is to “win others to faith in Christ.” In the first place, the Family’s method of witnessing is highly suspect, preaching an all-accepting Jesus who came to be a friend. According to the Bible, Christ called Himself ‘Friend’, but our salvation only comes because He is also God, who cannot accept sin, and who calls people to forsake their sinful lives through repentance and personal dedication, accepting the atonement He made on the cross. In general, The Family does not witness this message, and so their statistics of many thousands of instant salvations may have little relation to reality.

Secondly, it is one of the Family’s stated aims to win others to the Family itself. As pointed out above, there are too many biblical contradictions to accept the Family as a genuinely Christian organisation, and therefore winning people to the Family does not necessarily equate to an increase in the kingdom of God.

Third, many of the doctrines practiced in the Family are completely unchristian, which can only separate Family members from God.

This leads us directly to the next issue:

Is it possible to serve the Lord in the Family?

Probably not. As it is impossible to remain a full-time Family member without stated belief in Family leadership, and demonstrated attempts to obey current teachings, many of which totally contradict Bible principles, then it seems that it would be impossible to ‘serve the Lord’ while at the same time living a life that is displeasing to Him.

Is this web site quibbling over mere theological differences?

The reference to “theological differences” is, in my opinion, the most unsettling. Do Maria and Peter really think that the assertion that their eternal souls are in mortal danger is no more than a “theological difference”? Are questions regarding widespread Family practices, condemned as sin in the Bible, merely religious quibbling? It appears that the message that Maria and Peter wish to give here is, “We will believe what we believe; Make Straight Paths is irrelevant.”

Personally speaking, it is of no great concern to me whether or not Maria and Peter place any value upon the content of Make Straight Paths. That is not the issue I address in my letter. The point is this: Maria and Peter are in terrible danger due to their errors. This is the inevitable conclusion that will be reached from an honest study of the Bible, not a study of Make Straight Paths. My plea to Maria and Peter is that they examine what the Bible has to say about their own actions, their own beliefs, their own souls. Lay aside all theology, put down all the teachings of the Family, and read the Bible.

It is reasonable to say that those who do not wish to examine the word of God to discover the truth are unconcerned with what God actually has to say. Certainly, a lack of desire to study the Bible seems to indicate a lack of concern for the mind of God. It is true that there may be differences of opinion over the correct way to interpret, for example, “love never fails”, but when it comes to one’s eternal salvation or damnation, there can be no room for error.

It is, as the author of Hebrews says, “a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb 10:31 NASU), and there can be no more important question to determine if one’s life is pleasing to Him who is able to “destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matt 10:28). How will we escape, the Bible asks, if we neglect so great a salvation? (Heb2:3).

Is it a matter of simple disagreement, or perhaps a lack of understanding?

I was a long-term, committed Family member. I studied the pubs more than most. I compiled ML classes for Home devotions on numerous topics, I took copious notes of the pubs, researched and made extensive cross-references to the GNs I read. To my shame, I did not apply the same zeal to the most precious book of all, the Bible. I understood Family teaching; I did not understand the Bible.

I do not disagree over practical matters, like the best country to live in or the optimum number of people that should live in one dwelling. Those matters are up to each person to choose as he or she wishes. However when it comes to Bible interpretation, it should be remembered that the Bible is a public book, and private interpretations are probably inaccurate. The issue that I am addressing is that the Bible says that certain widespread Family practices and doctrines are sin. This is an issue that should be examined not through the official Family writings, but individually and personally by each and every Family member. The reason for this is that when it comes to our salvation, God expects each of us individually to repent and call upon Him for mercy and salvation. There is no such thing as corporate salvation. In other words, membership of a church or group does not guarantee salvation. Each Family member participates to some degree in the sinful practices, and each needs to find the truth.

This is no mere disagreement; there is no misunderstanding.

There can hardly be a more important question.

To conclude, I repeat my plea: Maria and Peter, for your own sakes, fall on your knees and beg God for mercy. His merciful loving kindness knows no limits, but He requires repentance and a forsaking of sin. Family members, please search the Scriptures to see whether these things be so.

Acts 17:11 Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, for they received the word with great eagerness, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. (NASU)

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