Thread by @AndyRowell

Comments on The Family on Netflix (episodes 1-2 of 5):
1. It is fine to have Christians in politics trying to do what is right.
2. It is fine for them to get together or live together for prayer and to spur each other on to love and good deeds.
3. It is fine to emphasize Jesus.

4. It is not okay to bribe Congress members with low-cost housing so they will live in your organization's townhouse and support its aims.
5. A community house where Christians live that does not welcome outsiders is not a church and should not seek tax status as a church.

6. A leader who cites killing one's family members for the organization as a positive example of the kind of loyalty they desire is at best morally sick and dangerous.
7. The lesson of David and Bathsheba is that marital infidelity and its cover-up are wrong and destructive.

8. An organization that uses secrecy as a prominent strategy should raise suspicions unless they are facing an
obvious enemy as did the Nazi resistance, underground church in China, military espionage, product research and development, and Hong Kong protestors. The Family didn't.

9. Doing what's right behind the scenes and not trying to get publicity for it is what Jesus taught his followers to do. Modesty and humility and service are good. It is another thing to hide one's financial dealings so as to continue to have influence with the powerful.

10. The concept of being chosen by God should lead to acts of integrity and courage and truth-telling like Esther and Joseph and Daniel and Paul rather than rationalizing silence to keep one's high position.

11. It is true that one's Christian commitment may alter their previous relationships with family and friends, but pressure to cut off polite and gracious and informative contact with them should raise suspicions about the organization, especially if it is a secretive one.

12. Cruel secretive initiation rites are wrong and incompatible with Christianity. No, baptism is not this but rather a joyous decision to be spiritually washed and make a new start.

13. It is not compatible with Christianity to harm poor or not famous people so as to reach out to the rich and elite and powerful. All Christians are chosen in the sense of being loved by God and invited to serve wherever they are.

14. Women should not be merely encouraged to serve men as Jesus makes clear in his comments to Mary and Martha.

15. Anti-intellectual practices of:
- not studying the whole Bible but just the Gospels and Acts,
- not reading newspapers,
- not learning from other Christians who have expertise in the languages and cultures of the Bible,
- not welcoming questions,
are foolish and arrogant.