History of the Family of Love: 1978-1981

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[edit] The Family of Love (1978-1981)

The Family of Love era was characterised by movement of Family members into more countries. Regular witnessing methods included door to door, giving out tracts and other gospel literature, classes which included Family music as well as classes on various aspects of the Christian life.

In 1974, David Berg introduced a new witnessing method called Flirty Fishing, which allowed female members to physically express God's love by engaging in sexual activity with potential converts. It began as an experiment started as early as 1973 by members of Berg's inner circle and was eventually introduced to the rest of the membership. By 1978, it was more widely practiced by members of the group. In some areas, Flirty Fishers used escort agencies to meet people. As in other witnessing methods, people who were reached through FF'ing supported the movement generously. Even though FF'ing was practised for a relatively short length of time, several people who were FF'd remain friends, supporters and well wishers to this day.

According to the Family, as a result of Flirty Fishing, "over 100,000 received God's gift of salvation through Jesus, and some chose to live the life of a disciple and missionary." [1] According to data provided by the Family to researcher Bill Bainbridge, from 1974 until 1987 Family members had sexual contact with 223,989 people while practicing Flirty Fishing. (William Sims Bainbridge, Sociology of New Religious Movements, Routledge, 1996. pg. 223) Flirty Fishing also resulted in the birth of many children, including Karen Zerby's son, Davidito (aka Rick Rodriguez). Children born as result of Flirty Fishing were referred to as "Jesus Babies" By the end of 1981, over 300 "Jesus Babies" had been born.

In an official statement on its origins, the Family International partly describes the practice of Flirty Fishing as follows:

In part as a response to the sexual liberality of the early '70s, Father David presented a more intimate and personal, voluntary form of evangelism, which became known as "Flirty Fishing" or "FFing." ...Father David proposed that the boundaries of expressing God's love to others could at times go beyond just showing kindness and doing good deeds. He suggested that for those who were in dire need of physical love and affection, even sex could be used as evidence to them of the Lord's love. The motivation, guiding principle, and reasoning behind the FFing ministry was that through this sacrificial proof of love, some would better accept and understand God's great love for them. The goal was that they would come to believe in and receive God's own loving gift of salvation through His Son, Jesus, who gave His life for them. By this unorthodox method David felt many would find the Lord's love and salvation, who never would have otherwise. Although we no longer practice FFing, we believe the scriptural principles behind the ministry remain sound. [2]

In his judgment of a child custody court case in England in 1994, after extensive research of Family publications and the testimony of many witnesses, The Lord Justice Ward said this about FFing:

I am quite satisfied that most of the women who engaged in this activity and the subsequent refinement of ESing, (which was finding men through escort agencies), did so in the belief that they were spreading God's word. But I am also totally satisfied that that was not Berg's only purpose. He and his organization had another and more sordid reason. They were procuring women to become common prostitutes. They were knowingly living in part on the earnings of prostitution. That was criminal activity. Their attempts to deny this must be dismissed as cant and hypocrisy. To deny that the girls were acting as prostitutes because "we are not charging but we expect people to show their thanks and their appreciation and they ought to give more for love than if we charged them" is an unacceptable form of special pleading. The "FFers handbook" told the girls that fishing could be fun but fun did not pay the bills. "You've got to catch a few to make the fun pay for itself. So don't do it for nothing." [3]

The practice of Flirty Fishing or "FFing" was officially abandoned in 1987 in favor of other witnessing methods and also to avoid contracting AIDS. In 1987, new rules were introduced that banned, under penalty of excommunication, sexual contact with non-members. However, the new rules also stated that exceptions to the rule would be allowed in certain cases. For example, one publication stated: "All sex with outsiders is banned!--Unless they are already close and well-known friends!" [4]

[edit] References

• The Family history on xFamily.org, a wiki about the Children of God