John,

I understand what you're saying. Still, for me, if that website you quoted from is telling the truth, I wouldn't join no matter who the leader was- those rules do come across at "cultish," were it not for the fact that it was the Bible being studied, but still such legalism has no place in the body of Christ.

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In fact, as I mentioned earlier, if you don't fill out the questionnaire before the meeting, you can't even talk during the discussion. In addition, you have to discuss only what you wrote on the sheet. So I assume that if someone says something you disagree with, unless you anticipated them and wrote it down in your answer area, you wouldn't be able to argue the point.
A policy like this is just bizarre, and defies common sense if real "study" is what is being aimed for.

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But most importantly, BSF will not allow their lesson materials to be given to anyone for scrutiny or examination unless they are a class participant. "BSF notes are provided for the personal use of class members during their active participation and must not be loaned or given to nonmembers." 12 Such secrecy is a common element of shepherding/discipleship groups and secret societies
While I wouldn't call BSF a "secret society" is any way, the author of this quote is correct that these rules are characteristic of such.

I guess, to me, I wouldn't be worried about joining a cult, just an off-kilter group planned by some misguided people with some really weird rules that stifle real discussion and have the potential to allow a lot of incorrect teaching be accepted and even taught within the meeting.

Keep in mind, I'd never heard about BSF before this thread, and my $0.02 comes just from the comments and quotes you provided.

(Latin phrase goes here.)