Have you Shiny Happy People? Looking for more info? Start here.

Articles about how Bill Gothard mishandles the Bible to support his legalistic viewpoint.

Personal testimonies of finding true freedom through God's matchless grace.

Living and thriving through the grace of God.

Stories and accounts of the destruction caused by the teachings of Bill Gothard.

Tag Archives: bill-gothard

In Search of Peace

2 April 2015, 06:00

Moderator

98

One of my earliest memories was walking down the hall from my Sunday school class to the sanctuary, pondering in perfect happiness the most important thing I knew: Jesus loved me, and his Father, God, loved me. They loved me even more than my Mommy and Daddy loved me. And that’s how much I loved […]

Ignorance Is Not Bliss

31 March 2015, 06:00

Moderator

13

Ever since our pastor announced that Bill Gothard stepped down, I feel like I have been in a state of shock. I have always been famous for saying, “Ignorance is not bliss.” Now I know just how right I was. I have to reconcile myself to the fact that I was living in ignorance, and […]

ATI: Designed Around a False Education “Principle” (Part 2)

26 March 2015, 06:00

Moderator

37

by Myron Horst Click here to read Part 1. The Dangers of Analogies Donald Simanek, physics professor at Lock Haven University, wrote and an excellent article on the dangers of analogies (click here to read). His perspective is from the field of physics, in which there are many concepts that are in the abstract and […]

ATI: Designed Around a False Education “Principle” (Part 1)

23 March 2015, 06:03

Moderator

38

by Myron Horst The Advanced Training Institute (ATI) curriculum was promoted and sold to pastors and homeschool parents as the best homeschool curriculum in the world. Instead of being the best, it has failed horribly in many ways. The ATI curriculum was produced by Bill Gothard and his Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) and […]

Sorry, Mom and Dad. We DO Have Regrets

22 January 2015, 06:00

Moderator

237

Growing up in ATI, our parents often told us, “Because of the way we’re raising you, you won’t have any regrets.”  Their regrets included broken relationships, sexual sins, temptations, “wasted” years and the like.  All of which we would to avoid because of our sheltered, carefully controlled upbringing. We don’t know if our parents honestly […]

IBYC Board Minutes 1977-1980

4 January 2015, 08:23

Moderator

12

For readers interested in the corporate governance of the Institute in Basic Youth Conflicts (IBYC, now IBLP, Institute in Basic Life Principles) during the period leading up to and through the Scandal of 1980, the minutes from Board of Directors meetings are attached.  Some names have been redacted, including those of victims caught up in the […]

The Package: Bill Gothard and His Children

1 January 2015, 00:00

Moderator

16

    Bill Gothard and His Children: The Unauthorized Short Biography   Image of envelope copyright: kchung / 123RF Stock Photo

Waiting on Theological Clarification from IBLP

31 December 2014, 00:00

Moderator

25

After Bill Gothard was deemed disqualified from ministry by his Board of Directors in 2014, a number of theologians and church leaders called on the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) to evaluate the teachings that are “at least partly responsible for the recurring moral failures of Bill Gothard and other IBLP leaders.” This call was posted […]

The Package: Bill Gothard’s Knowledge of Sin

29 December 2014, 00:00

Moderator

83

Suggested viewing from IBYC management for the publication staff, photographed on the sidewalk outside HQ. 1980

    Detailed Knowledge Summary Bill Gothard has denied publicly — for 34 years — that he ever had any knowledge of any details of immorality before April of 1980 (the first time that Tony asked to meet Bill privately with a report of what was being discovered). Gothard has made this denial to the […]

IBYC According to Bryen – 1975

27 December 2014, 00:00

Moderator

47

In hindsight, David R. Bryen’s thesis is remarkably accurate on many counts.  Published in 1975 and titled “An Evaluation of the Theological, Hermeneutical and Psychological Assumptions of the Institute in Basic Youth Conflicts,” this 126-page document was an unprecedented analysis of Gothard’s teachings. Why was Bryen so well aware of the dangers of Bill Gothard’s teachings […]