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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: love

Rethinking the Nativity

25 December 2016, 12:39

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Used with permission from https://www.facebook.com/JAphotographyanddesign/

*Reposted from the original Rethinking the Nativity on Djibouti Jones and shared on A Life Overseas. It is a thought provoking and eye opening look at the culture around the time when Christ was born and truly shows the GRACE of His Story! ——————————- I am tired of the Christmas story. Clarification: I’m tired of […]

The Truth About God’s Justice

21 April 2015, 06:00

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I grew up afraid of God’s justice. Though my parents were well-balanced in meting out mercy and discipline (very well-balanced considering we went to a Gothardite church), I always imagined God coming down from heaven with a sword of justice in hand, ready to punish all of us for our sins. He had just enough […]

Four Pre-Digital Reviews of Gothard’s Theology

20 May 2014, 07:00

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A SUMMARY REPORT Bill Gothard’s Institute In Basic Life Principles by David Henke, September 1993   In 1985, a colleague gave me access to his files so that I could fill gaps in my own files. One of the files that he had was on Bill Gothard’s ministry. I copied it for the sake of […]

Speaking Up Late in the Day

3 May 2014, 08:48

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Over the past two weeks and previous two Aprils, Recovering Grace has focused on personal narratives by former Advanced Training Institute (ATI) alumni who endured sexual assault, abuse, or harassment in the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) subculture, sometimes within a context of broader physical abuse, and almost always within a context of spiritual […]

Twelve Characteristics of Fundamentalist Societies that Shelter Sexual Abuse

30 April 2014, 09:00

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How could he have fooled so many people, so thoroughly? How did the abuse go on for so many years, unacknowledged? Whenever a leader at this level is ousted or steps down, questions like these come to mind. In the wake of revelations of sexual harassment and abuse pouring in from survivors of Bill Gothard’s […]

To My Daughter

11 April 2014, 06:00

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After being in ATI for 10 years and now out for the last 13 years, I am finding the need to say some things to our oldest daughter. She was our “guinea pig,” the one from whom we learned the most and the one upon whom we tried the most. She was with us from start […]

The One Who’s Turned into a Girl Again

8 April 2014, 06:00

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I’ve been struggling the past month. Events on Recovering Grace have unfolded to a place where I have finally been able to feel vindicated that the niggling little feelings that had long rested deep within my soul were justified. Oh, I would never have been able to actually express those feelings, not because I “couldn’t” […]

Stolen Treasures

11 March 2014, 06:00

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EDITOR’S NOTE: This article was  originally published on March 11, 2013. A recent article on Recovering Grace, entitled “Moving On,” prompted me to think about the reason it is so difficult to move forward after being victimized by legalism. As I have worked with those hurt by legalism over the years, I have often heard stories about what […]

Sacred Grooming, Part Four: A Secretary’s Account of Life With Bill Gothard

27 January 2014, 06:00

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The Staff Center at IBLP Headquarters, photographed by the author

[Editor’s Note: The young woman referred to only as “she” and “her” in the following account is the author herself, “Meg,” but she has written it in the third person. The author was twenty years old during the events in this post. The following is a true story. Click here for Part One of Meg’s […]

What My Parents Did Right

19 December 2013, 06:00

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You know the old saying as well as I do about hindsight being 20/20. This is because it’s really very easy to look back on the past and criticize others’ actions. I’m pretty sure people have been doing this from time immemorial. In fact, it’s quite likely that either Eve or Adam turned to the […]