What I share in this story is something that I have never shared with anyone in its entirety except my wife. Some of you will know bits and pieces of this story, and some of you will recognize yourselves in it. I am not going to share names of friends and associates in the ATI world because it is not my intention to hurt anyone. I’m not angry with anyone, and I only desire to share a little of my spiritual journey. Also, my mother and father know that I am sharing this, and that I have no animosity or anger towards them because of choices that they made. All things do indeed work together for good.
MY CHILDHOOD
I was raised in a Southern Baptist Church (my father was a minister), but was homeschooled from Kindergarten through 12th grade using curriculum mostly from institutions such as Bob Jones University and Pensacola Christian College (A Beka books), which are two independent fundamental Baptist colleges. The other major portion of our curriculum came from a man named Bill Gothard, who led a homeschooling organization called ATI, which stands for the Advanced Training Institute.
My family, circa 1999
Our family joined ATI in the mid-1980s. I was 5 or 6 I believe. I remember vividly when we joined, as my parents went off to their “initiation” conference and left my brother and me with another ATI family. I actually remember a lot of details about that week for it being so long ago. I remember that the family had a lot of rules that I didn’t understand, and that I got in trouble a lot. When my parents came back, I remember that a lot of things changed. A lot of these same rules that the other family had made became rules in our house. I lived with these rules to some degree or another for a long time. As an example, here are just a few of the rules:
- No TV or movies (had to keep the world out of our home)
- No cabbage patch dolls (they were demonic)
- No blue jeans (because that is what the world wears)
- Ladies can’t wear pants (must always be modest)
- No music with a “rock” beat in it (it’s the devil’s beat)
- No pork (it’s in the OT for a reason)
- No dating…ever (courtship and betrothal were ok, though)
- No college (college corrupts children)
There are many more, but you get the point.
THE DOCTRINE OF SEPARATION
These rules stemmed from something that permeates ATI known as the “doctrine of separation.” They don’t refer to it as such, but it is a common thread flowing through much of their teachings. This doctrine is comprised of two degrees of separation. The first degree is the idea of a total separation from the world. From a parenting standpoint, it means keeping any influence of the “world” out of your home at any cost. Parents are to build a hedge of protection keeping sin out of the home, and if you did that, your kids will turn out fine.
This is why I believe my parents got into ATI. They were fairly young believers at the time, and had no real parental role models. So when certain influential people came along and shared with them this amazing program that would make their kids grow up to be godly young men and women, they bought it.
In theory, many aspects of this doctrine of separation make sense. Of course we want our kids to be holy, and to walk in the ways of the Lord. But this is not something that can be taught by a bunch of rules and regulations. It has to be taught through nurturing their personal walk with the Lord. Of course we discipline our children. Of course we teach them principles of Godly living. But the emphasis has to be the internals, not the externals. This is the major fallacy of ATI thinking.
The second degree of separation is even more radical, and it was the concept of separating from those WITHIN the church who didn’t follow the first degree of separation the same way that you did. Thankfully, we weren’t as radical in this area, as we were members of a SBC church. However, the vast majority of my ATI friends believed in both degrees of separation, and Bill Gothard also has a long standing history of isolation and disassociation from mainstream evangelicalism.
This post continues here…
[...] John is a worship pastor and professional musician who lives in Grand Prairie, TX. His story, “My Childhood in ATI,” was one of the first articles released by Recovering Grace back in July, and continues to be [...]
[...] My Childhood in ATI: [...]
Doctor, can you help me understand your statement; "separation... is not something that can be taught by a bunch of rules..."
God clearly says, "...friendship of the world is enmity with God. Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God."
Can you provide several age appropriate examples for teaching a 6-10 year-old child what is "worldly" and what is "Christ-like"?
Please support you examples with clear Scriptural teaching.