13 Comments

1. 

   Anonymous J March 31, 2015 Reply

   Dear ATI Mom,
   
   From one ATI Mom to another, I relate to your post in so many ways, except I was a widow in my 10+ years in ATI. Although my children are grown and not in my home, there are times when I am overwhelmed with the grief at what I allowed in my home. I pray for my kids and cling to the hope that God will one day cause all things to work together for our good. Like you, I am examining my beliefs, my standards, my convictions, to know that they are based on God's Word - NOT a man's. As I'm typing this I am feeling buried by the weight of what I exposed my children to - and need to accept His grace and forgiveness, as well as His grace, once again. Thank you for your post.

2. 

   Meg March 31, 2015 Reply

   Thank you for writing this. I can relate to it so much, not as an ATI mother, but as an ATI student/staff member as well, and having to find my way back to the real God again. I think so many of us who have come out of ATI will find ourselves always questioning what others teach in the name of God - maybe that's a good thing in the long run - it will always make us cautious, but we know the scars of that run deep and we'll never be the same again. I cling to His Word as Truth, even if that's the only 'teaching' I ever take in again. His Word never changes. So much regret of wasted years and resources, but I remind myself that God says He looks on the heart and take comfort in that.

3. 

   Cheri March 31, 2015 Reply

   Wow! So thankful that you could accept what Recovering Grace has to share and move on from the dangerous Bill Gothard! So happy for you and your family!

4. 

   LJ March 31, 2015 Reply

   How true where you write about Bill Gothard being a pope-like figure! It truly is how many of us looked at him years ago. We got away from his teachings quite some time ago. May the Lord continue to bring freedom to the hearts of those who have been so entrenched in Gothard's teaching.

5. 

   Julia Fetters March 31, 2015 Reply

   Thank you for your article. You have put in very gracious terms the thoughts of thousands of mothers. I am one of them.

6. 

   Sue April 1, 2015 Reply

   Thank you for your letter. Wow, as an ATI mom I too feel/felt the burn of being so honest in my intentions but so far in the practices I ingrained in my head. I am coming to see that though I am not happy with the outcome God has used it to show me the pride that led me to ATI, I would call it humble pride but it's a cloak to suck one in, it's just plain old pride of life. I also see that He has used it to teach me how far one can go when trading relationship with Him daily to a bunch of expensive books. Lastly, it has taught me and my family that wisdom is not in the heart of man, so going from BG to another famous leader is just as wrong. I seek to humbly follow Him daily as Abraham did in the desert, I want to be His friend most of all.

7. 

   Tangent April 1, 2015 Reply

   One thing that Bill Gothard was right about is that the kingdom of Satan extends right into the light; that Satan's most effective position is when he poses as an "angel of light". Sooo true, as many of us ex-ATIers have realized.

8. 

   Karen April 5, 2015 Reply

   ATi Mom writes: "Not one person has all Truth. Not one person on this earth is infallible when it comes to their spiritual angle . . ."
   
   This is actually the teaching of the Eastern Orthodox Church. Only the Holy Spirit is infallible. We do not even teach that our Saints are infallible. Infallibility resides only in the Holy Spirit, and Christ's promise of the Holy Spirit's residence and guidance (John 16:13-15) was given to the entire Church (represented at the time in His Apostles). When the Church comes together in Council (see Acts 15) with the intent of seeking the Holy Spirit for wisdom and submitting to His guidance, she can expect to be led of the Holy Spirit in her decisions. This is the basis for the Eastern Orthodox's Church's confidence in the rulings of what are known as the seven "Ecumenical" Councils of the "one holy apostolic and catholic" Church in the first millennium. Even Peter, the leading Apostle in the early Church wasn't infallible, but was rebuked by the Apostle Paul publicly when Peter's slide into hypocrisy threatened the early community's full embrace of the gospel received from Christ (see Galatians 2:11-21).

   • 

     ATI Mom October 19, 2015 Reply

     I don't know much about the Eastern Orthodox Church. I only know that God is infallible. His Word (KJV 1611) is infallible. The moment a person stands in leadership of "a council" of churches, my red flags go up. I question EVERYTHING now and rely only upon my own relationship with God and what I believe he is telling me….

9. 

   David April 10, 2015 Reply

   The first step to seeing is to be shown you have been blind. That is not the last step, but the first -- it is quite a realization, and takes the work of God. But then we can cry out, "Lord, that I may see!" Perhaps the worst condition of all is that of a blind person whose darkness is light to them. They think they see but are blind. (Like the Pharisees) The only solution for any of us is the Light Himself -- "in Him was Life, and that Life is the Light of men."

10. 

    David April 10, 2015 Reply

    Truth is not a creed, nor a list of principles. Truth is a Person.

    • 

      Karen April 10, 2015 Reply

      Amen, David.

    • 

      Grace M April 10, 2015 Reply

      David, I appreciate this comment more than anything I've read on RG so far, including my own comments. I think we all agree that if we gain this Person we have everything, and if we don't we have nothing. Jeremiah 29:11-13