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

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Hannah’s Story

10 October 2011, 06:00

Moderator

My mother was from an abusive home. My father’s was devoid of affection. They wanted something radically different for their family. In 1980, my parents credited their first Institute in Basic Life Principles Seminar with saving their marriage. My brother was born shortly after, when I was 6. When Bill Gothard later started a home […]

A Tale of Two Abigails

7 October 2011, 08:57

MatthewS

The first Abigail is a wise and beautiful hero, an inspiration to women and men everywhere. Her quick thinking, deliberate action, and diplomatic speech saved many lives. We meet this Abigail in a delightful story told in 1 Samuel 15. Sadly, many of us raised under the Institute in Basic Life Principles and ATI’s teachings […]

The Leaky Umbrella

6 October 2011, 06:04

JoyS

I remember the first time I heard about the umbrella of protection. It was when I was 13, at my first Basic Seminar. My younger sisters taught me about it initially. They had gotten the Children’s Institute lesson with the umbrella illustrations. It seemed simple and made sense to a child. Parents, church leaders, political […]

A Letter From My Heart

5 October 2011, 06:00

Ed B

“My view of myself was so big when I felt I had to keep all the codes that my Savior was small in my thinking.”

Dear Friends, I’m 32 years old and married to my beautiful wife of 3 years. We have a 2-year-old boy and a 10-month-old girl and I love being their dad. In fact, baby #3 is in the oven and we are excited about our growing family! We don’t feel an obligation to fulfill God’s command […]

Spanking the Orphans: A Brief History

4 October 2011, 05:45

RobertM

The following is meant to share some of the history of the disciplinary philosophy of spanking used by the Advanced Training Institute (ATI) in their orphan ministry. Spanking at the Moscow Training Center (MTC) was used too often for offenses that were only minor and as a cure-all and spirit-breaker. The lack of a coherent, […]

Choosing Forgiveness

3 October 2011, 06:00

Moderator

When I was 19 I worked for two years to save up enough money to go to Moscow, Russia. I went with the home school program I was involved in, the Advanced Training Institute (ATI) and I worked hard. Much to my surprise I was quickly singled out as someone with bad intentions. One of […]

Disney vs. IBLP

1 October 2011, 01:00

RyanR

Growing up in Southern California while most of my extended family lived in the Midwest resulted in my family making a number of trips to Disneyland. Plus, my mother liked Disneyland quite a bit; we made plenty of trips without extended family too. There were also the Disney movies Snow White, Cinderella, Lady and the […]

Sweeping the Stairs: An Exercise in Will-Breaking

27 September 2011, 06:15

Moderator

It was 1995. I was 20 years old. I had recently arrived at the Moscow Training Center in Moscow, Russia, and was eager to begin my first day of “ministry.” I was assigned to the housekeeping detail. The woman in charge was giving me instructions for sweeping a flight of stairs at the training center, […]

Living as God Designed

26 September 2011, 06:00

KylarD

“One, I am One of a Kind”… Even by simple observation of nature we see that every created thing does just what it was created to do. Trees, animals, stars, tides. Everything follows its design. Only the rebel creatures do things that are “against nature” such as cancer cells. It is not right. But then […]

A Christian “Utopia”?

24 September 2011, 06:00

Moderator

I have a vivid memory of a certain walk I took near the end of my four-year stay at the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) Headquarters campus. I was walking up the sidewalk, taking in the fresh air, and the most revolutionary thought crossed my mind: IBLP is just a small corner of the […]