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

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I Kissed Courtship Goodbye!

13 February 2012, 06:00

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When I was in my early 20’s I spent about 13 months working at an ACE school in Mexico. It so happened that one of my brother’s friends, a guy I had met previously at the IBLP (Institute in Basic Life Principles) Dallas Training Center, lived there as well. His family would frequently have me […]

Who Speaks for the Church? (An Excerpt)

10 February 2012, 06:00

Moderator

From time to time, we at Recovering Grace like to republish the work of others who have contributed to the discussion of Bill Gothard and his teachings. This is particularly true when a third party perspective of someone not closely involved with IBLP or ATI is provided, as in the following excerpt. This excerpt details […]

Uniquely Me!

6 February 2012, 06:00

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Journal Entry, September 2009– “I want more!! I really thought I could be happy with this life…but I was wrong. I feel like I’m going to explode. This isn’t me– *sigh* I don’t think it is, anyway. The sad part is, I don’t really know who “me” is…but it’s not this person, I’m sure of that. I […]

My Journey Toward Healing (So Far)

2 February 2012, 06:00

Moderator

This is my story of how I have found healing from my experiences in Bill Gothard’s Advanced Training Institute (ATI) and Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP)–and in my family, as it was under the influence of these organizations. You may not agree with how I came to find healing; you may not agree with my […]

A Legalist Goes Shopping

28 January 2012, 06:00

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I was musing over how a legalistic mindset makes life more difficult, and wrote the following illustration: Rebecca walks into the shoe store. She needs church shoes. She’s uncomfortable; the first salesman to see her is male. He walks toward her. She immediately does a mental check of her outfit to make sure it’s modest: […]

Sensitivity vs. Callousness

24 January 2012, 06:00

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Callousness Sometimes Won The leadership at Advanced Training Institute (ATI) training centers could be incredibly insensitive in dealing with personal tragedies and misfortunes. Especially if those situations affected, in any way, the performance of one’s duties at the training center. Sometimes, just the fear that leadership would misunderstand or react insensitively to a situation could […]

Freedom from Strongholds

16 January 2012, 06:00

Seth S

I grew up in your typical ATI family. My Dad was a pastor, and my Mom stayed at home and home-schooled all ten of us kids. Bless their hearts, their intentions were noble. Trying to keep us un-spotted and free from worldly influences, they simply had no clue they were raising a son like me! […]

Snooping, Spying, and Snitching: A Training Center Status Quo

10 January 2012, 06:45

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Former ATI students share stories of how they were watched, spied on, and tattled on regularly At Advanced Training Institute (ATI) training centers, students and staff quickly learned not to expect privacy in any activity. E-mail, telephone conversations, and even letters and packages from home were monitored for contraband and for forbidden contacts, especially with […]

The Glory of Hair

9 January 2012, 06:00

Moderator

Gothard was not shy about what he found to be attractive on a woman’s head–long hair, soft curls. I heard girls reacting to that all the time. There were girls who couldn’t get their hair to hold a curl. One friend said to me, “Look how limp my hair is, and I had it all […]

Energy Givers, Energy Wasters, and Energy Takers

28 December 2011, 05:00

Moderator

A teaching we heard often in ATI was the need to be an energy giver. Let me start by clarifying that I firmly believe that we ought to reach out to others, encourage them with smiles and kind words, look for ways to serve, and just generally be a friendly and nice person. But what […]