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

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LA Committee Questions to IBYC

20 March 2014, 06:00

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219

2013 Year in Review

6 January 2014, 06:00

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Dear Recovering Grace Reader, We hope and pray that you have had a blessed holiday season. As we move into 2014, we’d like to take this opportunity to share with you how God is continuing to use our website to help others, as well as to look back at our top 10 posts of 2013. […]

Shrimp on a Sheet: A Talmud of Our Own

2 December 2013, 06:00

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“And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.” It’s funny how each of our senses are tuned differently. While my husband is so sensitive to musical detail that even his dreams can have soundtracks, my brain assigns high priority to flavor. So many of my memories revolve around food, transporting me to times […]

Why Not Confront Him Personally?

24 June 2013, 06:57

WendyA

So many people keep asking why those who have issues with Bill Gothard don’t talk to him about the problems. Those of us who tried have pretty much given up trying to explain. How do you explain, to a rational person, the dangers and frustrations of discussion with an irrational person? And I am sorry […]

Wisdom Books and the Beatitudes: Post-It Notes On A Work of Art

27 May 2013, 06:00

Kevin

Sometime last year I told my wife that the pastoral staff of our church were preparing a series on the Sermon on the Mount. Having not grown up in the ATI world (in the Advanced Training Institute), I had not anticipated her less-than-enthusiastic response: “Yeah, I’ve had enough teaching on THAT to last me my […]

The Gospel of Pragmatism

9 May 2013, 06:00

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Pragmatism is basically the idea that positive results are sufficient criteria for determining value, even truth. In other words: if it works, use it. One of the most famous pragmatists was a man known as Nicollo Machiavelli. For Machiavelli, the goal of a strong and controlled kingdom was worth whatever it would take to get […]

How “Counseling Sexual Abuse” Blames and Shames Survivors

18 April 2013, 06:00

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120

Versions of the Institute in Basic Life Principles (IBLP) document “Counseling Sexual Abuse” were distributed at Advanced Training Institute (ATI) Counseling Seminars for over a decade. The document speaks for itself, but Recovering Grace would like to point out how victim-blaming and/or callous dismissal of abuse survivors’ pain is built into almost every one of […]

How “Lessons From Moral Failures in a Family” Blames Victims

11 April 2013, 06:00

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An Institute publication entitled “Lessons From Moral Failures in a Family” [Click here for the full pdf document] was first mailed to Advanced Training Institute (ATI) families in the late 1990s, and it has been periodically distributed at conferences since. Recovering Grace does not know the identity of the family members who shared their story […]

The Elephant Effect

24 September 2012, 06:00

WendyA

Reporting and evaluating life’s experiences often reflects the same “blindness” that is illustrated so aptly in this old Indian poem. Or, as marriage counselors would say, there are at least three perspectives of every situation: what he says happened, what she says happened, and what actually happened. And it can be nearly impossible to determine […]

Bill Gothard’s Tornado That Didn’t Happen

29 August 2012, 06:00

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164

May 2, 2008, marked a major milestone in my life. It was the end of my first year of college, and I had long planned a 50-mile bike ride to celebrate. That morning, however, tornado sirens started wailing and I was obliged to seek shelter. I didn’t think much of those tornado sirens until weeks […]