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

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An ATI Education, Final Chapter: Guilty Silence

4 January 2016, 14:55

Sara Jones

168

Was a woman raped? Don’t jump to her defense—God might hold her just as guilty as her attacker. In Wisdom Booklet 36, Gothard discusses the legal penalties for kidnapping, assault, battery, and rape. He writes: “God has established some very strict guidelines of responsibility for a woman who is attacked. She is to cry out for […]

The Brilliance of Bill Gothard

29 April 2015, 06:00

Moderator

129

Bill Gothard created a cult, and he did a fine job of it. He didn’t create a commune that physically isolated his followers from the rest of the world. He didn’t lead weird sessions with chanting and candles. He didn’t even come up with strange names for his teachings. He conducted his cult in the […]

The Truth About God’s Justice

21 April 2015, 06:00

Moderator

100

I grew up afraid of God’s justice. Though my parents were well-balanced in meting out mercy and discipline (very well-balanced considering we went to a Gothardite church), I always imagined God coming down from heaven with a sword of justice in hand, ready to punish all of us for our sins. He had just enough […]

The Shame of Beauty

16 April 2015, 06:00

Moderator

142

Before I was born my parents started following the teaching of Bill Gothard and IBLP, and when I was 5, they joined ATI (Advanced Training Institute), the homeschool program that Gothard developed for the families of his Basic and Advanced Seminars. Gothard emphasized “principles” which simply meant there were many different rules that dictated specific activities in my […]

Belonging

9 April 2015, 06:00

Moderator

In groups like the Advanced Training Institute, we have an identity and a community. We might not always like it, but it gives us a level of security. We are surrounded by people who think like us. We speak a different language from other people around us, using words like “courtship,” “motivational gift,” “rhema” and […]

Resurrection Rhythms

4 April 2015, 11:26

Moderator

As Easter approaches with its commercialization of eggs and bunnies, the irony of new life is not lost upon those whose thoughts turn towards the events of Holy Week. In the first century a new faith came on the scene of the pagan Greco Roman world that literally turned that culture on its head. Its […]

Christmas Thoughts – Part 1

23 December 2014, 09:00

Moderator

Most articles about Christmas begin with one of the Birth Narratives (Matthew 1-2 or Luke 2) or a combination thereof. That is of course a perfectly valid way to tell the Christmas story, in fact some might argue that it is the only ‘proper’ way to do so, something like the old TV series Dragnet, […]

No Grace without Jesus

30 October 2014, 11:57

Moderator

There’s a new move away from the church these days. If that’s all it was, I wouldn’t be concerned. The church needs to get its act together in so many ways. We went from stuck in the past to stuck in the market. But I think that will happen over time. I think the church […]

Me and My Red Notebook

23 September 2014, 12:01

Moderator

Years ago, right out of college and newly married, I took a position as an associate/youth pastor at a small, very fine church in Houston, Texas. At the time I had not heard of Bill Gothard, but at our senior pastor’s suggestion, that first week in May found my wife and me sitting for half a […]

When Apologies Make it Worse

8 July 2014, 12:01

Moderator

Since Bill Gothard had to resign from leading his Institute in Basic Life Principles amid allegations of inappropriate behavior toward female staffers, he has made few public statements. But in private, he has been far from silent. An article published yesterday by Mother Jones stated: These days, Gothard says, he is busy “contacting people I’ve offended […]