Bill Gothard - General Teachings/Activities
It looks like good ole' Bill Gothard is still around. Gothard has a lot of good in his teaching, with a focus on marriage and parenting. This is unfortunate because many Christians are following his "system" instead of following Christ. I have been familiar with Gothard stuff for a long time, and it seems that little of it has changed. Read the article that I have linked to for a good review.
Here's another link to a good Gothard review.
6 comments:
Hello Jim! I enjoyed visiting your blog today. I have also enjoyed seeing the Duggar's new book and the wonderful new video "Fireproof."
Just as a note, I wouldn't recommend the rapidnet.com link to anyone. Not only is it quite outdated (i.e. the info on Character Cities, the Indianapolis Training Center, and the Riverfront Character Inn for example), it is also very inaccurate.
The ALERT program (www.alertacademy.com) is not anything at all like "Gothard's Army," the "Gothard system" section completely ignores the major emphasis of Gothard's ministry: the Commands of Christ (http://www.billgothard.com/bill/teaching/commandsofchrist/whythebasicseminar/), the "Medicine Man" section was obviously written by someone completely ignorant of Gothard's Total Health Seminars (http://iblp.org/iblp/discipleship/totalhealth/), the "Dating vs. Courtship" section doesn't really jive with billgothard.com (http://www.billgothard.com/bill/teaching/courtship/), and I could go on and on.
May the Lord bless you as you proclaim His truth on your blog!
Unfortunately, Gothard still has his unquestioning supporters as well. Robert Staddon appears to be just that on his family site: www.staddonfamily.com.
I have no problem with the Staddon's support of Gothard, but the Rapidnet article is full of truth. It is a little dated, being five years old, but the serious concerns about Gothard and his ideas are quite valid, even if some of the details of the programs have changed.
So keep on presenting truth and being blessed!
Hi Mr. Anonymous! When I read the title "unquestioning supporter" I had to smile. If you really knew me, you'd laugh too. I do appreciate the link to our family web site, though. I hope you enjoy your visit!
Regarding the Rapidnet article, though, I'm going to stick to my guns that is is definitely not "full of truth." Unless, of course, you are referring to half truth. I am quite familiar with just about everything presented in that article and it does an excellent job of taking situations out of context and reporting only half the story, over and over again. Very sad.
Let me give a quick illustration. If I wanted to, I could go around quoting that you wrote, "I have no problem." You did. I could state that you were proud in stating this. I could claim that you believed that you were perfect. I could say that you thought you had no sin in your life. You said those very words in your comment. I'm quoting you directly.
Obviously though, that wasn't all of what you said. You really said "I have no problem with the Staddon's support of Gothard...." Um. Now that's a whole different story. Unfortunately, the Rapidnet article does that same kind of thing over and over again. Half the truth. Half the story.
Suffice it to say, not only do I know that this article is way outdated, I also think it's quite outlandish.
If you ever get around to reading Mr. Gothard's book "Rewards of Being Reviled" you really ought to take the opportunity. Over the years one of Mr. Gothard's favorite set of verses has become "Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you." May God bless him for it.
Ha - nothing like stirring up a little controversy. I will try to look at some of these things and post something later. I must confess that I need to do more research before I can post more on this. However, I am very concerned about any kind of teaching that functions as a "system," whether it is called that or not by it's creator. We need to read the Scripture (not adding to it or taking away from it), we need to understand the Author's Intended Meaning, and then we need to apply it.
Thanks for the encouragement of these comments - I hope I did not cause dissension between brothers.
jc
I wholeheartedly agree with you, Jim. God's Word is the final authority of all matters of life and practice. I was recently memorizing II Timothy 2 and was motivated by Paul's challenge to Timothy: "Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth."
If you want to really know what Mr. Gothard is teaching from Scripture, I would highly recommend subscribing to his Daily Success daily email updates (www.dailysuccess.org). It is a daily email devotional that runs for 49 weeks. He personally wrote every single one of them and I see them as a compilation of everything he has taught through the years.
God bless you, brother, as you live out the powerful truths of His Word!
Maybe someone who has been involved in it can speak to the issue of Gothard and Gothardism.
http://www.recoveringgrace.org/tag/bill-gothard/
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