My hat is off to OTHER Christians who have been trying to expose the fraud of Gothard - here's an example published in 2002.
Posted on 08/30/2014 7:03:26 AM PDT by fishtank
A LINE IN THE SAND
by Michael Farris The following article will appear in the Second Quarter 2014 Home School Court Report, due in mailboxes late August.
Two prominent speakers on the homeschooling circuit have experienced dramatic falls from favor due to admitted sin. Bill Gothard and Doug Phillips have both been accused of serious sins involving young women. The accusations are sexual in nature. Both men have admitted to some form of sin with regard to these accusations, although each has disputed some of the details. Gothard disputes that his sins were sexual in nature. Phillips admits to an improper physical “relationship” with one young woman.
Although some people want HSLDA to be the police force of the homeschooling movement—removing those who miss the mark in some manner—that is not our role. Even though I have been uncomfortable with the teaching coming from each of these men for several years, it is not my place to try to remove viewpoints from the homeschooling community just because the HSLDA board or I hold a different view. Our role is to defend the freedom of everyone to homeschool.
But with these recent scandals in view, we think it is now time to speak out—not about these men’s individual sins, but about their teachings.
(Excerpt) Read more at hslda.org ...
My hat is off to OTHER Christians who have been trying to expose the fraud of Gothard - here's an example published in 2002.
ping
Excellent article with very well chosen words by Michael Farris. False teachers have plagued the church throughout its history, preying on a natural yearning for easy “self help” formulas to live by and trusted authority figures to live under. But the Bible remains our only true and authoritative guide. Thank you for posting.
I was once a Vision Forum patron. I really liked the “keep the girls at home til married” idea - but as they grew, I realized that was my selfish nature and not God’s design. I also appreciated the focus on modesty that Vision Forum had, but God gave me enough insight to realize that we gave our girls a firm foundation as little girls and as responsible adults they can make good choices for themselves - I didn’t need to tell a mature 13 year old what she had to wear.
The main thing that led me away from Vision Forum (thank you God!) was that God calls us to be in the world, reaching the lost... We can’t do that from a protective bubble that looks like a version of the original Stepford Wives.
We patronized Vision Forum as well. I liked their Creationist materials, history books, and some other products. I also liked his emphasis on fathers’ being involved with their children, instead of coming home from work and hiding until the mother has put them all to bed.
I disagreed with some other points.
Doug Phillips wanted to spend time with his children so much that he hired a nanny and had sex with her every chance he could. Doug Phillips is another close associate of the Duggers along with Bill Gothard.
In principle, I agreed with much of what Vision Forum taught. However, when it came to specific application of those principles, the VF people tended to take it way too far. The legalistic emphasis of many of them with the idea that if you didn’t agree with them in every jot and tittle, you were in sin, made me leery of them. I had friends who raved about Doug Phillips and couldn’t understand why he gave me the willies. Now they know and most have admitted to me that I was right all along about my concerns about Doug Phillips.
Excellent article, I really appreciate Dr. Farris taking a public stand on this.
Yes, that's a definite red flag. I always knew I was not going to agree with everything from any Protestant publisher or writer, because we're Catholic.
“...because we’re Catholic.”
What kind of Catholic?
Vatican 2 Novus Ordo modernist?
Vatican 2 Novus Ordo conservative loyalist?
Dissenting SSPXist?
Sedevecantist?
Teilhard de Chardinist?
Liberation theologist?
Eastern Church to-stay-as-far-from-romist?
It makes a difference.... I should know.
I did NOT know til today that Doug’s dad is Howard Phillips .... small world.
Carismatico.
Why it should matter to anyone but my family, I can’t imagine.
Oops. I forgot about that brand.
Ah, one of the political geniuses on our side who made Bill Clinton possible, which made Obama possible, which will make what future unknown disaster befall us.
I think “making Bill Clinton” possible was above Howard Phillips pay-grade.
I got a feeling that decisions like that go all the way up to the king of Tyre or the prince of Persia - or both.
In my political opinion (which is fallible), it was the NWO Bushes who made the Dem presidents possible.
Any of the subsets of Catholics you describe would find theological and practical disagreements with Doug Phillips ... and my people usually don’t read much English.
Christians have been silent about Gothard and his friends for far too long. It’s all about the money.
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Thanks for posting this.
I have been to BG’s seminars and am familiar with the patriarchal kind of thinking that pervades homeschooling.
There are plenty of homeschoolers who you can tell fit the profile.
The women and girls are always wearing long denim skirts, dirty running shoes, have long hair that is usually in desperate need of combing and rebraiding. To a degree, it is a stereotype, but it’s often a very justified one.
One of the comments I got regularly from non-homeschooling people was *You don’t LOOK like homeschoolers* and I knew EXACTLY what they were referring to.
Yes, the kind of stuff Gothard promoted was very legalistic.
I read his stuff on how to resolve conflict one time and found that it was so in depth and detailed and burdensome, that I thought that I could spend the rest of my life just digging up my past to make things *right*. It would literally consume the rest of my life just doing that alone in the way he prescribed.
At that point, I realized how off the mark he was.
Hey, I'm not Catholic and I don't agree with everything that some non-Catholic person says or does anyway.
I don't even agree 100% with mr. mm for that matter.
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