Christian arguments against the Pearls' teachings.
Dulce de Leche has a series on Wifely Submission
Part 1 Intro
Part 2 Before The Fall
Part 3 The Fall
Part 4 What God Has Joined Together
Part 5 Wives, Submit Yourselves to Your Husbands
Part 6 Spiritual Leadership
Part 7 Who Makes the Final Decision?
Also Eric Pazdziora explores The Myth of the Weaker Vessel.
Recovering Grace promotes Tim Challies’ review of Created To Be His Help Meet. Also, someone brings up his review of To Train Up A Child in the comments and discussion of the Pearls ensues which might be of interest to my readers.
Also, White Stone, of Wanna Walk Along, discusses Tim Challies’ Review of To Train Up A Child while explaining exactly why she blames the Pearls’ teachings for the deaths of 3 children.
Home Educating Family Magazine has published an opinion piece about the Duggars and the teachings they follow (Gothard, S. M. Davis and Pearl) called, They Smile, but Do They Laugh?
Under Much Grace exposes the history of child abuse of Remnant Fellowship.
Cindy of Under Much Grace explains more about Bill Gothard and his erroneous definition of grace in Merging Justification and Sanctification: More About Gothard’s Thanksgiving Letter and Concerns About Grace
Glen E. Chatfield, of The Watchman’s Bagpipes, analyzes IBLP “Character Sketches – Volume 1”.
Take a look at it so you can see how he arrives at his conclusion, which is:
As you should be able to see from this cursory analysis, Bill Gothard makes things up from a very fertile imagination abusing Scripture. He is a false teacher who should be avoided.
Glen E. Chatfield, of The Watchman’s Bagpipes, Analyzes Bill Gothard’s IBLP Basic Seminar Textbook which could prove very useful to many, even if they do not necessarily agree with everything Brother Glen has posted. Here is a large excerpt from his intro:
I have to state up front that the principles taught in this text are indeed good principles. The premises of the lessons are generally to be commended. The problem seems to be with the method of teaching, which revolves around a lot of erroneous ideas. In my review of the text, I found the following problem areas were manifested:
1. Misapplication of Scripture2. Poor teaching (this is just my opinion)3. Poor hermeneutics4. De facto claim of extra-biblical revelation5. Poor doctrinal teaching6. Superstition/mysticism7. Cultish teaching8. Lack of credibility9. Faulty logic10. Pop psychology11. Unbiblical teaching12. Personal opinion given Biblical authority13. Scripture twisting14. LegalismWhat follows is a page-by-page analysis of the problems I found.
In another post he examines Bill Gothard’s ATI Textbook. He introduces that examination by saying:
This will not be a detailed analysis, but a highlight of some of what I determined to be the more problematic areas. The entire text has much misapplication and twisting of Scripture to make false claims seem Biblical.
…
Although the “Operational Definitions” are in the back of the text (pp.355-358), I will address them first because I think they really show where the problems lie with Gothard’s way of thinking.
…
The remainder of this analysis will be in page order, with as short of commentary as possible.
Stay tuned for analyses of other Gothard textbooks some day in the future.
Edited to add:
Analyzing Bill Gothard’s Textbooks – “Character Sketches – Vol 1”
Carissa Robinson explains that “If you observe most recommended Christian parenting practices today, you might be surprised to discover a secular influence: behavioral psychology” in Awaken Their Hearts.
Meanwhile, Greenegem explains the error in thinking that we have to DO anything more than believe in order to be saved in No Assembly Required.
I just found an interesting site, Midwest Christian Outreach devoted to exposing false teachings.
They have an article about Bill Gothard and ATIdentity.
Speaking of Bill Gothard, some of my newer readers might have missed Greenegem’s post about Scriptural Tofurkey.
I was not aware that there is a site devoted to Shedding Light On The Teachings of IBLP and ATI (Bill Gothard’s Teachings.) These sites are popping up faster than I can keep track of them, Praise the Lord. I don’t have enough categories for all these abusive teachings, just tags, so I’m happy to have these more organized sites to which to send people and which should pop up on search engines.
Along similar lines, Libby Anne looks at the promises made by No Greater Joy and Vision Forum and analyzes her Patriarchal parents’ inability to trust God with their children, realizing that it all boils down to A Trust Problem.
William Norman Grigg looks at Bill Gothard’s program, Character First, and how it relates to blind obedience in war in Imperial Priorities: Obedience First, Character Last. Not for the faint of heart.
Every now and then I get a comment telling me that I am assisting the enemy by speaking badly about other Christians. As I said in a recent comment, I do not speak badly about other Christians, I offer Biblical Arguments against False Teachings. And now, Glenn from The Watchman’s Bagpipes, explains why False Teachers are dangerous and must be publicly denounced.
Note: As far as Glenn’s list of false teachers goes, I have not read his posts about each one which I am sure contain his reasons for branding them as such. If you have questions about his list, please search his blog for his reasons.
Robin shares her experiences with ATI (Bill Gothard’s teachings) in this Letter She Wrote to a Family Considering ATI.
John Cornish has posted a follow up to his post about his childhood in an ATI world.
John Cornish shares about of his Childhood in the ATI/IFB World and how it affected his life. This is not really about abuse per se, more of how a mindset damaged him. This mindset is known to lead to abuse and this testimony shows how damaging the mindset is. More importantly, he explains how scriptural it is.
The Wartburg Watch Focuses on Independent Fundamental Baptist Churches this week. So far they have:
The Independent Fundamental Baptist Church Sounds Like Mark Driscoll and The Rest of Them
Who Do The Independent Fundamental Baptists Say They Are?
They will probably add 1 or 2 more posts this week so stay tuned.
Also, don’t miss miss this new post from Under Much Grace:
Redeeming Dinah: The Errors of Ron Williams, the IFB, and Gothard’s Esteem of Rabbinical Writing as Holy Writ
A Quiver Full of Information has a bunch of new posts about Bill Gothard. Here are the ones I find most interesting:
Shadowspring’s testimony:
Bill Gothard has negativley affected my life….
Bill Gothard has negativley affected my life part 2
David Sessions alerts his readers that Rep. Daniel Webster (R-Florida, 8th district) is involved with IBLP in House of Theocons.
More about Webster in this post from Alternet.org, Cultish Christian Leader Teaches Women Should Submit to Husbands — Victims of His “Submission Theology” Speak Out (Not a Christian site. Tagged Mainstream)
The Wartburg Watch looks at Quiverfull Then and Now. This exposé connects “the terrible tragedy that occurred in Colorado in December 2007″ with IBLP curriculum.
The Wartberg Watch has some other very interesting exposés:
The Real Reason for the Quiverfull Movement
Doug Phillips-Homeschooling Guru and QF Proponent
Sisterhood of the Stay-at-Home Daughters
Donna’s testimony and excellent exposé: My Stand Against IBLP (Being Real).
Wilkyjr, who appears to have ties to Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, has written an exposé on Bill Gothard’s teachings after a copy of one of his secret text books fell into his hands.
Dulce de Leche has shared some memories of Bill Gothard’s seminars and how his teachings affected her during her formative years in, Peering Underneath the Umbrella: Musings on Gothardism. This is an exposé as well as a testimony as she gives us an inside look at Gothard’s teachings.
Speaking of Bill Gothard, E. Stephen Burnett has an interesting post at Quivering Daughters called, Bill Gothard and Patriarchy: Re-routed Feminism? which analyzes a quote from Bill Gothard about submission and looks at why so many of Patriarchy’s promoters are women.
I tended to think that the Patriarchy Movement and the Quiverfull Movement were pretty much the same thing, but I was wrong. The Quiverfull movement falls under Patriarchy or Patriocentric teachings, but not everyone in those movements is Quiverfull. There is also the Courtship and Betrothal Movements which do allow the limiting children, but are still patricentric and authoritarian. Here are some Courtship and Betrothal Essays which expose the unbiblical and destructive teachings of Jonathan Lindvall.
Here is the link to the page about Bill Gothard.
One thing all of these things do seem to have in common is an affiliation with Vision Forum.
Disclaimer: I have only scanned these pages and have not read them carefully. These essays are not only very long, they are also very disturbing. I am posting them because I feel sure that they will be be of use to someone either as a warning or to help argue against such teachings.
GreenGem at Dare to Disciple explains what Scriptural Tofurkey is in this very interesting and thought provoking analogy.
Bethany Basset, of Coffee Stained Clarity, reflects on the sadness she feels at finding out that her high school friends are following the Pearls’ teachings.
I see that Bethany was raised in the VF/Patriarchy mindset. She posts her story in 5 parts:
The Preface: The Stuff of Brains
Part 1: The Net
Part 2: The Reality
Part 3: The Hope
Part 4: The Outcome
And she has an epilogue about parenting with grace here. I love a happy ending. <3
Sue Talbert at A Mother’s Heart Blog is writing a very interesting series called Vision Forum, Patriarchy and FLDS, Oh My!
In part 1 she explains how she came to find Vision Forum and read one of their books. She starts describing some objections to their teachings.
In Part 2 she expands on their teachings that women should not go to college or work outside the house (or from the house) and compares that to the FLDS as well as the taliban.
In Part 3 she discusses Bill Gothard and his teachings and how they relate to Vision Forum.
In Part 4 she begins to analyze problems with their teachings. She starts with Clothing / Modesty.
In Part 5 she discusses Reproduction / Quiverfull and the fact that they discourage adoption.
In part 6 she takes a look at their Politics and how they are working to create an Army For God. She also mentions child rearing, perfect obedience of children and wives and the Pearls’ teachings.
In Part 7, She explains Patriarchy and their teachings on Marriage and Wife Only Submission.
In Part 8 she concludes her series by looking at whether the group is Christian or heretical, what draws people to join such a group and her reason for writing the series.
Rachel has written a post called, Count Your Blessings, in which she reflects back on her patriocentric childhood and her escape from that mindset.
The pastor of Calvary Baptist Church of Temecula says in a post called, Enduring Sound Doctrine:
One writer who started out with some fairly sound material on raising children but has moved subtly away from sound doctrine is Michael Pearl. I have recently removed all of his material from my personal library and from the church library because of the misguided nature of what he’s lately been teaching. After some research, I found a number of serious errors in his teachings.
Personally, I do not believe that Mr. Pearl’s doctrine has changed much over the years. It’s just that the more he writes, the more his doctrine is exposed.
Here are two quotes from his first book, To Train Up A Child, which I feel show some rather questionable doctrine:
The guilt burdened soul cries out for the lashes and nails of justice. Your child cannot yet understand that the Creator has been lashed and nailed in his place. Only the rod of correction can preserve his soul until the day of moral dawning.
The parent holds in his hand (in the form of a little switch) the power to absolve the child of guilt, cleanse his soul, instruct his spirit, strengthen his resolve, and give him a fresh start through a confidence that all indebtedness is paid.
Of course, there are many other quotes from that book which show some very questionable child raising advice. For more analysis of the Pearls’ doctrine, please see these posts as well as the Parenting in the Name of God series.
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