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Tuesday, October 19, 2004
Student Confesses Commitment Addiction
TULSA, Ok - Kyle Youngblood, a 19 year old ATI student, recently sat down with his parents and confessed that he was addicted to making commitments, and asked for their prayer and accountability in breaking his bondage.
Speaking with us by phone, Kyle admitted that his commitment-making has been going on for some time. "I never met a commitment I didn't make," he said. "When I was eleven, I heard Mr. Gothard say that you can judge a man's maturity by the number of commitments he makes. I purposed to be a mature man."
"Knoxville, counseling seminars, Basic and Advanced seminars, regional conferences...I've made all the commitments."
Kyle's family attends the Basic Seminar every year in his hometown and he says he's made the commitments in the Basic at least 10 times each. "As soon as I hear the words 'would you raise your hand as an indication of the commitment you're making,' I lose control," he said.
Eventually, Kyle's commitment-making got out of hand. "I was making them all the time--four and five times a day. I couldn't stop. I even made commitments to make no more commitments...but nothing worked." Kyle knew he needed help, and that's when he sat down with his parents.
At first, Mr. and Mrs. Youngblood were stunned. Mrs. Youngblood struggled with feelings of responsibility. "What kind of monster have we created?" she asked her husband.
"We should have seen the signs," Mr. Youngblood admitted. "Kyle should have been hanging around at the mall like other normal teenagers. Instead, he was locked up in his room making commitments. We have no idea what kind of commitments he made in private."
"I even found a tattered copy of the 17 Basic Commitments booklet hidden under his mattress," said Kyle's mother. "We're so glad he's broken his silence and reached out for help."
As for Kyle, "I just want freedom from this," he says.
Kyle, we raise our hands with you.
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4 Comments:
Sounds like Kyle has been to too many young mens counseling seminars.. I don't even know how many commitments I made at those seminars and Knoxville. Usually it was beacuse I didn't want to look like an ass when I didn't raise my hand when the rest of the room was. What's funny is that everyone who asked us to make these "commitments" stressed that a commitment was a binding pact between us and God and if broken we would be worse than bastards. I vaugly remember kneeling down and praying with some guy next to me at a counseling seminar, making a commitment to court in my older age... I must be the worst sinner, since I've probably broke most of the those commitments I made...
I remember making a commitment in Knoxville not to marry a man younger than myself because it was unBiblical. My mom heard about it (afterward, of course) but she thought it was a silly idea. Just shows how even parents can be decieved into foolishness, I guess.
I also remember someone (a young guy) giving a presentation and misspelling "commitments." He said, "Of all words for an ATI student not to know how to spell," and we all laughed.
huh?! what in the world is this about it not being "Biblical" to marry someone of a different age bracket? or even specifically a young lady marrying someone younger than she is? somebody tell me where in the Bible it says any such-a thing! and i thank you!
I think the basis for this is that God created Adam before Eve, ergo the man is supposed to be older than the woman. In general, I think it could be a wise rule of thumb - it's essential that both parties be ready and mature enough for marriage, and since guys generally tend to mature later than girls, and since girls tend to be ready for marriage [i.e. trained sufficiently in character, house-keeping, etc.] before guys [i.e. established enough in the world to support a family], it generally falls out that if both parties are truly ready for marriage, the guy will probably be older. Broad generalizations there, and there is no way I would make a principle of it, even though my preference always was to marry a man older than me. (Richer and taller, too, but that's beside the point.)
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