Tuesday, November 29, 2005
Calling all IBLP staffers
Work for the Institute? Own a camera phone? Show the world what Institute life is like!
Separated at birth?
Bill Gothard
Significant religious work: Basic Seminar
Advocate for childbirth: Godfather to Thousands
Personal magnetism
Surprisingly short
Mel Gibson
Significant religious work: The Passion of the Christ
Advocate for childbirth: 7 children
Personal magnetism
Surprisingly short
Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Official Drink of IBLP
OAK BROOK, Illinois - Long a fan of soft drinks, Bill Gothard recently announced a pending endorsement deal with Coca-Cola. Details are still being worked out, he said, but he looks forward to a mutually profitable relationship. "Imagine it," he said. "Navy and white, with a can of Coke. It will be the official drink of IBLP!"
Gothard quickly pointed out that Christians should avoid ungodly products such as alcohol and coffee. "But nothing refreshes the soul like a cold Coke. Wow, we could use that in a commercial!"
"Hopefully this will forever settle the Coke vs. Pepsi debate that rages among Christian young people and distracts them from serving Christ," he said.
Unqualified must not reproduce
OAK BROOK, Illinois - Bill Gothard, founder and president of IBLP, recently had a revelation that not everyone is qualified to have children. "Many individuals have fallen into sin, or are unable to raise a godly seed," he said at a Headquarters staff meeting, where he often shares new rhemas. "Additionally, many individuals will be overly tolerant and will fail to instill the basic principles in the lives of their children," he said. For these individuals, Mr. Gothard recommended a life of celibacy. "Paul tells us it is better to be single and focus on the things of the Lord."
As a result, the Institute will soon offer a new service to ATI families (and nonmembers for a low cost). The new program will consist of a rigorous testing process to make sure there are no overwhelming Sins of the Fathers in either branch of the family. Once a family is cleared to reproduce, they can raise a godly heritage with confidence. Young people are encouraged to go through this process with their courtship partners to "screen" potential spouses.
Gothard admitted that he was motivated to start this new program because of all the rebellious offspring who have departed from ATI in sin. "So much heartache and tragedy could have been avoided," he said.
Tuesday, November 15, 2005
More help for you screwed up X-ers... Be sure to check out the new site: Independent Spirits. "Freedom from the umbrella of deception."
Tuesday, November 08, 2005
ATI still wildly unpopular among ATI graduates
Graduates of the ATI home education program are not re-enrolling in the program in record numbers, according to recent internal documents obtained by X-ATI Guy.
As recruitment from mainstream, "worldly" Christians is not possible, ATI program directors counted on a high rate of re-enrollment by graduates of the ATI program. Unfortunately, despite an aggressive campaign by IBLP/ATI to halt the attrition rate, ATI students typically decline to enroll their own children in the home education program.
"We're worried about the ungodliness of this generation," said an ATI spokesman. "We thought ATI would create a new way of life. Instead, most former ATI students seem to have been lured away from the complex richness of the principled life."
In order to generate revenue for the ATI program, the leadership has proposed charging families to visit the organization's website.
Monday, November 07, 2005
Broken lives
More real-life stories from readers. ATI cannot be blamed for all of this family's suffering, but notice the Institute's holier-than-thou response.
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I grew up with ATI, I even went to the first CI they held in Knoxville, whenever that was. My mom followed all the rules for raising a good, upright family. My dad appeared to be a moral father, doing things right down to a wisdom search at the crack of dawn. They had 7 kids, I'm the firstborn. We were with the program til about two and a half years ago, when my mom discovered that he was looking at porn. She took her first step away from the submissive wife deal by kicking him out of the house, saying he couldn't return til he had seen a counselor and confessed to everything. She got more of a confession than she was expecting. Turns out my dad was hiding his pedophilia behind the whole "good ATI father" facade. Needless to say, our lives were turned upside down immediately. The government started investigating the situation, sending DCF (Department of Children and Families) agents over to our house unexpectedly every once in a while. My parents wound up getting a divorce, which was necessary because my father did not seem to be actually sorry for what he did, making excuses and justifying it to no end. If my mother had stayed with him, she would have lost the kids. So she divorced him. She wanted to stay in ATI at first, appealing to the higher powers in the system, explaining our situation, but they insisted that she had done something morally wrong by divorcing my dad, regardless of his HUGE issue. She the moderator for an online ATI mom's group, but they kicked her out of that too, and the other moms in the group gave her the same opinion that she should have stayed submissive to her husband.
Anyway, the next year or so was a blur of various legal struggles. My mom was struggling hand and foot trying to make ends meet, trying to keep her kids, going to school so she could get a real job, and trying to find a job in the meantime. Listen, I loved my mom before this whole thing started, but I never admired her as much as I do now. For a while, the court system was trying to blame my mom for the whole thing, saying that if she had been married to him for 16 years, how could she not have known? Eventually, and after a whole lot of stress, painful reality checks, and rude awakenings, they decided she was a good enough mother to keep her kids and let the case go. They never did convict my dad, but they left the case open so they can convict him later if the evidence arises.
During those two years, I was so angry at everyone it was unbelievable. I hated ATI, I hated my dad, I was even mad at my mom. I wasn't allowed to know for a while why he wasn't there anymore, I only knew that my dad had suddenly dissappeared, so I didn't know who to blame. I buried myself in "bad" music. I screamed with Linkin Park, Evanescence, and P.O.D., among others. My brothers and sisters and I huddled together in one of the bedrooms sometimes just crying and talking, trying to figure out among ourselves what the hell was going on with our family. We didn't understand, our family had been such a role model to everyone around us. On a side note, have you ever noticed the way a lot of ATI members take pride in not being proud? We did that. Anyway, we got through that period with the help of a lot of people, mostly NOT ATI. We had been going to a large contemporary church in our area, occasionally thinking we should probably find a different one because it was so not ATI. But they helped us so much. We needed food, clothes, yard work, help with housework, a whole lot of stuff. Everybody helped. We had people coming over to help watch the kids, people cooking for us, people cleaning for us, it was beautiful.
All in all, our rude awakening did us a lot of good, I think. Granted, none of us have completely gotten over it, we still have plenty of problems, but ultimately we're better off. Now I'm 18, in college, supporting myself and renting an apartment with 4 other college kids (guys too, horrors!), and still learning to function normally in society. My family is doing fine, the house is usually clean now, my sister knows how to tile a floor, and my mom is working in a pediatrician's office. My mom and 16 year old sister are in college, my brother is in junior ROTC or some such kid military thing coping with his anger. We're all still kinda screwed up, but we're still moving along. Keep this site going, please!
-Anonymous
Tuesday, November 01, 2005
