X-ATI Guy

X-er receives apology

Dear Mr. X-er,

I'm writing to ask your forgiveness. The Lord has convicted me in my heart that it is wrong to harbor a root of bitterness. You see, I believe your website and "humor" are disrepectful toward Dr. Gothard and the thousands of parents who have followed the Lord in to ATIA. They are sincere about their convictions and are obeying God by raising a standard for the world.

In fact, I believe your "satire" is biting, cruel, and disgusting. There is nothing funny about attacking the character qualities of a man who has served God his entire life. Why do you try to hurt Christianity by poking fun at one of God's messengers?

That's not to say I believe every word out of Dr. Gothard's mouth. He is human, and I'm sure he makes mistakes. But that is between him and God.

If Dr. Gothard or IBLP has offended you, you should obey Matthew 18 and go directly to him with your complaints. It is wrong for you to air your problems on the Internet and cause others to take up offenses for you.

But I must confess that for many months I have allowed bitterness to creep up. Every time I checked your site, it made me angry and I cursed you in my heart. This was wrong and I need to ask your forgiveness. I have gone through the Bitterness Stronghold with a spiritual counselor to confess my bitterness toward you. Once I went through the last step, it was amazing how the burden lifted! Now I praise the Lord continually.

I pray for you, and hope the Lord will bring you back into the fold.

In Christ,

A Concerned Reader
Dallas, Texas

14 Comments:

Anonymous said...: Dear Concerned Reader,

I'm curious; you say, "That's not to say I believe every word out of Dr. Gothard's month." Can you think of things Mr. G has said that you don’t agree with? Betcha can't.

Also, you say, "I'm sure he makes mistakes." Naw, you think so? Your attitude tells me that you really don't think he makes any mistakes. In your heart you may idolize the man.

And thirdly, stop whining.; 6:19 AM
Anonymous said...: 1. Education is not important.
2. College is not needed.
3. All of the skills that you require to get through life can be received through your loyal and unpaid service at ATIA.
4. If you think Mr. G has made a mistake, please bow before him and kiss the ring which is embossed "Dr. Gothard" and you will be forgiven and allowed to do your penance at HQ.
5. If any of this sounds familiar...you might be an ATI'er!!! LOL; 1:36 AM
Anonymous said...: That letter has to be a joke. Good satire!; 4:44 PM
Richard said...: The fact is, the letter might be a joke or it might be real. Therein lies the beauty. I know some people who would write that exact letter. Even to such a degree that they would keep coming back, just to be offended anew. How dare that X-er keep his sight up! (gnash those teeth!)

And 1:36 Anon - a little inside knowledge for you: the ring is inscribed only with a G, 48 point Palace Script. The ring was given to him in a secret ceremony at Knoxville '94, Messers M-, N-, and M-, presiding.

There are some guys who kiss the ring just to get to touch the lipstick left by previous blonde kissers . . . Poor bastards.; 7:50 AM
Anonymous said...: When did the Lord go in to ATIA, before of after we were told to forget about the great commission and hole up in our little groups?; 7:26 PM
Statureman said...: "They are sincere about their convictions"

Hitler was sincere about his convictions too.

Sincerety and Biblical truth are not the same thing.; 5:29 PM
Anonymous said...: My favorite part of the letter was, "I'm writing to ask your fogiveness. The Lord has convicted me in my heart..." and so on. Then he proceeds in the next couple paragraphs to give you what for. It's an interesting, sometimes effective, tactic used to disarm an opponent. When you have a disagreement with someone, classic passive agressive behavior is to quicly apologize and ask for forgiveness when your cornered. The other person feels sorry for you ("Gee, maybe I shouldn't have been so hard on him)--and then you go straight for hook, jab, punch...KO!!!; 10:17 PM
Anonymous said...: "It is wrong for you to air your problems on the Internet and cause others to take up offenses for you."

...it's a free country, is it not?
so log off if you're so offended. bye bye.; 2:39 PM
Anonymous said...: "I pray for you, and hope the Lord will bring you back into the fold." What? Don't you believe in eternal security like Bill? Don't you know you are violating a non-optional scriptural principal by saying that?; 4:24 AM
Anonymous said...: Folks, it's clearly stated this site is *satire*. I doubt we need to argue with the letter-writer. :-); 7:45 AM
Anonymous said...: Im happier on the dark side.
They have cookies.; 12:59 PM
Anonymous said...: I think that what's scary is that any one of my estranged brothers could have and would have written this...I can't even be mad at this messed-up kid. He's obviously so brainwashed that he can't see straight. He needs help and I'm being serious. This makes me sad. He's missing so much of true life and real faith.

Okay, I'm done and those were my thoughts!

P.S. Dude, you've got an amazing blog going here.; 7:36 PM
Anonymous said...: Oh, my goodness! I don't believe that this letter is fake because the exact same thing happened to me! Two Gothardites from my church aproached me and several other people asking for our forgivness. They said that they had held grudges against us because of our 'ways' and have become bitter.
Basically they just chewed us out and acted like we were their 'stumbling block', but they wanted our forgivness anyway- how nice. Later on we received letters from them saying that they were sorry again because they said that they were very angry at us for telling them that Gothardism was wrong when they first asked for our forgivness.; 10:01 AM
Anonymous said...: Basic Bill has now become "Dr." Gothard??? Oh dear. I thought people calling him "Mr. Gothard" was bad. Well, fair is fair... As Dr. Neil Diamond sang, "Forever in blue jeans, babe"; 1:24 PM

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