Have mercy on us, O God.
"I invite you... to the discipline of Lent--self-examination and repentance, prayer and fasting, sacrificial giving and works of love..."
These words from the Ash Wednesday Liturgy shared by millions of Christians today had a special impact on me today as I thought of Bill Gothard, yet another evangelical giant felled by sexual misbehavior.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2014/february/bill-gothard-relieved-of-duties-during-sexual-harassment-in.html?utm_source=connection-html&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=154123&utm_content=252765174&utm_campaign=2013
Thank you to EEWC-CFT, Christianity Today, and to Recovering Grace for reporting on Gothard and the Institute in Basic Life Principles.
http://www.recoveringgrace.org/
www.eewc.com
I was mesmerized by reading the six parts of Meg's story and was late to the Ash Wednesday service. I missed the ashes!
By the last of the six parts, I felt sorry for Bill Gothard. At age 59 he wanted to marry this 20-year-old--the first marriage of his life--but the Board of Directors of IBLP would not let him. (Never mind that he had not yet asked her.)
However, when I read this timeline, I realized that Gothard was/is a serial groper/abuser.
http://www.recoveringgrace.org/2014/02/chronology-of-favorites/
He is a sad figure, and the list of women harmed by him is very long.
I heard about Basic Youth Conflicts in the 1960s in Bakersfield. In 1972 when I got married, my aunt and uncle were attending BYC seminars, which stressed that a wife should be under her husband's authority.
When John and I visited them a few months after we married, they chided me for not taking John's name and not being in submission to him. I looked through the white plastic binders full of typed guidance that they showed me.
It was scary even though I had no intention of getting trapped by that nonsense.
Today I read some of what is being reported on the Recovering Grace website, and I was saddened.
So many times in history the Christian church has gotten into trouble by trying to restrict sexuality. Here is one more instance. Judaism, on the other hand, encourages marriage and sexuality within limits.
I don't gloat that one more hypocrite and serial abuser is exposed. (I suppose he was rapidly anti-homosexual, as well.)
He's now 79 years old, so the words,"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return" probably have greater impact on him.
I'm just sad.
Have mercy on us, O God. All of us.
"I invite you... to the discipline of Lent--self-examination and repentance, prayer and fasting, sacrificial giving and works of love..."
These words from the Ash Wednesday Liturgy shared by millions of Christians today had a special impact on me today as I thought of Bill Gothard, yet another evangelical giant felled by sexual misbehavior.
http://www.christianitytoday.com/gleanings/2014/february/bill-gothard-relieved-of-duties-during-sexual-harassment-in.html?utm_source=connection-html&utm_medium=Newsletter&utm_term=154123&utm_content=252765174&utm_campaign=2013
Thank you to EEWC-CFT, Christianity Today, and to Recovering Grace for reporting on Gothard and the Institute in Basic Life Principles.
http://www.recoveringgrace.org/
www.eewc.com
I was mesmerized by reading the six parts of Meg's story and was late to the Ash Wednesday service. I missed the ashes!
By the last of the six parts, I felt sorry for Bill Gothard. At age 59 he wanted to marry this 20-year-old--the first marriage of his life--but the Board of Directors of IBLP would not let him. (Never mind that he had not yet asked her.)
However, when I read this timeline, I realized that Gothard was/is a serial groper/abuser.
http://www.recoveringgrace.org/2014/02/chronology-of-favorites/
He is a sad figure, and the list of women harmed by him is very long.
I heard about Basic Youth Conflicts in the 1960s in Bakersfield. In 1972 when I got married, my aunt and uncle were attending BYC seminars, which stressed that a wife should be under her husband's authority.
When John and I visited them a few months after we married, they chided me for not taking John's name and not being in submission to him. I looked through the white plastic binders full of typed guidance that they showed me.
It was scary even though I had no intention of getting trapped by that nonsense.
Today I read some of what is being reported on the Recovering Grace website, and I was saddened.
So many times in history the Christian church has gotten into trouble by trying to restrict sexuality. Here is one more instance. Judaism, on the other hand, encourages marriage and sexuality within limits.
I don't gloat that one more hypocrite and serial abuser is exposed. (I suppose he was rapidly anti-homosexual, as well.)
He's now 79 years old, so the words,"Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return" probably have greater impact on him.
I'm just sad.
Have mercy on us, O God. All of us.
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