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Bill Gothard (born November 2, 1934) is a Christian conference speaker and founder of the Institute in Basic Life Principles. His conferences focus on "Basic Youth Conflicts". His solution is a conservative, authoritarian view of family life.
Career
Prior to conducting seminars, Gothard, an ordained Bible Church minister, was the executive director of the Gideons International, an evangelical organization that distributes portions of the Bible.
In 1964, Bill's alma mater, Wheaton College, invited him to design and teach a course based on his work with youth. The course was given the name Basic Youth Conflicts; two hours of upper-division undergraduate and graduate credit were awarded to students completing the course. Forty-six students, youth pastors, and teachers registered for that first class. The next year 120 students enrolled in Basic Youth Conflicts.
In the years that followed, Basic Youth Conflicts was offered in several new locations. Soon seminar attendance averaged between 10,000 and 20,000 youth and adults. Today, hundreds of smaller seminars are being conducted in cities throughout the United States and other nations.
Theology and beliefs
Gothard's theology is a product of deeply conservative Evangelicalism. He was ordained by LaGrange Bible Church in suburban Chicago, IL.
Gothard provides strong advice about family relationships. Wives are to submit to their husbands. Children are not to marry without their parents' approval. Particularly, daughters are to receive their father's blessing and live with parents before marrying.
Bill Gothard strongly criticizes Rock music, arguing that the "rock beat" leads to youth being rebellious. This leads Gothard to condemn contemporary Christian music, a genre popular with many evangelicals.
A prominenent theme in Gothard's teaching is that God-given authority provides followers a spiritual "umbrella of protection", and that rejecting authority results in vulnerability to spiritual attack.
Controversies and criticism
Within evangelicalism, criticism of Gothard centers around two issues: (1) what critics consider legalistic teachings and interpretations of Scripture, and (2) concern about Gothard's application of authoritarianism in his own organization, particularly during a sex scandal in the 1980s. Examples of critics within evangelicalism are Christian watchdog group Midwest Christian Outreach, and Christian rock musician Steve Taylor who was negatively mentioned in Gothard's writings.
Conservative evangelicals have criticized Gothard's view of divorce, for Gothard believes that divorce is never acceptable. Gothard's critics point to Jesus' comment on divorce in Matthew 19:9, where Jesus states that divorce is acceptable if adultery has been commited. Certain evangelicals call this the "exception clause." While Gothard believes that Jesus was referring to betrothal, one must note that mnesteuo, the Greek word for betrothal is not used. Recently Gothard has argued that "The 'exception clause' does refer to illegal marriages such as incest. It may also refer to immorality during the Jewish betrothal period."
In 1986, Gothard began to argue against Cabbage Patch Kids, arguing that they violated the Fifth Commandment, which has been translated as: "Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee." Gothard believed that it was wrong for a child to sign a pledge to love his or her doll; this would lead to him or her not loving his or her own future children, according to Gothard. Gothard's Basic Care Newsletter 's January, 1996 edition included and endorsed testimonals from Gothard-linked midwives who argued that the act of having Treasure Trolls or Cabbage Patch Kids one's home could lead to difficulties in conceiving a child.
Finally, Gothard is seen by some of his critics as deeply sexist, for he insists on total female submission to male authority. Furthermore, Gothard's seminars include the distribution of literature to women that makes much of women's physical appearance -- women are told, for instance, what sort of makeup they should wear, based on their skin tone. Men, on the other hand, receive instruction only on religious and professional matters.
The number of Bill Gothard's followers is thought to be on the decline after another sex scandal in 2001. The second scandal took place on Bill Gothard's primary compound in Oakbrook, IL shortly before the group's annual conference in Knoxville, TN. Jim Voeller, a keynote speaker at the upcoming conference and the director of Bill Gothard's homeschooling
curriculum left his wife and seven children after an ongoing affair with his secretary was exposed. Employees and volunteers serving at the compound in Oakbrook were asked to keep silent on the matter.
Acclamations and endorsements
Bill Gothard is highly praised by such men as:
Sam Johnson, U.S. Congressman (Texas) and retired U.S. Air Force Colonel
Dr. Bill Bright, founder, Campus Crusade for Christ
D. James Kennedy, senior minister, Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church
Adrian Rogers, senior pastor, Bellevue Baptist Church, Memphis, Tennessee
Dr. Charles Stanley, pastor, First Baptist Church of Atlanta
Bruce Wilkinson, author of the New York Times #1 best-seller, The Prayer of Jabez
Pat Boone, entertainer and author
Dr. Gary Smalley, counselor and best-selling author
John D. Beckett, chairman and CEO, R. W. Beckett Corp.
Byron Paulus, president, Life Action Ministries
Jim Ryun, U.S. Congressman (Kansas)
External links
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