On IBLP’s website, under “What we do” it says, “The
Institute in Basic Life Principles was established for the purpose of
introducing people to the Lord Jesus Christ, and is dedicated to giving
clear instruction and training on how to find success by following God’s principles
found in Scripture.”

The underlined part of this purpose statement explains one of the main reasons I reject Bill
Gothard’s ministry….it promotes humanism.

What? Gothard just said that his ministry was established for the purpose of introducing
people to the Lord Jesus Christ and I accuse him of humanism? That’s absurd,
right? Well, it would be if he ended his statement there and if his ministry
was really all about introducing people to the Jesus of the Bible, but the
statement didn’t stop there (and whether or not his ministry presents a Biblical
Gospel is certainly worth looking into).

It’s the statement about being dedicated to giving clear instruction and training on how
to find success by following God’s principles found in Scripture that causes me
to cry “humanism.”

Humanism is defined as “a doctrine, attitude or way of life that centers on human interests

or values.” This is at the core of why I reject IBLP.

Gothard teaches a success gospel that is centered on man rather than Christ.

Let’s look at some examples:

Scripture says that we are saved by grace through faith.  Gothard defines faith as, “Visualizing what
God intends to do in a given situation and acting in harmony with it.” Based on
his definition, faith is something I do.

He defines grace as, “the desire and ability to do God’s will” and it can be gained by humbling
myself.  It starts in me.

If we insert Gothard’s definitions into Ephesians 2:7, it says, “By the desire and ability
to do God’s will (that you earn through humbling myself) and through
visualizing what God intends to do in a given situation and acting in harmony
with it you are saved.”

Sound like humanism?

How about some other examples:

What is the purpose of the law? Galatians 3:24 says, “Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster
to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” What does
Gothard says? Well, that’s a loaded question. Gothard really likes the Mosaic
law. He teaches from it a lot.

That is where he gets many of his principles that are supposed to give success. For example, he
spends pages and pages and pages of his Advanced Seminar textbook giving
principles of marriage based on the OT laws of cleanliness. And God’s reasons
for those laws according to Gothard? He gave these rules “to the nation Israel so that they could be healthier,
wealthier, and wiser than any other nation." Humanism?

This idea that the law was given to make us healthy, wealthy and wise is seen throughout
Gothard’s teachings. At the Basic Seminar, I remember being told that fasting
is for our physical benefit. He said that when God sent manna in the
wilderness, His reason for not sending it on the Sabbath was to encourage fasting.
The truth is that God did an extra miracle to make a provision for eating manna
on the Sabbath without breaking the Sabbath with work, but Gothard ignores that
and teaches that people would do good by fasting on Sunday.

He teaches that we should meditate on Scripture so that we will have success. He goes so far as
to state this success will cause you to have higher grades.  You can see this promoted on the IBLP
website. One of the Board Members, Dr. Billy Boring, Jr., has this
testimony.  “As a medical student at the
University of Texas Medical School, Billy attended a Basic Seminar, where he
was challenged to begin meditating on God’s Word. As he did so, his grades
began to climb.” Notice the cause and effect? Meditate on Scripture = higher
grades.

Yes, Joshua 1:7 does say that success will be the result of meditating on Scripture. But is
Biblical success higher grades in medical school? Is God really promising us
success in this world? If I meditate on Scripture, will every business venture
I begin automatically succeed?  Isn’t
this another version of the Prosperity Gospel?

Do you need more examples?

I don’t know how many times during my years in AT I I heard that we are to do good works in such
a way that “God gets the glory, your authorities get the credit and you get the
eternal reward.” Sounds good. But Scripture says, “Let your light so shine
before men that they may see your God words and glorify your father in heaven.”
Hmmm….God’s Word says to do good works in a way that God gets the glory. Period.
See the subtle difference?

The message of Scripture is that everything is for God’s glory. Everything.  The message of Scripture isn’t about how to
find hidden principles that give man success. And that’s why I find Gothard’s
system full of humanism. It’s why I reject it.

I want to quote Matt Chandler in “The Explicit Gospel” to show what I mean (pages 32 and 33).

“There are essentially 2 ways to view the Scriptures. One way is to view them primarily as
a guidebook for our daily living. We have questions. Surely the Bible is a
reliable reference book. So we ask, should we drink alcohol? Well, let’s find
that in the Bible. We ask, should I go see this movie or not? And we look up
some texts about not eating meat sacrificed to idols and end up slightly more
confused but feeling religious, at least. Suddenly we’ve turned the Bible in
our Magic 8-ball. Of course, we don’t call it that. We call it things like ‘the
road map of life.’

“Now, does the Bible contain a wealth of wisdom for practical, daily living? Yes, absolutely.
Is it going to specifically answer every question you’ve got? Not by a long shot.
And on top of that, answering our practical questions isn’t the point of the Bible…

“Here’s my point: what if the Bible isn’t about us at all? What if we aren’t the story of God’s revelation?

“The Bible definitely issues commands for us to obey and makes demands for our submission.
But, in the end, reading the Bible as the Daily Manual for My Life is the
deficient way of the basic ways available to us. We can read is as a reference
book about us. Or we can see that the Bible is a book about God. To paraphrase
Herbert Lockyer, the Bible is for us,
but it’s not about us.”

That is how Gothard hurt me personally. That is why I reject his teachings. He gave me a
theology that had me as the center of the Bible. He made the Bible about me.
His “hidden” meanings and reasons and principles of Scripture make it about me
and temporal success for man becomes the message of the Bible.

In all of that success and all of the principles, I lost the centrality of Jesus. So,
regardless of what good there might be, his teachings cost me Jesus and that’s
why I reject him. And that’s why I say it’s humanism.

Babies...who doesn't love babies? As I type this (one-handed, I might add) I have my baby snuggled in my arm sleeping. We love babies.

We are pro-life. We can't bear the thought of babies suffering.

But they do.

Around the world, babies are abandoned because they aren't "perfect." Here are a few.

  http://reecesrainbow.org/25036/dorothy

Dorothy, almost one. She has Down Syndrome and is still waiting for a family.

  http://reecesrainbow.org/25087/ryder

Ryder, just turned one. Down Syndrome. Waiting.

  http://reecesrainbow.org/26372/justin

Look at Justin. He'll be one this summer. He is waiting.

  http://reecesrainbow.org/23311/colton

Colton is 2. He's waiting.

And so many more...

http://reecesrainbow.org/28225/margaret                http://reecesrainbow.org/31819/kelsey                   http://reecesrainbow.org/32635/dawson

http://reecesrainbow.org/29786/ruth                http://reecesrainbow.org/35488/gage                http://reecesrainbow.org/26752/melody

And there are more. Babies, toddlers, big kids and little children in desperate need of a family. All of us can pray, some of us can give, some can adopt. What are you going to do?

Last time, I introduced you to Duncan. I'm happy to report that Duncan now has a family committed to him! Praise our Lord who is the Father of the Fatherless and cares for His children!