Gothard's teachings on spanking

[formergothardite]

On SSB a former ATI student shares his experience with Gothard's teachings about how parents should spank their children. Warning, the article is very disturbing. I'm only going to copy the part that explains what Gothard told parents to do when it came to spanking their children. I asked my mother if she had this booklet and she said no, probably because as you get further into ATI you usually buy more of the materials and my parents didn't buy a lot of the stuff they were encouraged to buy.

 

The stipulation was that we had to hold still and submissively accept the beating, and we had to stop crying and be silent and not make a sound. This was a specific part of Gothard's beating protocol, found in one of his pamphlets: the silent, limp submission to a beating was his metric for a "repentant spirit."

 

Yes, this is how Gothard tells parents to spank their children.

 

This is what the author of the blog post has to say for all the people who side with Gothard. This would especially include people like the Bates where Gil and Kelly are not only in a position to know more than most ATI parents, but they could actually do something(but they don't).

 

I'd like to state again for the record that Gothard apologists are remorseless sadists, and this includes that Alfred character who comments on your blog. These people KNOW THAT THESE THINGS ARE HAPPENING IN THE IBLP/ATI PROGRAM, AND THEY ARE FINE WITH IT.

 

spiritualsoundingboard.com/2015/03/31/man-shares-personal-testimony-of-how-bill-gothard-used-bible-verses-which-led-to-the-abuse-of-children-part-2/

[polecat]

This was how my parents spanked.

We were not allowed to cry or put our hands behind our back or we'd get more swats. Unfortunately, my parents were also sadistic, so if we didn't cry at ALL, they'd spank us until we DID (to break our rebellious spirits) and then continue spanking us until we STOPPED and submitted properly.

I should note that my parents weren't hugely into Gothard. They were IFB and attended his "basic youth conflicts" seminars but not much of anything else afaik.

[Toothfairy]

This is so sad.

Polecat, I'm sorry that happened to you. :cry:

[KittenMitten]

Oh,polecat and formergothite, I am so sorry. I send you hugs. I wish I could have been there for you.

[ILoveJellybeans]

That is evil. Of course a child will cry when you hit them. You cant expect them to stop crying and moving when youre hitting them, because it is a natural instinct of every living thing to try and move away from pain.

[Trynn]

That is evil. Of course a child will cry when you hit them. You cant expect them to stop crying and moving when youre hitting them, because it is a natural instinct of every living thing to try and move away from pain.

Right. This is why I don't understand why parents spank children having tantrums or to stop them from crying. Don't they know that that's just going to make them scream louder?

And parents do this out in public, where I have to watch or at least hear it.

[Howl]

This just confirms my belief that Gothard has some serious psychosexual derangements.

Besides his footsie issues, I do wonder if he has some type of secret life to provide an outlet for this, or if his followers who beat their children in this way are his sick proxies.

Great compassion extended to anyone who had to endure this.

[ariel9]

That's so awful I wonder did the kids know as kids to not cry, not that it would have made a difference because sometimes it's impossible not to. I wonder a lot of things. When was this happening? Did anyone notice any bruises on him(were they hidden believe me I know about this)? Why is gothard not in jail? Is it me or does yor childhood in ATI depend on the mental disposition of your parents + how many books purchased+how many seminars attended?

I know from experience that that's a hard thing to go through but at least his parents acknowledge what happened. With my age and recent laws it's something that's swept under the rug and you're basically convinced that your experiences are invalid and it never happened.

[Imrlgoddess]

My sister and I were done this way, she moreso than myself. I was much younger and physically smaller so I wasn't so much of a threat to my mom. We were Catholic and my dad wasn't allowed (by my mom) to physically discipline us. I don't think my mom got her methods from a fundamentalist/Gothard source, but I am not certain that she didn't. Until I met my (ex) husband and had my daughter assumed that being cornered and hit with a broom handle was normal. Harsh..but normal. It has taken years for me to figure out that she beat the crap out of my sister and had intentions on the same with me. I stood up to her at 13 and moved out as soon as 18 hit. After my father passed away last year, I made the mistake of telling her that she beat us...her immediate response was "no, you were spanked". And then she got angry. All the manipulation tactics I've read about on here and on HomeSchoolers Anonymous ensued. She berated me until she broke me and then tried to apologize. I learned a valuable lesson that night. My (current) husband didn't know what to say when I told him what all happened on the way home the next day.

It hurts my hurt to know that this was/is a movement...a guideline that seemingly rational people would follow...If I even joke about being smacked with a random kitchen object most people around me give me a strange look...usually mixed with "are you serious?" or simple concern. For the longest time I thought Warren Jeffs was the biggest monster out there with his reach and influence...I have seen that he is just one in a not-so-small group scattered across the US. It saddens me and scares the crap out of me.

[TrueRebel1]

Yes, this was how spanking was implemented, in my experience. If during the first spanking the child yelled, screamed, writhed, tried to cover their bottom with their hands, etc. , this showed the child was not repentant. Thus they would be spanked again for resisting punishment and not showing a proper attitude. I don't know how many times myself or my siblings endured repeated spankings until we quietly and remorsefully accepted our punishment. :(