Author and Christian evangelist Beth Moore said in a Twitter post this week that the recently released documentary about the Duggar family opened her eyes to the impact of the teachings of Bill Gothard.
“I didn’t realize how much influence that whole Gothard movement had on my church and on my social circles until watching those couple of episodes,” Moore said of the documentary Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets, ChurchLeaders.com reports. “I didn’t realize that’s where the umbrella talk all came from. I didn’t realize that’s where saying parenting stuff like ‘first time every time’ came from.”
Ok, a couple more thoughts on the Bill Gothard influence highlighted in Shiny Happy People. I’m only a couple of episodes in and never got into the Duggar reality show nor did I ever attend a Gothard seminar or read his materials though I constantly ran in circles that did.
— Beth Moore (@BethMooreLPM) June 5, 2023
The Duggar family was part of the Institute in Basic Life Principles, a movement started by Bill Gothard. The IBLP has been criticized for its legalistic rules, strict teachings, and sexual abuse allegations.
Moore said she has never been part of the IBLP teachings or participated in any of the IBLP events.
The new Prime Video documentary explores how the Duggar family promoted IBLP through their popular TLC reality shows, 19 Kids and Counting and then Counting On. The shows were canceled after a string of scandals, including arrest records that showed that the Duggar’s oldest child, Josh, had molested five girls, including four of his sisters.
Later, Josh was also charged and convicted of receiving and possessing child sex abuse materials. He was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison.
Moore, who revealed in her memoir, All My Knotted Up Life, that she was sexually abused by her father as a child, said she knew of others who found IBLP teachings compelling, but she could not join them because of a “tangled up mess of toxic guilt and good discernment.”
“The unhealthy part of me truly believed the main reason I was creeped out by those circles was well-earned shame,” she said, while “a healthier part of me reacted with the hair standing up on the back of my neck. I’d seen churchy hypocrisy close up. I’d seen it used as a cover. I did not trust people who flaunted their righteousness.”
A tangled up mess of toxic guilt and good discernment. I’ve told you guys before that I’ve spent a lifetime trying to figure out whether or not I could trust my gut. I wasn’t totally off base for wondering because I had such unresolved brokenness and had made so many mistakes.
— Beth Moore (@BethMooreLPM) June 5, 2023
Related:
Jill Duggar Dillard Talks Controversial Religious Upbringing, Sex Abuse in New Docuseries
Jinger Duggar Vuolo Details How the Gospel Helped Distentangled Her from Controversial Upbringing
Photo courtesy: ©Getty Images/Terry Wyatt/Stringer
Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.
