adventures on the inner circle

[Norbert the Mage]

D.amn.

And I thought one of his mantras was "Avoid all appearance of evil."

[That Chick]

You gotta wonder if G has any sexual feelings at all (which we have no reasons to say he hasn't), was this one of those moments when he almost let his guard all the way down (ew!).  The big question is, has he gone further with anyone else?  I mean, how hard is it to maintain sexually pure thoughts your whole life and never know the embrace of a woman (or, for all we know, a man)?  It's downright unnatural.  

I have a feeling that it's very possible he let his guard down at least once or twice.  He's a man, men have needs; I mean, come on.  Do we really believe this idea that he's never fulfilled those needs at all???  Psh.  Not me.  I admit, I kinda think it's only a matter of time before stories start leaking out...

But that's just me.  

[Calmate]

Frankly, I'm kind of surprised that stories haven't leaked out sooner.  The more I think about it, though, the people with anything to tell would probably be so heavily indoctrinated with authority/chain of command/umbrella of protection dogma that they would be:

(a) unlikely to tell, because it would be stepping outside the female role (assuming it's just  girls or young women we're talking about here) or

(b) thinking that no one would believe them if they did.  ("You rebellious child!  You're just making this up to get out of going to you 10th ATI conference!")

[Been There]

I have always strongly suspected that Gothard is either:

a) a very feminine, sexually repressed man, and sooner or later some woman will come out of the woodwork and talk about how Bill and her did the wild thing; or

b) a very feminine, sexually repressed gay man, and sooner or later some man will come out of the woodwork and talk about how Bill and he did the wild thing.

[spitfire1979]

I have always strongly suspected that Gothard is either:

a) a very feminine, sexually repressed man, and sooner or later some woman will come out of the woodwork and talk about how Bill and her did the wild thing; or

b) a very feminine, sexually repressed gay man, and sooner or later some man will come out of the woodwork and talk about how Bill and he did the wild thing

mmmhmmm, me too.  the most shocking thing about the gothard movement to me has always been its uncanny result of emasculating men emotionally and socially... exactly what happens when you supposedly "replace" the sex drive with "spiritual desires".  steph's story is incredibly enlightening... still catch myself thinking crap like "but he was above that sort of thing, wasn't he?"  ROFL !  

[Calmate]

To some extent, Gothard has benefited from a low public profile.  Yes, he is well known to his followers, but I would suggest that the general public became aware of him only recently through his political affiliations, with the Character First curriculum.  Were he a complete showman like Benny Hinn, Inside Edition would have been on his ass by now.  

[steph.]

Yes, Mr. Gothard definitely has normal male feelings. Like I've mentioned before, he used to flirt. Never more than that, but at the time I couldn't even imagine that that's what it actually was.. because Mr. Gothard would NEVER do such a thing. I was SO inexperienced. I knew absolutely nothing about men or attractiong or any of these things.

I do know of at least one (maybe two) others who had similar experiences.. just not to the same degree as I did. He liked to invite me to his office after dark. (After curfew.) And just talk to me or stare at me and hold my hand. Again, I considered all of this more paternal but I will admit that it was definitely a little creepy. Or a lot creepy.

I just wish he didn't try to portray such an image to his followers that he DOESN'T have these desires. And certainly he was -totally- out of line to show this side of him to such a young girl who looked up to him so much.

I have two girls. One is VERY striking.. and please believe that I'd never put here anywhere near him. I don't care how old he is.

[iamkonstantine]

Oh, i have plenty of EXCEL stories, lets see...

Having a smoke by the window in my room and later, causing a girl down the hall to have a horrible asthma type attack(apparently she was highly allergic to nicotine or some crap). unfortunately I have a heart and decided to quit for the time being...stupid girl just wasn't meditating on enough scripture!  :p

Not to mention all the 'normal' girls who were sent as a punishment or some crap, were making out with each other in the bathrooms on breaks...

Pimps on the corners of the DTC trying to talk to us in the middle of the night, trying to convince us to 'work' for them...

"Meditating" in a graveyard in downtown Dallas, in the middle of a music festival and being approached by a tattoo covered band member, asking me WTF was going on with 80 girls in skirts in a graveyard...

don't get me started on the sessions we had to go to...i still have marks on my tongue from the constant biting...i especially enjoyed being told that wearing a tampon on my period was evil, due to TSS being a sign from God that they are evil. Of course it was by a man. :@

[Been There]

The girls were making out with each other at Excel?  Are you serious?

I don't understand the tampon thing.

[iamkonstantine]

yeah, 100% serious. towards the end, rumors were started about 2 of my friends being 'sexual', which in their case was not true...unless you count holding hands during our one hour walk, but ehm, everyone did that...

but one of the girls parents were called(even though they had no proof, of course, 'tis the ATI way), and her dad just so happens to a big wig pastor with alot of ATI status or something...anywho, she got some very nasty letters from her parents, almost pulled her out...apparently her punishment, other than house arrest for 2 months when she got back, was completely memorizing the book of Mathew.  

Random Fact: 15% of my graduating class within six months of leaving, got themselves knocked up/ran away with some dude and got married.

[granolagoddess]

well, the tampon thing, is that they are trying to say getting toxic shock syndrome (a RARE condition) from tampons means god thinks its a bad idea. Well, I got TSS without using tampons, does that mean being a woman is bad idea? I think men don't want anyone in the vagina but them.

[iamkonstantine]

Of course being a woman is a bad idea, we're the cause of original sin...duh. ;-p We need to be controlled!!! Us and our evil, seductive boobs.

In all seriousness, I think the bible that we have today, thanks to the sexually frustrated bishops who did the cannon's on what should and shouldn't be in the bible...misconstrued a lot of the context to fit what would make them more comfortable. Has anyone read any of the gnostic books? I highly recommend them...its at least an interesting read...

[Triedbythefire]

A friend of mine was blessed out because she had a fitness DVD on South Campus. In the girls area, but the fitness instructor was wearing EXCERSISE PANTS! GASP!  !amazed

[Triedbythefire]

On the girls with girls thing - I heard from a girl who was at Eagle Springs that the cream of the crop of ATI perfection admitted to lesbian incest. I don't even want to know how you get to that point. I've also heard of boys with animals, mothers with sons, and brothers with sisters. It's what happens when you live by rules and not by God. :@