SHINY HAPPY PEOPLE

okay let's talk about Shiny Happy [Music] People uh docu Series on Amazon about uh your family your life a lot of people were watching it and we watched it MH and you chose not to be a part of the docy series and yet you do have some thoughts on the docy series so let's talk about that why did you choose not to be a part interesting I think growing up on TV and just in the public eye in general I know that once you speak on something once you um kind of like sit down record something in on platform then there's little to no editing power and that's what I was a little unsure about going into something like that where it's like produced by a company and you just don't know what what you're going to be allowed to like take out like if I were to watch this documentary and not like where they put um a clip of me saying something that maybe the person before me said something I didn't agree with I just didn't want to like speak to iblp in that context and so at that time I had already been thinking about um writing my own book talking about the dangers of iblp and all of that and so given I already had that um book writing stuff going on I thought it would be best for me just to be able to tell my own story how I wanted and not to like view like for for the those viewing it they wouldn't see it through a bad lens and I'm not saying bad and like it's not truthful like I think every everything pretty much in that documentary was which we'll go into minute I think but yeah I just kind of wanted it to be in my own words yeah yeah so you wanted to I mean it's such a sensitive subject because it's your life and it's stuff you've lived through and a lot of it very publicly yeah and so you wanted to have total editing control yeah I think that's more more so why and also cuz I knew that this was not going to be necessarily a Christian documentary that was probably one of my bigger conc concerns about it would just be because I didn't know if they would have a redeeming factor for what actually took place those teachings of Bill Gothard were awful and they were they were so deceptive because they were mixed in there would be elements of truth from scripture and then it would just take a Twist um where it was very damaging and so with something like this in a documentary I was afraid that maybe things wouldn't be handled as I'd want them to be and so that's really why I didn't go on and that was a big burden for you and becoming free indeed was that even with you talking about disentangling over deconstruction you know so many people are talking about deconstructing their faith you wanted to emphasize the beauty of Christ right and his goodness and show that he is a loving friend and a gracious savior while being able to get out of the false teaching and so you wanted I mean that was a burden of yours to have the Redemptive Factor yeah for sure because that's what will actually help anyone who is stuck in those teachings to come out or somebody who's been harmed by it to see man that's not Christianity those teachings of Bill Gothard are so warped and so far from what the Bible actually says so just to go back to the foundation of scripture itself being the authority not one person not one teacher speaking for you um but you need to go back to the word of God and that's what I was not sure if it would be told that way in the documentary just because a teacher is popular well listened to has a lot of influence and claims to speak for Christ doesn't mean he does yeah and you use a line often just because someone claims to speak for God yeah I would say like there are so many teachers who claim to speak for God but don't and I feel like that they can bind people's consciences to things that are outside of the Bible and make you feel like oh man if I don't do everything that this teacher says then I'm sinning against God and so that's where it's so important for each one of us to like no matter who you're sitting under no matter how good you think their teaching is you need to have an Open Bible and make sure that it's true that's the gauge of Truth isn't um do my family listen to them are they popular do they sound good that doesn't determine who's truly a Christian teacher right Christ determines that based on or even who's truly a Christian I think in the world today sadly so many have seen those who will claim to speak about things of God and then they just their lives are the complete opposite and so I think the hypocrisy in the church that we see today in teachers even those who stand up and try to teach the Bible I think that sadly a lot of those it's it's hard to tell right like who is actually Walking with God and who is actually legit and I think if there's a teacher who is so focused on the things that don't matter and things that are not in the Bible then it can kind of expose their heart and so I think that's another element too that we saw even with Bill goth because I would have thought he was amazing whenever I was in that setting and now looking at him I'm like wow what a deceiver he was all those years I thought he was the man of God and he wasn't it's cool to see Jesus knows this and so he says in Matthew 7 you'll know them by their fruit so look at the fruit so okay so that's one thing the docu series did did really well was exposed uh Gothard and the program and the cult and the way he operated and so talk about that there there were some elements to that docu series which were helpful I actually I watched it I think we watched it all in one night didn't we it was like all we watched the entire thing we maybe had 30 minutes I mean we're you know we get tired you know I didn't doze off though because I was so like but it we had maybe 30 minutes the next day or something yeah it's interesting because watching that I was like oh my goodness it hits you because there's a lot there are a lot of things in there that it's like oh my goodness that was my experience yeah and I think it's like that for a lot of people even those who were outside of Bill gothard's teaching you're going to relate to a lot of those teachings because there's so many false teachers and people who will have a lot to say on like on subjects where the Bible is silent so um but with the the documentary they captured the rise of Bill Gothard and how he got to the place he was and it it showed you like wow how how would people fall for this like cuz now all these years later like anybody who hears these teachings are like oh that's insane how would you get wrapped up in it but once you go back to the start and how Bill gothard's teachings um kind of evolved into this what what was iblp um and what is today it's wild like it's it was quite the journey for all these families and I think they followed that really well talking about how initially it sounds good you get in with your family you have this community your kids are guarded and sheltered from the world they're going to turn out perfect God has this um awesome plan for your family to be a light to the Nations to have as many kids as possible to um be able to infiltrate a lot of different areas of government that was something they talked about which I was like well I don't think that bill gothar taught that um and I think there are some there are some elements that are like okay well it's not necessarily bad for people to be in that place yeah and yeah so there were some things they they kind of missed a little bit just a little bit yeah but I mean exposing and and showing the appeal like you said of Gothard right I think the draw of like wanting your family to be safe and protected from the out outside influences was something that they captured really well in that isolation that a lot of families felt because once you were in the that setting it was harder for you to have friends who were not just like you because you didn't want your kids to be influenced by them and I think that there was so much isolation um within iblp that a lot of other bad things would trickle down from that and so yeah I mean it some of those um stories just that I heard from those who did participate in the documentary it was just so heartbreaking to see the pain that they went through and just even them being vulnerable to like get on um Shin happy people and share their story that was really impactful and I'm grateful for those who did um and I just think like there was so much truth in that documentary that was shared I think one of the most powerful lines came at the end from one of the men who was involved um and under that teaching like and he said something along the lines of what what they feared the most was our voice MH and US speaking yeah and so in that regard helping people who've been in a harmful teaching and it's not just IP that's why this I think resonated with so many people is because there's Bill goth types all over the place and they come in every form and shape a lot of times their their tactics are the same like how to manipulate but I think the documentary is so helpful in in showing people you have power in speaking up in using your voice what were some of the things where you watched it and thought H they didn't get that so right yeah I think the the conclusion I think that the conclusion of that it was lacking an answer for for people who may have been harmed within the church and have had experienced real pain but I think it leaves them without hope of where to go and a lot of them I think at the end of the day could be like oh forget Christianity I'm going to deconstruct and that is not I don't think that's the story of it was for sure not the story of everyone on the documentary but I think that where it left the viewer was with little to no hope yeah for how do I get back to a place where I can um enter a church again how I can have a relationship with God that is not based on these rules and regulations that this man put down for me it there's a lot of disentangling that has to happen and I think that it was kind of lacking that element um and it's sad because once there's there's somebody who's so broken and so hurt you just want them to come to know Jesus um to know how good and how kind he is and how gracious he is and I think that that that was missing because it wasn't a Christian documentary um but it definitely did a great job exposing the the errors right I think yeah it's not a Christian documentary so we're not expecting it to do the role of the church right but there were points where you're like you know they would want to expose gothard's teaching on the creation of the world right and you go hey so that's been a chist basic Christian Orthodox teaching for thousands of years so totally that's not a goth thing like there were elements of of biblical truth in what goth t he could have drawn Christians in so I think they painted with a little bit of a too broad of a brush at points like can you believe these this crazy cult they believe God made everything right you're like well yeah all Christians you know and I think that that's because of the starting point there's no there's no understanding of the word of God being sufficient for everything and so I think if you go to the Bible you can see that yes I believe that God created the world um and that's not crazy because those types of things people will debate and argue all day over you know is it seven days creation or is it millions of years like even Christians have different differing opinions but if you read the Bible you can see um I I mean like those things you can argue on but as far as the basics of like what Bill Gothard taught it's just so far out there and it messed people up so bad to where um I think like this documentary was really it it missed the point in the conclusion like it didn't come to a conclusion and give people any foundation for how to move forward and I think that's why your book was so helpful and they mentioned your book at the end which I thought was great but um your book was so helpful because it's easy just to be negative and it's easy just to cut down or criticize but then to actually build up and um Point people in a Direction that's going to help them and that's your burden I mean this book wasn't comfortable for you to write right you didn't wake up and say Hey I want to you know analyze the religious system I was brought up in and you you felt compelled in order to help and you've been really encouraged by the response you've gotten from family from friends from loved ones who you didn't think would reach out to you but you got a long message or a voicemail or a call from someone saying thank you so much for writing this and you were surprised with some of them mhm yeah for sure I think that's that's how it is whenever you do something that's difficult that you know you're supposed to do you have a burden for it and um I just wanted to be faithful to share my story because God's been so kind to bring me out of that teaching and I believe land in a really good place although there's still so much growth that needs to happen and even healing from that um but just to be able to speak up and and share my story has been great but it's it's also like it's not just for me but like for those I've been able to share it with I've been more encouraged than anything just hearing other people's stories of what they've walked through and how they've come to freedom in Christ so yeah it's been so worth it and I'm just like I will say about the documentary like I don't want it to sound like I don't think it was good I definitely am so grateful for all those people who shared their stories and I don't take that ly having spoken up I know that you know maybe a lot of their families are still in it and they're going to take a lot of heat for whatever they've said and so I don't want to Discount that either um and yeah I think I just wanted to share my perspective on more like the Christian side of things thanks for watching this video please don't forget to like And subscribe we'll see you next time see [Music] you

Channel: Jinger & Jeremy Vuolo

Views: 246,661

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Id: TqOyHTNhy2A

Length: 15min 26sec (926 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 11 2023