In Reply to: Right posted by Donny on June 24, 2003 at 22:50:34:
Bill Gothard is the person Deborah is associated with now. I went to one of his seminars once, in Dallas, about 20 years ago. The things I remember about what he taught were that birth defects were a sign of God's special blessing; women were to be absolutely subservient to men (obey your husband even if he's out of it, and let God deal with him. The same goes for children or teens and their parents); birth control is a lack of faith in God (people who join Gothard's church go so far as to undergo surgical reversals of vasectomies and tubal ligations); sickness and personal tragedy are signs that God is "dealing with" something in your life. The fact that she can believe these things ought to tell us a lot about both her spiritual life and her home life now.
Woodie and I worked very closely with Deborah for a number of years, and were privy to some of the details behind the stories told in the book. We have some good memories of those times, but Deborah was also arrogant, self-centered and very cruel -- and she treated Woodie especially badly. So when we read it, it was irritating and unsettling to see how she saw herself to be so innocent in all that went on.
When I talked to her last year, I was surprised that some things she had done and said to us, which had a far-reaching effect, she had no memory of whatsover. Still, she has softened, and was very apologetic for the way she acted back then. There's none of the old "queen" attitude left.
Like MG says above, I think the book was her venting/blame stage. She would have a different take on things if she were to write something now. I'm glad my early thoughts on the subject didn't make it into print!