Duggar scandal

[Anomaly]

Honestly, is this garbage worthy of 13 pages of discussion?  Does endlessly discussing the Duggar's sins and failings do anybody here and positive good?

How about some prayers for all involved, then move on?

I think it's very worthwhile.  Lots to learn.  The dangers of flirting with extreme hypocrisy. Does partial failure wipe out the possible good? Is it possibly similar how the Catholic Church was damaged by the failure of a few?  My heart certainly feels sorrow for the pain his family must endure now. It is a cautionary tale, especially for those who watched the show and felt like they knew these people to some degree.   Did you watch the shows?

[puellapaschalis]

In a culture massively ignorant of authentic Christianity, a relatively media-heavy presence like the Duggars, Bates, and others in the Quiverfull/ATI/Gothard/IBLP movement demands refutation. That necessitates those (including us) able to do the refuting understanding the ins and outs of the movement's thinking, and yes, that means talking about when things go wrong and how the upbringing factors in things like sexual molestation, adultery, and use of pornography.

There are too many people who admire the Duggars (et al) as honest Christians doing their best and who as such should be left alone. But (imo) all these alarm bells that ring when people read about Quiverfull are symptoms of errors like sola scriptura. They should be studied and discussed as such.

[blazeingstar]

I doubt that these kind of programs or ways of dealing with sexual scandal are limited to Protestants. The problems the Catholic Church has faced due to trying to cover up child abuse by priests should have taught us that sexual issues can even affect Roman Catholic men who have chosen to devote their lives to God, sad as that is.

Any time we try to present ourselves as more Godly and righteous than someone else, there are potential problems ahead.

 

 

In Mass yesterday I was trying to figure out why this didn't sit right with me.  Why I couldn't seem to grasp why I am made more anxious by the actions of a few, fringe protestants than I am by evil priests.

As the priest did a homily about what God wants and what what the will of God is---to help us grow--it dawned on me.  The true evil in this is that the actions of the Church were sinful, hypocratic and evil.  And we knew it.  Priests and Bishops answered evil with more sin and everyone knew it was wrong.  They all knew what they were doing was bad but they did it anyway.

With the Duggers, Bates, with the Penningtons and so many others in these rapidly growing "fringe" Christian groups they do NOT acknowledge evil for what it is.  They blame toddlers on masterbating as a reason that a teenage boy molested them, they blame a wife who's had 4 kids in nearly as many years of marriage as a reason why a husband would stray---obviously she's sexually underperforming.  They don't give women the chance to have a good education, and any education past highschool for women is considered suspect and we've even seen crazy protestants publish reasons why.  And people agreed!!!  (not regular people, but many in these sects).  They also harm the young men, turning them from providers (who provide love and support) into paychecks and the reason and cause a family may not be doing well (gospel of prosperity).   If you pay attention to christian music today there's hints comeing through in some of the songs like "Lead me" and others.

And so the worthwhileness of the thread is that we should be alerted to this trend.  We should be aware of our suffering Christian brothers and sisters.  We should have our anteni go up when we hear about that "wierd christian school" where all the girls where skirts and the boys are courting so they can get married upon graduation.  We should participate in homeschool circles with christians where we see educational neglect of women.  We should, when possible, make loud noise about cases of parents holding their children's identities hostage which is a problem almost exclusive to these christian networks.

And yes, there is far worse in the world.  What priests did to children is abhorrent.  We have human trafficing that's a bigger issue.  We have mommy bloggers who've been convicted of murder.  But these religions are growing, are dangerous and are something we will have to continue to face and rebut.

God desires good for all His Children.  He wants them to grow and thrive.  He has given women the capacity for so much more than popping out babies.  He has given men the capacity to do more than bring home a pay check.  These religions do go against the dignaty of the human.  They aren't simply dealing with a case of sin and evil, they, at their core, are teaching evil.  How to deal with that...I'm not sure...other than being a presence in their community and really letting them know that we are not evil.

 

 

 

 

 

[Ice_nine]

Hi blaze, haven't seen you in a while. Good post.