Duggar family

[Guest LadyC]

let me just say something here. i have been in the shoes of josh's sisters. i know EXACTLY how they felt. i also know that at the time it happened, my 'abuser' was the same age as josh was. oh yes, it was something i didn't get over easily. in fact, i was 30 years old before i confronted him. (never told my parents.) it wasn't until that confrontation that we both found healing. but what happened at that time was something that EVEN THEN i knew was hormones and sexual curiosity. i never hated him for it, even though i didn't  deal with it for so many years.

 

my brother NEVER did anything of the sort again. he was deathly afraid at the time that i would tell. i ran from the house barefoot in the snow... just as my parents were pulling into the driveway. i made up some lame story as to why i was outside and then just pretended it never happened for 20 years.

 

he is not a child molester. he's not a criminal. he's not a threat to any person of any age. he's a good man with a strong relationship with Jesus Christ who did something really dumb, really bad, and really damaging when he was a kid. that thing he did as a kid did not mark him as a predator for life, and no offense davida, but your accusation of josh duggar is a personal affront because it is just as much an accusation against my brother. YOU don't know either man. and such accusations are as venomous as the liberal who exposed this family tragedy to the world. i would trust my brother with my daughters (and would have when they were young) and with my granddaughter.

 

here's what you seem to be missing. a CHILD of 14 years old is just churning with pent up hormones and curiosity that he can find no outlet for. it is an unfortunate fact of life that in a really large percentage of families, this kind of thing happens. those boys grow up into men, their curiosity gets satisfied at some point, and they have no other inclinations towards trying to find out what is underneath a little girl's clothes. they do not grow up predators. they never were predators. just kids who acted on impulse and curiosity because they lacked the self control at that age to not act. 

 

and i've never met a teenager with much impulse control in any area.

 

and one last thing. you say nowhere is it reported that he received any treatment. not true. i've been searching the net half the night for more information and in a number of places i've read that he received counseling. the church was immediately made aware of and became involved in the situation. josh was, in fact, REMOVED from the home by his own parents, and sent to live with a christian couple who put him to work helping them build their house. no doubt during that year, that couple worked very closely with him, counseling him, and steering him in the right direction. upon his return to his home, the police were called in and the incident, now more than a year past, was reported. no charges were filed because the cops apparently believed it had been handled sufficiently. but they still gave him a lecture.

 

so before you make accusations, perhaps you should do deeper research.

 

wingnut, you've made all kinds of allegations in this thread that i've  not seen written anywhere other than from your own keyboard. allegations that he was 17. allegations that he manually penetrated his sisters. NONE of that is substantiated. and yet you're asking for proof that he was 14? THAT is easy to find. it's everywhere. in every report i've read it occurred 12 years ago. do the math! depending on his birthday, that would put him at either 14 or 15. 

 

you can have disdain for the family all you want. you can disagree (as do i) with them having raised their family on television. you even get to have your own opinion as to whether this situation was handled to your satisfaction. what you don't get to do is to go around making allegations that NOBODY else has made, and then demand everybody else show evidence that is already abundantly available. 

 

well i guess you "get to do that", because you already have. but it's not right.

 

now please do not quote this post when you respond, either of you. i intend to delete it within the next 12 hours or so. i want it to be read, but i don't want it to remain up.

[Guest LadyC]

my apologies wingnut, it has been brought to my attention that shy christian was the one that made the allegation that he manually penetrated his sisters. your allegation was only on the age issue. it's still an allegation nobody else has made, and should not be made up by other believers. and the allegation made by someone else should also not have been made.

[Guest shiloh357]

Josh Duggar's victims were his sisters. This even happened  13 years ago when he was 14.   This didn't happen to the neighbors down the street.  It didn't happen while he was the head of the FRC.  This was an internal family affair.  The family didn't press charges.   No parent is going to send their 14 year old boy off to jail for something like this.  They reacted like parents and sought help.  They did contact the police and there is a police report.  

 

It is because they did contact authorities and didn't try to cover this up that liberal vultures were able to know about this.

 

The victims of this don't need to be reminded by press of what happened.  The family was not under an obligation to make this known to the world.

[Guest Butero]

Obviously, I agree with LadyC and Shiloh.  I would say I am shocked by the self righteous people condemning the Dugger family, but I am not.  This happens every time a Christian shows themselves to be less than perfect.  The enemies of God come out and attack them, and then half of the church world joins in to pile on.  You people that are attacking the Dugger family are really bothered by the scars Josh Dugger's sisters have to endure?  Those who are attacking the family are keeping the matter stirred up.  They are not helping anything.  What we are seeing is gossip among the church, even to the point where many of the allegations against Josh are lies, like his age and the extent of what he did.  To make it appear worse than it was so we will all join in and pile on and condemn, now he was 17 and he went beyond what has been substantiated he did.  This shouldn't even be out in public.  It is none of anyone's business.  Yes, I know they are on tv.  So what?  I know, they opened themselves up to this by sticking their head up.  Why doesn't the entire Christian church go hide under a rock and stop being public about being a Christian?  Then if you mess up, at least you didn't hurt Christianity because you never put yourself out there.  Maybe that is the advise for potential preachers.  Don't do it.  If you stumble and fall, you will harm Christianity, especially if you go on tv, so it is best to keep silent and don't share the gospel. 

 

I have seen this kind of behavior in the past so I am not really surprised by it, but it is perplexing.  Here I am the legalist who holds to standing against sin by stating things that are sin, but the people that attack me for that are the most condemning.  I only come against sin because people need to recognize it, not to condemn everyone that messes up.  I call fornication a sin because scripture does, but I am not looking to destroy the man or woman that falls into fornication.  If I find out that a brother or sister fell at a time of weakness, I am not looking to smear them in public and destroy their testimony forever.  I don't feel the need to gossip about them.  Lets say a minister was in an affair with his church secretary, and he repented and him and his wife worked it out and now he has done the Lord's work for the past decade without sinning again in that area.  Some God hater finds out about it and starts smearing him.  I am not going to join in, even though I fully acknowledge adultery is a sin.  We should all know that, but I also recognize we aren't perfect.  It does no good to bring up an internal family matter and join the world in attacking fellow Christians.  None of us are perfect, and we all have family members that do things that aren't always right.  How about lets stand with them and try to help them up when they stumble instead of stoning them with our verbal attacks, and in some cases even bearing a false witness. 

[Matthew T.]

Lady C...

 

None of us deserved that testimony, my sister. But you did that with purpose and only the deaf would have missed the point. I thank you for that incredibly intimate testimony, that none of us had right to.

 

I just want to add some info. Please to anyone reading, do not associate this post with any information in this thread, as it is NOT a response to anything already said.

 

I just want everyone to know that there is an enEmy out there, and for many of them, this is what tHEy do. tHEy single out anyone that is deemed a threat or hindrance to tHEir given agendas, and tHEy go into closets and drag out people's bones so that strife may be alive and well within the "Christian" community. Really, I don't know whether tHEir primary goal is the personal take-down or whether the strife among all of us. Both are equally detrimental. It is sad to know that no matter what point in time we gather, there are always THOSE among us looking for stones to throw at matters that have already been judged and dealt with. And even other bones in the closet is no one else's business no matter what. If the family has dealt with any issue, thinking of further poking noses in their business is just wrong.

 

But this is what the enEmy does. How many of America's hero's (that may have even been an original fabrication) have been taken down or smeared? How many in authority? How many have been immune to such tactics even though just as guilty? Truth be told, there is not a ONE of us that haven't done something completely TERRIBLE. What if all the sins of those that have posted in this very thread had their closets ripped out of their house and placed on the sidewalk? Who could stand? Who among us could cast a moral rock at another?

 

The enEmy also "programs" our thinking. That's why no one can "look in the mirror" and see themselves anymore. Humanity isn't pretty and we are ALL participants in it. Some just choose to live for something bigger than themselves and "restrain" or "take captive" those things our flesh wants to do because of a love and a Spirit inside of us.

 

Just always beware the enEmy. iT is akin to gossip. You never get anything but the "spin" if it involved people or things unknown to you. And the enEmy wants to destroy us, one by one, or group by group. tHEy are very good at what tHEy do because tHEy too, know humanity and Christians... tHEy know how to bring you down, and tHEy will... unless you keep your eyes in the right place.

Edited May 24, 2015 by Matthew T.