Posted on 05/25/2015 10:05:12 AM PDT by Kaslin
I have no desire to pile on with more comments about Josh Duggar, who appears to be a very serious and committed Christian who has made no excuses for the sins of his youth and who deeply desires to make a positive impact for the Lord in the years ahead. I simply want to share some redemptive thoughts, supplementing some of the excellent statements made by others, including former governor Mike Huckabee and Southern Baptist leader Russell Moore.
1. Jesus really does change people. While critics of the Duggar family want to indict them (along with other, evangelical Christians, especially those with large families) for Josh’s actions, and while many seem ready to throw Josh under the bus, the fact is that while he did sin grievously, through repentance, faith and counseling, he became a new man. Jesus really does transform sinners.
How many of us did wicked things as teenagers? I was shooting heroin at the age of 15 and broke into some houses and even stole money from my own father before being radically converted at the age of 16. I was profane, filled with pride, anger, and lust, yet the Lord had mercy on me and totally turned my life around.
Some of us continued to live like this into our adult years, only to find mercy and new life then, meaning that the transformation was even more dramatic.
For me, the first lesson from this story is this: Whoever you, whatever you’ve done, there is hope in the Lord. As Mike Huckabee said, “‘inexcusable’ . . . doesn’t mean ‘unforgivable.’”
As Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-11).
2. There’s no excuse for sin, so own up to it. In today’s culture, almost no one is guilty of anything. It’s someone else’s fault, someone else’s responsibility, not our own. We’re all victims, and the reason we do bad things is because someone else wronged us. Isn’t that how we think today?
I’ve even heard athletes apologize for some really heinous actions by saying, “I’m not happy with the way things happened,” rather than saying, “What I did was wrong and I have no excuses. Please forgive me. I’m seeking to get to the root of my problems and address them.”
What a vast difference between the two attitudes.
As Proverbs states, “Whoever conceals his transgressions will not prosper, but he who confesses and forsakes them will obtain mercy” (Proverbs 28:13).
According to the accounts we’ve all heard, Josh confessed his sin to his parents as well as to the proper authorities, and as a family, they worked through the issues. Now, half a lifetime later (he’s 27 and is married with four children), when confronted with a police report about his past, he did not minimize his sin nor did he excuse it. He also resigned from the fine Christian organization for whom he worked, not wanting to bring any negative attention to their work.
When I see someone respond like this, I am filled with hope. In fact, over the years, I’ve seen that people who committed uglier sins but took full responsibility and repented did far better than those who committed less serious sins and tried to sweep them under the rug.
3. Even godly families have kids who mess up badly. Nancy and I only had two kids, and we sought to be godly parents and set godly examples. Yet our older daughter went through a real period of rebellion in her teen years.
As parents, we felt miserable, and I would wonder what I was doing wrong.
Of course, we dealt with her rebellion head on and prayed like crazy for her to really encounter the Lord, but while it was happening, it was terribly deflating spiritually. What kind of father am I? How can I be so ineffective?
Today, we all laugh about those years, and our daughter, who is now 37 and is a devoted wife and mother, is so grateful for the way she was raised. (She and Nancy are the best of friends and are in constant contact.)
The fact that the Duggars, who successfully raised 19 children in the Lord (who can imagine that?), had to deal with one of their kids committing serious sexual sin at 14 should actually encourage other parents rather than discourage them. And perhaps, they can teach us today how this tragic incident helped them come together as a family and draw closer to the Lord.
4. Josh can be an ambassador on behalf of the abused, even helping the abusers as well. While it can feel like your life is over when your past, largely private sins become public (how many of us would like for that to happen?), the fact is that Josh’s future can be bright in the Lord.
He can call on others who are sinning to come clean and get help, using his own example redemptively. And he can encourage those who have been abused to realize that they are not guilty and should not feel shame, also encouraging churches to embrace those who come for help rather than making them feel as if there is something wrong with them.
Why should those who have suffered abuse be stigmatized? They should be our priority for healing and restoration.
5. We need to be careful how we judge. There are many fans of the Duggars who are upset with what they feel is a witch hunt against a godly family, representing one more attempt to remove them from reality TV. (Let me say without qualification that there is life after reality TV, and if the Duggars never do another broadcast, their lives can still be overwhelmingly blessed.)
But would we have had this same attitude of mercy and forgiveness if this was the child of a gay couple? Would we have said, “This proves that gay parents are no good!”?
I certainly believe that kids deserve a mom and a dad and that, optimally, they will do best with a mom and dad, but I don’t indict all gay couples because of the failings of one of their kids
So, if you want to show mercy, be consistent. We can all fall into the trap of selective compassion.
6. There are consequences to our actions, but with God, our worst mistakes can become stepping stones to spiritual growth.
Most of us have done things we wish we could take back, and in some cases, the consequences of our bad choices and sinful actions last for decades. Yet with the Lord, no matter how great the stigma of our sin, if we will humble ourselves before Him, He can take those stumbling blocks and turn them into stepping stones, to the point that the worst things that ever happened to us become the best things that ever happened to us.
To the core of His being, God is a redeemer, and I’m personally praying and believing that for Josh Duggar and his entire family, God will turn this painful situation around for greater good.
Let’s watch and see.
Lena Dunham “admitted to molesting her younger sister”.
More like she bragged about it.
Then she issued an apologetic non-apology and said her childhood acts were normal. Some of them apparently took place when she was the same age as Josh Dugar (14) when these acts occurred, and at least one of each of their respective siblings (i.e. victims) were about the same age.
You’re right double standard from the left.
Correction: It was a four-month program: http://imgur.com/a/zqPMi#14
“JimBob kissed Michelle and asked, ‘Did that turn you on?’ Then he got behind her and started grinding his pelvis into her butt. In front of his teenaged daughter and her fiance.”
You’re making this up, right?
I have never seen any of their shows, but if that really happened it would change my mind about this.
IF the statute of limitations have run, it appears no prosecution will take place. I do not have a problem with adherence to the law. This now man is never going to have his acts forgotten, whether he is prosecuted or not.
But the most infamous pervert paraded old Billy Graham out and about absolving island hopping, old bjclinton in the name of Jesus. Few admonished that so called man of Jesus for his role in protecting a molesting abuser. Why in large numbers members of Graham's denomination in spite of his perverse acts elected him president. I know this because I kept getting told to love the sinner but hate the sin.
Given our system is set by precedence why is it worse for this boy/man at 14, after Clinton, to receive same manner of justice? What is now justice to the victims? I do not have an answer to that. But I have no doubt that God will serve up justice.
Alinsky had a special rule just for the Christian.
I heard Oprah faxed it to the Human Services hotline who then contacted police and the case was reopened. If the family consulted with church elders in 2003 it could easily have been common knowledge around the congregation.
So what if the state trooper was into a child porn, that does not reflect on the Duggars. Were they suppose that he too was into Child Porn? I can bet you may have a friend who is into that or perhaps molested a minor many years ago. Does that make you an accessory to it?
Well lets see, the showed air on September 28, 2008, but the molestation occur in 2002. The police report is from 2006. “Was happening right at the start of their TV Show” - I don’t think so. The past is the past
“Just go to youtube and put in ‘duggars golf course.’”
I did and saw the clip and think you mis-characterized it completely.
If I saw a man showing his wife how to play golf by standing behind her and bending his knees to be in the right position to putt, I wouldn’t think twice about it.
Never heard any sexual comments. And his actions did not look sexual to me.
It looks as if, in 2006, the person who sent a message to Oprah was the one who called the local police: http://imgur.com/a/zqPMi#10
Meanwhile, all Oprah’s show did was forward that person’s letter to the Dept. of Human Services.
But that one person in Arkansas - who called the police and the Oprah show - confronted the parents (as per the police report), and the parents openly told this person what happened and how they dealt with it.
“Had Gothard had the good sense to recommend that young men be taken to the local whore house with 500 dollars, this may not have happened.”
So just to be clear, you think the problem here is Gothard NOT teaching these parent to take their teenage son to prostitutes for a sexual outlet?
You are on the wrong forum FRiend.
It looks as if one person called the State Police Child Abuse Hotline and also sent a letter to Oprah's show. Oprah's show forwarded the letter to the Dept. of Human Services (CPS?). http://imgur.com/a/zqPMi#11
CPS can be real NAZI’s over this sort of stuff.
Maybe they did follow up. Or maybe they didn't because the statute of limitations had passed?
Don’t feel too bad. Not everyone agrees with jimbo807. He has actually advocated his way of preventing this would be to take the teenage son to prostitutes for a sexual outlet.
Yes. He needed to get it out of his system, you know?
All I had was a few playboy, a book about sex with some hard to decipher drawings, and the sears catalogue
LOL. Those were the days.
It’s obvious that video is mischaracterizing what happened.
I wanted to find the entire video. Here it is... The golf scene starts around 5:00.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XGMm-f53wk
IMHO, the way they were talking around their daughter and her date was very awkward, uncomfortable. But it sure wasn’t what the other video made it out to be.
“Yes. He needed to get it out of his system, you know?”
Man, oh man. I have seen some keepers here on FR, but this is way up there.
Here we have a debate on how the Duggar family should be treated when it becomes public that over a dozen years ago their oldest son molested his sisters when he was 14.
Some here believe the family, especially Josh and the parents, should be punished up to including imprisonment and sex offender registry. On the other end of the spectrum are those who think the issue has been addressed and resolved and does not warrant any further punishment.
But you simultaneously pontificate on how evil it was for the 14 year old to molest his sisters while advocating it would have been good parenting for them to take him to prostitutes at 14.
Just, wow! Unbelievable.
Now you have convinced me...
you ARE on the wrong forum.
That’s a position that I’m sure would be welcomed at DU. Though they may debate you on whether incestuous molestation should be a crime.
He didn’t have sex with any of them, FGS. He molested them by groping them while they slept, and he touched the 4 year old on her buttocks under her dress during story time while she sat on his lap. It’s all in the police report, which you might wanna read before posting.
You are quite dense to miss the obvious satire here.
So taking 14 year olds to a whorehouse is the way to teach them about sex?
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