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.
Agreed. It is ridiculous to characterize the father’s behavior here as sexual. Nonsense.
It is very difficult to be a parent. We want to protect our kids. But here is the situation. Which has priority, protecting your daughters and other innocent baby girls, or protecting the child molesting teen?
Clearly, the victims. So you need to get the perv out of the house, even though you love the perv, and you need to turn him over to the police or to a reporting psychologist. It will end up being the same thing. The shrink is bound by law to report him to the police. TO PROTECT INNOCENT CHILDREN.
I hope and pray I will never be in such a position. I hope and pray my sons never molest their baby sister. Because if they did, I cannot protect them. I need to turn them in to actual authorities.
Most teens and adults have no sexual interest in small children. Something is BROKEN in pedophiles. They keep their attraction to children forever. If anything it gets worse. I’d divorce that Duggar guy asap and deny him any unsupervised visitation.
The pedophile I know, over the past decades, dropped the object of his “affections” from budding teen to preschoolers. Which was no problem for him as he was principal of a K-8 school so he had access to the full array of ages. He is awaiting trial.
I’m with you, and some did try that on another thread with me...I told them if they felt that strongly about that issue they should write a note to the young man citing Jesus Christ and what the young man should do with himself with a rope and a mill stone!
The molestation issues have been, by some more “respected” freepers, have been wrongly cross correlated with issues concerning the “Gothard cult” the family Duggar follows. As I don’t know about what Gothard teaches other than reading some “stories” about some of the shenanigans Gothard was known to do with younger girls as cited by these freepers; I’m don’t know how or can’t have a thought about how it affects the Duggar situation. Two separate issues I think. I would need more info.
Of course not, but isn’t it odd that this is looked upon with more derision than that actual crime of molesting little girls?
Sometimes you can illustrate absurdity by being absurd.
Monica was not Bill’s four-year old sister.
“obvious satire here”
Not so obvious when you are joking about playboy magazines and similar things as being a positive thing for kids.
A simple /s would suffice.
Also, most satire takes the OPPOSING view of what a person is really advocating. So what opposing you is this supposed to be sarcastic about?
You
“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”
I believe their first TV special aired in 2004.
Spoken like a follower of Anton LaVey.
Fools love to mock when their ability to reason fails.
I do not think sexually abusing children is ok if they are related. They most often are close relatives and friends of the family, or other trusted people. Polanski himself was a very famous director who did go through the mother and seemed too famous to do anything like that (like Bill Cosby or priests or rabbis, using their position to ensure the victim appears in good hands).
This recidivism was around 500% or far more in this Duggar case. He was caught about 5 times. Who knows how many times he did it actually with each victim, or if he is continuing?
The desire for a willing adult female is NOT THE SAME as the desire for an unwilling innocent child. Someone who did this, even at 14, is sick.
Many readers have asked about the Duggars’ views on higher education. Do they encourage college? Do they even allow it?
“Life is a classroom,” says Michelle. She and Jim Bob strongly believe that learning is a lifelong process, not a dreaded chore that ends at graduation. They encourage their children to gain different skills and experience various career potentials in order to figure out what they are truly passionate about. If that means pursuing a college education, then mom and dad are all for it, but their goal is for their kids to be driven by God’s plan for their lives instead of by what the world says is the norm.
So what are the older kids up to now?
Jill and Jana have been looking into midwifery and nursing, taking classes and studying under professionals.
John-David has his own towing business, which came in handy when the Duggars woke up to 2 feet of snow earlier this month!
Jessa has a passion for teaching and has taken on many responsibilities of homeschooling the little ones.
Jinger has been honing her photography skills by taking pictures for the family’s personal album and website.
Several of the kids have started with CollegePlus! an online program that allows students to earn college credit, and potentially an entire degree, in a fraction of the time, at a fraction of the cost. “We’ve had several friends that have gotten a four-year degree in about eighteen months from College Plus!” Jim Bob announced during our interview. College Plus! currently has a student body of 2,200 and is growing rapidly.
http://www.duggarfamilyblog.com/2011/02/duggars-on-college.html
Now I’m a Satainst? Are you drunk posting or something?
ROFL
I believe daddy was running for the Senate in 2002. All the more reason to keep it quiet.
1. What if they want to go away to college? Are they allowed?
2. College Now!? hahahaha. keeps them in the house, I suppose.
“Now I’m a Satainst?”
No, you just act a lot like him. I have read his comments on sexual repression, and you both have a similar tone, writing style, vocabulary. I’m sure it is coincidence though. What would a Satanists do on a conservative forum?
“ROFL”
Yeah, from many of your comments, this whole molestation things seems to be a joyous occasion for you and a great opportunity to laugh and joke.
Also, coincidentally very much like the Satanic left.
BTW, the majority of Satanists do not believe in God or Satan. It is more symbolic for them.
But go ahead and continue to make jokes of Christian leaders, Christians, sexual morals, and whatever else you want.
Was your earlier celebration of your childhood memories of Playboy also sarcasm? Sorry, nothing about you is obviously conservative to me, so you may consider spelling out your true beliefs and values to those you consider dense and unable to keep up with your brilliance.
I am ROFL at you because you are ridiculous.
Thanks!.....I appreciate the reply!
Protecting that seems to be the priority.
I’ve read many posts by you on this topic and it seems most are jokes, lol, rofl.
But, yeah, it must just be me. /s <- this is how it’s done
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