Main stream Protestants are more and more OK with contraception, abortion, homosexuality, homosexual marriage, divorce and remarriage, and a whole slew of activities that less than 100 years ago where considered serious sins by every Protestant denomination. Now if you go to a Protestant Church that doesn’t have an active gay minister who is overseen by a lesbian bishop, you are the weirdo."
Nice try, but my friend said "mainstream", not "mainline."
It's a disgrace that so many Protestants have caved in to those issues, true...and just as disgraceful for the many Catholics who have done so.p> "ourse if you are a main stream Protestant and actually attend a church more than twice a year or even worse once a month you are considered an extreme religious nut case by a majority of other members of your church. Probably by the pastor as well."
See above.
"ng large families, holding worship services in your home, praying at home as a family and keeping a close knit family was standard operating for most people, particularly Americans, as little as fifty years ago."
None of that has anything to do with a teenager feeling up his sisters--repeatedly.
It's entirely possible for a conservative evangelical family to have a home church and be modest while not following bizarre cultic rules of covering up from neck to feet, etc. Let's not mistake the Duggars for plain conservative Christians.
"or being in a cult. Possibly, but is that so terrible?"
Seriously?
I'll just point you to the Duggars's situation and ask you how it seems to have turned out for them. They're so repressive that the men can't even look at a woman...sexual issues seem to pervade their cult, even to the cult leader having to step down for perversion.
Then, of course, there's the Duggar parents' fetish for playing, "Look what we can do because we're married" to the teenaged kids, even to the point of the dad grinding into the mom's rear.
Yeah...those modest Duggars. They and their cult are paragons, all right.
Mainline mainstream, whatever,simply a distinction without a difference.
Let's just say MOST Christians, as MOST Christians apparently see nothing wrong with Contraception, Abortion, Homosexuality, gay marriage, divorce and remarriage, and damn near anything else that would have been seen as serious moral offenses only decades ago.
Hell MOST Catholics seem fine with it as well, even though the Church is adamant about these things being serious mortal sins that condemn a person to eternal Hell if they die without confessing, having true remorse and attempting to correct their behavior. Of course the World is full of people who know better, that is why there are over forty thousand Christian denominations alone. With more and more “cults” starting in empty strip malls all the time to pander to someones personal belief system.
As for the former teenager in question, you act like he sodomized his sisters nightly while his parents took pictures to post on the Internet. A little perspective would go a long way.
I can only assume you have never met a 12, 13 or 14 year old boy as your ignorance to their mental state is appalling for someone who has ever known one.
Having been a teenage boy, as well as knowing hundreds as an uncle, scout leader, coach, father, brother and fellow male member of the species as well and since I am not in a cloistered group home for pearl clutching old hens I can tell you that what he did, though wrong, is hardly an unheard of case as it isn't even seen as a serious crime and isn't even required that a report be made to the authorities. It is considered the purview of the parents. When it is reported it is turned over to DCFS for follow up if anything official is done at all.
Get out of the house and get into the real World. This type of offense doesn't rise to the level of anything close to what many if not most teenage boys are capable of. That is why we do not prosecute children and adolescents as adults or allow their records to be open to public inquiry.
As for cults. ALL religions are cults or at least they start out that way until they became mainstream and more accepted. The LDS is certainly an example, but all of Christianity was considered a cult well into the fourth century. Of course at the time Paganism was mainstream and saw nothing wrong with slavery, decimation, servile and child murder, raping and pillaging weaker nations, forced prostitution of women and children and many things we would describe as crimes against humanity. Based on recent history, we seem well on our way to a return to the ‘good old days’.
As an enlightenment to your supposed Evangelical Christianity you may be interested in actually picking up a history book or familiarizing yourself with some of the actions of people who are heroes in the Bible. Particularly those in the Old Testament, David comes to mind, but the actions of Saul of Tarsus in the New Testament would be good enough. He along with Peter actually MADE the modern Church and spread it throughout the Roman Empire and further still. Prior to his conversion he had several nasty habits.
Too bad he wasn't held to the same level as you are holding the Duggars as we could all use a little more Bread and Circus and allot less pontificating sanctimonious nonsense.