Josh Duggar

Read here about Josh Duggar.

Recently a lot has surfaced in regards to the Duggar family. Michelle, Jim Bob, and their clan of 19 children have been the faces of one of TLC's most popular TV shows, and I'll admit, I've seen a decent amount of episodes in my time.

courtesy of their Facebook page

I'm a fan of reality TV shows, and something about the Duggars has always fascinated me. Don't ask me what, they just do, alright. With that being said, I've seen many many many episodes.

I always knew one of them would derail their family's conservative, Christian image (God forbid Ginger might wear pants or Josie would decide to use birth control). (Also yes, I know all of their names. In birth order. It's a part of their opening credits, OKAY?)

Anyway.

Josh Duggar. He molested five young girls when he was 14 (I've heard many if not all of these girls were his sisters, but no specific victim names were released, so I can't say this with confidence). 

First off, I understand the need to move past this incident and realize that none of us are perfect. He was 14. A young teenager. Teenagers do things they shouldn't. We're risky and experimental and many times act with clouded judgement. We do wrong. We make right. We move on.

But I recently read an article defending Josh Duggar which quoted a Bible verse from one of my favorite Bible stories found in the Gospel of John. Short story made even shorter, a group of men are about to stone a woman who was caught in the act of adultery. Jesus sees the incident and says, "Let those of you without sin cast the first stone." They all then disperse as they realize that none of them have the right to judge this woman for her sins as sinners themselves. 

I LOVE this story. It shows that Jesus was a changer, a shaker, a person who wouldn't let the social norms continue. 

But back to Josh. The lady who wrote the article said that we should look at this story and not judge Josh because none of us are without sin. I understand this completely, but it still doesn't sit well with me.

It doesn't sit well with me that Michelle Duggar opposed an anti-discrimination law because she did not believe that those who were transgender should be able to use the bathroom of the gender they identify with because they could molest/harm young children, yet her own son molested young females.

source

It doesn't sit well with me that Josh Duggar was the executive director for FRC Action (a conservative lobbyist group) who wanted to ban LGBT couples from adopting/fostering because it would harm the children, yet Josh himself molested young girls (and very well could be seen as a harm to his siblings).

And I could go on and on, yet I don't hold Josh for what he did. I just wish that he could look at his past and realize we are all human. I wish he (and his family) would have taken this as an opportunity to be more open minded about other people's mistakes and differences. I wish they would have taken this as an opportunity to be less hypocritical and more loving towards ALL people no matter their mistakes, life preferences, or past.

But we can only wish and hope for so much. Thanks for reading.