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Memaw
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It was NOT incest, look it up in the dictionary !! God Bless, Memaw
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Xantippe
Guest
Yes.
Everybody was in jail after that, guilty or innocent.
Obviously, the Duggars did SOMETHING to ensure their girls’ security, but then what about the boys’ security?
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Xantippe
Guest
Oh, and then there’s the issue that he was married not too many years later (2008), and then suddenly it’s all safe and fine for him to be around his own little kids.
It’s possible that it really was something that could be “fixed” with having some sort of legitimate outlet (blech!), but there’s certainly no guarantee.
And that is another area of failure and negligence.
It’s possible that it really was something that could be “fixed” with having some sort of legitimate outlet (blech!), but there’s certainly no guarantee.
And that is another area of failure and negligence.
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Xantippe
Guest
Wikipedia says “incest is sexual activity between family members or close relatives.”
I think that covers it.
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Memaw
Guest
Where is the guarantee that you or I won’t do something someday, that we shouldn’t. Are we sure we won’t fail someday. How do we know that someday we may be in a situation such as that. What would we do??? Life doesn’t come with any guarantees for anybody. Would you suggest we take his children away from him or maybe dig a pit and throw him in it to keep him away from society. If we did that for all sinners, we’d have an earth full of pits. He has repented and asked forgiveness. Who are we to refuse him that. God didn’t!! He has led a respectful life and is raising a great family. My Mom used to say. “You better sweep off your own doorstep before you start telling others how to sweep off theirs” I THINK THAT’S GOOD ADVICE FOR ALL OF US. God Bless, Memaw
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Hoosier_Daddy
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my doorstep does not have child molestation and incest in my past. It is quite clean thank you! Too bad Josh doesn’t have the sacraments. I think it is quite prudent and logical to have concern that a former abuser has access to children. And if that former abuser abused children in his own family I think it is even more concerning. I would not and I hope you would not trust Josh with babysitting my young children.
So what exactly gives you this comfort that he is “cured” and forgiven and squeaky clean now? The Duggars, including Josh not only hid this for years but also pretended to be a national flagship for the “family” I’d say that they were pretty good at it given that the only reason we know about this is because someone outside of the duggars sphere of influence rung the bell. And the way the girls are behaving with all of this only shows that it has gone beyond the “little” incident some think it is.It’s gross, it is unnatural, and it is far form being cured if you ask me.
You can take the high road all you want, but you and I know that if Josh came over to your house to play with little ones, you would call the cops!
Mary_Gail_36
New member
Respectfully, the only thing we know about Josh Duggar is what has been carefully edited to show us.
This program went on for a number of years, and the audience was mostly unaware of this abuse.
We don’t know.
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Xantippe
Guest
Do you think that child molesters all wear t-shirts that say CHILD MOLESTER or publicly molest kids? The whole problem with prolific child molesters is that they’re secretive and look like solid citizens.
The Catholic Church has lost hundreds of millions of dollars, millions of worshipers, and the innocence of thousands of children and (probably) the gay marriage fight because of the attitude you are espousing…
We don’t have to keep making the same mistakes over and over again.
Enough is enough.
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MaryT777
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Lou2U
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As Xantippe has shown, it WAS incest. What do you think it was?
Memaw, you seem determined to defend Josh, but I think you are confused. Forgiving a person doesn’t mean forgetting what they did. Josh’s victims appear to have forgiven him, but that does not mean they have forgotten what happened.
You’ve stated in previous posts that Josh has received counselling - with all respect, we don’t know if this is true. Jim Bob and Michelle’s statements did not match, and it sounds like counselling was not professional. If Josh has not received this counselling, then he is at risk of re-offending. If he has not received counselling, then I think it is understandable that people are raising concerns about the safety of his own children.
Yes, Josh has repented and asked for forgiveness. I haven’t seen anyone in this thread saying he should not be forgiven. But Josh should not just be able to carry on as normal. It’s wrong for his parents to be teaching their children that they are, in essence, not “worthy” if they have had sexual contact before marriage when they knew full well what Josh had done. I am not “trashing” Josh or the Duggars when I say this - surely you agree that more should have been done for Josh and his victims, instead of having more children and being on a TV show?
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Gordon_Sims
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In the earlier thread about this I practically begged you to do some research on Child Sex Abuse. You clearly haven’t and have no understanding at all about the issue. Child Sex Abuse is not an isolated crime that stops once someone has done it once or finds a wife. It’s not something that goes away because they repent and ask forgiveness. It’s not even something that anyone with any sense would expect to stop just because he no longer had access to the girls. Letting him sleep unsupervised in a room with his younger brothers would be considered criminally negligent by my local police department. This is not like other crimes. This is not like other sins. This is something that ruins lives and can spread across multiple generations of a family. Even with successful, intensive, long-term counseling, there’s no way on earth I’d ever trust him to be alone in a room with my children. That’s not being judgmental or mean-spirited; that’s making a sensible decision based on the facts of Josh Duggar’s life. I don’t care who it is. I would feel that way about any child molester.
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ctlw83
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I haven’t really spoken out about this issue and I feel this is probably the best place to do so.
First, I will openly point out that nobody in the media nor in our circles will ever have a truly complete picture of what happened, when and also what was going on in the thoughts, hearts, souls, and minds of everyone involved. That isn’t excusing anything regarding what we DO know but, there are definitely elements we will never understand as we were not in the position at the time.
Secondly, I personally chalk up the actions or lack thereof by Jim Bob specifically to partially be that of panic. He knew the reputation that his faith tradition and his family had regarding sexual purity. He likely had no exposure to this kind of behavior. He also likely knew that his family was going to be under extreme scrutiny and spotlight with pending TV contracts/proposals around that time. Again, these are not to justify not going to appropriate authorities, just giving an idea of what may have been going through his head.
Third, I think that Jim Bob should have done something formally regarding the mental health of Josh, including legal reporting of the issue by the second time Josh came to him at the latest. I can almost understand the “shock” of the first confession but, the second time should have demonstrated there was a clear pattern developing and that Josh needed serious help.
Lastly, no, I do not like the excuses the family uses for their actions and do kind of wonder what their family life is like outside of the spotlight of fame and television. Their faith tradition’s strict negative focus on potential sexual attraction/character defamation probably doesn’t help either.
First, I will openly point out that nobody in the media nor in our circles will ever have a truly complete picture of what happened, when and also what was going on in the thoughts, hearts, souls, and minds of everyone involved. That isn’t excusing anything regarding what we DO know but, there are definitely elements we will never understand as we were not in the position at the time.
Secondly, I personally chalk up the actions or lack thereof by Jim Bob specifically to partially be that of panic. He knew the reputation that his faith tradition and his family had regarding sexual purity. He likely had no exposure to this kind of behavior. He also likely knew that his family was going to be under extreme scrutiny and spotlight with pending TV contracts/proposals around that time. Again, these are not to justify not going to appropriate authorities, just giving an idea of what may have been going through his head.
Third, I think that Jim Bob should have done something formally regarding the mental health of Josh, including legal reporting of the issue by the second time Josh came to him at the latest. I can almost understand the “shock” of the first confession but, the second time should have demonstrated there was a clear pattern developing and that Josh needed serious help.
Lastly, no, I do not like the excuses the family uses for their actions and do kind of wonder what their family life is like outside of the spotlight of fame and television. Their faith tradition’s strict negative focus on potential sexual attraction/character defamation probably doesn’t help either.
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Memaw
Guest
Megan Kelly said in her interview that 90% of young boys like Josh do learn from their mistakes. Who’s right, you or her??? God Bless, Memaw
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Lou2U
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And where did Megan Kelly get her statistics from?
Did she get them from boys who had professional counselling or those who did not?
Did she count the fact that Josh was a repeat offender as he molested five young children?
Did she take into account the other 10% who do not learn from their mistakes?
Did she say anything about those 10% and all the victims affected by them?
Did she say anything about the victims of the 90% who also make “mistakes”, and how they cope?
Did she say anything about how all 100% of these victims were affected and will carry that for the rest of their lives?
Did she say anything about the young girls in Josh’s home, who had to live with him after he had molested them?
Lou
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Memaw
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My dictionary says it is “Sexual intercourse between person to closely related that marriage is illegal.” God Bless. Memaw
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Xantippe
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Xantippe
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Right.
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LightBound
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Sorry Memaw, those odds aren’t good enough for me to take a chance with my children or grandchildren’s safety. Forgive Josh? Of course, that’s what we are called to do as Christians. Forget what he did and let him or any other offender have access to children under my care? Nope. Never. Not going to happen.
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xNoOnex
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Child molestation is not a simple mistake. That’s why people are upset. A lot of people within the Christian community are acting like what he did was a simple lapse of judgement and not a serious crime.
The entire nonchalant response to child molestation is why so many people have left the Catholic church. It’s why people, even people who are devout Christian, are voting to allow gay marriage. After all, when their own leadership are predators, who are they to judge what to consenting adults do?
Maybe Josh is truly sorry for what he did. Maybe he’ll never do it again. But he still molested children.
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grasscutter
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I think that it is dangerously naive to place a journalist on such a lofty pedestal.
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