How Josh Duggar was 'cleansed'

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I agree. At 14 people like Josh are very mallable. They might do stupid things, but they can often be easily cured of those behaviors.
It doesn’t seem to me as if the family had a real though he was “cured.” After he was back from treatment is when they built their new house where you had to go through the Master Bedroom to get to the girls’ room and also locked them in at night. The boys were on the opposite side of the house from the girls. As far away as you could build it.

Just a thought.

Mary.
 
It doesn’t seem to me as if the family had a real though he was “cured.” After he was back from treatment is when they built their new house where you had to go through the Master Bedroom to get to the girls’ room and also locked them in at night. The boys were on the opposite side of the house from the girls. As far away as you could build it.

Just a thought.

Mary.
Well I guess that’s something I didn’t know and is an interesting point. But then I don’t know much about them. I only know about my own experiences.
 
It doesn’t seem to me as if the family had a real though he was “cured.” After he was back from treatment is when they built their new house where you had to go through the Master Bedroom to get to the girls’ room and also locked them in at night. The boys were on the opposite side of the house from the girls. As far away as you could build it.

Just a thought.

Mary.
So first we are told that the Duggars are evil because they didn’t care that he might go on molesting his sisters.

Now the fact that they took precautions in case he did relapse is also to be counted against them? (Although locking your daughters in at night is not a good thing to do–I don’t defend that at all.)

And the other poster used the word “stupid.” What he did wasn’t stupid. It was evil. (Well, it was stupid too, no doubt.)

But I believe in the possibility of redemption for everyone, and obviously there’s a lot more hope when talking about someone whose brain still hasn’t finished growing.

Edwin
 
At least the show has been cancelled, as of this morning’s news. Perhaps it will give them time to sort this out.

If the state gets involved, or the lawsuit goes through, Josh may be required to get some counseling outside his religious community. ‘Cleansing’ might not ‘wash’ with a judge.
 
I’m glad to read the state got involved so the Duggars won’t be able to harm anyone else (hopefully). The whole Duggar family seems like it needs real counseling, from a qualified family therapist. The parents and the sisters (the victims!) are in denial. Josh needs counseling because he is exposed to other young children daily.

I don’t know much about the family. Never saw the show (can’t stand so-called “reality” TV), but I did see commercials for it, and I heard about them from others. They seem to epitomize “dysfunctional.”
 
At least the show has been cancelled, as of this morning’s news. Perhaps it will give them time to sort this out.
Hopefully, the bursting of the Duggar media bubble means we’ll never hear of them again.

The parents are human garbage, peddling bad religion and setting a terrible example. The United States is pocked with cults and religious micro-movements, most of which (thankfully) exist in isolation, out of sight and out of mind. The sanitization of the Gothard cult via the Duggars was among the more dubious aspects in a show built upon dubious aspects.
 
I don’t know much about the family. Never saw the show (can’t stand so-called “reality” TV), but I did see commercials for it, and I heard about them from others. They seem to epitomize “dysfunctional.”
I guess one big question lingering for me is that the Duggars were (and still are) held up as the epitome of Christian values. They are family focused, no birth control, patriarchal, Bible believing, church-going, sexual morality that is very black and white (purity based), etc.

Why are we seeing a flaw in all that if that is the high standard many religious people (both RCs and non-RCs) hold to?
 
So first we are told that the Duggars are evil because they didn’t care that he might go on molesting his sisters.

Now the fact that they took precautions in case he did relapse is also to be counted against them? (Although locking your daughters in at night is not a good thing to do–I don’t defend that at all.)

And the other poster used the word “stupid.” What he did wasn’t stupid. It was evil. (Well, it was stupid too, no doubt.)

But I believe in the possibility of redemption for everyone, and obviously there’s a lot more hope when talking about someone whose brain still hasn’t finished growing.

Edwin
Exactly. I agree.
 
I guess one big question lingering for me is that the Duggars were (and still are) held up as the epitome of Christian values. They are family focused, no birth control, patriarchal, Bible believing, church-going, sexual morality that is very black and white (purity based), etc.

Why are we seeing a flaw in all that if that is the high standard many religious people (both RCs and non-RCs) hold to?
Held up by whom to whom?

I’ve certainly never thought of them that way. Very few of my friends and acquaintances think of them that way.

Edwin
 
So first we are told that the Duggars are evil because they didn’t care that he might go on molesting his sisters.

Now the fact that they took precautions in case he did relapse is also to be counted against them? (Although locking your daughters in at night is not a good thing to do–I don’t defend that at all.)

And the other poster used the word “stupid.” What he did wasn’t stupid. It was evil. (Well, it was stupid too, no doubt.)

But I believe in the possibility of redemption for everyone, and obviously there’s a lot more hope when talking about someone whose brain still hasn’t finished growing.

Edwin
How long do you think precautions should be taken after treatment? What about his own children now? I don’t count that “against them” nor did I state as such but it does lend thought that they have concerns which many share. Is he safe around children?

There is redemption for everyone of course. I haven’t seen one poster state otherwise.

Mary.
 
How long do you think precautions should be taken after treatment? What about his own children now? I don’t count that “against them” nor did I state as such but it does lend thought that they have concerns which many share. Is he safe around children?

There is redemption for everyone of course. I haven’t seen one poster state otherwise.

Mary.
These are extremely valid concerns.

I’m not sure any of us can do anything about them, though.

Edwin
 
perhaps we should all take the planks out of our own eyes(church) before we cast this sort of judgement on this young man. Look in your own back yards and how the church has handled its own sexual abuse scandals that have run rampant all over the world. Priests that were passed on to other parishes to rape and molest innocents. Swept under the carpet like it never happened. I am disgusted with these comments of judgement.
 
perhaps we should all take the planks out of our own eyes(church) before we cast this sort of judgement on this young man. Look in your own back yards and how the church has handled its own sexual abuse scandals that have run rampant all over the world. Priests that were passed on to other parishes to rape and molest innocents. Swept under the carpet like it never happened. I am disgusted with these comments of judgement.
What comments of judgment do you refer to? Surely there is concern about someone’s actions of sexual sin against another. I have never heard any Catholic condone the way the Church handled sex abuse scandals but express dismay, disappointment and hoping the victims were compensated and priests held accountable to the law and Church law as well.

This is not a thread about this though.

Mary.
 
I was abused by my older brother, in a similar way. He got away with it, too, because I was too scared of my mom’s rejection. It was a crime and he should have been punished in the juvenile system. He was disrespectful of women for many years, including a possible date rape situation in college (hearsay only). There is no way to justify stealing a child’s innocence. He spent time in jail for other crimes and has turned his life around, thank goodness. We are close now and I have forgiven him. However, he should have been corrected back then. He could have avoided a lot of pain, both the kind he inflicted on others and what he carried himself.
 
perhaps we should all take the planks out of our own eyes(church) before we cast this sort of judgement on this young man. Look in your own back yards and how the church has handled its own sexual abuse scandals that have run rampant all over the world. Priests that were passed on to other parishes to rape and molest innocents. Swept under the carpet like it never happened. I am disgusted with these comments of judgement.
Just because the Catholic Church did something wrong doesn’t mean Josh Duggar should not be held accountable for his actions. That akin to saying that because one man was falsely accused and went to prison, we should not prosecute those charged with criminal actions any longer.

The Catholic Church has cleaned its own house. Any priest now accused of molestation is immediately relieved of his duties pending an investigation. At least it’s that way in the dioceses where I’ve lived. I can’t attest to the procedure in all of them.

Josh Duggar is, by his own admission, a child molester. It would be wrong if society did not hold him accountable for these crimes, and they are criminal acts. His parents were complicit in a cover up.

What we can’t do is judge his heart and his own personal relationship to God. That is for God to do.
 
I was abused by my older brother, in a similar way. He got away with it, too, because I was too scared of my mom’s rejection. It was a crime and he should have been punished in the juvenile system. He was disrespectful of women for many years, including a possible date rape situation in college (hearsay only). There is no way to justify stealing a child’s innocence. He spent time in jail for other crimes and has turned his life around, thank goodness. We are close now and I have forgiven him. However, he should have been corrected back then. He could have avoided a lot of pain, both the kind he inflicted on others and what he carried himself.
Exactly. I agree 100%.
 
Just because the Catholic Church did something wrong doesn’t mean Josh Duggar should not be held accountable for his actions. That akin to saying that because one man was falsely accused and went to prison, we should not prosecute those charged with criminal actions any longer.

The Catholic Church has cleaned its own house. Any priest now accused of molestation is immediately relieved of his duties pending an investigation. At least it’s that way in the dioceses where I’ve lived. I can’t attest to the procedure in all of them.

Josh Duggar is, by his own admission, a child molester. It would be wrong if society did not hold him accountable for these crimes, and they are criminal acts. His parents were complicit in a cover up.

What we can’t do is judge his heart and his own personal relationship to God. That is for God to do.
At 14 I think I was a lot like Josh. I didn’t do what he did exactly, but I thought a lot about it–and maybe I would have done if there had been more opportunity. I don’t think it would have been good to process me through the sytem and try me like I was a criminal. I would never have recovered from that.

And if my parents had been the ones to turn me in that would have ended our relationship right there.

But maybe I’m wrong? I just don’t think that the ‘Justice System’ really fixes people. I mean I understand the frustration over the type of person who does what Josh did and then gets away with it (like the one CatholicFarmer mentioned, which was really sad to hear about), but I think I want to maybe split hairs just a bit.

I mean I see a difference between someone who never got caught and never got confronted in one category and I see someone like Josh who did get caught and confronted in another. I think that Josh got his moment of awkward shame by having his deviancy brought to light in a room full of his parents, his siblings, and some other family acquaintances if the story I heard is accurate. I mean that is not getting away with things. That is being accused and held accountable by the people a guy loves most and by the people he hurt so that must have been a very powerful experience. I think if after that level of awareness he went on doing it well then fine, prosecute him because he obviously just doesn’t care, but if he stops cold from that moment onwards (and even admits to other acts that no one otherwise would have known about to show his contrition) then isn’t that the result everyone should want?

What would be the further point of branding him a permanent deviant for 14-year-old curiosity urges? And I am truly sorry to CatholicFarmer because I don’t mean to excuse bad behavior or undermine your experience–I am talking about breaking a self-absorbed adolescent out of a bad behavior while he is still malleable enough to change, not making everything suddenly permissible and fair game. I am talking about the purpose of branding versus redemption.

But I don’t know Josh. I only know what it is like to think like him. Sort of.

Peace.

-Trident
 
It depends on the juvenile justice system, but actually, the recommendation by experts is separation from the victim(s). While I understand your sympathetic and Christian response, it isn’t just about the abuser. The victims need time and counseling to understand what has happened and perhaps to understand why it was wrong. The abuser needs to be removed temporarily from the house into juvenile detention, depending on the seriousness of the incident(s), (were threats made, whether there was coercion or weapons involved). For less severe incidents, he may instead be sent to live with a relative for a short time until the victims have been counseled. That’s what should have happened.
 
It depends on the juvenile justice system, but actually, the recommendation by experts is separation from the victim(s). While I understand your sympathetic and Christian response, it isn’t just about the abuser. The victims need time and counseling to understand what has happened and perhaps to understand why it was wrong. The abuser needs to be removed temporarily from the house into juvenile detention, depending on the seriousness of the incident(s), (were threats made, whether there was coercion or weapons involved). For less severe incidents, he may instead be sent to live with a relative for a short time until the victims have been counseled. That’s what should have happened.
Another wonderful posts from you. They justice system does sometimes fail to punish criminals as it should, and sometimes it unfairly convicts the innocent. But the criminal justice system, as you have stated, is about helping victims as well. The victims, if their recent TV interviews are a true indication, have distorted the facts and have been greatly injured by the happenings of several years prior, as would be expected. They deserved time away from their abuser so they could, as you indicated, come to a full understanding of what occurred and heal.
 
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