Biblical response to Josh Duggar

I didn't have any specific link to share since this news is viral over the internet about the Duggar family, and what happened to their oldest son Josh a decade ago. I pray that God would bring healing to their family, Josh and his wife and in this situation and all involved. How do we respond to these types of situations in the body of Christ? Sin is sin, yes, but the world is quick to judge and not willing to forgive, even when repentance is present.

As I see it there is no forgiveness when it comes to any child molestors. This is the attitude of the public while Christians tend to hold a slightly different view. It is a very emotional thing and those emotions will with stay with hatred toward him in this.

JOhn

In general, and not necessarily true in this Duggar case, one may forgive a molestor but never ever forget because of the extremely high rate of repeat behavior.

In my job I unfortunately have to investigate a good number of these types of cases. The problem is rampant in our society. 1 in 10 children are sexually abused before age 18, and in the vast majority of cases by someone they and their family knows and trusts.

Todd, are you a child abuse investigator for a child welfare agency?

My wife was one for several years, and worked in child welfare for several more.

Dolfan-

No- I handle insurance claims for a company that insures youth serving organizations and camps.

Peer on peer situations (child on child) when the ages are fairly close are obviously not as serious or repugnant as adult on child as in the Jerry Sandusky situation.

In the Duggar case he was 14 but it does not state how old the girls were. It seems there was enough age difference to put him in the position of power/control.

This is sad and tragic regardless how you look at it. But I do trust the young man has truly repented and forgiveness is working in lives of this family.

As I live, as a mom, I am consciencely always looking for examples of the "perfect family". And...I am not alone in this quest. The world is looking for it as well. Christianity appears to offer the most likely place to find such, hence the anger when they become aware of failures.

There just ain't no such thing as a perfect family. Once a person admits it, knows that even in a Christian family one needs to learn to repent and forgive it will prepare one for future life when things can really get bad.

Having said all this, I have had for a long time feared for the Duggar family - they were touted as a perfect family, making financial hay with it and now they are falling. It always happens...It is dangerous on many levels to put people on such a high pedestal.

My understanding.

Sandra

The world has it's own 'unpardonable sins' which when uncovered, the angry villagers bring out their torches and pitch forks, and in a fit of rage burn the monster in their midst.

The world understands righteousness and unrighteousness but does not define it as God does and when the Church forgives what the world has judged unforgivable it is assailed as hypocritical.

When Mary conceived Christ, there was another 'unpardonable sin' in her day. When a young girl had sex outside, or before marriage, there was no way back into society. The monster had to be destroyed. Though she was innocent, to everyone's mind, including Joseph and her own family, she was guilty. In order to preserve and establish righteousness she should be put to death. This is the world's righteousness. But Joseph, not yet knowing the true situation responded differently. Joseph, being a righteous man, sought to put her away quietly. God's estimation of Joseph was that he was righteous to which the world in his day would have judged him weak and hypocritical.

The world doesn't understand forgiveness and neither does it understand restoration, and in this state it cannot understand healing.

~Blessings

This is not about the Duggars. It is about hating Jesus through the Duggars.

None of us can accuse or excuse Josh Duggar. He has not wronged us, and there is zero evidence in any of this that he has failed to repent and run away from his past sins. All public indications are that he did and has remained faithful to Jesus since he repented. That is all we have. We can go no farther.

Neither can anyone else.

The railing is driven by a hatred of Jesus. The false accusation is hypocrisy. The Duggars, as far as we can know, have dealt with this through unforced accountability (even if one choice of a police officer to be accountable to was really bad), they were accountable to their church, the boy -- and he was a boy, not a man by a long shot -- admitted his acts, admitted the corruption of heart, and asked forgiveness everywhere it was warranted. And mercy triumphed over judgment. The world, then, not understanding these things, and having no objective reason to now impugn Josh Duggar, runs to the one characteristic that connects them with Jesus: faith in Him, and the world judges it and Him as false.

You will read and hear far more about the Duggars as Christians than about Josh Duggar as any kind of deviant. People will assault Christ through their vitriol of the Duggars.

I am no Duggar TV show fan. I truly despise the show as silly and exploitative and fake, like Duck Dynasty. But, I have no beef about the Duggars. Not now even.

Kylie Jenner is 17 and her dad is a transvestite and she can get high and date a 20 year old rapper, and she is America's sweetheart, and Bruce Jenner is America's sweetheart too. They are celebrated. Why? Because of the darkness that is in them.

Josh Duggar and his family are railed over the darkness he fled as a child with the aid of his parents. Kylie Jenner is lauded over the darkness she pursues with the aid, approval and neglect of her parents.

This ought to tell us the value of the world's opinions about the Duggars.

i pray that the family will continue to seek Jesus and draw closer to Him.

these are my thoughts as a victim of sexual abuse by an older family member when I was very young. there can be healing and forgiveness in Christ. no sin is to great.

rdg

edited after prayer