Jessa, Ben and Their Brood: Making a (Diaper) Mountain out of a Mold House

[Madtown]

I've only watched the clip in her Insta-story and not even all of it. It's their trip to Florida for the wedding..
Apparently she is the only mom to ever fly with kids, since she's giving tips...

 

[GeeGolly]

Dancing at the reception.

[Zella]

49 minutes ago, not you again said:

In my neck of the woods, there are ministerial associations and one of the things that is done is the pastors meet each week and swap sermons, ideas, etc.  My last pastor (before I quit altogether), whose father was also a pastor, had his father's library of sermons over his career to draw from.

Also, and I can't remember what the technical phrase is called, but Protestant churches have what is basically a unified theme for Sunday School lessons, which means that someone sitting in a Baptist church and someone sitting across the street in a Methodist church have the same topic for each quarter, just written by their own denomination.  This is assuming a church uses published materials.

I'm not sure how common that practice is in independent churches. The churches I was taken to as a child, which veered toward the Pentecostal but included some stints in some more mainstream denominations, never had that organized of a Sunday School curriculum. It was very much at the discretion of the individual Sunday School teacher, and I never remember any sort of material that would pop up at an independent church's Sunday School and would be taught at a Methodist Sunday School. The vibe I get from any of the churches the Duggars attend is very much more in keeping with the model I saw as a child, if only because they are independent from a denominational body. It's sort of against the spirit of their teachings to tap into that level of national organization. 

4 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

The church has one service only: 10:30AM on Sundays.

So it appears Ben is their only preacher.

@Zella, is the church close to the Seewald's house?

As @ginger90 noted, it's not too far via the interstate.

It does make me wonder why they live in Fayetteville. And I've often thought this about the Duggar kids who live in Fayetteville, which includes Joy. Fayetteville, of all the NWA metro cities, is definitely the most liberal. It's basically Arkansas's equivalent of Austin. (Even has a similar catchphrase. Keep Fayetteville Funky versus Keep Austin Weird.) There is a hipster vibe that I suspect may appeal to Ben, but the general atmosphere of the city--which includes a lot of support for Pride events--just seems like it would be a real turn-off to them. 

Edited March 11, 2021 by Zella

[Bewitched]

28 minutes ago, Zella said:

I'm not sure how common that practice is in independent churches. The churches I was taken to as a child, which veered toward the Pentecostal but included some stints in some more mainstream denominations, never had that organized of a Sunday School curriculum. It was very much at the discretion of the individual Sunday School teacher, and I never remember any sort of material that would pop up at an independent church's Sunday School and would be taught at a Methodist Sunday School. The vibe I get from any of the churches the Duggars attend is very much more in keeping with the model I saw as a child, if only because they are independent from a denominational body. It's sort of against the spirit of their teachings to tap into that level of national organization. 

 

Are you talking about the lectionary?  Basically, the bible is broken down into a 3 year cycle and each week is assigned biblical text so that over the course of 3 years, one would hear the majority of the bible used as inspiration for scripture readings, sermons, and Sunday school material.  The basic idea has been used both by Protestants and Catholics.  I don't think it is used as strictly now as it was 30-40 years ago and I think it was always used more in mainline denominations.

[Zella]

1 minute ago, Bewitched said:

Are you talking about the lectionary?  Basically, the bible is broken down into a 3 year cycle and each week is assigned biblical text so that over the course of 3 years, one would hear the majority of the bible used as inspiration for scripture readings, sermons, and Sunday school material.  The basic idea has been used both by Protestants and Catholics.  I don't think it is used as strictly now as it was 30-40 years ago and I think it was always used more in mainline denominations.

Yeah I am familiar with the concept--was unsure on what it was formally called--and I have never attended a church that followed that. I seriously doubt any church the Duggars attend would use a lectionary. 

[FizzyPuff]

12 hours ago, DangerousMinds said:

The church’s statement on marriage and sexuality is disturbing.

Here if anyone wants to read it;

[Normades]

I wonder if any of these bigots realized they were dancing to the Village People at the wedding. 

[rue721]

🤮 All I hear in that statement on gender and sexuality is "we're a bunch of repressive control freaks!"

Their concept of god seems so exceptionally PETTY to me. Like, you'd think that the one thing the divine spark of the universe WOULDN'T be is petty, but... 🙄

Edited March 11, 2021 by rue721

[Zella]

10 minutes ago, Normades said:

I wonder if any of these bigots realized they were dancing to the Village People at the wedding. 

Bahahahahaha that's hilarious!

When I was at a a very religious college that had a similarly large stick up its ass about sex and the LGBT community, they would host dances that would have Lady Gaga's "Poker Face" blaring. My friends and I would crash the dances to steal free food and run away, and I am pretty sure we might have been the only ones who had the slightest idea why this was a bizarre music choice. 

[Tikichick]

1 hour ago, GeeGolly said:

Dancing at the reception.

One of the boys commented something about "my song".   Didn't appear to be about YMCA or the Cha Cha Slide, but it was unclear.

Little Miss was very clearly getting her groove thing on while listening and watching the happenings on the dance floor.   

[BigBingerBro]

23 minutes ago, FizzyPuff said:

Here if anyone wants to read it;

Talk about twisting the scriptures to fit your own narrative.  Wow, that's pretty sick

[QuinnInND]

2 hours ago, FizzyPuff said:

Here if anyone wants to read it;

Good grief. Ugh. With my history, I'd probably be stoned to death if I ever set foot in their church. 🤣

[skatelady]

3 hours ago, FizzyPuff said:

Here if anyone wants to read it;

I wonder how they handle those born intersex or with ambiguous genitalia. Did they sin in-utero? Did their parents sin? Is there shunning?

[DangerousMinds]

5 hours ago, GeeGolly said:

Dancing at the reception.

Unmasked dancing in Florida! Yay!

[sheshark]

5 hours ago, DangerousMinds said:

Unmasked dancing in Florida! Yay!

Where is this?  Can I see it?  Duggar’s dancing?

[emmawoodhouse]

2 minutes ago, sheshark said:

Where is this?  Can I see it?  Duggar’s dancing?

Jessa's YouTube channel. 

[SMama]

I have a tip about traveling with young, old, any age kids. Don’t do it during a fucking pandemic. 

[Churchhoney]

Just FYI, folks. Medicare doesn't pay for nursing homes or assisted living or anything that's serving as a place of residence, no matter how sick you are. Medicare pays for your medical treatments, and such, when you're in such a place. But when it comes to room and board -- the really expensive part -- Medicare pays only for very temporary stays in facilities like that while you're recovering from some medical issue. 

It's Medicaid that'll pay for JB, if he decides to abandon the TTH for a nursing home.

I vote for him to stay at the TTH and get pushed around roughly in a busted office chair by whichever Duggarlings have secretly harbored the most resentments all those years. 

Maybe they could have game nights where members of generation three play gladiator games where JB's and M's busted office chairs are repeatedly crashed into each other while everybody doubles over with laughter. That actually sounds like the kind of "game" JB and M would have come up as parents. 

[Churchhoney]

On 3/3/2021 at 3:28 PM, Ohiopirate02 said:

Would any Duggar even qualify for Medicare though?  I know you have to actually pay into the social security system in order to receive benefits.  Does Medicare work the same?  If it does, then no Duggar will ever qualify.  

Well, JB has always had businesses. I don't think he could have gotten away with not paying any social security and Medicare taxes all these years (although I'm sure he's taken every possible route to diminishing his reported income so he can pay as little as possible).

If he's paid those taxes at all, then he and Meechelle and his employees will be eligible for some social security benefits, although they may have managed to make very minimal payments, in which case the SS benefits will be small. And if you're eligible for a Social Security benefit at all, then as an elderly person, you're eligible for the same Medicare benefits as everybody else in the program, whether they get a larger SS check or a smaller one. 

When it comes to how much they'll get for long term care, that depends mostly on the Medicaid generosity of Arkansas....And they won't get it at all until they've spent down all their assets to a very low level. You can retain a fairly generous level of housing equity (again, it does vary state to state) and still get the benefit if you have a spouse or an actual dependent who still needs the living space. But all your savings, investments, vehicles, etc., have to go.

You can't, for example, realize that you want to move into a nursing home in a couple months or even in a couple years and thenstart handing off all your assets to your kids so you can meet the eligibility level. You need to have passed off your assets at least 5 years before you start taking the Medicaid long term care benefit. That rule will be a puzzlement for JB.....I think he may take his chances with the office chair....

[Churchhoney]

On 3/6/2021 at 2:34 AM, MsJamieDornan said:

What in the world did she think that was going to do ?

That word probably never applies to Michelle.....🤪

[Churchhoney]

On 3/11/2021 at 12:27 AM, DangerousMinds said:

The church’s statement on marriage and sexuality is disturbing.

Even more disturbing when you remember that all of it is what all these people fervently believe. (or at least force themselves to believe -- wouldn't surprise me if somebody somewhere has felt a slight doubt about a detail or two from time to time....but the power of the groupthink has squashed any such little question marks...,and the ignorance and isolation they enforce on themselves and each other keeps most doubts at bay)

 

[Churchhoney]

Somebody's putting some effort into Bin's church. Someone regularly puts religion-oriented posts on Facebook. And, hilariously, they make Bin's sermons available on all the big podcast networks. (so, Jer, maybe you and your podcast aren't such unique and shining breakout stars after all...) 

The thing is that I don't see any names connected to this church other than Bin's. And nobody seems to like or comment on much of anything... And I haven't found a history of the church anywhere. Wonder if some bigger church has planted this one fairly recently in its current form -- maybe trying to reformat a small church whose membership had dwindled to nothing? -- and they're just trying to get this version off the ground, or what....

There's a mysterious Facebook page from 2017 that calls the church a "religious center." It's clearly the same building, but was operating as some kind of music/performance center -- the Northwest Arkansas Audio Theater? So I'm thinking that these people were using the church building after its previous congregation vanished.....

And that recently somebody -- who remains nameless -- decided to try to renew it as Immanuel Baptist Church again rather than using it as some kind of Christian arts and community center, which seems to be what it was operating as in 2017....

That's quite a demanding gig to hand to Bin Seewald in this age of waning church attendance. I can't find any recent pictures inside the church, so it's hard to tell whether anybody actually is attending....Or maybe they actually are going virtual for the pandemic -- although that seems unlikely for this crowd. (and they gathered at the church for Bin's ordination or whatever that was...) (Would make sense with all the podcast channels, though...) 

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Immanuel-Baptist-Church/115692645127128

https://www.facebook.com/ibcspringdale/?ref=page_internal

 

Edited March 13, 2021 by Churchhoney

[GeeGolly]

It seems Pastor Ronald Thomas worked there as recently as 12/20. At that time they were doing two services on Sundays, plus Sunday School and a service on Wednesdays. Now, with Ben, they're down to one service a week.

[doodlebug]

46 minutes ago, Churchhoney said:

Even more disturbing when you remember that all of it is what all these people fervently believe. (or at least force themselves to believe -- wouldn't surprise me if somebody somewhere has felt a slight doubt about a detail or two from time to time....but the power of the groupthink has squashed any such little question marks...,and the ignorance and isolation they enforce on themselves and each other keeps most doubts at bay)

 

And not only do they believe it, they believe that God wants their version of morality to be legislated by the state and everyone forced to comply or face criminal charges.

[Churchhoney]

Here's their current incorporation information....And Ronald Thomas is on this list.....But I can't find any names at all of staff members or people in the congregation, committees or anything, on the current church website and the current Facebook. And no events or church business mentioned anywhere. No contact people.

And even in the list of sermons, with the audio links, from late June 2019, onward -- while Ronald Thomas and a couple others show up occasionally -- it's almost entirely Bin. 

Plus, all that time, when people asked what Bin was doing, Jessa just said that he was busy being more in love with her than ever. 

But did Bin in fact have enough money to buy himself a church that was losing its congregation so he'd have a place to preach every Sunday? 😁

It's very weird. 

IMMANUEL BAPTIST CHURCH OF SPRINGDALE, ARKANSAS NONPROFIT

Company Number

100074485

Status

Good Standing

Incorporation Date

16 December 1988 (about 32 years ago)

Company Type

Nonprofit Corporation

Jurisdiction

Arkansas (US)

Registered Address

800 S. PLEASANT ST
SPRINGDALE, AR 72764

United States

Agent Name

BETTY SCOTT

Agent Address

800 SO. PLEASANT SPRINGDALE, AR 72764

Directors / Officers

EARL LYMAN MR, director

IMMANUEL BAPTIST CHURCH, director

JIMMY SCOTT MR, director

JOHN HOLYFIELD MR, director

RONALD THOMAS, principal

SANDY PATTERSON, secretary

SANDY PATTERSON, agent

 

Edited March 13, 2021 by Churchhoney

[ozziemom]

Bin and his pastor job is a real mystery. And why? It seems like Boob et al are still attending the Caldwell church. You would think Jessa would be posting all about this. But nothing. I think Bin’s mom is the only one who put a couple pictures on Instagram and that’s it.

[SMama]

53 minutes ago, Churchhoney said:

Somebody's putting some effort into Bin's church. Someone regularly puts religion-oriented posts on Facebook. And, hilariously, they make Bin's sermons available on all the big podcast networks. (so, Jer, maybe you and your podcast aren't such unique and shining breakout stars after all...) 

 

Pa Seewald full of guilt after sacrificing his first born to JB in hopes of his blogging fame soaring?

 

[iwantcookies]

The kids mostly eat processed/junk food. 
 

I get it it’s easy to feed kids pre packaged crap. But lazy Blessa doesn’t work can’t she make her kids healthy food? 
 

Maybe that’s why the kids are always tired. 
 

 

Edited March 13, 2021 by iwantcookies

[BitterApple]

Only 37 likes on the church's Facebook page? That's pretty dismal. It sounds like the place was dying out and they hired Bin, hoping he'd draw a younger crowd. 

[GeeGolly]

3 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

Only 37 likes on the church's Facebook page? That's pretty dismal. It sounds like the place was dying out and they hired Bin, hoping he'd draw a younger crowd. 

I hope for his sake his crowd consists of more than his 20 something wife and 3 kids 5 and under.

[iwantcookies]

32 minutes ago, BitterApple said:

Only 37 likes on the church's Facebook page? That's pretty dismal. It sounds like the place was dying out and they hired Bin, hoping he'd draw a younger crowd. 

Kind of like Jeremy’s old church!

[DangerousMinds]

2 hours ago, doodlebug said:

And not only do they believe it, they believe that God wants their version of morality to be legislated by the state and everyone forced to comply or face criminal charges.

Funny, they’re the same ones throwing the word “freedom” around constantly. I don’t think they understand what that means.

[DangerousMinds]

1 hour ago, BitterApple said:

Only 37 likes on the church's Facebook page? That's pretty dismal. It sounds like the place was dying out and they hired Bin, hoping he'd draw a younger crowd. 

You would think Jessa would be posting about Bin and the church to help attract more of a crowd. Why isn’t she?

[farmgal4]

I’ve been checking out Ben’s preaching on Apple podcast, and he is SO MUCH BETTER than Jeremy.

[Churchhoney]

Efforts to entice younger people with younger pastors and pastors with MEDIA EXPOSURE!!! has been a boon to both Jer's and Bin's prospects thus far, I think.

But the dropoff in Christian church affiliation and attendance is finally beginning to affect evangelicals/fundies significantly too, whereas for many years it almost entirely affected mainline Protestants and Catholics. And while people in every generation are dropping away, the younger someone is the more likely they are to depart. 

Unless Bin's and Jer's fame persists, it's hard to imagine they won't be struggling for jobs at some point. These trends are very unlikely to reverse themselves. There might be a battle of the Duggar-adjacent preachers to watch as time goes by.

Here's an assessment from 2020 from one of the primary, authoritative U.S. sources of religious stats and information...--

"While Millennials and Gen X were just as likely to attend church at the beginning of the decade, Millennials have edged below Gen X in nearly every year since. There may be a good reason for that: While many Millennials were still in their late teens and early twenties in 2006, Gen X was already in their late twenties and early thirties. This is important because many young people are still somewhat attached to the faith in which they were raised, but this appears to fade as people move further away from their parents.

"The other interesting comparison, however, is the more recent statistics related to attendance among Gen X and Millennials. While attendance for Millennials has dropped nine percentage points, the decline for Gen X is more modest at just 5 percentage points." 

https://www.barna.com/

 

 

1 minute ago, farmgal4 said:

I’ve been checking out Ben’s preaching on Apple podcast, and he is SO MUCH BETTER than Jeremy.

So very true. 

[farmgal4]

13 minutes ago, DangerousMinds said:

You would think Jessa would be posting about Bin and the church to help attract more of a crowd. Why isn’t she?

Because they don’t want to catch heat over the church’s mission statements?

[Zella]

I think they know the optics of the church looks bad. I think it's also quite possible that Ben has either forbidden her to post about what he is doing as his one little act of autonomy or that she doesn't post about what he is up to because she gets more clicks for the kids. I don't really get the impression she is very interested in or proud of Ben  (and that may well cut both ways) or that they are supportive of each other in the way a normal spouse would be. 

Edited March 13, 2021 by Zella

[Minivanessa]

9 hours ago, Zella said:

I think they know the optics of the church looks bad. I think it's also quite possible that Ben has either forbidden her to post about what he is doing as his one little act of autonomy or that she doesn't post about what he is up to because she gets more clicks for the kids. I don't really get the impression she is very interested in or proud of Ben  (and that may well cut both ways) or that they are supportive of each other in the way a normal spouse would be. 

IIRC in the early days of their marriage, Ben posted some fiercely dogmatic religious rants on social media and I think Jessa did too. I wonder if they got really burned over that because they both stopped it, and have pretty much stuck to posting family stuff ever since. We know that Jessa's hanging on to her TV stahdom with all her might. TLC really soft-pedals the Duggars' religion, leaving it pretty vaguely as "they are devout Christians with a conservative attitude toward modern life." No mention of IBLP or Bill Gothard, and didn't they actually edit him out of wedding footage (or was that on the Bateses show)? 

I can see Jessa steering clear of religious content on SM to protect her position with TLC. Also, if she allows Ben to be featured on the church's social media, he'll outshine her.  (A low bar, for sure.) And we know who's the boss/star of that house and show. If that woman did such things, I'd bet that she would have aJeremy doll with pins in its heart somewhere in her house, which she would have stabbed while snarling "Breakout Stars? You?? Never!!"

Edited March 14, 2021 by Jeeves

[GeeGolly]

I think Jessa and Ben had, and still have, a hard time with negative comments on SM. After Josh's scandals the comments were worse. For a time, just everyday posts were met with hate, but the religious posts brought out fireworks.

Also, haters email anyone the Duggars are associated with. Derick had to shut down his fundraising when he was doing Christian Camp, because he and the church received so much hate email. And every influencing gig the Vuolos had got dropped. I think even a talking gig Jessa had was contacted by haters.

I think Jessa is keeping it quiet to avoid the negativity and to avoid having haters contact the church and risk Ben losing his new gig.

[Zella]

3 minutes ago, GeeGolly said:

I think Jessa and Ben had, and still have, a hard time with negative comments on SM. After Josh's scandals the comments were worse. For a time, just everyday posts were met with hate, but the religious posts brought out fireworks.

Also, haters email anyone the Duggars are associated with. Derick had to shut down his fundraising when he was doing Christian Camp, because he and the church received so much hate email. And every influencing gig the Vuolos had got dropped. I think even a talking gig Jessa had was contacted by haters.

I think Jessa is keeping it quiet to avoid the negativity and to avoid having haters contact the church and risk Ben losing his new gig.

I suspect you are right that they fear the negative attention, but from what I have seen of this church, I don't think they would drop Ben and Jessa for their beliefs in the same way that Jeremy and Jinger lost influencer gigs. Jeremy and Jinger lost business from people who didn't want to seem associated with bigots. That actually seems like something this church doesn't have a problem with and instead embraces. They may not want a national spotlight, but I don't think people contacting them to complain about the Duggar stance on the LGBT community is going to scare them away and cause them to fire Ben. I'd venture to say his beliefs are a large part of why he was hired.

[louannems]

1 hour ago, farmgal4 said:

I’ve been checking out Ben’s preaching on Apple podcast, and he is SO MUCH BETTER than Jeremy.

I admit to only listening to his most recent sermon on the church website.  I would agree that he is much better than Jeremy, but Jeremy is awful. In the sermon about the Iraqi dinar,  I felt like Bin was trying really hard to over articulate.

 

[Churchhoney]

What sickens me -- and I do mean sickens -- is the fact that the Duggars and TLC and whatever businesses have sponsored their shows have long been making bank on a totally false image presented of them.

Their extremist "religious principles" are the absolute center of their lives, the sole center of their lives. The distinguishing feature of their version of Christianity -- which they believe is the only valid form of Christianity -- is the hateful, bigoted, obnoxious parts. If you met them in person, that shit is all they would talk about. And they have long campaigned in multiple venues for making their particular "Christian principles" the sole center of American life altogether, the basis of law and social convention.

Yet they and the show have completely whitewashed this all these years and continue to whitewash it, to make them widely popular and generate cash. All on false pretenses. 

If these beliefs are so damn important to them, it's hypocritical beyond belief for them to hide that fact.

And yet we know from reading between the lines that a) the beliefs are pretty much the only thing they consider important (except money) and b) they've hidden them from their TeeVee audience and now their social media audience for decades and continue to hide them. For money, admiration and fame. 

And they're probably too blind and dumb to even fully realize that massive hypocrisy is the source of a lot of their cash. TLC surely knows, though, so I'd call them even less forgivable than the Dugg clan themselves.  (And I don't consider the Duggs forgivable in the least.)

 

Edited March 13, 2021 by Churchhoney

[GeeGolly]

1 hour ago, Zella said:

I suspect you are right that they fear the negative attention, but from what I have seen of this church, I don't think they would drop Ben and Jessa for their beliefs in the same way that Jeremy and Jinger lost influencer gigs. Jeremy and Jinger lost business from people who didn't want to seem associated with bigots. That actually seems like something this church doesn't have a problem with and instead embraces. They may not want a national spotlight, but I don't think people contacting them to complain about the Duggar stance on the LGBT community is going to scare them away and cause them to fire Ben. I'd venture to say his beliefs are a large part of why he was hired.

I wasn't clear in my post. But you said it in yours... I think that would be enough for a few parishioners to walk and the church to let Ben go.

[Zella]

3 minutes ago, GeeGolly said:

I wasn't clear in my post. But you said it in yours... I think that would be enough for a few parishioners to walk and the church to let Ben go.

It's possible, but I doubt it would cause them to fire him, especially since they feel strongly enough about it to outline it on their website. If anything, I think it is more likely Jessa doesn't want the publicity surrounding her husband's affiliation with the church rather than anything to do with his job being in danger. 

[GeeGolly]

1 hour ago, Churchhoney said:

What sickens me -- and I do mean sickens -- is the fact that the Duggars and TLC and whatever businesses have sponsored their shows have long been making bank on a totally false image presented of them.

Their extremist "religious principles" are the absolute center of their lives, the sole center of their lives. The distinguishing feature of their version of Christianity -- which they believe is the only valid form of Christianity -- is the hateful, bigoted, obnoxious parts. If you met them in person, that shit is all they would talk about. And they have long campaigned in multiple venues for making their particular "Christian principles" the sole center of American life altogether, the basis of law and social convention.

Yet they and the show have completely whitewashed this all these years and continue to whitewash it, to make them widely popular and generate cash. All on false pretenses. 

If these beliefs are so damn important to them, it's hypocritical beyond belief for them to hide that fact.

And yet we know from reading between the lines that a) the beliefs are pretty much the only thing they consider important (except money) and b) they've hidden them from their TeeVee audience and now their social media audience for decades and continue to hide them. For money, admiration and fame. 

And they're probably too blind and dumb to even fully realize that massive hypocrisy is the source of a lot of their cash. TLC surely knows, though, so I'd call them even less forgivable than the Dugg clan themselves.  (And I don't consider the Duggs forgivable in the least.)

 

I agree with your post to a degree. As I don't think the Duggars started hiding things from the get go and their Christianity was and still is their brand.

Your post applies to so many. Change the name to Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Harvey Weinstein, etc. The entire industry of film and TV have a history of endorsing at worst, turning a blind eye at the very least.

[GeeGolly]

8 minutes ago, Zella said:

It's possible, but I doubt it would cause them to fire him, especially since they feel strongly enough about it to outline it on their website. If anything, I think it is more likely Jessa doesn't want the publicity surrounding her husband's affiliation with the church rather than anything to do with his job being in danger. 

I still think its both. Having a website or an FB page is pretty low key. Its likely only like minded folks will stumble upon them and that's who they want finding them. But having the church and the church's belief blown up on SM to the point a tabloid might pick it up is different.

I think their being cautious for both reasons.

[Churchhoney]

28 minutes ago, GeeGolly said:

I agree with your post to a degree. As I don't think the Duggars started hiding things from the get go and their Christianity was and still is their brand.

Your post applies to so many. Change the name to Tom Cruise, John Travolta, Harvey Weinstein, etc. The entire industry of film and TV have a history of endorsing at worst, turning a blind eye at the very least.

I definitely agree that hypocrisy applies to many people.! And that of course it's all over entertainment, which operates on image.

But I know that if I shared their religious beliefs, I would be particularly annoyed at them for making their living by essentially denying that thing in how they present themselves, to money, to the wide world.

What they're hiding isn't something like homosexuality, which many presume Travolta to be hiding -- and which they'd be picked on for and which wouldn't be their fault and which they'd likely be hiding as much because of shame as to get money, most likely. And I don't see it as being like Weinstein -- who has a criminal nature and managed to hide that because he's also really powerful and people were afraid to rat him out......That's hiding a crime -- which criminals do. And now he's in jail for that!  And while Cruise has a rosy view of his "religion," I don't see him hiding it. He seems to be pretty open about his love of Scientology! 

Instead, the Duggs are hiding something that they absolutely deliberately embrace by choice and that they strongly preach and advocate for, off camera. 

And it's also something that 's supposedly the central issue of life, and the central issue of morality, for everybody who believes it, including them, supposedly. Yet at the same time, they consider themselves highly moral and very special -- because of the very thing they're lying about it in public forums.

There are many different kinds of hypocrisy. But just because lots of people are hypocrites in various ways doesn't excuse the Duggs' hypocrisy, for me! 

 

Edited March 13, 2021 by Churchhoney

[NotthebadVictoria]

I just think Jessa doesn’t support him, she wants to be the star. She didn’t even post when he graduated, she likes him being her helpmeet and Boobs toilet scrubber.

[GeeGolly]

1 minute ago, Churchhoney said:

I definitely agree that hypocrisy applies to many people.! And that of course it's all over entertainment, which operates on image.

But I know that if I shared their religious beliefs, I would be particularly annoyed at them for making their living by essentially denying that thing in how they present themselves, to money, to the wide world.

What they're hiding isn't something like homosexuality, which many presume Travolta to be hiding -- and which they'd be picked on for and which wouldn't be their fault and which they'd likely be hiding as much because of shame as to get money, most likely. And I don't see it as being like Weinstein -- who has a criminal nature and managed to hide that because he's also really powerful and people were afraid to rat him out......That's hiding a crime -- which criminals do. And now he's in jail for that! 

Instead, the Duggs are hiding something that they absolutely deliberately embrace by choice and that they strongly preach and advocate for, off camera. 

And it's also something that 's supposedly the central issue of life, and the central issue of morality, for everybody who believes it, including them, supposedly. Yet at the same time, they consider themselves highly moral and very special -- because of the very thing they're lying about it in public forums.

There are many different kinds of hypocrisy. But just because lots of people are hypocrites in various ways doesn't excuse the Duggs' hypocrisy, for me! 

 

I hear you. I didn't think I was excusing them, I was more talking about producers and advertisers.

But as far as Jessa is concerned, keeping Ben's preaching gig private is protecting her beliefs as far as she's concerned. She believes it, her husband preaches it. Many of her followers believe it too. But if its blown up on SM, he loses his gig.

[Churchhoney]

4 minutes ago, GeeGolly said:

 

But as far as Jessa is concerned, keeping Ben's preaching gig private is protecting her beliefs as far as she's concerned. She believes it, her husband preaches it. Many of her followers believe it too. But if its blown up on SM, he loses his gig.

Yeah, I agree. These are concerns and this is all she'd ever think of. No question. 

 

Edited March 13, 2021 by Churchhoney