Timothy 6:10 says, "The love of money is the root of all evil." (I've also seen it quoted as "all kinds of evil".) I don't wish to seem so imperious as to think that I can pre-empt the Scriptures, but I'm convinced that the love of money is actually secondary to the real downfall of the human race: sexuality.
I've lived a looong time. I have seen men--and yes, women--risk their happy homes, marriages, children, and careers in pursuit of the feel-good moments of their sexual desires. Everything from extra-marital affairs, pornography, kinky sexual encounters, with many and varied excuses from "I'm a sex addict" to "The devil made me do it". Really?
The truth is that infidelity in marriage is rampant, but we don't hear about the idiotic Joe Schmoes who cheat in life. What makes headlines are the people who put themselves up to the public as model citizens with squeaky clean backgrounds....until they get caught. Anyone who pretends that there are no skeletons in their closets are deluding themselves. Yet, knowing that they have skeletons, they launch into the public eye, anyway! When confronted with the facts, they first deny. Then when denying no longer works, they become humble and beg forgiveness for their "mistakes". Apparently--and I want to emphasize this--not a single one of them ever considered what would happen when the truth came out, as it always does, eventually. Not one ever believed that he/she would get caught. Are we just a stupid species??
I have watched an enormous number of people--politicians, religious moguls, and celebrities alike--fall into public ridicule due to sexual behavior they had been trying to hide. Ha! And the latest victim is one of the Duggars...as in "19 Kids and Counting". The eldest of their brood, Joshua. Understand that the Duggar family's only claim to fame is that they have a reality show on TLC because of the size of their family. They are uber-religiously conservative, and have semi-flaunted that on their show. Josh Duggar was the first to marry. He and his fiancee' decided to save their first kiss for their wedding day and were never unchaperoned during their courtship, just to make sure that purity was preserved. In fact, Josh used the the word "purity" quite a bit during those episodes on the show. Josh married Anna, then they proceeded to "be fruitful and multiply". They have child #4 in the hopper now. I doubt they've been married more than six years.
A couple of years ago, Josh left his hometown environs in Arkansas to move his family to a new job and location in Washington, DC. Nothing was really mentioned on the show about what kind of new job he had accepted. In AK, he ran a used car business. What he did in DC was a bit of a mystery. We watched as the whole Duggar clan moved them to their new home. All was well, or so it seemed.
And now, just a couple of days ago, a tabloid dug up and published some "dirt" about Josh...that back when he was 14 or 15 (sources vary) he was involved in sexually molesting (aggressively fondling the breasts and genitals) of five girls, some of which were his own sisters. No one explains how this was discovered, but the Duggar family's response was to send him off to some kind of work camp thereafter...considered "counseling". When he returned, his father took him to a State Policeman who was a personal friend, and the cop gave him a stern lecture but did not press charges. This was a year or more after the fact. (That particular cop is now in prison, serving 50 years for child pornography.) After the tabloid bust, Josh came out publicly with a confession, resigned his job, and the TLC program that had been a network anchor for years has been yanked from the air.
What job did Josh resign? Turns out, he was working as an executive director for the Family Research Council, which is a religious political lobbying group in support of anti-abortion and anti-gay marriage initiatives. And because it is religious in nature, he really had no other choice...which leads me to wonder why he would have accepted the position in the first place, considering his background. Did he think the truth would not come out?
The statute of limitations has run out on Josh's transgressions. (Good job, Daddy Jim Bob!) But now a young man who needs to support a soon-to-be family of six is out of a job. Personally, I'm not sure how much society should judge the behavior of a kid who was 14/15 when he got stupid, but I'm fairly certain that they will be ruthless because he had set himself up as an example of piety. It embarrasses me as a Christian. I'm sure other Christians will come to his defense--and even fund his life after this embarrassment. It says a lot about who we are as a society. A person who cheats on food stamp programs is considered lower than a Christian who got caught molesting children but repents. I get it. I hate it.
I try not to judge because there are skeletons in my own closet, but I have to tell you that I do get disappointed when I refuse to believe in rumors, only to find that the rumors are true. The Duggars have 19 kids. With those numbers, the odds are that some will be gay, some will have disabilities, and some will have aberrant tendencies. Maybe it really IS time for the program to go away before the truths come out. Some viewers will wring their hands in joy with every grain of dirt that can be dug up, unforgiving and condemning. Others will be happy with every baby that the family births and every crisis they overcome because they are Christian.
Personally, I don't care if they are alien sun-god worshippers. I just think it is time for Christians all over the world to stop putting themselves up as "chosen" and start presenting the reality of why Christ came into the world in the first place. If everyone did what they are supposed to do, there would be no Josh Duggars with public sins. But then, who would we have to talk about? Better him than us, right?
I just want it all to disappear!
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