Josh Duggar, Trapped In A Cult

On Friday I watched  a very sobering and moving new Chanel 5 documentary called Trapped In A Cult, telling of frightening stories of people affected by cults. One woman's story was almost identical to mine. The documentary made me realize that at times as human beings, we can help create our own cults even within the four walls of our own homes. As I was pondering on this whole matter after the documentary I watched, lo and behold one of my once favorite Christian family was making the headlines, but this time it was their son Josh Duggar on CNN. For my readers who don't know who Josh Duggar is, Josh is a Christian Reality TV star, the firstborn son of American Christian couple Michelle and Jim Bob Daggar who have 19 children, and are practically famous for it.  I  first knew about this family about 7 years ago when they were endorsing the film Fireproof, which is one of my favorite films of all time, and my favorite actor Kirk Cameron was also endorsing their show. The Duggar family caught my attention and since then I became a huge fan. An extraordinary family it is, none of the 19 children are adopted, all of them were given birth to by one woman, Michelle Daggar. I became fascinated with the family, and their reality show on TLC, 19 Kids and Counting, was always on my sky recorder. I admired how they raised their children, strict christian values. I remember showing my ex husband their website, how they home schooled their children, how they didn't watch TV, strict courtship rules, no kissing before marriage etc etc, I even prayed to God that I wanted to raise my children like that, I remember even watching TV became a no no at some point,  whilst I was praying earnestly that God would open a way for me to homeschool my children. Oh the Duggar family was just a picture of Christian perfection, how parents are supposed to raise a super duper jolly godly family.

Josh Daggar Scandal 

However today, in a diabolic twist of the christian fairy tale that was almost too good to be true, the Duggar's firstborn son Josh is making headlines on CNN, BBC, Daily Mail, the blogsphere and just about anywhere you find breaking news. The headlines are nothing to do with him being a family values advocate that he has been well known for, but rather everything that opposes that. The picture perfect christian family has now fallen from grace in a spectecular way. Walter Masocha kinda fall from grace. Its epic. Josh Duggar has been outed as one of the 32 million people, yes 32 million who were using the cheating website Ashley Madison. For those who dont know Ashely Madison, its a website that is designed soley for the purpose of cheating on your spouse, because apparently, life is too short, you might as well have an affair and have fun. Yeah I know right. But whats more shocking to me is not the website itself or what it stands for, but that it had 32 million married people secretly using its services faithfully, and one of them to be exposed is married father of four Josh Duggar, of all people! He listed his interests on the site as Conventional sex, experimenting with sex toys, one night stands and receiving foreplay among many other fantasies, I'm sure his parents who practically raised him in a box, literally, have cried tears of blood over these revelations, and are probably perplexed as to how their precious godly son even knew about these things, for they were never mentioned in the box. Hmmm Josh has recently issued a statement after the Ashley Madison scandal, and part of it went something like this...

"I have been the biggest hypocrite ever. While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly over the last several years been viewing pornography on the internet and this became a secret addiction and I became unfaithful to my wife

Josh Duggar the devout Christian who campaigned around America for family values and biblical principals, speaking against divorce, infidelity other "sins" has himself been cheating on his wife and literally lying to the whole world, especially to thousands of Christians who looked up to him and saw him as a role model of their faith. And now the non-believers are having a party, because Josh has brought the name of Christ into shame and disrepute. I was listening to Todd Friel last night, and he was saying Josh was not truly born again, hence he committed these shameful sins, so Josh needs salvation. Some Christians are saying he needs church discipline, which could all be true, the guy needs help, and I think at this stage anything, any help will do. I however look at this rather differently, having come out of a "Christian Cult" Agape, I now understand that in life there are strict things people do and attribute them to God or the bible, when in fact they are human traditions , which in reality have nothing to do with God or the bible. I believe Josh Daggar is a victim of a CULT, the perpetrators being his own parents. Their extreme beliefs are big contributing factors to the self disruptive behavior of Josh Duggar. I believe his unusual and strict upbringing played a huge part in the man Josh is today.

Here are some of the rules that Josh Duggar and his siblings were subjected to growing up...despite none of them not being in the bible...

• no going to the beach because it was a sinful place
• no any form of dancing because it stimulates sensuality 
• the girls only wear dresses, no pants
• no TV
• no alcohol
• no romantic novels
• no kissing, or hugging, or spending time alone before marriage

This young man was raised in isolation, with strict "christian rules" that in reality has nothing to do with the bible or God. One thing I have learnt about cults is they are toxic, one way or the other, it will only take one day, and everything will explode. We are human beings, and God himself created us to live in this world, not in a cupboard in your house. You can not shelter your children from the world and keep them in little bubbles, its cultic and dangarous and abusive. Not one saint in the bible ever attempted to live outside the world, so I don't understand why people do it using the bible. Joseph, a man mightily used by God lived in Egypt, even wore Egyptian clothing, I'm sure Ephriam and Menasah played with other Egyptian boys and if there was television those days Joseph would not have had a hissy fit had his boys watched a bit of Egyptian cartoons. Esther is another God fearing woman who lived in a sinful world, but she was still used by God in Persia. Jesus Christ himself lived a full life mixing with sinful people of this world. If there was television in His day, I really don't think  Jesus would have created a commandment against it.  Christians need to relax and allow themselves to live in the world, and the world includes the beach, its not a sin to go there wearing a bikini, its life. How was Josh supposed to learn about life when he was basically sheltered from it. Had Josh Daggar been allowed to live in the world and be a normal child, I'm sure we would not be watching him on CNN today.

My heart bleeds for the other 18 children who are still trapped in the Duggar Cult. I hope they release their poor children from this cult and allow them to live in the real world and experience life for themselves. Of course we have to be careful what we expose our children to, for the days are evil and wickedness, but we have to remember He giveth more grace. Doing what Michelle and Jim Bob did to me is a lack of faith and trust in God that He is more powerful thän the god of this world, which triggered the extremism. Had they trusted God with their children, they would have even maybe allowed Josh to go to school where he could have been exposed to life and learnt a thing or two from life experiences. School in itself is not evil, though the system is corrupted, but God is still on the throne watching over our children in school.

Having come out of a "Christian Cult" that almost destroyed my life was I not strong enough, I have learnt that the bible is a very powerful book, and anyone can use it to do evil or to do good. Many evil atrocities have been committed using the bible, we can even use the book to create our own monsters whilst running away from the "evil" world. I believe the monster within can be more evil. Josh Daggar is a monster created by his own over zealous extremist parents. I believe Josh needs to break free from the believes he was raised in and read the bible for himself and get to know whom God says He is for himself. The first step to breaking free from mental slavery is knowing is knowing who you are, and I believe right now Josh Daggar hasn't got a clue. Thats why on Ashely Madison he used a picture of another guy a DJ called Mathew McCarthy who has now lost a few gigs because of the scandal and hes considering suing Josh for defamation. Parents please do not trap your children in CULTS. 

In Other News 

Talking about family values and principles. I love animals so much and so does my family, sometimes for me its hard to eat meat...lol. Animals seem to be drawn to me too, Sometimes animals just walk or fly towards me, like this beautiful cow she just came to me, sooo cute. Well they say a dog is a man's best friend. My 11 year old daughter has wanted a puppy for years now, and we are thinking about adding another baby to our ever growing family...after everything she has endured and being such a brave and resilient young damsel, maybe a cute little puppy for her is not such a bad idea...