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The Quiverful of Duggars sub-forum has their own rundown of Duggar wedding dresses, so now with Tori Bates getting married, we obviously need a thread dedicated to dresses. Post your rankings! Here's mine, from best to least: 1. Tori (Bates) Smith Without question, the most sophisticated dress and despite some iffy modifications, overall beautiful. Extra points for the long train, classy updo, nice shoes, being adventurous enough to choose a champagne underlay, a fitted lace bodice with some sparkle, and even going for a bit of a sexier look. Could be perfect if fitted better on the waist and possibly didn't have the shear sleeves but just the lace cap sleeves, since there's already a lot going on. Her whole winter theme came together well, so this is easily my personal favorite Bates wedding. 2. Alyssa (Bates) Webster Kudos to Alyssa for going for a well-fitted trumpet style, it looked great on her and fit her personality. Extra points for the bright pink shoes and manila veil. Points taken away for the awkward flower on the waist, the earrings that do not fit the look, and the weird thick strap/cap sleeve since we all know Alyssa was itching to ditch the modesty standards the second she got to Florida. The Barbie pink and blue colors are not for me, but are fitting for her age, personality, and time of year. 3. Whitney (Perkins) Bates I personally don't like Whitney's dress at all, but at least it fit her well and she went for a cute bolero instead of some dumb modesty modification. I also don't like the gathered-to-the-side style but again, that's just me. Can you imagine her look though if she hadn't been trying her best to be "modest" to impress her new fundie in-laws, had already gone to a few other fundie weddings like Jessa and Jinger's, and had come into the awesome sense of style and beautiful hair she has now? I think she would have looked great in Jessa's dress and a nice updo instead of the over-geled bangs and slightly crunchy waves. Bonus points for this sassy pose though, showing us that jeans and a career in real estate would eventually be in her future even if she had to hide her leggings in her honeymoon pics: 4. Erin (Bates) Paine I actually thought Erin looked really cute overall and it helps that she's just such a beautiful girl that she'd make any dress look okay, even though she was a victim of the fundie-modesty-frankenstein-t-shirt-dress trend. The dress fit her bodice well, the princess style suited her personality perfectly, there was just enough sparkle, but I just can't get past that awful modesty panel on the front and dumb sleeves. Can you imagine what her wedding would have looked like in 2017 once the Bates had more money from their show and fundies were finding designers like Ms. Renee? Extra points for great hair though and without question the hottest fundie husband: 5. Michael (Bates) Keilen Poor Michael, she seems like such a nice person but her dress was Rufus-awful and I can't even start on the hair. Her dress is the worst example of modesty-frankenstein alterations, with that horrible ruched front and badly done sleeves, and just generally not form-fitting in any way. As a fellow short girl, she either should have skipped the A-line style for something more fitted at the hips (a sheath, trumpet, or mermaid) or worn heels - it doesn't help that the way it was hemmed made it too long. The only nice thing I can say is I liked the cherry blossom/rustic theme including the pink and beige bridesmaid dresses since it fit their relationship history. Even worse that in the BuB episode we saw 2 dresses that looked SO much better on her. Look at that first one, and even her hair just down like that, she would have looked gorgeous! And just for fun, here's Kelly Jo and a porno-stached Gil:

Couldn't figure out how to start a new topic under, Geneology. Please, tell me how to move it. Bottom line: I'm an avid, amateur genealogist, and I have an entire line of Bates, from the Missouri Ozarks area that were very Christian Fundamentalist, to the point that they didn't believe women should read. My Great Grandma rebelled, and married a damn Quaker.

Hey all! I've been working hard on making Youtube videos lately. I talk about different subjects and people that relate to fundamentalism while doing my makeup (GRWM = Get ready with me). Like the Pearls, Bill Gothard, the Duggars, etc. My goal is to be educational plus funny. I inject a lot of memes and jokes in the videos and I like to manipulate clips I find of my subjects online. I am shooting all of these on my iphone and I'm learning to use the editing software, so sometimes the videos can be rough at times. I wanted to share my videos with FJ because this was the forum that really got me invested in fundies. I also feel like this community might get some of the more obscure references to different people in the videos. This has become a labor of love for me. I am going to link to my 3 best videos (in my opinion, at least.) Feel free to check them out and let me know what you think. Vision Forum The Pearls The Duggars Part 1

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Hopefully this sticky will allow those posters who vacillate from fighting the good fight against leg humping and utter exhaustion with the seeming futility to get some rest. If you post a link or a photo, include some commentary of your own. Tell us why we should follow the link. Tell us why the photo is worth the bandwidth. FJ is not Pinterest. We do not exist simply to be a Duggar/Bates scrapbook. We exist to discuss the damage caused by fundamentalists.

Since @Iamtheway started a fun thread on the Duggar side, I thought the predictors in us might have fun with a thread on the Bates side. At the end of 2019, those with the most answers correct will get a shout out and bragging rights. 1. Who will announce the next Bates pregnancy? 2. At what date will they announce it? 3. Who will be the next to court? 4. At what date will they announce it? 5. When and where will the engagement take place? 6. What day will Carlin and Evan get married? 7. Where will Carlin and Evan go on their honeymoon? 8. Will Josie continue to work as a hair stylist now that she's married? (And if so, for how long?) 9. Who is the next celebrity Lawson will call out on social media? 10. How many grandchildren will Gil and Kelly have in the end of 2019?

A thread like this was started in the Duggar section so I decided to start one here. Does anyone think BUB should stay on the air? If so, why? I personally think it needs to be canceled and they all need to fade into obscurity. ~Reality TV is not good for children. ~This show provides a platform to normalize high ranking members of a hateful, dangerous cult along with normalizing their beliefs. ~It gives them money and makes it appear to them that "God" is blessing them for believing and teaching awful things.

IBLP has a video up of Gil trying to guilt people into spending their family vacation money on an IBLP event. Instead of taking a vacation with your family, come to one of the IBLP family conferences! He promises that it will change your life and your family will talk about it all year*. So don't take your kids on a regular vacation, take them to an IBLP family conference! The boys have fun and the girls get to sit inside and memorize the Bible! Yeah! Your kids will totally prefer this to an actual vacation. Gil is totally not saying this because he wants your money to help finance his lifestyle. The sad thing is, unlike Gil and Kelly who now seem to live perpetually on vacation, some of these families will save every dime they have to come to this because IBLP heaps loads of guilt on families who don't attend. For some IBLP children this is the only vacation they ever know. https://iblp.org/seminars-conferences/family-conferences *true. the kids are going to be talking about this to their therapists for years.

So we've played the game multiple times with the Duggars. What will the future of this family in 5/10/20 years? I predict that the quick marriages will continue. Another 2-3 married in the next 5 years, including Nathan and Tori, maybe Lawson as well. In 10 years there will only be 8-9 kids left at home. In 20, maybe 1-3 kids. I think Zach and Whitney will have a larger family. 8-10 kids. Some more drifting towards fundie lite. Will probably never know for sure. I think Erin will slow down. Maybe 1-2 more kids over the next 10 years but that's it. They will stay fundie except for limiting family size. Michael and Brandon will actively pursue blessings but time will tell. They will stay fundie, although I do think the Institute will die out and he will need another job. Alyssa and Jon will have 6 kids in 10-15 years but then be done. She'll stay off the internet. Nathan will marry quickly after finding a sweet Southern fundie gal. Lawson will fall hard for a girl, probably another musician. Tori will marry Bobby. I'm not sure if any of them will approach 19 kids, but I'm better at least one will have 12. I'm not sure yet who that will be though. The littles will be much more independent as young adults. 10-15 years from now when the boys are teens and the girls are in their late teens/early 20's they will be left alone for long periods of time while their parents travel/enjoy retirement. Erin or Zach will be called on to check on them while their parents are away but they will enjoy a lot more freedom and I'd expect at least one of them go away from fundie life. Maybe a real college degree by then. Guesses, anyone else?

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I searched but didn't see where this movie had been discussed. It is a documentary about IBLP. I can't wait to see it. The movie comes out in 2017.

Not sure if this was posted before, but Big Sandy is scheduled for April. I was just browsing the offerings and mugshots of our usual suspects (Gil and OfGil Bates, Jim Bob and OfJimBob Duggar, the incomparable Davy Waller, and little Gabe Cleaver Cleator) when who should pop up but Steve and OfSteve Maxwell! I don't remember them being on the schedule before: http://familyconferences.org/events/family-conference/big-sandy/

I was watching Netflix the other day as I unpacked moving boxes and I got to the episode where we first meet the Bates family. They come to stay with the Duggars. Their very close friends who they hadn't seen in seven years And they jump out of planes, etc (which was actually kind of hip for the Duggars!) They went on the outing with Amy making fun of it the whole time and the Bates girls were all dressed in matching little girl outfits, even though a number of them were over 18. And they talked about it for a while, about all the girls, toddlers and up, liking to wear matching outfits. I was sort of stunned. Here we are years later and Erin and Alyssa are both married. And Jill. And almost Jessa. And I'm staring at them. Granted they were younger. But are we to believe that Alyssa, who met her now husband when she was 16, attracted him in those outfits? And Erin with her pink master bedroom. I guess my statement/question is this, even for Fundie men, what is the appeal of this child brides dressed like dolls? Do they really want to go for the rest of their lives with women who know very little about the world? Jill has at least travelled and worked, sort of, as a midwife. Anyone else have any thoughts? I mean the contrast between seeing them as married women and the dressed in matching outfits...

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So I dug through the Wayback machine and finally found the old Bates blog. We have looked before and I'm not sure why we weren't able to find it. Wow, what a difference! One of the biggest things that stands out is that in the picture on top, Kelly is never holding a baby or even standing near a baby. They also bring up ATI and IBLP a lot. Here are some of the Bates going to Romania with Gothard to try to save Gypsies. And there are some super awkward Zack's courtship pictures. Poor girl was clearly never really into him. https://web.archive.org/web/20111206095054/http://gilbatesfamily.com/blog This link tells how they gave Judson that name because they want him to be a soldier for Christ. The link also tells how the older partners(that was their word for buddy) were busy now, so she, at 10, "volunteered" to bathe, dress, and care for the small children. Here are the Bates "recipes" that make Tater Tot Casserole sound good. Pour canned beans over bread, put a sliced hot-dog on it and sprinkle on some cheese. Put a scoop of mashed potatoes on a slice of bologna and sprinkle on some cheese. https://web.archive.org/web/20101112160342/http://gilbatesfamily.com/blog Zach goes to give a talk for IBLP and then Gil preaches about how rejection is conquered by realizing you have gifts. https://web.archive.org/web/20101221071610/http://gilbatesfamily.com/blog/ Gil teaching at ATI's yearly conference. They don't even try to call it a "Family Conference". https://web.archive.org/web/20110620171906/http://gilbatesfamily.com/blog Zach proposing a courtship. https://web.archive.org/web/20110710082032/http://gilbatesfamily.com/blog Gil and Kelly drag a baby around the Grand Canyon with no hat and in only a onesie. Their poor parenting skills were discussed by Free Jinger at the time. https://web.archive.org/web/20110721000848/http://gilbatesfamily.com/blog/ Carlin Josie and Katie doubt their salvation and get saved again. https://web.archive.org/web/20110817061300/http://gilbatesfamily.com/blog/ They spend Valentine's day at IBLP headquarters. https://web.archive.org/web/20110220203649/http://gilbatesfamily.com/blog Trace gets convicted of sin and is saved https://web.archive.org/web/20110220203649/http://gilbatesfamily.com/blog They campaign for Rick Santorum.

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I had some time to kill today, and I made these charts comparing how the Duggar Kidults and Bates Kidults compare to their moms when it comes to making babies. I think it's actually pretty interesting, and fj is the only place in the world I can imagine where anyone might even find it remotely interesting as I do. In any case, it's mostly just for my enjoyment and reference (I'm a fundie and math junkie I guess lmao) but I thought I might share it just in case any of you all were interested in it. If you're wondering why I didn't do anything more productive with my time today, don't worry I am too. Anyway, here it is

One Bates new baby. One pregnancy soon to end. Endless discussion about the 2nd generation.

Kelly has posted some photos from a hike the family took in 2008. They are interesting, but what I find fascinating is seeing Allyssa in her frumper - she's almost unrecognisable! More on the blog....

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They haven't updated their blog in about a week....I suppose it could be something simple like internet is down . There's been a lot of "fellowshippin'" going on with other ATI high profile families......

From here:

http://defamer.gawker.com/the-bates-fam ... 8Gawker%29 Read it and weep.

Just wondering if anyone could help me find the posts by the user who said they knew the Bates family? I'd love to read what they wrote again.