Zack Bates and Sarah Reith Courtship Kaput

[pixydust]

It did seem that Jana's 'depression' happened about the same time that Zach and Sarah were courting, didn't it? If Jana were interested in Zach, wouldn't you suppose that Jim Bob could come up with the $$$ to help them along? Before you ask, this is the first time I have heard of a Zach and Jana possible courtship so I have nothing to add to the truth or untruth of this.

To add to the 'criminal justice' degree being useful. Zach does volunteer with the Sheriff's Dept. It might help him get a regular job with them. This is just a guess.

I dont think that JB should be required to help come up with money in for Zach in order to court his daughter. It can be a slippery slope. He would then be expected to always help them out with money or help other men who want to court his daughters.

I also think its important for the man to have the initiative to come up with the money for the house on their own. They are the ones who will have to provide for the family long term. I dont see anything wrong with JB expecting them to show that they can provide for his daughters before he allows a court ship.

[BayLee_10]

In no way was I suggesting that Jim Bob SHOULD help any 'prospect' for courting any of his daughters. I was just mentioning Jim Bob COULD be of help if it meant a lot to Jana. Who knows if any of this happened in any case?

Maybe Zach wants to start his own private detective agency or private security firm...just kidding!

[Witsec7]

They were living in a rented house with 2 bathrooms for 14 kids. They had to find new living quarters because that rented house was being torn down by the owners. Meanwhile the tinker toys house was taking forever to finish before TLC stepped in.

I would say they live fairly comfortably now, but I would not say they did then.

At that time they were dependent on donations.

[DarkAnts]

At that time they were dependent on donations.

Just for the record, Baylee was trying to quote me. I own my words good and bad. I did not know that they were dependent on donations at that time. I have not done nearly as much research into them as some of you.

[3 is enough]

I imagine at this point Zach just really, really, wants to get laid. He saw a light at the end of the tunnel with Sarah, and then it was gone. How old is he, anyhow? 23 or 24? Man, he must be jealous of Smuggar- with his wife, kids, regular sex, not to mention how "worldly" Josh has become lately. Plus, Zach knows his father will never be able to help him out the way Jim Bob helped (and continues to help) Josh.

It really is sad.

*edited for riffles*

[SisiL78]

I imagine at this point Zach just really, really, wants to get laid. He saw a light at the end of the tunnel with Sarah, and then it was gone. How old is he, anyhow? 23 or 24? Man, he must be jealous of Smuggar- with his wife, kids, regular sex, not to mention how "worldly" Josh has become lately. Plus, Zach knows his father will never be able to help him out the way him up like Jim Bob helped (and continues to help) Josh.

It really is sad.

Reminds me of this article:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/desire ... -to-w,798/

[BayLee_10]

For the record I did click on quote before I used your quote. Somehow it didn't work.

Just for the record, Baylee was trying to quote me. I own my words good and bad. I did not know that they were dependent on donations at that time. I have not done nearly as much research into them as some of you.

[B5SnowDog]

For the record I did click on quote before I used your quote. Somehow it didn't work.

You need to make sure the cursor is outside of the quote tags before typing your own words. It looks like you start typing in the middle of the quoted block of text.

[Deleted07]

They were living in a rented house with 2 bathrooms for 14 kids. They had to find new living quarters because that rented house was being torn down by the owners. Meanwhile the tinker toys house was taking forever to finish before TLC stepped in.

I would say they live fairly comfortably now, but I would not say they did then.

I agree!

There is no way they were living comfortably before TLC came along, just look at their tiny house, old frumpers and how slow the process of building and moving to the decent sized house was until TLC stepped in!!!

And as someone else said, they relied on donations which has been confirmed again and again.

[SisiL78]

There's nothing wrong with living in a small home or sharing clothing (although I think the frumpers were more a religious statement than money savings, after all thrift store clothing is probably cheaper than sewing things these days). Its not ideal but people can survive sharing a bathroom and space.

Even taking donations is okay. I don't think its a sustainable long term plan, but for a short while when there is an upset in the family finances then okay. But, its the hypocrisy. To be the benefactor of charity but then to show little to no willingness to be charitable once you become successful is horrid. You give back to those who helped you in the first place so that they can help someone else. That's the RIGHT way. I'm sure that the Bible backs me up on this one. And when people seek help from the government in the form of welfare or food stamps you do not then rail against them and call them good for nothing.

Furthermore, Michelle's attempts to squash an honest business owner from being able to sell beer at his store when the law would otherwise permit him to do so is unconscionable. To put forth effort in limiting the ability of someone else to support their family in a legal way?

And finally, to then turn your children into potential societal leeches who will procreate with no means of support is also unconscionable. For starters it hurts those children, but you also made them feel guilty over getting the same kind of charity you got. Whether the charity is coming from the church or from the government shouldn't matter much. They don't have a church to turn to because you separated them from that church community and probably taught them that the church was not holy and godly enough so they will not have that avenue to turn to.

Its one thing to have your beliefs and live by them. Fine. Do that. Go for it and godspeed. But, to live by those beliefs and force others to live by them even if they do not want to, and then to actively work against other families (including the future families of your children) is spineless and without morality.

[snickerz]

History, Criminal Justice, County Commissioner. Zach is much like our Joshie boy--he would like a career in politics. I think he fancies himself a future senator or something. Here's a word of advice to you, Zach: if you can't even leave home without a chaperone, you obviously can't be trusted to make basic decisions for yourself, let alone important decisions for other people.

[Deleted07]

Just snooping on the Bates blog, and came across this comment on the Courtship thread:

[some comments in this colour]

Tryge and Jodi Jepson

7/31/2012 2:06:01 AM

Hello Bate,

We are truly sorry to hear about your loss! [wtf?] We hope the SM Davis Sermon we sent you for Christmas is making sense. He speaks out against courtship for these reasons. We believe his approach to the marriage alter is very on target biblically. However many, many disagree with his thought on this. Maybe the Lord has allowed this, that you might make a few changes to spare heart ache for the others. [ie; you were wrong to choose courtship, this is why it happened wtf?] I know we were so blessed and thankful for Mr. Davis message. Avoiding Defrauding in Relationships we wish I could hand them out by the box full!

Many prayers, the Jepson family

So I went looking at said sermon they referenced, thinking what the heck could be stricter than courtship unless it was essentially an arranged marriage, and found these blurbs about the sermons:

A dating spirit is a deceitful thing. It is manifested in a guy or a girl who has made good commitments, but they still allow their hearts to wander emotionally toward some person. Like "Sally Christian," a girl may give her heart away a piece at a time, until it seems impossible to stand at the marriage altar and give her whole heart to her mate. Here are seven things for parents to do and eight things for youth to do to help reach God's goal of one serious relationship for life.

Coming from a viewpoint that there are three stages: not betrothed, betrothed, or married, Davis presents a number of suggestions for what the bride price accomplishes, including sacrifice on the part of the man and "a feeling of great worth" on behalf of the bride.

Dr. Davis illustrates four key principles that everyone should follow to get to the marriage altar: Stay asleep or go to sleep in relation to the desire to have a mate or to get married, Wake up with the leadership of God-given authority figures, Make a decision as much apart from emotion as possible to avoid defrauding, and Establish a secure relationship that includes physical purity and the winning of the lady. [so they aren't even allowed to have emotions for a spouse now? wow.]

For years, Bible-believing churches have warned about worldly dating because of the danger of moral impurity, but he came to see I Thessalonians 4 as meaning that it's possible to not only defraud a brother or sister physically, but emotionally as well!

[always some way to be defrauded huh, trust them to take it to a whole new level]

To be safe, Davis recommends in this lecture that Christian families should erect fences that will protect against defrauding in both areas. Christian dating, and perhaps even what some call "courtship," violates:

The command to be a "one-woman man" or a one-man woman."

The principle of security in relationships.

The command to treat others like brothers or sisters.

The command to "not go beyond and defraud."

The principle of going to sleep and waiting on God.

The principle of being ready to marry when you begin seeking your bride.

The command to "walk by faith, not by sight."

:shock: Seems the Jepson family are clearly admonishing The Bates over Zack and Sarah's "dating" ways! Seriously, short of them arranging and choosing a bride like a business transaction, there is very little that could have been done to avoid two people just simply not being right for eachother, do they seriously think hurrying things up and not courting and just marrying straight up would have been better? These people are really screwy!

[Witsec7]

The blog hasn't been updated in a while

createdformandotblogspotdotcom/2011/11/my-testimony.html

But a bit of insight into the Jepsons.

edited to add the family blog:

theshelteredplacedotblogspotdotcom/

[Deleted07]

Just found this blog post too:

createdforman.blogspot.com.au/2011/01/betrothal.html

The logistics... young man believes that he has met his mate. Now if your other half just walked in the room hopefully you are walking with the Lord close enough to notice this, if not the parents may pick up on this. Young man receives his own parents blessing, young man presents this the the daughters parents and prayerfully receives their blessing. Then at this point young lady is asked for her hand in marriage. The betrothal begins and continues until the day of marriage. The couple, Lord willing has had a chance to get to know each other some what through family gatherings or church meetings. The betrothal differs in such a way because as I have said, we believe God has created a certain young lady or young man specifically, individually for each one of our children. Hence, if you are in a relationship with someone you end up not marrying then you have just pursued another mans wife or husband. This leads to defrauding someones heart which does not honor God and can lead to all sorts of backsliding in our young people.

OY VEY! :shock:

[Coconut Flan]

We might as well send them Ouija boards.

[Witsec7]

Mrs. Jepson is a cunt of the highest order. And I don't mean that in the good way.

Yes, only one day. This is huge for us, I am bursting with joy. We spent more than a few hours talking this morning. I told the girls I am sorry I am not your birth Mom and you are angry at me for this. However, I am the Mom God has given you and it hurts me deeply how you are treating me. I asked them....this... where is your birth Mom?????? Silence.... Is she here??? More silence...

Thinking time, desperate prayer in my heart.

Tears, all of us.

I am here, I am what you have. I am the only Mommy you have.

Silence, more thinking time...many more tears.

Surprisingly!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We love you Mommy, we want you to be our Mommy, were sorry. Please forgive us.

[Deleted07]

urgh, for fucks sake.... :x

[galaxygirl]

Mrs. Jepson is a cunt of the highest order. And I don't mean that in the good way.

What a fucking bitch.

[Jezebel Duggar]

I also think this is trolling. She does so many things people do when lying or trying to convince you of some BS:

Attempt to establish the legitimacy of what they're saying before they say it "Thought I would share and interesting fact..."

Present credentials to win your trust "I had personally know the Bates"...

Uses unnecessary numbers (numbers are easy lies, people tend to revert to them when they're bs'ing, it's like a crutch) In this case she is additionally vague because she knows it's a lie so it is padded with an approximation "...for about 6 or 7 years"

She repeats "fact" again to reinforce this story that her conscience knows is, literally, unbelievable.

Also spelled Zach wrong, doesn't prove anything by itself but shows she likely didn't know them for 7, or 6 years. I can't say for sure it is a lie, it just reads like one.

I don't believe a word of it either.

[SisiL78]

I don't get how pathetic a person must be to pretend to be friends with the Bates family on a blog that snarks about them. They aren't wonderful, in fact they are pretty awful people in so many ways. If I was friends with their family I'd keep it a secret... even online with no hints towards my real identity!

[freealljs]

I don't get how pathetic a person must be to pretend to be friends with the Bates family on a blog that snarks about them. They aren't wonderful, in fact they are pretty awful people in so many ways. If I was friends with their family I'd keep it a secret... even online with no hints towards my real identity!

I take all this "knowing the Bates" with a grain of salt. This person may know the Bates, but who knows. I try to use my brain to analyze whether the information presented is relevant or believable.

[Alisson78]

I understand if people think I'm trolling here. But I'm truly not. The whole reason I signed up was to present the information about Zak and Jana because I saw people speculating about it. The Bates went to the same church as my family for a while.

Zack always spelled his name as Zak so that's why I wrote it that way.

[JenniferJuniper]

I understand if people think I'm trolling here. But I'm truly not. The whole reason I signed up was to present the information about Zak and Jana because I saw people speculating about it. The Bates went to the same church as my family for a while.

Zack always spelled his name as Zak so that's why I wrote it that way.

His parents spell it "Zack".

Of course, there calling Michaela "Michael" now so you never can tell with them.

[Alisson78]

His parents used to spell it Zak too. The whole family did. I'm thinking they may have changed it to look more like your average spelling.

Anyway, it seems people think I was really rude for posting this, but I wasn't trying to be. I just figured since they're going public it didn't really matter

since they'll be scrutinized quite closely from now on.

I did use to be friends with them, but that ended a few years ago and I won't go into detail about it.

Allison is also my pen name.

[Miggy]

His parents used to spell it Zak too. The whole family did. I'm thinking they may have changed it to look more like your average spelling.

His parents are now spelling it Zach.

I have known plenty of people who have had different nicknames as they have grown up. For example my friend Kathryn who was Katie as a child, Kathy as a teen and is now known as Kate. I have never known anyone who has always used the same name but has spelt it three ways.