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What Brought You to Free Jinger?


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Like many others I came here after the Josh scandal and have been lurking here since. I grew up in the dutch bible belt and was watching the duggars because it was kind of a guilty sin to look back at my youth. Since the duggars went down I have been reading day after day after day here and elsewhere to discover that this family is not your typical bible belt family but that I was watching a cult on tv. Thx, free jinger for opening my eyes, I have learnt alot from you guys here!

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I found FJ years ago when I first became aware of how messed up the Duggar family was. At first I was intimidated by it so I never really came here. Eventually I found pickles's Facebook page and used that for most of my Duggar snarking. However, I grew more and more disillusioned with her (particularly because of all the "republicans are all the devil" posts), so I decided to finally join. And then the Josh thing happened the very next day. :shrug:

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I discovered FJ earlier this year, pre-baby Dilly watch (that is what got me to sign up for an account haha). All of the info on fundamentalism is both great and terrifying, and I am so happy to have found you all!

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Hello, Free Jinger!

I first heard about this forum probably about a year ago, and would occasionally check out some threads. It was a recent FJ mention in a Defamer (Gawker) article that really made me start reading more - I guess it took the Josh scandal for me to start actually make an account and start posting. Definitely enjoying reading all the posts in this community! :)

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The fallout from Joshpocalypse was what finally got me to quit lurking around and register an account. I appreciate the honesty everyone has, and the snark is amazing.

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I started with the Duggar family during the 14 kids special on the TWoP forum and followed that through until they shut down and then moved to PreviouslyTV to continue catching up on Duggar goings on. Free Jinger and Recovering Grace were mentioned occasionally in the forum so I decided to take a look and then I couldn't stop looking. I was struck by how thoughtful and caring the members of FJ are. The concern for the children in these families radiates amongst the snark and makes me cringe, reflect, and laugh on a daily basis.

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I am new here...

After watching my second episode of 19KAC which was one of the courting episode (idr) I googled if Jana was courting anyone, FJ was the 3rd hit

What drew me in was the curious and yet slighlty appalling nature of the Duggar fam. I got on the band wagon wayyy late.

I was curious about their beliefs, who shared those beliefs, etc. and this was the one place that could answer my questions. Like many people on this forum, I am attached to the LG's and want to protect and enlighten them some how. The howlers are clueless. And at this point I have accepted Jana is the sacrificial child that stays behind to care for the parents. Im a senior psychology major and have used the Duggars/fundies as many project or paper content. I have been lurking for so long and have finally decided to join this community because of all the chuckles this forum has brought me

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The Maxwells were my gateway fundies but not through FJ. My twins were premature and I was researching preemies on the web and came across Savannah's story. I felt a connection with them just because we both had preemies. I offered condolences. They contacted me a few times, thanking me and asked about my faith. I had left my church (Episcopal) but was still faithful. They encouraged me to find a church - which I did. And for that, I am thankful. However.....I always thought they were a bit off but I couldn't put my finger on it.....

I landed on FJ a few times and had never seen this forum format so I always clicked away. I have been lurking for a few months. Not really sure what I clicked that brought me back but I kept landing here so I decided to start reading. When I saw the Family Summaries list, I clicked on that and my new Guilty Pleasure was born. When I saw the Maxwells on the list...well, no wonder I thought they were a bit off. I find Fundamentalism fascinating. I find pretty much all religions fascinating. But this has been fun. I decided to create an account and it was activated this morning. I'm glad to be here. Thanks for having me.

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I started lurking my freshman year of college when Feelin' Feminine and Michelle (super catholic blogger in scotland or one of the islands maybe ?) were still active. I'd read it to relax after my awful philosophy classes. Didn't sign up for an account until the Duggar scandal, and so glad it has introduced me to new fundies since the others I used to follow have disappeared.

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I am a new christian who became a Christian in Frbruary of this year. I despised the fundamentalist sector of Christianity for years. I am distraught over and I hate the fact that the fundamentalist Christians have been twisting the gospel through their increased platform. I tried to register on another site but they were not taking restigrations so I googled other forums exposing fundamentalism and I landed here.

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Sparkling Lauren brought me here. I am not surprised that she is many a peoples gateway fundie. The day I found her blog I think I spent at least 4-5 hours reading in fascination/horror. I miss her blog posts so much.

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I heard FJ mentioned on a facebook page about the Naugler family. When they started playing the dirty delete games and finally deactivated all the crazy pages there, I moved over here and discovered the Nauglers were only one of the many crazy families with more kids than common sense... I've been reading old pages about the Pennington and Rodrigues families ever since!

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Well, I've been lurking here since DPIAT went down in flames, but I signed up for an account because Esther Seppi tried to friend me on FB. I had a passing acquaintance with their family and bunch of other really crazy fundies almost 20 years ago when my family went through a weird isolationist spell. I can't think of any better way to say :nenner: to Esther than to sign up here.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have been a longtime lurker of FreeJinger. I think I found this site by accident when I was googling something the Duggars. I joined the site to see some hidden content back when there was hidden content. After the scandal, the Duggars stopped being interesting so I delved into the wackiness that is Sparkling Lauren. I find all religions fascinating, but especially fundamentalism. Anyway, I'm excited to finally have the courage to post something.

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I also found FJ while googling the Duggars a couple of years ago. I lurked here for over a year before joining. I was one of those who watched the Duggars to discover and employ their method of raising happy, respectful children. It wasn't until I found FJ that I learned how the children were abused into being such. It fascinates me how little viewers were told about their true beliefs and practices, especially given the fact that the Duggars repeatedly mention they only agreed to do the show if their beliefs were not edited out.

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Well, I've been lurking here since DPIAT went down in flames, but I signed up for an account because Esther Seppi tried to friend me on FB. I had a passing acquaintance with their family and bunch of other really crazy fundies almost 20 years ago when my family went through a weird isolationist spell. I can't think of any better way to say :nenner: to Esther than to sign up here.

:lol:

Anyone whose avatar is Danny Kaye lip-synching the "Sisters" number sounds like my kind of people.

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Have been lurking here from time to time for years. :shhh: have a mild evangelical upbringing and I have been fascinated with fundamentalism for a long time after watching the first '14 Kids' special.

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Started reading on TWOP after I first stumbled on the first Duggar documentary. Never watched them regularly, but used TWOP and later FJ as a way of gawping at them. FJ introduced me to this whole insane world of fundamentalism, and after Joshgate I joined, and have been diving down rabbit holes more and more - I don't know who fascinates/horrifies me more, the Rodrigues or the Schraders!

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It's really nice to "meet" you all! I should hang out over here more just to see how everybody wound up here.

I found FJ through the WTFFundieFamilies tumblr, which was my FJ before FJ was my FJ. It's interesting, but the exchanges aren't as intuitive. There are some great pictures though. Anyway, when I did a brief stint as a psych student fresh out of high school, I wanted to go into cult deprogramming for religions like this. My psych career was not to be, but the interest remained, and here I am. Greetings, guys!

:greetings-waveyellow:

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I am a survivor of a long-term abusive situation (initially he was my teacher - I the student), very dysfunctional, but also confusing to me because he was a deacon and a "very Christian man." It was actually my second abuse - I was also molested by a neighbor as a small child.

When Joshgate broke, it was difficult for me. I wanted to know everything, but I didn't. I was fascinated and disgusted, and I needed to know what others were thinking and saying.

Through the years, I've had a fascination with fundie groups (my specialty - Michael Travesser and Strong City in northern New Mexico) and so I was familiar with Free Jinger as a source of reliable information about the Duggars and other fundie families.

So when Joshgate hit, this was one of the first sites I visited. But reading wasn't enough - I wanted to "say my piece" - so I registered specifically for that.

There's more - but I'll leave it at that. FJ is often right at the top of Google searches for fundies - :) probably a good place to be.

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It was Emily and Dna and the children's room remodel of horror. I don't know how that came to my attention in the first place because none of my FB or real life friends are fundies... But from there I did a Google search and found FJ. I've been on and off lurking since then, and came out of hiding for the Pickles thread so I could see the hidden content. :embarrassed:

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I first found this forum because I used to know (fairly well) one of the minor fundies who has been snarked on here. It was curiosity about what that person has been up to that brought me here, and I decided to register because there were other subjects of interest too.

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I discovered the Duggars back when I was living in Canada and had access to TLC. I think they were on 16 kids at that point. I was definitely a fan, might even go so far as to say leghumper (oh the shame) and when I moved back to the UK I fell into a whole fundie mess of a church, and it's taken me a while to fully accept and move on from the damage done. Anyway, my own personal experiences had me googling and I landed here. I lurked for a few months, signed up to access hidden content back when that was a thing, and I've just plucked up the courage to begin posting. Nice to meet you all!

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A friend of mine recommended these forums while we were on holiday together and watching TLC in our hotel room. She noticed my interest in the Duggars and asked how much I knew about fundies and Gothard etc., which admittedly was very little. I've been lurking here since and really appreciate how thoughtful everyone's posts are. I am no longer content to just read and registered for an account so I can contribute.

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I joined FJ when I started investigating Bill Gothard, IBLP, IFB, ATI and the Quiverfull movement after the Duggar incest scandal broke. I have to admit I was pretty horrified by what I found. I joined the forums here because I needed to share what I was feeling, with people who understood.

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