Since joining FJ

[martian]

Burris?!?

Somebody please tell me that Burris was not the person I saw mentioned in another thread who turned out to be a Serbian concentration camp guard. Actually somebody tell me that the concentration camp story was altogether just somebody's very, very strange idea of a joke, that's what I really want to hear.

[GodsKnickers]

Well jesus mary and joseph and all the saints preserve us. I finished 39 pages of that Burris post. Took me all day. Oh well, gave me something to do while sitting in my doctor's office and at the lab. And now, I kind of want my doc to read it, who actually lived through a shitpile of this crap - but then, I don't want her to read it because that would be awful and because I kind of really really like my doctor. I just kind of want to see what she'd blow out of the water.

I really am not GodsKnickers. Just the longjohns that get taken out when The Boss is tramping around in 16 feet of snow out in the bush, but knickers sounded much fancier. I'm just glad I'm not God's Launderer. I hear Knickers gets poop scoots. Nor am I a lego woman with square knockers, though by the time I take the bra off at the end of the day, they sort of feel that way.

I do have a chronically ill kid, and it sucks. It did take up all my time for a while which is why I am only here sporadically. That, and I don't have enough of the history of anyone beyond the Duggars, so I mostly only hang out on those posts. I also want to know what part of Alberta 'Burr-Up-Her-Ass' is from, so I know which part to avoid; I know I'm within spitting distance of another FJ'er but I'd have to go look at my PMs to recall who because old, and forgetful and old. It's an incredibly odd story (Burris' fibbery). One of my other forums had a long termer that ended up having told all sorts of porkies and it was a rough time for many of them when it came to light.

Anyway, off to read Duggarly things. And perhaps the Seinfeld Blog of Fundiebots or whatever/whomever they are. Also, I wanted to thank so many posts on that Burris thread but wasn't sure if it would cause a rip in the time space continuum, so I didn't. I did have many giggles thanks to several of you. Latraviata's droll wit had me in stitches a few times. Y'all are funny m-effers.

[NotALoserLikeYou]

I came here just because I googled to see if Zach Bates had married that girl he got engaged to in the Duggar show. Now I know everything about the entire family! I think it was reading about the Maxwells that really sucked me in. I'm emotionally invested in seeing one of the girls marry or John marrying a normal person. It's something to look forward to in my life :D

[martian]

So, I went to the end of the Burris thread.

Alrighty, then.

[Mary C Doates]

The downfall of Vision Forum was the most astonishing FJ moment for me. When Doug Phillips (who is a tool) fell, he took enture organizations with him--his church, his business, his personal and religious allies, and the many people associated with them. People lost their jobs and their reputations from their association with him. Yes, the Duggar Downfall is more publicly spectacular, but I think the Vision Forum implosion was much more deeply damaging on a religious and political level. I don't think we've heard the end of it yet.

Plus, Doug Phillips is a tool.

[Guest]

I've lurked on FJ on and off almost from the very beginning. When TWOP was shut down, I started reading here full time. The whole Burris thing was really odd. At least RR made money with her con, what did Burris get out of hers?

As for the Duggars, I figured there would be a scandal at some point. I just always figured it would be JB and J'chelle, and for something boring like tax evasion. I've known about the molestation rumors for a long time like everyone else, and I've always thought there was something off about Josh, but I figured if there was any truth to it, it would have been made public by now. I remember when a member here (I think her screen name was blisterine?) said that her friend had worked on the Oprah show, and confirmed that the rumors were true. I know not to believe things people say on the internet, but something about that rang true to me, and I thought there was a good chance it was true after all.

[martian]

The downfall of Vision Forum was the most astonishing FJ moment for me. When Doug Phillips (who is a tool) fell, he took enture organizations with him--his church, his business, his personal and religious allies, and the many people associated with them. People lost their jobs and their reputations from their association with him. Yes, the Duggar Downfall is more publicly spectacular, but I think the Vision Forum implosion was much more deeply damaging on a religious and political level. I don't think we've heard the end of it yet.

Plus, Doug Phillips is a tool.

Doug Phillips will forever be a tool, but I wonder how the Vision Forum collapse compares to the Mars Hill implosion? Doug takes the crown - and I wish the perp walk - for grossest, most heinous known behavior, but which scandal actually involved more money down the rathole, more people negatively affected, etc.?

If only Gothard's downfall had caused institutional damage comparable to that of the Doug Phillips and Mark Driscoll scandals.

[Mary C Doates]

I wonder if VF's influence was deeper than Mars Hill, particularly with Doug Phillips (who is a tool)'s involvement with Christian home-schooling. And so many people associated with VF did not see it coming at all. I'm not as familiar with Mars Hill, but weren't there rumors floating around about problems there?

Doug Phillips is a tool.

[martian]

That's true that VF had huge influence through the homeschooling movement, their catalog was a big deal, not so much their film festival, I don't think. They certainly saw themselves as the valiant vanguard of a new movement. Mars Hill was a huuuge church, though, and had satellite campuses. They were very, very into church planting and were spreading like kudzu through a different cultural sphere, one where I think people would be more likely to identify as hipster than as fundie - or maybe even evangelical, not sure on that. And I get the impression that there were some very large amounts of money sloshing around and difficult to track at Mars Hill.

I don't know. It's a very interesting question to me, the relative size of these disasters, where they track with each other and where they don't.

[VaSportsMom]

So, I went to the end of the Burris thread.

Alrighty, then.

I just did the same and wow! I tried following along in the beginning but her long posts clearly worded to make posters plead for more details drove me nuts so I bailed and never went back. I didn't see the outting as a troll coming but I feel like I should have. That was quite the tale she spun.

[Jennifer Hart]

I lurked since TWOP days and good ole Howard running people off. I used to read RazingRuth blog and the showdown when she was exposed. When I could no longer read here for a while, I realized how much I enjoyed the discussions and finally signed up. I still mainly lurk but like having the option to chime in if I want. After all these years I'm surprised it was Josh and his "sin in the camp" ways to finally show people the Duggars were a crazy cult.

[August]

I totally missed the whole Burris thing.

I have to admit I had had her on ignore for ridiculously self-important blather.

[jojo]

I don't remember how I found FJ, but I have been reading for years, rarely posting. (I got harshly bashed once before the Rapture for asking a question so I shut up.) Maybe I found it by reading about the sick abuses at Hephzibah House and later learning about more cover-ups in other organizations, or reading No Longer Quivering perhaps. I am from the fundy world, and the covering up and keeping things secret is what I hate the most (apart from the actual crimes) ... being part of an organization whose leaders I believed and trusted only to discover their hypocrisy. I know people who were put at great risk because crimes against children had been hushed up and handled (mishandled) in-house/church.

Then there was Razing Ruth. She captured my attention for way too many months. I read and researched everything I could find and joined Anita Dalton's web page about it. To this day I check every so often on "Ruth's" older daughter's Facebook page just to see how the daughter is doing, not that I could do anything about it. It is just reassuring to see she is a survivor of a lying, scamming scum of a mother. Wonder what [redacted] is up to these days, but I don't wonder long.

From FJ, among other things, I have learned that fundie women should not be such wimps (see above) and that homeschooling should be done for the right reasons. I have rarely heard good reasons for it, but I know it meets the needs of some children so that is good.

FJ had Josh's number years ago. I didn't get/see it, but you all were right! And DPIAT!

[hoipolloi]

I've had a hinky feeling about the Botkins right from the get-go, and believe it's only a matter of time before their little cult blows wide open, too.

Add Michael & Debi Pearl the will-blow-wide-open list. Something, maybe a lot of really ugly somethings, are wrong there.

[CyborgKin]

I first found FJ several years back, after a family friend shared some eps of what was then 17KaC. I didn't look around much, just read a bit of current Duggar stuff, wondered who this 'Gothard' person was that was mentioned occasionally, and left without looking at what other people were discussed here. I kinda wish I hadn't been so quick now.

I remembered FJ near the start of the year, cos I was interested in finding out more about the Botkin family. Then I started lurking in earnest (and learning more about DPiaT - I'd seen the Amazon and WWII videos but hadn't heard much about the circumstances of his 'fall'. Dicussion of the Duggars was much the same as it had been on my first visits.

And then a few weeks later, JoshGate 1.0 broke out and everything changed! And then the sequel happened and everything changed again! The Duggars had seemed to have become somewhat secondary, so I was surprised for them to come back to prominence.

I finally decided to actually join up last weekend, to commemorate having met Mark Rushdooney.

[IrishCarrie]

I'm another one who lurked for three years before joining after Joshgate Part 1. I was mildly interested in the Duggars but they led me to ZsuZsu and when I googled her I found Free Jinger, which led me to Erica Shipe and so on....

Today I read my first Maxwell post. Oh sweet Lord.

:(

[quiversR4hunting]

I would find FJ on and off every time there was a rumor about J'chelle being pregnant. All the rumors always led me to FJ. That went on for a few years. I just thought of them as meh. Whatever floats your boat but then a co-worker (psychologist) told me that no way someone could give the attention needed to each of those kids, it clicked with me and I started digging. And somehow, don't know how, I found out about VF and Doug and found Jen's Gems and read her entire story in a few days on her website. Then I did some searches and found the Doug threads on here and on Spiritual Sounding Board and homeschoolers anonymous (and finding out the hate relationship with Jen and FJ). That made me think of the big family specials on TLC and I found the large family with one daughter (Arndt's) and found they are a crazy :wink-penguin: family. Then I found the Jeubs, again. I remembered wondering what happened to the "prodigal daughter". I had sympathy for her when the story aired. Those were the 2 stories that stood out in my mind on the specials. Then I went on to read about the other families on the shows and then found out about the horrible family situation in Alaska and the brave escape and the dad going to prison and dying.

I read all these stories before Doug and Gothard came down (again). Then I devoured the spiritual sounding board series on it. Also I was reading all of this during the “no new posters†time period in 2013/2014. I joined soon after new accounts could be set up.

I pretty much keep track of the Duggars, Bates, Rodrigues and keep watching the pop up crazies that have kids taken away because of homeschooling- or as we know - taken away for neglect or abuse (nauglers and stanley). I pop on the Alexander and Maxhell’s threads sometimes but I can’t stay very long with them. I enjoyed cabinet man, especially playing “hide the post†to drive him nuts! I also watch the threads on FLDS posts (I have read several books on the subject). I read bits on other people to get the references made on the different threads (sparkling lauren, xgay greg, zsu zsu, the holier than thou catholic lady (that makes me want to spit when I read her), etc. )

I hope more and more light is shined on these bad preachers/"religions", etc. Since reading on FJ I have written to Catholic Radio after they said the Duggars are a godly family (before Joshgate 1.0) and told them to read up on them and how they hate Catholics, etc. The radio host was talking about Ben’s remarks on Catholics doesn’t reflect J’B and J’chelle’s views.

I just skimmed the Burris flounce. All I have to say is: :wtf: !

I go up and down with posting because I am in grad school and a mom and work fulltime (I’ve had ½ the summer off, classes start again next week). Even after all this reading of all these cults, I still don’t understand how a family can do this to the people they love. It’s really mind boggling to me.

[nelliebelle1197]

I stumbled on the Maxwells about 3 years ago and got obsessed. I lurked here starting October 2012. I read everything on the Maxwells (including the whole damn blog) and started on Zsucifer, Schupe, etc. I found a few fundies on my own, like lawyer mom Megan and Nikki from Our Little Haven. I think it was interesting to me because when I was a kid, I was sent to an IFB, skirts-only, Bob Jones, PCC- based school and bought into a lot of the nonsense for a number of years.

My true biggest shock was Alectogate. I was just getting brave enough to register (missed the juicy bits because they were in the closed forums; I think some stuff was public but most of the dirt was not viewable) and boom, registration closed. Literally, the day I went to register was the day registration closed- in fact, I think I was registering when registration was shut down because of some weird things that popped up!

DPIA®T was disappointing because LOLDougs are no more and the ridiculousness of that whole thing is fascinating. I was glad when Ruth went down because I just did not believe her once I read her whole blog. I have never cared much for or about the Duggars, so meh. But I was surprised that Josh molested his sisters.

[GenerationCedarchip]

I wonder if VF's influence was deeper than Mars Hill, particularly with Doug Phillips (who is a tool)'s involvement with Christian home-schooling. And so many people associated with VF did not see it coming at all. I'm not as familiar with Mars Hill, but weren't there rumors floating around about problems there?

Doug Phillips is a tool.

I don't know about general influence, but in reformed circles, the blowup of VF has been huge. And in states like mine where the reformed crowd dominates homeschooling groups, it's having a huge fallout. I haven't heard much by way of details, but when I'm around my family and some of my cousins' friends, there is much mention of VF, most of it oblique. VF is almost like fundie Voldemort; everyone talks about it in hushed tones but if you say the actual name of the group out loud, folks will look at you as if you had been using the table centerpiece as a spittoon.

Most of what I hear is discussion over who is a good teacher, what groups give godly counsel to families now that VF is no more and so on. I think a lot of these families are putting serious thought into how they evaluate materials and teachers, what's extrabiblical and what isn't, that sort of thing. There does seem to be a realization that many followed DPIAT and his teachings a bit too blindly, without checking to see what they were based on or without really looking into what went on behind the curtain at his organization.

[sparkles]

I have almost zero religious knowledge. Once I outed myself as an atheist when I was 12, that was pretty much it but I started getting interested in fundamentalism years ago, mainly because of the political implications. The Maxwells were my gateway fruitcake fundies. I learned about them from the Duggar thread on TWOP, which I used to read despite the fact that I've never seen more than 5 minutes of their show and pay no attention to them for the most part. There were a number posters on that thread who were very interesting, especially the one who had taken in her nephews (Auntie Tig?). Razing Ruth too—she'd obviously done her homework and a lot of what she said had a basis in truth (I stopped believing her around the time she claimed her fundie sister had an out-of-wedlock baby who was then adopted by a lesbian couple. Too many things that didn't add up). The Maxwells came up in that thread several times so I checked them out and down the rabbit hole went I. I've read everything I can get my hands on, bought almost all of their books (used and CHEAP) and I'm still fascinated by them. They're still the family that interests and baffles me the most. I read up on some others but none can hold a candle for sheer what-the-fuckery.

I found FJ when I Googled something Maxwell related. I haven't been here since Yuku (I do read it now though) and I haven't lurked. I registered the day found the forum and tend to read more than post because so many others here are far more knowledgeable and insightful about fundamentalism than I could ever hope to be. Quirks, infighting and whatnot aside—I stay away from the drama—I'm grateful to FJ for opening my eyes and expanding my knowledge. I've become much more politically aware and involved, and I've been introduced to a wealth of information—books, blogs and much more. And the snark is first rate. Before finding FJ, I had absolutely no idea about things like VF, the Duck Biologist, the Pearls, even Kirk Cameron or just how deep the fundie pool actually is.

Most shockingly delicious moment for me? Elizabeth the Runaway Bride.

[tropaka]

Gosh I've been around a long time - I came over from TWOP (MightyBigTV before that, before that Dawson's Wrap). Aside from the fundies themselves, I recall some member dramas around Ruth and before that a member who turned out to be a white supremacist (and who also was featured in a reality episode on hoarding). Weird stuff. Remember reading the original Josh tipoff as well.

[Cleopatra7]

I think I came to FJ via TWoP, and lurked a bit in the Yuku days, but for whatever reason I did most of my Duggar snark/commentary at the former until the heavy-handed modding by Howard became too much to bear. For some reason, my computers never liked the Yuku site (I got a lot of unwanted porn when I tried to get on), which was another reason I tended not to linger. Also when I first discovered FJ, I was involved in a bunch of my own religious drama and was too confused to really get into the snarking spirit. I joined once and for all after I decisively became a "born-again atheist" (I was raised secular, became Catholic, then went back to being an atheist), and was ready to go full-throttle against fundies. Interestingly, I first learned about VF from the Catholic Answers Forum, because a bunch of homeschoolers liked their catalog, although some of the more astute posters noted VF's anti-Catholicism and positions on gender that were too extreme even for them.

I totally believed Razing Ruth until she played her hand too far with the dead father with no obituary and the supposed confrontation at the library. I feel stupid for not having doubts about her when her lies seem to obvious in retrospect, but I guess like a lot of posters, I was desperate for insider info on the Duggars and wanted to support someone who had escaped ATI. Who knew that the real secret the Duggars were hiding was wilder than anything RR could have thought up? At least I was too broke to send her money.

The Burris thing still stuns me. At least RR was playing us for money, but I don't get what was motivating Burris for such an epic and bizarre flounce involving claims of genocide, the ICC, and being a fugitive of international justice. If she needed to take some time off from posting, why not just do that or just join another board if she was tired of FJ? I guess we'll never know.

[Luvmyskinnyjeanz]

I found out I had so many fundy sightings without realising it. I thought they were just fashionly challenged. If I had only known I would have paid more attention.

[Whipple]

The Duggars were my gateway fundies. I was a fangirl in the early days. I never wanted to live like them but I respected them for their family values. As soon as I learned the girls were doing all the work I found TWOP and later FJ. Jchelle's pregnancy with #18 was the last straw for me. Since then, I have been waiting for years for the girls to break free. It has been the only reason I read here. Quit watching the show years ago.

The weddings were depressing. I couldn't watch. The pregnancies don't make me happy either. Almost any 20 year old can get pregnant so what's the big deal? I really do want Jinger and now Joy and Anna and all of the rest to break free. Even though I don't like Jchelle at all. I also wish Jchelle could get some real therapy, cut her hair short, and leave Jim Bob. Don't care about the boys. Sorry.

[ADoyle90815]

I found FJ when from TWOP when it was on Yuku, but never joined until sometime after the rapture. Before then, I was a lurker as the FLDS were actually my gateway fundies, then I caught one of the early Duggar specials, which is how I found TWOP. The first scandal I remember was Raizing Ruth, and the fall of Doug Philips . I always knew there was something up about the Duggar family, but I never expected the way they would fall.