Jill & Jessa Counting On, Regular Season 1

[OrchidBlossom]

59 minutes ago, SilverBeach said:

They may think they are doing right , but just one reading of FJ would reveal otherwise, if only any of them were brave enough. In my view, they are not in a tough position at all because their willful ignorance of the evils of ATI/IBLP/GOTHARD poses no cognitive dissonance or discomfort to them whatsoever. The problem is, staying in that mess will screw up their subsequent generations, while contributing to the racism/homophobia/misogyny in our society, not to mention moving us closer to a theocracy. This goes for the Bates too, David Walker, all of them.

BTW, no one would reasonably expect a newly minted 18 year old fundie " adult" who still lives at home to be as accountable as a 28 year old fundie adult who is married with children and has moved out of the house.

I'm still short on sympathy, while not diminishing in any way the awfulness of the Duggar upbringing. Many folks have awful upbringings, including molestation, and do not promulgate hate directly or indirectly. I really hope that as the years pass, minds are opened and the light shines in. In the meanwhile, no opportunity to express disapproval of those adhering to the beliefs and practices of ATI/IBLP/GOTHARD should go untaken. 

 

 

I pretty much agree with everything you said. I think I am using sympathy to mean more like, I draw a huge distinction between someone like J'chelle and Boob, who willingly entered this cult having had relatively normal upbringings, and kids who were born into it and don't know anything else, and therefore face a huge uphill battle if they want to leave. It doesn't mean I think they SHOULDN'T climb that hill, or that their choice not to do so is excusable. More that I can look at where they are as a result of their birth and say "yeah, that is probably pretty terrible. It really sucks you are in that position." I can also say (and think it's very important to say) "get climbing though" and point to the resources they have to make it easier.

[anotherone]

1 hour ago, SilverBeach said:

They may think they are doing right , but just one reading of FJ would reveal otherwise, if only any of them were brave enough.

 

 

But isn't that what they think of us?  Just one reading of the ATI scriptures and they will be converted.  Just one witnessing of Derick's streetcorner preaching and they will know the truth, just one line of Ben's Christian rap, and they all will see the light. 

I mean, I do think that's their attitude. We're just not brave enough to listen, just as we think that of them.

That makes me think, I wonder how many people are converted to fundie per year, vs. how many leave the cult.  Are these cults growing overall?  Or does it just depend on how many are born into it.

[ksgranola1]

1 hour ago, sj3339sta said:

Since Gothard is supposedly out of the picture, I wonder who is actually doing the leading now?

Good question! Do you suppose JB has his eye on that position. You can't tell me it hasn't crossed his mind. But we don't really know how a replacement is chosen. Any former fundies care to enlighten us?

[DuggarWatch]

2 minutes ago, ksgranola1 said:

Good question! Do you suppose JB has his eye on that position. You can't tell me it hasn't crossed his mind. But we don't really know how a replacement is chosen. Any former fundies care to enlighten us?

It is a non-profit corporation and is run by the Board of Directors.  The Board chooses the Executive Director.

[SilverBeach]

28 minutes ago, anotherone said:

But isn't that what they think of us?  Just one reading of the ATI scriptures and they will be converted.  Just one witnessing of Derick's streetcorner preaching and they will know the truth, just one line of Ben's Christian rap, and they all will see the light. 

I mean, I do think that's their attitude. We're just not brave enough to listen, just as we think that of them.

That makes me think, I wonder how many people are converted to fundie per year, vs. how many leave the cult.  Are these cults growing overall?  Or does it just depend on how many are born into it.

I didn't say one reading would convert them to a new way of thinking, I said it would reveal to them that they (horrors) are not doing right. That would be just a beginning.

I think they feel those who don't respond to their preaching are lost heathens, not fearful of being converted. Just uninterested.

They are not brave enough because part of cult brainwashing is to exclude reading or hearing anything critical of the cult platform. The fear is that you will lose your faith by allowing"the devil" to put doubts in your mind is real. I don't think the two situations are comparable at all.

JB and Michelle joined the cult as adults. The IBLP web page talks about the growth it has experienced. People definitely still join this group that were not born into it.

[OrchidBlossom]

29 minutes ago, anotherone said:

 

That makes me think, I wonder how many people are converted to fundie per year, vs. how many leave the cult.  Are these cults growing overall?  Or does it just depend on how many are born into it.

I am basing this more off of my knowledge/experience with other cults, not fundies specifically, but most cults saw a huge popularity boom in the 70s and 80s, so around when the Duggars would have joined up. The popularity of cults waned in the 90s and 00s, but now in the 20teens it is picking back up somewhat. Whether that is due to births or due to the polarization of religion in America, I'm not sure. I would guess I mix of both.

[sj3339sta]

30 minutes ago, SilverBeach said:

I didn't say one reading would convert them to a new way of thinking, I said it would reveal to them that they (horrors) are not doing right. That would be just a beginning.

I think they feel those who don't respond to their preaching are lost heathens, not fearful of being converted. Just uninterested.

They are not brave enough because part of cult brainwashing is to exclude reading or hearing anything critical of the cult platform. The fear is that you will lose your faith by allowing"the devil" to put doubts in your mind is real. I don't think the two situations are comparable at all.

JB and Michelle joined the cult as adults. The IBLP web page talks about the growth it has experienced. People definitely still join this group that were not born into it.

I think the Duggar's are part of that growth play-book.  I even got sucked in until I did some research and figured out pretty quickly what was going on.

[Coconut Flan]

Continued in Part 2: