Bontragers and Bowers 4: Dumbass Love for the Romantic Lost Cause

[JermajestyDuggar]

1 minute ago, fundiefan said:

In Iowa, it's legal to marry at 16 with parental approval. Absolutely no other restriction exists. 

*Note: Looking that up, I am appalled and aghast at the lax "marriage laws" in the US. Every single state except Delaware & New jersey allows under-age marriage with certain exceptions-parental consent, pregnancy, birth, judge, etc...

BUT things are moving in the right direction. Look at some of the laws that have passed in the last 5 years alone! A lot of states are raising the age of underage marriage. I think it is a trend that will keep up until almost all states require you to be 16 or older. It’s sad that it’s 2020 and we are finally seeing some change in child marriage laws.

[JermajestyDuggar]

When the Pearls stopped doing their annual Shindig a few years ago, another family decided to start one up With the Pearls’ blessing. The Bontragers will be performing there:

[kmachete14]

It creeps me out that a Lutheran church is supporting them. I wonder if they bill themselves differently depending on the church they are selling themselves to? 

[HerNameIsBuffy]

5 minutes ago, kmachete14 said:

It creeps me out that a Lutheran church is supporting them. I wonder if they bill themselves differently depending on the church they are selling themselves to? 

I hope every church is doing due diligence in investigating their links to the Pearls.  And I think those that support them anyway should face consequences from the non-sociopathic of their congregants.

[uber frau]

So I was bored stupid the other day and read the Bowers Bus blog from the beginning.  

It's so saccharine that it makes my teeth ache from a couple of continents away.

There's this revolting combination of penis worship, keeping sweet and stereotypical Southern window dressing.  Ma Bontrager reminds me of a barracuda;  she'll take your hand of if she wants to but she'll be fairly up front about it.   Ma Bowers is a whole lot scarier. She'll smile at you sweetly while she's stabbing you and then try to convince you there's nothing wrong. 

 I'm someone with bitchy resting face syndrome and a fairly blunt and cynical personality to match but the fakeness of it all just skeeves me out. 

I get a similar vibe as I got from Jacqueline Bittner's blog (way back in ancient history) which ended up being an impossibly shiny facade hiding a pile of ugly rot. 

[Lgirlrocks]

what conversations could they have that make them men?

[JermajestyDuggar]

3 minutes ago, Lgirlrocks said:

what conversations could they have that make them men?

Oh no it’s the second annual manly men gathering! Where they only talk about manly things! Like penises and hammers. 

Edited February 1, 2020 by JermajestyDuggar

[HerNameIsBuffy]

2 minutes ago, Lgirlrocks said:

what conversations could they have that make them men?

I think they talk about how neat it is to pee standing up and share tips on how to manscape their belower area without nicking their goods.

[anjulibai]

What, precisely, is manly about push-ups, sit-ups and "rigorous" hikes? Do they really think those are oh so strenuous? 

[petrushka]

10 hours ago, Lgirlrocks said:

What hubris! They claim to accomplish in 4 days what takes years for most mere mortals.

[fundiefan]

Mightyman is bad enough; the typical, expected hubris of Josh. 

But, really, what makes my skin crawl? What drives me up a freaking wall?

Mother. 

Not mom. Mother. 

So cold. Heartless. Regulated. 

 

[hollyfeller]

21 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

Oh no it’s the second annual manly men gathering! Where they only talk about manly things! Like penises and hammers. 

And maybe using penises as hammers?  :D

[HereticHick]

Awww, its basic training cosplay time again?

[ophelia]

On 2/2/2020 at 1:38 AM, fundiefan said:

Mightyman is bad enough; the typical, expected hubris of Josh. 

But, really, what makes my skin crawl? What drives me up a freaking wall?

Mother. 

Not mom. Mother. 

So cold. Heartless. Regulated. 

 

I think Becky was at times a very hard and cold-hearted mother who probably hit her children a lot. So it makes kind of sense to me that they call her 'mother' instead of something softer like 'mom'.

Edited February 5, 2020 by ophelia

[SPHASH]

This dad is more of a man than Josh Bontrager and his brothers could ever hope to be.  https://www.insider.com/father-wears-tutu-to-match-baby-daughter-photo-shoot-2020-2

[fundiefan]

For all you single FJers, Alison is going to spend all of next week waxing poetic about being single and being happy about i! You don't want to miss the insight of a fundie SAHD desperate to get married who dates her siblings and gives all her energy to them. Gotta' learn to worship the penis & have coffee with a sister!

[browngrl]

40 minutes ago, fundiefan said:

Alison is going to spend all of next week waxing poetic about being single and being happy about i!

I recently watched the Joker. When that character is trying to laugh it sounds more like crying or sometimes screaming. Alison's (likely, if the past is anything to go by) aggressively cheerful posts of the joy of being single and putting all her energy into her siblings strikes me as much the same. It is painful to watch because I know she doesn't have the option to do anything other than "keep sweet" and keep busy doing stuff for her family. 

[JermajestyDuggar]

Ok folks I’m bored to I looked carefully at Allison’s valentines week posts so far. Nowhere in any of the posts does she expressly say “I am currently single.” She talks about singleness quite a bit. But never says she is actually single. Her whole post on singleness is about her friend Priscilla who is happily single. She also posts about some of the special things she will be doing for valentines week. Just because she’s sending things to her grandmas and giving her younger siblings gifts, doesn’t mean she isn’t also doing something with a boyfriend. She’s technically not lying by not talking about sending him a gift or going on a date.

In conclusion, I think she’s seeing someone. Maybe he will choose Valentine’s Day to propose. Then she can finally tell us she’s seeing someone.

[HereticHick]

I would be  totally befuddled if some Allison in my life mailed me and my husband a card & a Starbucks gift card in honor of our marriage. I'd probably donate the Starbucks gift card somewhere because I'd be kinda embarrassed to use it.

[JermajestyDuggar]

The Bontragers are in FL this week. If she does have a boyfriend, I wonder if he will come visit her on tour. John did that once. He surprised Chelsy when they were on tour. 

[hollyandivy]

1 hour ago, HereticHick said:

I would be  totally befuddled if some Allison in my life mailed me and my husband a card & a Starbucks gift card in honor of our marriage. 

And I would think that person is hitting on my husband....

[JermajestyDuggar]

Maybe Allison’s friends and family members are used to her weirdness. 

I celebrate Galentine’s Day with two of my girlfriends and they both have significant others. I don’t send them cards but we go out to eat and window shop. I focus on celebrating my friendship with them. Not on celebrating their relationships with their SOs. However we do talk a lot about our spouses and kids when we are together.

[ophelia]

11 hours ago, JermajestyDuggar said:

Maybe Allison’s friends and family members are used to her weirdness. 

They probably made her this weird.

[fundiefan]

It's totally ok to pray for "the guy" when you're single, as long as you don't become infatuated. Because, you see, god already knew every thought & feeling you'd have before you existed, so I guess it's kind of like beating a dead horse - he already knows!

Or, something like that? That's what I got out of Allison's latest. Admittedly, I skimmed. The desperate musings of a "single" fundie girl makes my skin crawl almost as much as the "advice" from newlywed fundies. 

 

[therulesofjinx]

11 minutes ago, fundiefan said:

That's what I got out of Allison's latest.

I just read it. It honestly made my brain hurt. She basically said "yes! no! maybe! I don't know!" in too  many words.