Kelly Bates's brother died recently

[phoenissadido]

Following the Bates's blog, Kelly's older brother seems to have died recently, but thankfully (as far as they're concerned) accepted Christ as his saviour shortly before. She clearly loved him a lot, so I'm really sorry for her, but somewhat disturbed at all the commenters who are "thrilled" he came to Christ before what sounds like a long, drawn-out death.

[0 kids n not countin]

I'm sorry for her too, but also had to roll my eyes about being "saved" prior to death. Isn't that convenient though, why bother being a fundy (or even religious) all your life when you can just accept Christ on your deathbed? :think:

Also, don't know how others feel about this, but I for one wouldn't want my friends or relatives to post pictures of me on my deathbed on their blogs or websites for anyone and everyone to see.

[ceg045]

Is it terrible of me to think that the poor man might have just "accepted Christ" to get these people off his back so he could spend his last days in peace?

[phoenissadido]

I hope not :( What a waste of energy.

[Creaky Mom]

I'm sorry for her too, but also had to roll my eyes about being "saved" prior to death. Isn't that convenient though, why bother being a fundy (or even religious) all your life when you can just accept Christ on your deathbed? :think:

Also, don't know how others feel about this, but I for one wouldn't want my friends or relatives to post pictures of me on my deathbed on their blogs or websites for anyone and everyone to see.

Disrespectful and tacky for sure.

[geniebelle6901]

I'm sorry for her loss.

Also, don't know how others feel about this, but I for one wouldn't want my friends or relatives to post pictures of me on my deathbed on their blogs or websites for anyone and everyone to see.

I agree. I didn't do this to my mother, and won't do it to anybody else. I hope my family and friends don't do this to me either. IMO, it's exploiting your dying family member or friend for attention. It made me sick to see the Duggars exploit Grandpa Duggar like they did. It gives a whole new meaning to "attention whore".

[phoenissadido]

Agreed. I always lliked Grandpa Duggar. It would've driven him crazy if he'd known, I'm sure.

[ceg045]

Agreed. I always lliked Grandpa Duggar. It would've driven him crazy if he'd known, I'm sure.

Remember, this is the family that threw Grandpa Duggar under the bus by airing out his money issues to a large conference audience.

Fifth Commandment, my ass. With kids like that, who needs enemies?

[bionicmlle]

Is it terrible of me to think that the poor man might have just "accepted Christ" to get these people off his back so he could spend his last days in peace?

I don't think it's terrible - I thought the same thing. "Okay okay I love Jesus now will you please give me some more morphine so I can get some rest?"

[lilwriter85]

Disrespectful and tacky for sure.

ITA.

[batwing]

They seem to be saying they didn't visit him often. So did they decide to finally visit because he accepted Jesus and his deathbed photos would make a good story for the blog/TLC? Really, what are they so busy doing they couldn't visit more often? Even if the menfolk stayed home to run the business, Kelly could've taken trips with the baby (he's nursing, right?) to visit.

If it were my big brother I would be by his side throughout the entire duration of hospice, even if it were six months like his. I'd take leave from work, uproot my family, etc. if it meant more time with him.

[phoenissadido]

He just looks like he's been suffering a lot. Poor man.

[Mela99]

Sad....

One of my favorite, relevant movie quotes: Sister Helen Prejean to Sean Penn's character

"Matt... redemption is not a free admission ticket you get because you know Jesus paid the price. You got work to do."

That drives me insane more than anything else about fundie beliefs.

[Conuly]

Isn't that convenient though, why bother being a fundy (or even religious) all your life when you can just accept Christ on your deathbed?

I had a great-grandfather who thought that way. He'd asked his priest "what if there's no Heaven after all?" and the priest said "Well, the best thing to do is live a good life just in case", which he willfully interpreted as "Might as well live it up!"

Well, until his wife complained, anyway. "I don't care WHAT the priest said!"

I suppose the logic is that you might not be lucky enough to endure a long, lingering illness. You might just step in front of a bus tomorrow.

[tropaka]

did anyone else catch that Chip got saved after he had a nightmare about what would happen to him? I think there are a lot of deathbed converts as a result of fear and/or medication.

[FloraDoraDolly]

My aunt got saved on her deathbed. Her daughter (my cousin) is fundie lite and the ONLY thing that gave her comfort during this awful time was knowing that her mother had finally accepted Jesus as her savior. So I'm glad my aunt did it.

[JenniferJuniper]

Remember, this is the family that threw Grandpa Duggar under the bus by airing out his money issues to a large conference audience.

Fifth Commandment, my ass. With kids like that, who needs enemies?

The treatment of Mr. Duggar, both during his illness and after his death, along with the frantic group filming of Jason's distress after his story long fall into an orchestra pit should be proof enough for anyone that Jim Bob and Michelle are despicable, money-grubbing famewhores.

[curlykate]

It makes me sick when religious people are smug about getting someone to accept Jesus on their deathbed. My in laws were like this, with MILs brother. They "converted" him just minutes before his death, and that's all they would talk about for DAYS, even at the funeral they we're telling everyone. I told my boyfriend, if they tried that shit with me, I'd kick them out of my hospital room, even if it was the last thing I did!

I also wonder how many people give in just to get the funnies to shut up, or as a "just in case" at the last minute.

[Mela99]

The treatment of Mr. Duggar, both during his illness and after his death, along with the frantic group filming of Jason's distress after his story long fall into an orchestra pit should be proof enough for anyone that Jim Bob and Michelle are despicable, money-grubbing famewhores.

I don't know much about Grandpa Duggs -- what's the story there? And the accident? This is all news to me.

[Witsec7]

I have photos of me and some friends during their last days. I would never publish them. My friends, were kind enough to make me an offer that could comfort me after they left. That offer of unconditional love is far more intimate than sex. I could never publish those photos.

riffle

[DifferentGurl]

Also, don't know how others feel about this, but I for one wouldn't want my friends or relatives to post pictures of me on my deathbed on their blogs or websites for anyone and everyone to see.

My grandpa looked so wasted away during his final days after a fierce battle with cancer. It was because of this that my family had a closed casket during the funeral. We wanted people to not think of how he was during his last days, but how he was during the good old days. We had a feeling my grandpa would have wanted that as well.

Seriously, if you are going to post pictures of someone on their deathbed, you probably should ask the person.

[Bethella]

I'm just hoping that this wasn't filmed for their new show...

[0KidsAndHappy]

There is nothing I detest more than deathbed conversion stories. Especially when Christians claim that Darwin or Sartre accepted God ... and in Darwin's case, completely renounced all his own scientific findings.

I would be just as angry about Mormon posthumous baptism, if I didn't find that so damn hilarious. (Not to mention the fact that they have done some amazing genealogical research in order to posthumously baptize so many.)

[Kitty]

That post was so smug. A sibling's death just isn't the time to gush about new babies and converting. Everything about the post just rubbed me the wrong way. It was so cheery and smug and there were so many unnecessary exclamation points. It seemed like Kelly was more focused on Chip converting rather than the fact that oh hey, he left behind lots of friends and family.

[mebeforee]

The treatment of Mr. Duggar, both during his illness and after his death, along with the frantic group filming of Jason's distress after his story long fall into an orchestra pit should be proof enough for anyone that Jim Bob and Michelle are despicable, money-grubbing famewhores.

I remember being shocked by the inclusion of Grandpa Duggar's illness, but I thought maybe they were hoping to explain the increase in presence of Grandma Duggar and possibly to keep the camera crew from having to keep him out of shots because of the audience. Then I realized that it was only discussed/shown over one or two episodes, and also that Michelle's father spent his entire illness and eventual death living with them and there was never even a hint of that on the actual show.

And ugh, I was pretty disturbed by the whole Jason thing. Less that it was included (because the show is lacking in dramatic appeal that might bring in viewers that AREN'T weirdly obsessed with the Quiverfull movement like me), but the reactions that happened. When they played the audio of his screaming, my first thought was that those older girls must have just had a shock of terror from it. It was a really painful-sounding scream, and those girls have basically raised this little boy, it would have had to give them a real scare when they heard it. But then there was the footage of them all recording him being carted out on their smartphones and I just couldn't really process it. That was really horrible to me. How could they care for this boy and keep him safe and find him badly injured, scared, crying, screaming, etc and whip out their phones? The impulse to record something like that when a close family member is in a seriously scary situation just shows how being on the show has impacted them. JimBob has "trained" them to make sure any significant event in their lives is on record, because if it's not caught and shared, it's a meaningless experience.

Sorry about the vaguely related ramble, since I know the conversation has turned back to the original topic, but I had very strong feelings about those two events on the Duggar's show and I got disgusted about it all over again.