By his own admission, Josh Duggar is “the biggest hypocrite ever.”
InTouch Weekly released a police report in May revealing Duggar had molested at least five underage girls when he was 14, four of whom were his sisters. In a public statement following the news, the Duggar family said he had been sent to a Christian counseling program and, according to Jim Bob Duggar, a police report had been filed. The Duggars put “safeguards” on their home to protect their daughters who had been molested by Josh, Jim Bob told People magazine.
He asked for forgiveness.
But, when cheating website Ashley Madison was the object of a massive hack in July, Josh became the object of yet another scandal.
Josh paid $986.76 to the site between February 2013 and May 2015, according to People magazine.
“While espousing faith and family values, I have secretly over the last several years been viewing pornography on the internet and this became a secret addiction, and I became unfaithful to my wife,” he wrote in a statement following the leak.
The statement’s section detailing Duggar’s affinity for pornography was deleted an hour after the initial post, People magazine reported.
The Duggar family is known for its devout Christianity, and Josh himself was a leader in the Family Research Council, a conservative group promoting traditional family values. He has relentlessly advocated against abortion and gay marriage, which don’t align with his Christian beliefs.
“He has also brought great insult to the values and faith we hold dear,” the Duggars said in a statement on their website.
Even though Josh’s actions make Christians look bad, that’s not the reason we don’t agree with what he’s done.
Josh should not have been advocating for traditional values knowing what he was doing behind closed doors could eventually go public. It is the definition of hypocrisy and not what Christians stand for.
The very Bible from which Duggar takes his beliefs says in the book of Matthew, “Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do you notice the log that is in your own eye?”
Josh has clearly been ignoring a huge log in his own eye.
There’s power in telling someone you’ve struggled with a certain sin and moved past it. It communicates humility and shows others that there is nothing one can’t overcome.
There’s no one unworthy of receiving God’s forgiveness, but you have to be genuinely hurt over what you’ve done first, not just sorry you got caught.
In both scandals, Christians have defended Josh and said God will forgive him. While I believe Josh isn’t beyond God’s forgiveness, I agree with what Josh’s brother-in-law Daniel Keller said in a Facebook post.
“You have to confess and forsake your sin to have mercy. Not sin confess and repeat… Confessing and getting caught are two different things.”
If Ashley Madison had not been hacked, would Duggar still be cheating on his wife? Most likely.
Josh’s family also appears to view his apologies as less than completely sincere.
“We pray that in this he comes to complete repentance and sincere change,” they said in a statement announcing Josh had checked into a long term Christian treatment center, according to USA Today.
Right now, Josh is trying to salvage his reputation. He clearly didn’t overcome his sins as a teenager, and they continue to affect his behavior today.
Hopefully, during his time in treatment he will begin to truly feel remorse for what he has done both now and 13 years ago.
Caitlyn Atkinson is an 18-year-old mass communication sophomore from Pride, Louisiana. You can reach her on Twitter @catkin105.