Becoming Free Indeed

 

I admit, I used to love watching the Duggar family on their show. I went to a Christian school from kindergarten through eighth grade. My parents were not religious and I was the only kid in my class who didn't go to church on Sundays. I was very much a rule follower as a kid and believed everything adults in my life told me. It was very confusing, being told one thing by the teachers at my school and something completely different by my parents at home. Years later, I asked them why they sent me to this school when they were not religious and they told me they wanted me to have a better education than the ones they received at their respective public schools. I can respect that, and I understand that they were trying to do the best for me, but the school was not great. I remember asking my 7th grade math teacher for help with a tricky problem, and bless her, she tried, she really did. But she couldn't figure it out, either, and ended up giving me the answer out of the teacher's edition of the book, patting my hand, and telling me not to worry about it, I wouldn't need math as an adult. Now that I manage a nearly 10 million dollar budget at work, I really wish I understood math more than I do, but that's beside the point. 

The point is that by the time I left this school at the age of 13, I was very jaded against Christianity in general. Everyone I'd met seemed hypocritical, teaching me that I should behave in a certain way but not modeling that behavior. I didn't believe there were many true Christians in the world. And then I saw the Duggars on TV, looking so happy and cheerful and the kids were so well behaved and it was obvious the parents loved each other. I thought they were lovely, decent, kind Christians and it restored my faith. I envied how happy they all were, and was fascinated by their everyday lives. I was disappointed and shocked by the scandals that rocked them and felt betrayed, as I'm sure many people who were fans of the show did.  

Jinger did not write a tell-all trashing her parents. She is emphatic that she loves them very much and recognizes how hard they tried to give her and her siblings a lovely childhood. They just got taken in by the IBLP movement, and as a result Jinger grew up fearing God instead of loving Him. So this is her tale of how she untangled her faith from the rules she'd been taught growing up. She seems truly happy and in a better place and I'm really glad for her.