In the aftermath of the Duggar meltdown, all the good-thinking Christians who have less common sense than even non-believers (or my chickens for that matter) are falling over themselves pointing out, in various ways, that any and all of us are capable of being a pedophile or other sexual deviant.
Speak for yourselves, fools, because that is just not true.
Before I go any further, let me repeat and quote myself here, because I am speaking in general terms relating to hard-and-fast reprobates and deviants, not necessarily Josh Duggar: "[...] I am not convinced beyond any doubt
that Josh Duggar himself had reached that point of being a reprobate
pedophile when he did what he did."
Take, for instance, the much circulated blog post "Grace Greater Than Our Sin" by Michael Seewald, the father-in-law of Jessa Duggar Seewald.
In the paragraph headed "Filthy Rags", we read this:
Many times it is simply lack of opportunity or fear of consequences that keep us from falling into grievous sin even though our fallen hearts would love to indulge the flesh.
By itself, the statement would ring true for many sins and many people. But we are talking pedophilia, molestation, and incest here. No, that is not a desire that even the flesh of an unsaved person wants to indulge in, or what the Bible calls "natural man" (as opposed to spiritual). These sexual deviancies are, as the Bible says, "against nature".
Let me illustrate: every normal man with a pulse has a natural inclination to get satisfaction from looking at women. Eye candy. A godly man will remind himself that to look on a woman to lust after her, even in his heart, is committing adultery in his heart, and will make a point to avert his eyes.
But not one, none, not a single, not even one man that is not a complete reprobate, dirty, incorrigible beast beyond the point of no return would ever have to put forth any effort not to feel lust when looking at a child, a next-of-kin, an animal, or someone of the same gender. Guys lust after women, not children, not Fido, and not their male buddy. Unless they are a sexual pervert, which is NOT a part of everyone's sin nature. That kind of debauchery is a symptom of someone who hates God, does not want to retain God in his/her knowledge, and has been given over to do these acts that go against nature itself.
Even the world knows this. We don't have co-ed prisons so as to not add that level of desire to fornicate. But we don't just put everyone in solitary. Because only complete perverts are tempted by these things.
For Michael Seewald to publicly declare that we are kept from committing these acts through "lack of opportunity or fear of consequences" is as sickening as it is troublesome. Speak for yourself, Mr. Seewald. Most of us were never tempted by so reprobate a sin.
Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, Idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like:
No mention of being a homo or pedophile. All sins are NOT equal, and some sins only appeal to those with seared consciences.
There were other stupid things in the blog post, but it would take too much of my time to go through them one by one. You lost me at admitting to being tempted by these sins yourself.
Then there is a document originally published by the clowns at ATI / IBLP, which has resurfaced amidst this brouhaha, "Lessons from Moral Failures in a Family"
This document is enough to make any sane reader throw up in his mouth, become enraged, or both. Don't let the fact that the founder and leader of IBLP has been implicated in sex scandals with 34 women barely old enough to consent trouble you. He is ready to bring us gems such as this document, penned by a mother and her (now supposedly penitent) son who molested his younger siblings.
The molester and his mom go on to dispense such wisdom as that modesty within the home, amongst siblings, is paramount so as to avoid lusting after one another. What the heck??? If that is not disgusting, I don't know what is! I grew up with two older brothers. We took baths together when I was old enough to remember, and none of this ever made me want to touch them, or them me. Because children are children. Sexual thoughts do not cross their minds any more than world politics, unless they have first been polluted by a pervert/TV.
The article goes on to give examples of opportunities that might induce lust, such as changing a diaper (so we are talking a baby), helping a younger sibling with their bath, or the typical streaking that all preschoolers are known for as they have no concept of sexuality, and don't need to have one at that age. Hugs, rough-housing, wrestling, babysitting a younger sibling, even sitting on an older sibling's lap for story time are warned against, becuase they can all lead to: whoops - I just molested my baby sister!
That is great advice when you are living with a pedophile under your roof, true. But normal children are not pedophiles, and should not be treated as such. The way to prevent a child from becoming a predator is by protecting him from being molested by outsiders.
All this mother and son know is that whatever they did that led to him molesting his siblings was a failure. There are a million and one ways to fail. Just because they have figured out one of those ways, does not mean that their advice now is sound. It just might be yet another way to fail in a different manner. Why not get advice from someone who DIDN'T raise a pedophile, and an organization NOT spearheaded by a board of sex offenders??
To hear why these ministires are always full of freaks, weirdos, phoneys, and sex predators, please watch this sermon.
Another argument that is being made by Diary of an Autodidact in his post "How Fundamentalism's Teachings on Sexuality Create Predatory Behavior" is that it is the restrictive teachings on sex that make kids act this way, that if they were allowed access to girls outside their family, they would not be doing this. The argument being that they are not violating kids because they are after kids, but that it is just the only thing available to them. Again, there is an implication of "we are all capable of this when that is our only opportunity," and it's just not true.
Anyone knows that feeding into a lust only makes that appetite stronger. Giving in to fornication does not satisfy the desire for more than 5 minutes, at which point it will come roaring back stronger than ever. By the author's logic, kids in school should be instructed to smoke pot, so as to keep them from getting into heroin and cocaine. Lunacy!
All that is not to say that these organizations don't give kids weird and twisted ideas about sex being bad or dirty or shameful, because they do. But setting a Biblical standard cannot be implicated in kids turning out perverts.
Then there is an army of defensive bloggers focusing on how the victims have been victimized again, such as this one or this one, and that for this reason alone, the skeleton (more like a rotting corpse in this case) should have remained in the closet. And to some extent, that is, sadly, very true. It is awful that the Duggar girls had to have their names and faces publicly attached to this.
Except what about the girls that are yet to be victimized, something that may be prevented by exposing the perpetrator? Maybe if we executed rapists and child molesters when it first comes out, we would not have to make victims relive the horrors of their abuse when we have to air it yet again in an attempt to warn others. Maybe if the parents had resisted the temptation, motivated by pride or greed, to become international celebrities, this would have gone away much more quietly? But again, there is this idea that this could befall anyone, and having a child molester for a son is not unusual enough to abstain from playing the part of a moral, upstanding, Christian family on national TV.
Maybe, just maybe, God was right all along. If we would execute these molesters and pedophiles, they would not have infiltrated society. And maybe if Christians read their Bibles and believed it cover to cover, they would not be playing into the agenda of NAMBLA and others by spouting off the same disgusting nonsense that there is a pedophile lurking in all of us.
Except what about the girls that are yet to be victimized, something that may be prevented by exposing the perpetrator? Maybe if we executed rapists and child molesters when it first comes out, we would not have to make victims relive the horrors of their abuse when we have to air it yet again in an attempt to warn others. Maybe if the parents had resisted the temptation, motivated by pride or greed, to become international celebrities, this would have gone away much more quietly? But again, there is this idea that this could befall anyone, and having a child molester for a son is not unusual enough to abstain from playing the part of a moral, upstanding, Christian family on national TV.
Maybe, just maybe, God was right all along. If we would execute these molesters and pedophiles, they would not have infiltrated society. And maybe if Christians read their Bibles and believed it cover to cover, they would not be playing into the agenda of NAMBLA and others by spouting off the same disgusting nonsense that there is a pedophile lurking in all of us.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children. - Hosea 4:6