Do the Duggars, the family with 20 kids on tv, have much to admire? What do you people here on the forum think about them?

I have mixed feelings about the Duggars, but generally they have much to admire.  We do have television and we watch them.   I always learn something from them.  

One episode recently the family was in Honduras I think or somewhere like that.  But Jim Bob said it was important to teach the children to serve others "lest they grow to think they are the only people in the world that matters."  Each episode has some tidbit like that.

I like them even though I sometimes think they are exploiting their family for profit.  I recognize, though, that they probably see it as a ministry.

It's good that everyone here has focused on the good, but it's hard to not be critical when someone has placed themselves on a pedestal. And yes, they have placed themselves on a pedestal. They are not running away from cameras, attention and fame -- quite the contrary.

It is an interesting point though, that they probably see this as a ministry. Some could call it seeking fame, while others would call it "letting your light shine before men" and being a good example.

The Duggars aren't so much "having the children God sends" but rather having as many children as physically possible. To this end, the mom doesn't breastfeed for long and has some of the older children take almost complete responsibility for the latest baby so mom & dad can "prepare for the next baby".

I also think it's silly to name every child with the same letter. It's not as bad as the modern trend of giving every child a LAST NAME for a first name, but it's still silly.

It's like a cute, 5 minute joke that, unfortunately, will last a lifetime.

It gives people a good reason to mock the good things that the Duggars are doing, like avoiding birth control. And although they seem to be almost extreme in how they pursue quantity of children, it's got to be better than the opposite (birth control mentality). At least they value children and life.

I mean, each child should be his own person with his own name -- not just "Bolly" from the famous "Bally Belly Billy Bolly and Bully" group of 5 boys. I can see people asking, "Which of them were you again?"

And what self-respecting grown man goes by Jim Bob anyhow? It's like Billy Bob or Bubba. The very name sucks away any respectability you formerly had. Why doesn't he go by James Duggar or something?

Anyhow, it's good that they at least pick dignified, Christian names even though as a group the names are silly.

Matthew

I do not have a TV.
I am surprised that there is any decent programs these days.
Because, you know whom really owns the TV studios, and
Hollywood. They are absolutely not known for any heroic
Christian virtues.

I think there is a lot to admire. They are living the Catholic teaching on being open to life better than 90% of Catholics, they are faithful to their marriage, they sacrifice, they are modest, the girls wear dresses and are feminine, they are not afraid of hard work, they live simply, no TV, they learn instruments, the kids are well behaved and respect authority. The dad is a good leader and role model for the kids, and they love Christ and take their faith seriously.

Obviously they are not Catholic, though they would make great ones. However, that does not mean there are not many praiseworthy qualities about them.

They are heretics who deny the Catholic Faith; if they die outside of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, which is the Catholic Church, they will go to Hell, forever.  It does not matter how many "good works" and/or children that they have during their lifetimes or the fact that their girls all wear skirts.

Quote from: Jehanne

Quote from: stevusmagnus

I think there is a lot to admire. They are living the Catholic teaching on being open to life better than 90% of Catholics, they are faithful to their marriage, they sacrifice, they are modest, the girls wear dresses and are feminine, they are not afraid of hard work, they live simply, no TV, they learn instruments, the kids are well behaved and respect authority. The dad is a good leader and role model for the kids, and they love Christ and take their faith seriously.

Obviously they are not Catholic, though they would make great ones. However, that does not mean there are not many praiseworthy qualities about them.

They are heretics who deny the Catholic Faith; if they die outside of the Mystical Body of Jesus Christ, which is the Catholic Church, they will go to Hell, forever.  It does not matter how many "good works" and/or children that they have during their lifetimes or the fact that their girls all wear skirts.

 :heretic:  

I thought you were a big fan of the Duggars?

To an extent, I am.  They do live some of the Catholics virtues, no doubt insincerely, though.  Still, if they die in a state of mortal sin, they are lost, forever; it does not matter how many kids they are able to have, but I think that Michelle is too old to have any more.

Just want to point something out about the insanity of the media age we live in.

CathMom calls the Duggar father ( sorry, don't know the show ) "hard-working" and so on, as if she knows him.  She is taking the idiocy she is  watching at face value.  This is why I keep telling people to turn the television off before they rot their brains, without even seeing that it's happening.  

Because if you think about it, the money he makes from their stupid show would make it unnecessary to work at all.  So does the father really work?  Or is that just part of the script, to make it look like they are living normally?  Is any of what happens really real?  How do you know?  And if anything we see is real, the TV cameras in their house would affect their life, would change everything.

Imagine coming to work one day with a camera crew following you.  Do you think that everyone would just passively go along with it?  Some people don't know how to behave on camera, so what happens to them?  Better get them out of the way and put some hired actors or "personalities" in there... See how it works?  The presence of the cameras makes everything artificial.  Just put a camera on your family at dinner and see if the conversation remains the same, some people will become embarrassed, others will start hamming it up.

Anyone who knows the first thing about reality TV knows that situations are manufactured for ratings, situations that develop, if they are real at all, are "pushed" in certain directions so that the drama is maintained.  How much of what is shown really happens?

And if it is real, to the extent that the Duggars are a real family -- though "reality" does not just happen spontaneously on camera, that is why films have SCRIPTS -- why on Earth would someone with a good-paying job want to subject his family to being on camera constanltly in the first place?  Most likely, for fame, maybe for some extra money -- greed.  So, presuming this show is semi-real and not totally staged, it still reveals the Duggar parents to be almost certainly fame whores and / or irresponsibly greedy at best.  Unless the Catholics here can find some sort of justification for subjecting one's family to constant media scrutiny and infamy and a freak-show life...  Is this an "admirable" quality?  

Just try giving up TV for a couple years and try to watch it again with a refreshed and purified brain and see how it looks.  These "reality shows" become as unreal and hokey as a sitcom with a laugh track.  The way that things are filmed, the artificial style, the way that people have become trained to behave when the camera is on them, becomes very apparent.  Unfortunately this carries over outside the TV and is all around us in the world today, people imitating this learned behavior they get from TV and which has been shoved down our throats by these Jєωs, people who are narcissistic and self-obsessed and treat their lives as a movie ( I am or was no exception to that ).

They are being exploited.
First people become hooked on the show because it portrays "Christian" values then the producers will use the show to promote their agenda of modernism, one world order-ism and the whole rest of it. And even to mock Christianity in general. You'll see.

Perhaps they have already... anyone?