This week, Jill Duggar described her abusive childhood and the unforgivable betrayals of her parents, all in her book.
But life in a cult trains you to regard any criticism as an attack. So some of her own family see her as the betrayer.
This week, Jason Duggar has been particularly vocal.
He’s not saying Jill’s name — but to many fans, it’s easy to connect his words to his sister’s memoir.
Jason Duggar posted to his Instagram Story on Wednesday, September 13.
The 23-year-old shared a religious quote. He hails from a fundamentalist cult, but they share a holy book with other Christians. It is the interpretations of their faith’s tenets that vary so much.
“Fall in love with God’s word, take notes, highlight it,” Jason wrote. “And always seek the Holy Spirit’s understanding before diving into the scriptures.”
We’ll get into what that has to do with Jill (in the eyes of numerous fans) soon.
See, this was not even Jason’s first foray into that territory this week.
On Monday, the day before Jill released Counting The Cost, Jason had another religious quote to share. And to hastily delete.
“How is your Holy Spirit walk today?” he asked. “Two weeks ago, I was studying through Galatians 3. Like a sharp sword, the word cut me deep.”
Jason wrote: “Paul begins by asking the Galatians who deceived them. Having begun in the spirit, does the flesh (law) make them perfect? He likens the law to be a curce, a schoolmaster.”
He remarked: “This hit me hard because my tendency is to live in the flesh. Even doing things for Christ in my own power is living in the flesh.”
Now here is where this becomes more interesting. Outside of the strictly theological sense.
“Verse 12 speaks of how ‘the Law is not of faith,’” Jason wrote.
“And,” he continued, “verse 13 so beautifully states that ‘Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, becoming the curse for us.’”
So what does any of this have to do with Jill? Possibly nothing.
Of course, given how Jim Bob and Michelle released a public statement condemning the idea of making public statements of any kind, we’d expect plausible deniability.
There is a thematic link between his statements. Both are, to put this in a way that would make a theologian weep, “just vibes” approaches to biblical analysis.
According to some fan comments, Jason could be referring to JIll’s book in a very roundabout way.
Basically, he’s talking about doing reading with a scrutinizing eye. And following one’s faith and letting it guide you as you read.
For example, someone who adheres to the Duggar cult might read Jill’s book but guard themselves against believing its contents.
Another, simpler theory is that Jason is signaling that he’s not going to feel “chased off” of social media … but he’s not talking about Jill’s book, either.
In other words, it’s just another Jim Bob-orchestrated distraction from Jill’s book launch.
But, like Jessa’s baby news, it’s not quite working. The truth is still getting out.
