Jinger Duggar and her husband, Jeremy Vuolo, open up about old “wounds,” amid the news involving her brother, Joseph Duggar.
The former TLC couple shared how Joseph’s situation has affected their family during a recent episode of their podcast, “The Jinger & Jeremy Podcast.”
Jinger and Jeremy Vuolo Talk Joseph Duggar
During the Wednesday, April 22, episode of their podcast, Jeremy dove into the teaching of Bill Gothard and how they created a “dangerous” environment.
“In light of recent headlines and everything that we’ve seen with your brother Joe, which has reopened some wounds of past experiences, past headlines, there’s a question that keeps coming up, and I think rightly so,” Vuolo began. “People are asking why does this keep happening?”
According to the former soccer star, he and the “Counting On” alum were “caught off guard” by the news of Joseph’s legal battles.
“Yet ideas have consequences, and for the last several years you’ve been very outspoken — I think together we have been — about the dangerous theology of Bill Gothard and the Institute of Basic Life Principles, which was deeply impactful to your family and built a lot of how life was approached,” he continued. “And I think this is another opportunity to say it’s pivotal that we’re very careful what we believe.”
Jinger — who grew up on TLC’s “19 Kids & Counting” — went on to explain Gothard’s “movement” from the 1960s and 1970s.
“A lot of families were well-meaning when they entered that setting. They thought, ‘Okay, I’m going to protect my family by putting up these very concrete rules for my kids to keep them safe, to keep them in, to have friends that are going to be identical to us, that will shield our kids from the outside world almost, and let them be a light to the nations,” she explained.
Jeremy added, “And then decades later, it produced bad fruit. And decades later, it was exposed as false and lies. And lives are crumbling.”
“Now, I’ll say this, you know, in reference to this direct topic regarding your brother, everyone is responsible for their actions. So none of this is an excuse to say, ‘Oh, but the theology was poor, therefore someone’s not responsible for their actions,'” he continued. “No, we fully, as the Bible teaches, the sword of justice is given to the government to punish evildoers.”
Jinger and Jeremy Release Statement
Shortly after news of Joseph’s alleged misconduct began to circulate, the California-based couple shared a statement via YouTube.
“We’re so grateful for your prayers as well in that,” the pair said in a YouTube video shared on Wednesday, March 25. “I think that’s really where we are at this point. Just feeling helpless, but knowing that the Lord hears our prayers in that. We are grateful for all of you, for your love, for your care, most importantly for your prayers.”
They continued, “It’s been a really difficult week for us to process and think through and pray through this with the podcast. We’re so grateful for all of you and the support you’ve shown, the prayers you’ve extended and are extending. But we really wanted to just take a moment to let you know how we’re processing this. This was devastating news to hear when we got the news last week, and it’s been a really difficult week of trying to process this, a week of us crying out to the Lord asking for mercy and grace for those affected by this.”
