Well... it took a while.
But we learned more.
Alan: My reason for digging "Duggar dirt" is not to gloat.
However, if there is anything like a "last judgment" (as customarily conceived) we will all be "thrown on the mercy of the court."
As the ancient Roman Terence noted, "nothing human is alien to me" ("Homo sum: humani nil a me alienum puto") and so I offer no resistance to signing a comprehensive confession for my repeated violation of The Ten Commandments, as well as the sins of commission and omission that relate to my embarrassingly consistent failures to "love enemies" and to "forgive my offender 70 times 7 times."
I believe it is likely that the "transition of death" will oblige "squeaky clean" Christians -- and other "goody two shoes" -- to confront the self-righteousness that caused them to condemn gays, fornicators, drunkards and n'er-do-wells --- especially those in their own families.
The world is a mucky place: none of us get through it undefiled unless we count "selling our soul" to the highest ecclesiastical bidder as a "pure passage" rather than the subtle quintessence of spiritual filth.
One wonders what percentage of "The Saved!" -- if only they could stop lockstep cheerleading and "preaching to the choir" -- would issue a "confession" very much like Josh Duggar's.
One wonders what percentage of "The Saved!" -- if only they could stop lockstep cheerleading and "preaching to the choir" -- would issue a "confession" very much like Josh Duggar's.
Statement from Josh Duggar:
I have been the biggest hypocrite ever. While espousing faith and family values, I have been unfaithful to my wife.
I am so ashamed of the double life that I have been living and am grieved for the hurt, pain and disgrace my sin has caused my wife and family, and most of all Jesus and all those who profess faith in Him.
I have brought hurt and a reproach to my family, close friends and the fans of our show with my actions.
The last few years, while publicly stating I was fighting against immorality in our country I was hiding my own personal failures.
As I am learning the hard way, we have the freedom to choose our actions, but we do not get to choose our consequences. I deeply regret all the hurt I have caused so many by being such a bad example.
I humbly ask for your forgiveness. Please pray for my precious wife Anna and our family during this time.
Josh Duggar
Duggar Family Source on Josh's Sex Scandal: 'It's Insane' and 'We're All Hunkered Down'
Josh Duggar had already been living in relative seclusion with his family before his latest scandal imploded his world even further.The disgraced 27-year-old father of four left Washington, D.C., for his home state of Arkansas with his wife Anna, 27, and their children after a 2006 police report surfaced in mid-May that revealed that Josh had been accused of molesting five underage girls as a teen.
Since then, his parents Jim Bob and Michelle – who have repeatedly and emphatically said that they forgave him following the first scandal – have wrestled with how to continue to support him even as his presence drew negative attention to the family.
RELATED VIDEO: Josh Duggar Admits to Being 'Unfaithful' to His Wife
Now, in the wake of Josh's confession that he cheated on Anna and had an addiction to pornography, the 19 Kids and Counting parents stated that they only learned of the news "late last night" and that their "hearts were broken."
Privately, a Duggar family insider tells PEOPLE: "We're all hunkered down over here. It's just a mess, it's a whole mess. We don't even know what the truth is anymore. It's insane."
A second source with ties to the family says the cheating scandal is a devastating blow to the Duggars' firstborn, who resigned from his post at a right-wing Christian lobbying group in May.
"I would assume he feels like his life is ruined," says the source. "It will be such a steep and practically impossible climb to come back from this."
In this week's PEOPLE cover story, a source who worked closely with the family says that in the wake of the molestation scandal, Jim Bob and Michelle recognized that anytime they were seen publicly with Josh, "a story gets made out of it that rehashes the whole mess. ... Maintaining some distance is as much for his own good as it is for theirs."
Now, with Josh's confession to his "own personal failings," the source with ties to the family says, "It's like he's a completely different person from who they thought he was. They're still trying to reconcile all that they know is good about Josh, whom they will always love and adore, with what they've learned now."
• With reporting by JANINE RAYFORD RUBENSTEIN
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