Josh Duggar’s Best Days Aren’t Actually Ahead Of Him, Exiled Son Might Be Back Home

Josh Duggar celebrated his 28th birthday on March 3, and his parents, Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, decided to acknowledge his milestone on the Duggar Family Official Facebook page. However, their internet birthday message wasn’t really for Josh — there’s a good possibility that they got to wish their son a happy birthday in person.

The Duggars likely mentioned Josh Duggar’s birthday on Facebook because they wanted to reassure fans that they haven’t given up on their son and that he’s capable of changing his evil ways.

“Today is our son Josh’s birthday. The heartache of the past year cannot surpass the joy 28 years ago on this day when we first became parents! We love you Josh and believe your best days can be ahead of you. We continue to pray for you every day.”

During last year’s Jill & Jessa: Counting On special, the Duggars condemned Josh for cheating on his wife. The description for the family’s new TLC series, also titled Jill & Jessa: Counting On, does not say that Josh will be appearing on the show. This is likely because TLC realizes that there would be a huge backlash if he was included on the show after he admitted to sexually molesting his younger sisters and cheating on his wife.

However, there are hardcore fans of the Duggars who will continue to support all members of the family no matter what they do, and these fans might believe that Josh’s parents and siblings are throwing him under the bus by doing a new TV series without him. Perhaps Jim Bob and Michelle wanted to let these fans know that they aren’t shunning their son. They later shared a photo of daughters Johannah and Jennifer holding a cake that they baked, and this could be their way of hinting that Josh is back home and celebrating his birthday with his family.

According to Radar Online, Josh was expected to return home from the Reformers Unanimous treatment center late last month. He checked himself into the Christian recovery program last August after claiming that he was addicted to internet pornography and confessing to cheating on Anna Duggar. Josh was expected to remain there for six months.

Josh Duggar’s parents might want him to believe that his “best days can be ahead” of him, but if the Duggars measure one’s “best days” by the amount of wealth and power that they have amassed, this is very unlikely — Josh had a pretty sweet setup before he became an unemployed pariah who decided that the best way to deal with his problems was to hide from them for as long as possible. Last year, Josh and Anna Duggar were living in a nice home near Washington, D.C., and Josh had a lucrative job as the Executive Director of Family Research Council Action. He landed this high-profile position even though he didn’t have a college degree, and while he was in D.C., Josh Duggar got to rub elbows with powerful people like GOP presidential hopefuls Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.

Great meeting today w @SenTedCruz. He always conveys passion for America & the importance of faith, family & freedom! pic.twitter.com/SvBjBw1GXV

— Josh Duggar (@joshduggar) May 6, 2015

@senmarcorubio speaking now @FRCAction Values Voter Summit. Thanks for being here! #VVS13 #tcot pic.twitter.com/XmFbTcBqiX

— Josh Duggar (@joshduggar) October 11, 2013

The Family Research Council has been designated as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. As Entertainment Tonight reports, TLC tried to protect Josh and his family from scrutiny by never mentioning his connection to the anti-LGBT organization on 19 Kids and Counting. According to ThinkProgress, Josh Duggar enjoyed getting to make some pretty hypocritical comments about marriage while he was working for the FRC. He left his kids fatherless for a half a year because he couldn’t control his libido, but he once claimed that gay marriage was the real threat to the American family.

“What’s really at stake here is the American family. Marriage is essential to the American family and every single child deserves a mother and a father,” Josh said.

Now Josh Duggar is no longer getting paid to speak out against gay marriage, he’s not appearing on his family’s new reality show, and it will be hard for him to score similar moneymaking gigs in the future. His wife might actually have to step up and become the breadwinner in the family if she and her husband want to continue enjoying the same standard of living that they’re used to. Anna also doesn’t have a college education and is a stay-at-home mom, but she could always pen a book about surviving her husband’s scandals. She’s also going to appear on Jill & Jessa: Counting On, so she’s presumably getting a paycheck from TLC.

If Anna starts making more money than Josh Duggar, this would be horribly humiliating for him — his parents think that it’s very important for men to provide for their families. According to Patheos, Michelle Duggar was filmed attending a conference during a 2012 episode of 19 Kids and Counting, and she was handing out pamphlets about the “Seven Basic Needs Of a Husband.” The pamphlets said that a wife can “destroy her husband’s manliness” by “being financially independent” because “whoever controls the money controls the leadership.”

The same handout tells a wife to control her weight, submit to her husband, look at him admiringly when he talks to others, and to “reassure your husband to that you understand and believe that he is your God-given leader.”

“Bad decisions reveal his needs and allow the wife to appeal and demonstrate Godly character,” the handout read.

In other words, Josh Duggar’s wife isn’t supposed to see her husband’s cheating as a bad thing — it gives Anna an opportunity to prove just how “Godly” she is. Because she’s a woman, being “Godly” presumably doesn’t include providing for her family, but Anna might have to do it anyway now that Josh is an unemployable failure.

[Image via Josh Duggar/Twitter]