Jessa Duggar And Ben Seewald Respond To Orlando Mass Shooting By Quoting Anti-Gay Religious Leaders
Jessa Duggar and Ben Seewald oppose gay marriage because of their strict religious views, but the Jill & Jessa: Counting On stars want their fans to know that they do not condone violence against members of the LGBT community. However, Jessa and Ben chose to quote two anti-gay religious leaders in their responses to the mass shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida.
Jessa Duggar and her husband were two of the many public figures who felt compelled to respond to the mass shooting that took place at the popular Orlando gay club. According to the Los Angeles Times, the gunman, 29-year-old American citizen Omar Mateen, killed at least 50 people and wounded 53 in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.
Mateen’s father claimed that his son targeted the LGBT community after seeing two gay men kissing in public. He was allegedly angry because this happened in front of his wife and son. There are also reports that Mateen called 911 and pledged allegiance to the Islamic state shortly before opening fire on 320 revelers at the Orlando club.
In response to the mass shooting, Jessa Duggar chose not to use her own words. Instead, she quoted Albert Mohler, the president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky.
“This is when we show that Christians mourn with those who mourn,” the Mohler quote reads. “May the Gospel of Jesus Christ be evident as the only power greater than a broken heart.”
According to USA Today, Albert Mohler once called for Christians to boycott the weddings of gay friends and relatives because their attendance would signal “moral approval” of same-sex unions. Mohler’s other controversial views include his belief that the Roman Catholic Church teaches a “false gospel” and his opinion that it’s a sin to limit the number of children one has. In other words, Jessa Duggar chose a very controversial man to quote in response to the mass shooting in Orlando.
In his response, Jessa’s husband decided to quote Calvinist Baptist preacher John Piper.
“‘Let it be said again. Through tears. Followers of Jesus lay down their lives to save others, not to slaughter.’ -John Piper ?#?Orlando? ?#?shooting? ?#?tragedy?,” Ben Seewald’s Facebook post read.
John Piper, the founder of desiringgod.org, also doesn’t believe that Christians should attend gay weddings, and he claims that those who do are being “false” because “there is no such thing as a so-called same-sex marriage.” Piper compares attending a gay wedding to attending a gathering to celebrate “theft,” “drunkenness,” “swindling,” “greed,” or “adultery.”
As the Inquisitr previously reported, Jessa Duggar made her anti-gay views known in 2014 when she shared a quote mistakenly attributed to Phil Robertson, the Duck Dynasty star who compared gay sex to bestiality and waxed poetic about a woman’s vagina being more desirable than a man’s anus. The words Jessa shared were really those of pastor Rick Warren, who argues that Christians don’t fear or hate members of the LGBT community because they disagree with their “lifestyles.”
In the video below, Jessa Duggar reveals that she shares her parents’ views on gay marriage. According to Jill & Jessa: Counting On star, she’s a Rick Santorum fan because “he’s a defender of traditional marriage.”
Neither Jessa Duggar nor Ben Seewald mentioned gun violence in their Facebook responses to the Orlando mass shooting, which is likely because the “pro-life” Duggars are also pro-gun. As Radar Online reports, Ben Seewald once called Jessa “AWESOME” for holding a rifle and posing for a controversial photo.
Photo of Jessa Duggar holding semi-automatic rifle stirs the pot http://t.co/pXRPgwYJdy pic.twitter.com/V6Usm3Gboi
— Gun Culture World (@guncultureworld) June 16, 2014
Jessa’s father, Jim Bob Duggar, believes that children should be taught that a gun is a “tool” similar to a knife that is used to cut food.
“We’ve all used knives to cut a steak or open a box. It’s really not the gun or the knife, it’s the person that has it in their hands,” Jim Bob said, according to the Daily Mail.
What do you think of the way Jessa Duggar and Ben Seewald responded to the mass shooting in Orlando? Was it wrong for them to react to the tragic deaths of so many LGBT men and women by quoting two vehemently anti-gay religious leaders?
[Image via Ben Seewald/Facebook]
