Becoming Free Indeed: My Story of Disentangling Faith from Fear

Product Information

I found myself drawn to the Dugger family when I was raising my own daughter with my husband. The show seemed to be filled with a Christian life and full of love. I instantly saw some of the wrongful things that Gothard was teaching and choked it up to just being a different denomination. As scandal after scandals began to hit the family, I realized that Gothard was more than different, he was dangerous. We stopped watching and supporting after 19 Kids and Counting was cancelled and never watched Counting On. But instead we get vague narratives about being focused on others instead of yourself and how that helps social anxiety, or how it's about Christ and not rules. But no specifics on what it means to change your focus or how it's really changed her life. She mentions briefly that she may have struggled with post-partum depression. It would have been so much more interesting to have a whole chapter on her journey with that and how her new way of looking at her faith made a difference. Instead we get a reference to Christ being sufficient and we move on.

Jinger Duggar Vuolo gets that, and she wrote that story in the most honest and refreshing voice I've heard in the 2020s narrative about deconstruction and disentanglement so far. Refreshingly, she doesn't use Becoming Free Indeed to bash her parents and family, or even Bill Gothard (though he would darn well deserve it)! As she says, Becoming Free Indeed is not a tell-all. It's not scandalous.Jinger and her siblings were raised under the teachings of Bill Gothard, a conservative minister who founded the Institute in Basic Life Principles. Among those principles are strict guidelines regarding purity and modesty — but Jinger began to question the teachings as she grew up and started a family of her own. (While speaking to Us this month, Jinger referred to her childhood spiritual practice as “cult-like in many ways.”)

Alongside sadness that the show was ending, I felt grateful to have been a part of it. I had countless wonderful experiences thanks to the show. ... There are dozens of places and cultures I wouldn't know anything about if not for the show," Jinger wrote, confessing that she also felt "relief" to no longer be in front of the camera. "In many ways, the show's end was the last leg of a journey that 10-year old me could not have dreamed would occupy so much of my life." In this book Jinger shines a light on so many non-biblical teachings (though masked to look and sound biblical) she grew up learning. This is not a tell-all book on the Duggars, but it does expose many of the beliefs they were taught that turned out to be man-made rules (the man being Bill Gothard). With "deconstruction" unfortunately being a popular trend among Christians, I appreciate that Jinger uses the term "disentangling". Instead of walking away from her faith altogether, Jinger peels away the IBLP layers until she is left with what truly matters: Jesus and the Bible. A lot about this made me cringe, but the quote that made me cringe the most was, 'A woman's identity is in Jesus'. Which isn't surprising given she failed to quote any verse about any of the amazing women mentioned in the Bible or the fact she belongs to a church where women cannot share the Word as pastors. I have never been so glad to have been raised in a Christian faith that is accepting and told me I was my own person. In Becoming Free Indeed, Jinger shares how in her early twenties, a new family member - a brother-in-law who didn’t grow up in the same tight-knit conservative circle as Jinger - caused her to examine her beliefs. He was committed to the Bible, but he didn’t believe many of the things Jinger had always assumed were true. His influence, along with the help of a pastor named Jeremy Vuolo, caused Jinger to see that her life was built on rules, not God’s Word. When Jinger Duggar Vuolo was growing up, she was convinced that obeying the rules was the key to success and God’s favor. She zealously promoted the Basic Life Principles of Bill Gothard,It’s been a lot of years since that time and so I was intrigued by the Duggar daughters who have grown up and seemingly parted from some of the more stringent beliefs their family held. I follow a couple of them on social media, Jinger included. This book was a great peek into her journey and I loved her use of disentangling her faith rather than deconstructing. Maintaining a faith in Jesus while recognizing some teachings you’ve had and followed are not biblical is a complicated process. Blazing her own trail. Jinger Vuolo (née Duggar) is set to release a new book, Becoming Free Indeed , in which she “recounts how she began to question the harmful ideology of her youth and learned to embrace true freedom in Christ,” according to the book’s description .

I watched 19 Kids and Counting and Counting On for years. This family has always fascinated me. I loved how close they were and how many kids they had, but as always, you're not aware of what's going on behind the scenes. The highlight reel is pretty, but every teaching that it's based on is terrifying and problematic. So hearing Jinger speak out regarding the horrendous teachings of Goddard was interesting. That perfect family on TLC wasn't perfect and here's why.

Check-In

When Jinger Duggar Vuolo was growing up, she was convinced that obeying the rules was the key to success and God's favor. She zealously promoted the Basic Life Principles of Bill Gothard,• fastidiously obeying the modesty guidelines (no shorts or jeans, only dresses), It's been definitely a challenging process to write this book, but as I've said before, it's the most important thing I've ever done," Duggar exclusively told Us Weekly before the book hit shelves, adding that she hoped her words help "even just one person" find freedom. "I think in this book I've been more open and vulnerable than I ever have before." I wasn’t expecting (or desiring) this to be a theological treatise, but early on the author refers to this book as her theological journey. Something she (rightly) calls IBLP out on is proof texting, or only using a verse or two without context to prove a point. However, she continues to reference a verse or two here or there, falling into the same trap of proof texting. Telling her story. Jinger Duggar grew up in the spotlight, but there was still plenty TLC fans didn't know about her life — until now. The most interesting chapter to me was her description of Bill Gothard’s teachings and how incorrect they were. That chapter easily could have been a blog post or series and that would have been sufficient.

Now with a renewed faith of personal conviction, Becoming Free Indeed shares what it was like living under the tenants of Bill Gothard, the Biblical truth that changed her perspective, and how she disentangled her faith with her belief in Jesus intact. Product Details Jinger made her reality TV debut in 2008 when the show was called 16 Kids and Counting . After multiple additions to the family over the years, the show was eventually renamed 19 Kids and Counting . However, after eldest brother Josh Duggar ’s child molestation and cheating scandals, TLC pulled the plug on the show.

Dressing Modestly

Can I just start this off by saying, go Jinger! As a longtime watcher of 19 Kids and Counting and Counting On, I've followed many of the older sisters for years and years. I always appreciated that the Duggars were Christians, but I knew there was something a little...off with the IBLP stuff their family followed. In another chapter, Jinger compared her sibling to Gothard. “He used his platform, and even his job at the Family Research Council, to promote some of the same ideas Gothard taught. But while he looked the part in so many ways, the true Josh appears to be much different. He was living a lie,” she claimed, revealing that she hasn’t “spoken to Josh in two years” but continues to “pray for him.”