Jessa Duggar and Ben Seewald (Credit: Instagram)
How's this for a juicy rumor: Jessa Duggar, of 19 Kids & Counting reality TV stardom, consummated her marriage with new husband Ben Seewald immediately following their wedding. And they did it in (gasp!) a closet at church.
At least, that's what's being alleged.
For those who haven't been following the "news," here's what went down: A woman named Ashleigh, who writes a blog called "My Life As a Stay At Home Wife and Mother," attended the Duggar wedding and, naturally, blogged about it. It wasn’t a “gossip” piece, but a nice post about the wedding. Then, in a comment on the post (which has since been deleted), “Mary B” wrote:
"I was very upset when I was told about the incident that was witnessed by [my daughters] when the door to the room [Jessa and Ben] were in was accidently opened. I am not sure why they would not wait for the evening to pray and then consummate God's marriage.
The Lord has blessed them and brought them together. To hear so many people discussing what they inadvertently walked into was heartbreaking and troubling. Why did this happen? How could this beautiful, joyous day now be forever tainted and destroyed by rumors about what the girls may (or may not have) seen? And if this is true why would they commit such an act in the Lord's home . . . the same Lord who guided them together. This really made me question Ben's headship and leadership skills. I pray he is not swayed to evil. I pray he acts as strong husband and worship leader to Miss Jessa. I have a terrible, guy feeling. I have tried talking to my husband about this but he has said he will not talk about it until he prays about it and gets an answer from the Lord. This on average takes about 48 hours for him to receive an answer."
So essentially, some rando who claimed she was at the wedding wrote a comment on a blog, slut-shaming a married woman for having sex in a closet. And it became news.
First of all, if Jessa Duggar wants to consummate her marriage in a church closet, the back of a pick-up truck or her own bed—who cares?
For another, does anyone realistically think that two virgins even know how to get it on in a closet? Most people with experience probably couldn’t have sex in such a confined space without knocking over a mop, chairs or whatever else was stored in there. And even if the Seewalds knew what they were doing, do we really think any bride, especially Jessa, would risk potentially staining her dress on her wedding day? No way.
Need more proof? Let’s look at their height difference. In this picture, you can clearly see Jessa is quite a bit shorter than her husband. I don’t know what the closet was like, but the likelihood is there was no way they could have had sex standing up.
More disturbing still is the reactions this woman's ridiculous claim prompted, which reek of religious judgment:
Jessa is also being criticized (and garnering some support) for wanting her first kiss in private, and not before 1,000 people.
I get it: Not everyone likes conservative Christians and some conservative Christians are hateful (although we all know hate isn't exclusive to any religion). But there’s nothing inherently hateful about a decision to save a kiss or sex for marriage, and casting scorn on innocuous and private religious beliefs do nothing to further the cause of fighting against actual religious-driven injustices. It just makes those who don't agree with the church look hateful themselves.
So how did Jessa respond to all this? First with some shots of her and Ben smooching on Instagram, followed a few days after by a bible passage:
"Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written. Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
This might sound like a little bit much, but I’m pretty sure even Jesus probably thinks this whole affair is pretty absurd. He without sin casts the first stone . . . right?
