Duggar's Going For 20

Brace yourself because here we go again. Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar have conceived. And this time, it's child number twenty.

The couple, who have their own TLC show now running 3 years straight, announced their news on the Today show.

Twenty kids. Can you imagine? But hey, this isn't like OctoMom or Kate Makes 8 where babies are plopping out all at once. This is a 23 year long journey of kids being delivered, oh, every 16 months. But hey, nobody should be complaining here - its their choice and life. As long as the family isn't on welfare and are raising their kids in a happy environment, its noone's business. Or is it?

Raking It In

Any family that puts itself out there in the public is asking for it. The Kardashians. The Osbournes. The Gosselins. The Hogans. And now the Duggars.

When the Duggar's in 2008 first appeared on network tv, they did so after Discovery Network paid for their new 7000 square foot home. Then, the business of being a reality family, kicked in. There is some serious cash being made here!

Let's assume that the Duggar's get paid $40,000 per episode and that has been the average the past three years. During that time they have filmed 136 episodes. Whip up a little math and hey, that's a lot of money - $5.4 million. Why would you not want to have more kids to keep the show alive and getting paid?

"We will allow God to determine the number of children we will have" - The Duggar's

And that's just for television appearances. Imagine how much they make for their books, their DVDs, guest appearances in different media outlets. Add in Jim's rental property income, and government pension from being a House Representative. I'd say they are doing pretty well.

So therefore, this isn't a family in need. This is a family raking it in!

Filling A Quiver?

But somewhere, somehow, something got into the minds of the Duggar's to inspire them to go out and mass produce like rabbits. I mean, who in the world would want to go out and have 19 kids? Er, 20?

"Children are a gift from the Lord"
- Psalm 127:3

So I got to thinking, why doesn't Jim Bob use a freaking condom? Why doesn't his wife take birth control? The answer is, they don't want to!

What could possibly be driving these people? Would their family website give me clues? A little hunt and pecking in the family resource section gave me another perspective.

Are the Duggar's one of those radical pro creations families?

The answer appears to be "yes", they are part of the Quiverfull movement. Quiverfull is a radical Christian movement that believes in humping like crazy. They believe that children are gifts from God. They cite very religiously.a passage in Psalm 127 as their framework. This, is a work from King Solomon, which basically says a man is happy with a quiver full of arrows (i.e. children) and can win the kingdom of God by having more warriors than their adversaries.

Psalm 127

Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it (a)
Unless the Lord guards the city, The watchman keeps awake in vain (b)

It is vain for you to rise up early, To retire late,
To eat the bread of painful labors
For He gives to His beloved even in his sleep

Behold, children are a gift of the Lord (c)
The fruit of the womb is a reward.
Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are the children of one's youth.

How blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them
They shall not be ashamed
When they speak with their enemies in the gate.

The interpretation of Psalm 127 has a three part context. The first two discuss the wisdom in the building of home (a) and security (b). The last section (c) discusses how to sustain your kingdom - by birthing lots of little warriors for battle against opponents.

So here is how you create a cult. Its all in the numbers. Start off with 10,000 Quiverfull families and have 10 children each. Get those 10 children to create 10 more children. Do that for a few generations and in no time you have a million Quiverfulls.

Imagine the political implications, the cult like existence, the accumulation of wealth and power.

Scary, isn't it? Indeed.

About Kerry Kobashi

Kerry is the founder of KerryOnWorld. He lives in Silicon Valley and has worked as an engineer and project manager. He owns Kobashi Computing a consulting company.