There were also friends of Vuolo’s who were absent from the conference. “While at that conference,” said Vuolo, “I knew a lot of my friends had totally left the faith because they were so confused about who Jesus really was. And they have been sold a false view of God in the Bible. So I felt like there was a new passion and new desire to help people to see through that. And that’s really where my heart was in thinking about a book.”
Vuolo expressed compassion for people who have left Christianity because they have been harmed by false teachers. Teachers who claim to speak for God while manipulating others are “so damaging,” she said. “I know many friends who have trouble stepping foot into a church because they say, ‘How could I trust that this person’s actually teaching me the Word of God and they’re not teaching me their opinion or they’re not going to overstep?’”
“Thankfully,” said Vuolo, “the story of my journey is one of disentangling and not totally throwing off everything and deconstructing, because deconstructing is tearing everything down to the studs, never to never build it up again.” In fact, as she was questioning beliefs she thought were true, Vuolo said, “at the same time, my faith in God was only growing and I was loving God more.”
She came to see that “who I’ve been told God is, that’s not who he is. God is a good and gracious God. He loves his children. He cares for them. He’s with us in our weakness. He is there to hear us when we cry out to him. I don’t have to fear that evil is going to come upon me because I didn’t know what God expected of me…God’s not looking at life like that.”
Yet many people have not had the opportunities Vuolo has had. “They haven’t had people around them to even give them answers,” she said. “It’s so tough. And so some of that just takes a lot of years.”
Jinger Duggar Vuolo: God ‘Can Use the Brokenness’
When it comes to navigating her relationships with family and friends who disagree with the conclusions she is arriving at, Jinger Duggar Vuolo said that she has been motivated to share what she is learning with her family.
She knows some of her family members will disagree with her, “but through it all, I’ve just sought to be loving and gracious and say, ok, these are my beliefs and…I’m not straying from the Word of God. I’m holding true to that.” She observed, “Regardless of where people grow up, whatever system you’re in, it can lend itself to pressure from outside or other people’s opinions.”
Vuolo also knows that people who might be concerned about her “only want the best for me and they want me to have a good life. And so I just keep that in mind whenever I’m working through stuff or making decisions.” She added, “I think that’s something that the Lord has been working in my heart on, is not taking into consideration everybody’s opinions when I’m trying to work through what God’s Word actually says.”
Vuolo explained that part of the reason she decided to write a book about her spiritual journey is because several years ago, she wrote a book with some of her sisters that endorsed Bill Gothard’s teachings. “These teachings of Bill Gothard,” she said, “I strongly disagree with them now, and I’ve never said anything publicly about it. And so I feel a responsibility to publicly correct what I publicly promoted.”
