That’s the thing.
They didn’t ask for forgiveness. They went from pedophile to pedophile looking for justification that what their son did was okay.
They allowed him to return, and he tortured his victims with incest jokes on TV. They allowed him back again.
They sought out fame and money, parading around, holding up their methods, which they knew were bad, as what God wants.
I’m a lot of things, and I am a sinner, but I’ll never claim to be more than I am. As a mother, if my child went out and hurt others like this, I would not put him in the spotlight.
They didn’t ask for forgiveness. They went from pedophile to pedophile looking for justification that what their son did was okay.
I can see what you mean there. (I wrote "can" just because I don't know the facts of the matter; I've never watched the show and have only the slightest familiarity with the Duggars.)
But my posts here aren't referring most directly to the Duggars. In fact, I was thinking earlier about including an explicit note that my allusion to the parable is not an attempt to compare Josh Duggar himself to the tax collector. For example, I do not claim to have any idea how repentent he has been, is, or will be.
Instead, if anything, I'd compare myself to the Pharisee.
I started quoting at Luke 18:13 because of a juxtaposition that struck me in your post. Otherwise, I would've been more likely to quote the whole parable, starting at v. 9. I myself have been tempted before to be one of the "certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others" (that same v. 9).
Do I "claim kinship with [the Duggars]"? I avoid the exact language of the article title because of the misunderstandings that will result. (I've never been very fond of expressions like "we are all _____" when the identification is at most a bit metaphorical and prone to problems.) Even so, claiming such kinship is probably more honest than disclaiming kinship in a sense that would have me commending myself because I am not one of the publicans or the harlots.