There’s a war going on within the Duggar family.
On one side are the strict fundamentalists, led by Jim Bob and Michelle, who basically believe that everything is a sin, and everyone they don’t approve of is going to hell.
On the other side, we have the rebels, who take a more modern and slightly less psychotic view of the world,
This group was once led by Jinger Duggar who sparked a mini-revolution by deciding to wear pants in violation of her family’s dress code.
For a while, the role of lead rabble-rouser was assumed by Jill, who sort of fell into the position as a result of Derick Dillard’s feud with Jim Bob.
Since she was estranged from the rest of her family anyway, the mother of two clearly decided to throw a few of the major Duggar rules out the window.
Soon enough, Jill was drinking alcohol, rocking nose rings, and hanging out with banished infidels like her cousin Amy.
This week, however, Jinger and Jeremy Vuolo have replaced Jill and Derick as the most controversial Duggar couple — even though fans can’t quite agree on what sort of message they’re trying to send.
The Vuolos posted the above photo on Monday, which was also National Coming Out Day.
Many followers took Jeremy’s rainbow-ish tie as an expression of support for the LGBTQ+ community.
"Love the pride flag tie!" one commenter wrote.
"Love the support for our LGBT brothers and sisters! So proud of how supportive you two are!" another echoed.
"Love the neck tie. Sincerely, a lesbian," a third added.
Despite the fact that Jeremy’s tie isn’t really rainbow, and his caption made no mention of Coming Out Day, the pic quickly racked up hundreds of comments from people who made assumptions about his message.
"Perfect time for coming out day!" one follower remarked.
"I love that Jeremy is representing Pride and the LGBTQ community! Love is love! You guys are so progressive!" another added.
The problem is that Jeremy has expressed his views on homosexuality many times in the past, and far as we know, he still believes it’s a mortal sin.
"All you have to do is look at the sexual revolution pressuring them, and they cave in to a worldview that rejects God’s truth and embraces popular opinion," Vuolo said during a sermon at Laredo’s Grace Community Church in 2017.
"Look at the revolution of popular thought. Look at the postmodernism of today’s culture. Look at the sexual revolution. Look at the false idea of tolerance. Look at the false definition of love," he continued.
"Okay, we’ll blur the lines of truth there. Okay, we’ll remove that from our statement of faith. Okay, we won’t speak out about that. Okay, we’ll skip that section. Okay, I won’t give a public denunciation of homosexuality."
According to the Daily Mail, Jeremy also condemned preacher Eugene Peterson for saying that he’d officiate a same-sex wedding ceremony.
"We’re living in a day when basic teachings of Christ in regards to marriage and sexuality are being undermined and eroded, not just out there amongst the radical liberal thinkers, but amongst our so-called Christian leaders," he said.
"Just this week, we saw this demonstrated with the endorsement of gay marriage from Eugene Peterson and his subsequent attempt to recant, which really was no retraction at all."
Sadly, Jill Duggar echoed those sentiments in her most recent YouTube Q&A
"As Christians, we believe that there are certain things that are sinful, like adultery — so, cheating on your spouse or something — or sex before marriage, [or] homosexuality," she told her audience.
"Those are things that we believe are sinful."
So if even the more "tolerant" Duggars are still this backward in their belief system, what’s up with Jeremy’s multi-colored tie?
Well, a lot of his followers seem to be convinced that it’s a symbol of his faith.
"The rainbow is God’s promise to never flood the Earth again. Read Genesis 9," one commenter wrote.
"Loving the Noahnic [sic] tie,’ wrote another, while a third said: ‘Christians — me being one — do believe that homosexuality is a sin," another echoed.
"The Noahic Covenant is represented by a rainbow … Love the tie, God’s promise to us!" added a third.
In all likelihood, Jeremy’s tie has no symbolic meaning at all.
But whatever the case, it seems he and Jinger are still stuck in the nineteenth century with regard to their thinking.