Jim Bob Duggar, the patriarch of the 19 Kids and Counting family, said during a recent interview with People magazine that he doesn’t choose the people his children marry. Speculation of that notion likely arose because of the tight ship he and wife Michelle Duggar run with regard to their daughters and dating. In fact, Duggar girls (and boys) don’t date. Instead they court. That courtship is designed to learn whether or not that person is the one God has planned to be the chosen spouse.
Jessa Duggar just tied the knot with Ben Seewald last weekend. Now some are wondering which of the Duggar children might be the next to get married.
“I do not choose who my children marry,” Jim Bob, who is 50, said in the exclusive interview. “Over the years, I have suggested guys to my daughters or we have had a lot of guys that approach us and are interested in this girl or that girl, but each of our girls have chosen their spouse on their own.”
So who do you think might be the next of the 19 Kids and Counting offspring to get married? Twins John David and Jana Duggar are both still single.
“I am such an expert in love and marriage,” John David joked. “Maybe people will steal my advice since I know so much.”
“Jana is one of the prettiest girls in the world and one of the sweetest girls,” Jim Bob Duggar says of his oldest daughter. “There have been a lot of guys who have been interested in her, I have gone to hear about each one, and so far she hasn’t felt that is the way the Lord is leading.”
Jinger Duggar was maid of honor at Jessa Duggar’s wedding last weekend. Jim Bob Duggar weighs in on her courtship status.
“Jinger is just a dynamic girl that a lot of guys have been interested in,” Jim Bob says. “But so far, she has not been interested in the guys.”
Aside from the twins and Jinger Duggar, the only other of Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar’s children who is old enough to marry is 19-year-old Joseph Duggar. And even though Jim Bob Duggar didn’t offer his two cents worth regarding Joseph, the young man has certainly learned a thing or two by watching his older siblings.
“I definitely want to do the same route in courting and getting to know someone in the way my siblings have,” he says. “Doing it that way, I believe that is the way that God intended it. I don’t think God wants us to play around and go out with everyone, but to know for sure that is the one He has for you.”
It’s good to hear that Jim Bob Duggar doesn’t choose his children’s spouses. That’s a rather outdated form of matchmaking that is likely destined to fail. Instead he and wife Michelle have fashioned some courtship rules that are designed to make them find the right person–with maybe just a little help from their dad.