Beth Moore & John MacArthur Controversy

 Recently in a Q&A, John MacArthur, pastor at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, was asked to give his opinion on Beth Moore, evangelist, author, and bible preacher. His response, “Go home”, triggered a ton of controversy and anger from people all over as they called MacArthur out for being too harsh, unkind, too dogmatic, sexist, etc. 

  Before I get into my opinion on this controversy, I want you to know a few things about me:

  1. I attended MacArthur’s church for around 4 years. 

  2. I don’t agree with everything MacArthur says.

  3. Though I think he is one of the best theologians living, I am not a person who will defend MacArthur like he’s Jesus. He is just a man and like anyone else he makes mistakes.
  4. I don’t agree with MacArthur lumping the “me too” movement in with feminism, so I won’t be addressing that specific comment. 

  Moving on! I know I’m in the minority when I say this, but I honestly didn’t understand why people were so upset by his comment to “Go home”. Beth Moore is a public figure which means just like MacArthur she is subject to public scrutiny or reproof. If people’s issue was that he wasn’t “nice enough” in his delivery, I’m curious what the nice answer would be? Would they have taken issue if he had made the same comment about someone like Joel Olsteen? How come nobody was upset by the comments following in regards to Paula White being a heretic? Was he being mean by saying this as well?

  Now we can absolutely argue over whether or not they should have been playing the word association game that only gave MacArthur the opportunity to give a brief answer to a loaded question, but is there actually anything sinful about his response? And if so, what? People seem to put kindness on a pedestal these days, acting as if it is the ultimate virtue, while ignoring virtues like honesty and boldness. Obviously there is a way to speak truth in love, but sometimes the truth cuts no matter how you say it. 
  What MacArthur did was appeal to scripture that directly and emphatically states women should not preach or hold pastoral positions in the church. Beth Moore is in direct disobedience of God’s word by the position she puts herself in, yet people are sitting here and defending her from the blunt truth of her wrongdoing while rushing to bash MacArthur, whose opinion comes directly from scripture. How is that loving or kind? Why is it not okay to publicly call her out on sin, but it’s okay to publicly bash MacArthur all over Facebook for not being “loving enough” or for sounding “arrogant”? It’s not his fault the audience laughed and he is not responsible for the comments that came afterwards from the rest of the panel. Better yet, why are we so okay with women directly disobeying the Bible, but offended by the truths the Bible presents? He was asked a direct question and he gave a direct answer. As he said afterward, “There is no biblical case that can be made for women preachers”. This might offend some, but it is simply truth. There is no biblical case and to present one is to appeal to culture and not to scripture. 

   MacArthur is right, feminism is destroying the church, and not only when it comes to women pastors. We are supposed to be learning and teaching each other how to love our husbands and raise our children, yet so often women’s studies consist of theological explorations from women who are often missing the mark. Not to say that women can’t study or shouldn’t study theology, but in my experience, getting married and loving your husband and children are being pushed to the wayside in pursuit of these theological things we are already learning on Sunday morning. Wanting to be at home, submitting to your husband, young marriage, all seem to be frowned upon these days as women pursue college degrees, careers, and pride themselves in their independence. While there is absolutely nothing inherently wrong with any of these things, a woman’s primary calling is in the home and she will be most fulfilled when she is fulfilling this calling. I know that is a radical thing to say in an era like this, but it is what the Bible shows us. Telling Beth Moore to go home is only condescending and mean if you find the home to be a symbol of unequal rights and servitude. Women absolutely can work, but their main priority should be the home, and if they can’t take care of things there, then maybe they need to put their job aside in order to do so. We need to remember that as women, being equal in value doesn’t mean being equal in our roles. And while of course there are women who aren’t married and don’t or can’t have kids, the typical woman will have both of these things and it should be something we are discussing often as we come up with biblical ways to thrive in our God given roles. 

  What happens when women want to take the place of men and fill their shoes, is that it weakens the men of the church and pushes them out of their roles. This is not how God designed the church, the family, or the world to work. Despite how modern day feminists try to dismantle the gender hierarchy, the Bible tells us in Genesis that there is a gender hierarchy. Instead of being busy trying to do everything a man can do, we need to remember that there are things only we women can do and that is amazing. 

  So, I commend MacArthur’s reproof of Beth Moore, just as I would commend his reproof of any “pastor” who is directly disobeying God’s word. 

Titus 2:4-5

That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.