Beth Moore, Do You Have Your Own Rule Book?
I write this letter both “about” and “to” Beth Moore, in a spirit of pleading, as I would were Mrs. Moore my own mother (1 Timothy 5:2).
On May 7th 2019, Dr. Owen Strachan of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary published an article Divine Order in a Chaotic Age: On Women Preaching.
Strachan explained the biblical parameters for the role of men and women in marriage and the church. He pointed out that Scripture (and a long history of Scripture interpreted rightly) have ruled out women from teaching or preaching — roles reserved for church elders, who must be men.
Strachan’s article seemed to miff the nationally known lady-preacher Beth Moore, partly because Strachan took issue with Moore’s recent unmasking in regard to her view on lady-preachers.
Beth Moore joked about getting the Calvinists going. She said she was feeling mischievous, and she would want to teach a men’s Sunday school class.
Then Moore affirmed another lady-preacher in her choice to preach on Mother’s Day and acknowledged that she herself was planning to do the same.
When Owen Strachan published his article, Beth Moore responded:
This is a significant moment.
If you read Owen Strachan’s article, it is a description of standard Complementarianism, explaining that women are biblically instructed not to teach Scripture to the public gathering of men in the church. Beth Moore is rejecting that teaching and insulting both Strachan and the Bible he teaches.
Strangely, Beth Moore doesn’t even properly exegete Owen Strachan’s viewpoint. She represents him as having a problem with her spending 40 years encouraging women to come to know and love Jesus through the study of Scripture. But he has not disparaged that; he would support it. Strachan takes issue not with the practice of women ministering to other women, but with the practice of women teaching the corporate body of Christ.
Beth Moore’s reaction amounts to the following: She has gone on record as stating that she rejects Complementarianism.
Here’s why: Beth Moore stated that she would be terrified to be a woman that Strachan would approve of. Given the content of his article, Moore has as much as stated her rejection of Complementarianism — even in the broadest or most inclusive sense.
Moreover, Beth Moore has rejected the teaching of Scripture. That much is clear to anyone who has read 1 Timothy. Many have long suspected or known as much and have pointed to Beth Moore’s departure from Scripture in her own actions. But here we have it in her words.
Those who understand Scripture at even the most basic level must acknowledge that Beth Moore has rejected the teaching of Scripture.
Beth Moore snapped. We knew it was coming; it happened. The woman who (just 3 days earlier) said we ought to be able to stand a little criticism, had enough.
Notice the dates. May 6th.
Then May 9th.
Beth Moore, I say this as someone who cares about you and about the people you influence:
You are right that it is important to “stand a little criticism.” And also, please listen to it this time.
Please interact with your opponent’s views — Start with Paul.
Next, interact with Denny Burk and Owen Strachan, whom you seem to dance around but never to fairly debate. (More on that here.)
If you have time someday, interact with me.
Meany, meany, though I may be (Discernment Bloggers Want to Expose and Destroy Things), I am not merely someone who types away at my iPhone like a coward.
I am so much more than that :-)
I — and the 1000s of others who are concerned about you — are not afraid to engage in honest discussion with you.
Are you afraid of us?
Or is it the case that you have your own rule book, in more ways than one?
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