Firstly, I should defend him in that he was only given two words to
describe her. The emcee did not allow him to elaborate, so perhaps he
was put on the spot and while his comments have offended many, perhaps
he did not intend to do this. He has not made any comments on his social
media since this has blown up, so I am not sure, so it’s anyone’s
guess.
However, his comments are worthy of discussion. Beth Moore is a fine
woman; one who has stood the test of time in ministry and does not need
to be treated with disrespect. Again, he may have not meant it, but they
are out there now and social media is buzzing with criticism, as it
does.
If you believe she should not be preaching, fair enough. You could
have even told the crowd that by elaborating on why you believe this to
be the case. But to simply tell her to “go home” lacks grace and respect
that we all expect from our high profile leaders.
I feel like this is an example of the over-confidence – sometimes
bordering on arrogance – that can go along with running a large church. I
am not just talking about John MacArthur specifically here, but leaders
of big churches who get opportunities and are esteemed in a way that
the rest of us never will be.
Most have start-of-the-art church facilities, most have a fairly
large staff, and they are watched by large audience every single weekend
who admire them, often times almost idolizing their pastors. Many also
get to be speakers at big conferences.
None of this is a problem or concern, except for the fact that if it happens on a regular occurrence, which it does when you’re the pastor of a large church and you’re speaking in front of a lot of people every week, then it is easy to see how you can become over-confident.
Now, whether he is right or not is up for debate, as there are many
who believe women shouldn’t speak in churches. I am not going to wade
into that argument, but I can tell you that Beth Moore – and other women
in ministry – deserve adequate respect.
Remember, this is a new era and we have just been through the #metoo
and #churchtoo saga. Women all over the world deserve adequate respect
in whatever field they are in.
Beth Moore was gracious in her comments. She
could have used her Twitter account to shoot back that she has every right to
be on stage, but she didn’t. she simply said, “I did not surrender to a calling
of man when I was 18 years old. I surrendered to a calling of God. It never
occurs to me for a second to not fulfill it. I will follow Jesus – and Jesus
alone – all the way home. And I
will see His beautiful face and proclaim, Worthy is the Lamb!
“Here’s the beautiful thing about it & I mean this with absolute respect. You don’t have to let me serve you. That gets to be your choice. Whether or not I serve Jesus is not up to you. Whether I serve you certainly is. One way or the other, I esteem you as my sibling in Christ.”
I did not surrender to a calling of man when I was 18 years old. I surrendered to a calling of God. It never occurs to me for a second to not fulfill it. I will follow Jesus – and Jesus alone – all the way home. And I will see His beautiful face and proclaim, Worthy is the Lamb!
Manners and decorum are principles we teach our children so that when
they grow into adults, they treat people with respect. The lesson for
all of us here is to bite our tongue at times and not say everything we
think. Pastors included.