I was hunting Saturday—sitting under a tree near a water hole waiting for an elk to wander in–when I began getting texts from pastor friends about John MacArthur telling Beth Moore to “Go home.” I got a chance to do a little elk blind thinking. This is the best kind of thinking. Do not worry, all the elk are still safe.
It is the new big controversy in the evangelical world. This video has blown up creating controversy between conservative elements of evangelicalism and the more mainstream leaders of the SBC of which Beth Moore is a part.
In a question and answer session, three leaders, including John MacArthur were supposed to give two-word association answers to a prompt word. John MacArthur was given the name “Beth Moore.” His two-word response was “Go home.” The audience responded with loud laughter.
He later followed up by explaining that his response was in regard to the biblical principles of 1 Timothy 2 forbidding women preachers.
One SBC leader has come to Beth Moore’s defense equating MacArthur’s response to the antisemitism of Martin Luther in his latter years (here). J.D. Greear tweeted that Beth Moore was welcome in his house any time. While I think most of us would agree that Beth Moore has handled the speed bump of 1 Timothy 2 by stepping on the gas, this video is creating more heat than light. There are other hermeneutical and theological problems with her teaching, but that must be reserved for another article. Watching the conflict from the outside, we, as Baptist fundamentalists, might take this moment to learn a little.
Word association game? Really?
Word association is not an effective way to deal with theological controversy. Hopefully, this was just a bad idea that did not come across well and will not be repeated. Anytime we treat serious error light-heartedly we will get ourselves in hot water. We will end up treating serious issues as not serious or offending. This particular episode seems to do both. There are better ways to deal with an error, and to his credit, John MacArthur has done this quite effectively historically. Error must be handled with a biblical explanation for the purpose of edification.
Laughter is not an appropriate response to an error in theology or practice.
When I first watched the video and heard the audience response with shocked condescending laughter, I winced. Then I had to ask myself why. The Spirit of God in us sometimes prompts us to initial impulsive response, but we must always verify such a response with biblical principles. So why was I bothered? This format seemed to be about entertainment, not truly making a biblical point. Yes, some funny sermon illustrations can be effective, but they are usually intended to disarm or be self-deprecating, not laughing at the expense of a brother or sister. Laughing at someone’s expense is not kind and not godly (1 Corinthians 13). Laughing at the expense of one who is in error in doctrine or practice does not honor the seriousness of the issue.
This kind of behavior is what many accuse FBFI-types of doing (and have done at times). It looks like we are not the only ones. We need to be more careful to treat serious issues in a serious and thorough way.
There are many ways to disrespect leaders, this is one.
When he was first asked the question, MacArthur said, “I think I am being set up.” He was. This came across to me as John MacArthur being treated like an aging grandpa who has lost his “appropriateness filter”—who says what everyone else wants to say but does not for decorum’s sake. He was treated like one of Shakespeare’s court fools. To me, it seemed to dishonor him.
The political sarcasm/comedy model does not work for Christian theological discussion.
Todd Friel was running the QA session. His Youtube channel is a sort of theological satire. Satire, by its very nature, makes fun of someone. It is condescending. Theological condescension is not godly. It is not loving. When I treat you like you are inferior or ignorant because of your theological position I am “thinking more of myself than I ought to think.” Conservative evangelicalism has a lot of theological condescension these days. Just because someone takes a different view on an issue does not mean he is ignorant. He might be wrong, he might even need to be publicly corrected, but he is not necessarily ignorant, unlearned, or unenlightened. There is more to true Christianity than “theological correctness.”
True New Testament Christianity must also be accompanied by the fruit of the Spirit. Ungodly orthodoxy is still ungodly. I am not saying this video is proof of that. I am saying that it should remind us as biblical Baptist fundamentalists to be careful.
Edit: I was proofing this article and I realized I did it myself. I said, “Beth Moore has handled the speed bump of 1 Timothy 2 by stepping on the gas.” That comment was, well, condescending, but it seemed sort of witty when I originally wrote it. I decided to leave it in the article as an example of how easy it is to do this. Mea culpa.
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