For nearly three decades, Beth Moore has been the very model of a modern Southern Baptist.
She loves Jesus and the Bible and has dedicated her life to teaching others why they need both of them in their lives. Millions of evangelical Christian women have read her Bible studies and flocked to hear her speak at stadium-style events where Moore delves deeply into biblical passages.
Moore’s outsize influence and role in teaching the Bible have always made some evangelical power brokers uneasy, because of their belief only men should be allowed to preach.
But Moore was above reproach, supporting Southern Baptist teaching that limits the office of pastor to men alone and cheerleading for the missions and evangelistic work that the denomination holds dear.
“She has been a stalwart for the Word of God, never compromising,” former Lifeway Christian Resources President Thom Rainer said in 2015, during a celebration at the Tennessee Performing Arts Center in Nashville that honored 20 years of partnership between the Southern Baptist publishing house and Moore. “And when all is said and done, the impact of Beth Moore can only be measured in eternity’s grasp.”
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Then along came Donald Trump.
Moore’s criticism of the 45th president’s abusive behavior toward women and her advocacy for sexual abuse victims turned her from a beloved icon to a pariah in the denomination she loved all her life.
“Wake up, Sleepers, to what women have dealt with all along in environments of gross entitlement & power,” Moore once wrote about Trump, riffing on a passage from the New Testament Book of Ephesians.
Because of her opposition to Trump and her outspokenness in confronting sexism and nationalism in the evangelical world, Moore has been labeled as “liberal” and “woke” and even as being a heretic for daring to give a message during a Sunday morning church service.
Finally, Moore had had enough. She told me in an interview Friday that she is “no longer a Southern Baptist.”
“I am still a Baptist, but I can no longer identify with Southern Baptists,” Moore said in the phone interview. “I love so many Southern Baptist people, so many Southern Baptist churches, but I don’t identify with some of the things in our heritage that haven’t remained in the past.”
Moore said that she recently ended her longtime publishing partnership with Nashville-based LifeWay Christian. While Lifeway will still distribute her books, it will no longer publish them or administer her live events. (Full disclosure: The author of this article is a former Lifeway employee.)
Kate Bowler, a historian at Duke Divinity School who has studied evangelical women celebrities, said Moore’s departure is a significant loss for the Southern Baptist Convention.
Moore, she said, is one of the denomination’s few stand-alone women leaders, whose platform was based on her own “charisma, leadership and incredible work ethic” and not her marriage to a famed pastor. (Moore’s husband is a plumber by trade.) She also appealed to a wide audience outside her denomination.
“Ms. Moore is a deeply trusted voice across the liberal-conservative divide, and has always been able to communicate a deep faithfulness to her tradition without having to follow the Southern Baptist’s scramble to make Trump spiritually respectable,” Bowler said. “The Southern Baptists have lost a powerful champion in a time in which their public witness has already been significantly weakened.”
Moore may be one of the most unlikely celebrity Bible teachers in recent memory. In the 1980s, she began sharing devotionals during the aerobics classes she taught at First Baptist Church in Houston. She then began teaching a popular women’s Bible study at the church, which eventually attracted thousands each week.
In the early 1990s, she wrote a Bible study manuscript and sent it to Lifeway, then known as the Baptist Sunday School Board, where it was rejected. However, after a Lifeway staffer saw Moore teach a class in person, the publisher changed its mind.
Moore’s first study, “A Woman’s Heart: God’s Dwelling Place,” was published in 1995 and was a hit, leading to dozens of additional studies, all backed up by hundreds of hours of research and reflecting Moore’s relentless desire to know more about the Bible.
From 2001 to 2016, Moore’s Living Proof Ministries ran six-figure surpluses, building its assets from about a million dollars in 2001 to just under $15 million by April 2016, according to reports filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Her work as a Bible teacher has permeated down to small church Bible study groups and sold-out stadiums with her Living Proof Live events.
For Moore, the Southern Baptist Convention was her family, her tribe, her heritage. Her Baptist church where she grew up in Arkadelphia, Arkansas, was a refuge from a troubled home where she experienced sexual abuse.
“My local church, growing up, saved my life,” she told me. “So many times, my home was my unsafe place. My church was my safe place.”
As an adult, she taught Sunday school and Bible study and then, with her Lifeway partnership, her life became deeply intertwined with the denomination. She believed in Jesus. And she also believed in the SBC.
In October 2016, Moore had what she called “the shock of my life,” when reading the transcripts of the “Access Hollywood” tapes, where Trump boasted of his sexual exploits with women.
“This wasn’t just immorality,” she said. “This smacked of sexual assault.”
She expected her fellow evangelicals, especially Southern Baptist leaders she trusted, to be outraged, especially given how they had reacted to Bill Clinton’s conduct in the 1990s. Instead, she said, they rallied around Trump.
“The disorientation of this was staggering,” she said. “Just staggering.”
Moore, who described herself as “pro-life from conception to grave,” said she had no illusions about why evangelicals supported Trump, who promised to deliver anti-abortion judges up and down the judicial system.
Still, she could not comprehend how he became a champion of the faith. “He became the banner, the poster child for the great white hope of evangelicalism, the salvation of the church in America,” she said. “Nothing could have prepared me for that.”
When Moore spoke out about Trump, the pushback was fierce. Book sales plummeted as did ticket sales to her events. Her criticism of Trump was seen as an act of betrayal. From fiscal 2017 to fiscal 2019, Living Proof lost more than $1.8 million.
After allegations of abuse and misconduct began to surface among Southern Baptists in 2016, Moore also became increasingly concerned about her denomination’s tolerance for leaders who treated women with disrespect.
In 2018, she wrote a “letter to my brothers” on her blog, outlining her concerns about the deference she was expected to show male leaders, going as far as wearing flats instead of heels when she was serving alongside a man who was shorter than she was.
She also began to speak out about her own experience of abuse, especially after a February 2019 report from the Houston Chronicle, her hometown newspaper, detailed more than 700 cases of sexual abuse among Southern Baptists over a 20-year period.
Her social media feeds, especially Twitter, where she has nearly a million followers, became filled with righteous anger and dismay over what she saw as a toxic mix of misogyny, nationalism and partisan politics taking over the evangelical world she loved — along with good-natured banter with friends and supporters to encourage them.
“I can get myself in so much trouble on Twitter because it’s kind of my jam,” she said. “My thing is to mess around with words and ideas.”
Then, in May 2019, Moore said, she did something she now describes as “really dumb.” A friend and fellow writer named Vicki Courtney mentioned on Twitter that she would be preaching in church on Mother’s Day.
“I’m doing Mother’s Day too! Vicki, let’s please don’t tell anyone this,” Moore replied.
The tweet immediately sparked a national debate among Southern Baptists and other evangelical leaders over whether women should be allowed to preach in church.
“There’s just something about the order of creation that means that God intends for the preaching voice to be a male voice,” Albert Mohler Jr., president of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, said on his podcast.
Georgia Baptist pastor Josh Buice urged the SBC and Lifeway to cancel Moore, labeling her as a liberal threat to the denomination.
Controversial California megachurch pastor John MacArthur summed up his thoughts in two words, telling Moore, “Go home.”
Moore, who said she would not become pastor of a Southern Baptist church “to save my life,” watched in amazement as her tweet began to dominate the conversation in the denomination, drowning out the concerns about abuse.
“We were in the middle of the biggest sexual abuse scandal that has ever hit our denomination,” she said. “And suddenly, the most important thing to talk about was whether or not a woman could stand at the pulpit and give a message.”
When Moore attended the SBC’s annual meeting in June 2019 and spoke on a panel about abuse, she felt she was no longer welcome.
Things have only gotten worse since then, said Moore. The SBC has been roiled by debates over critical race theory, causing a number of high-profile Black pastors to leave the denomination. Politics and Christian nationalism have crowded out the gospel, she said.
While all this was going on, Moore was working on a new Bible study with her daughter Melissa on the New Testament’s letter to Galatians. As she studied that book, Moore was struck by a passage where the Apostle Paul, the letter’s author, describes a confrontation with Peter, another apostle and early church leader, saying Peter’s conduct was “not in step with the gospel.”
That phrase, she said, resonated with her. It described what she and other concerned Southern Baptists were seeing as being wrong in their denomination.
“It was not in step with the gospel,” she said. “It felt like we had landed on Mars.”
Beth Allison Barr, a history professor and dean at Baylor University, said Moore’s departure will be a shock for Southern Baptist women.
Barr, the author of “The Making of Biblical Womanhood,” a forthcoming book on gender roles among evangelicals, grew up a Southern Baptist. Her mother was a huge fan of Moore, as were many women in her church.
“If she walks away, she’s going to carry a lot of these women with her,” said Barr.
Anthea Butler, associate professor at the University of Pennsylvania and author of a forthcoming book on evangelicals and racism, said Moore could become a more conservative version of the late Rachel Held Evans, who rallied progressive Christians tired of evangelicalism but not of Christianity.
Critics of Moore will find it easier to dismiss her as “woke” or “liberal” than to deal with the substance of her critique, said Butler. But Moore’s concerns and the ongoing conflicts in the SBC about racism and sexism aren’t going away, Butler said.
The religion professor believes Moore will be better off leaving the SBC, despite the pain of breaking away.
“I applaud this move and support her because I know how soul-crushing the SBC is for women,” Butler said. “She will be far better off without them, doing the ministry God calls her to do.”
Unwinding her life from the Southern Baptist Convention and from Lifeway was difficult. Moore and her husband have begun visiting a new church, one not tied as closely to the SBC but still “gospel-driven.” She looked at joining another denomination, perhaps becoming a Lutheran or a Presbyterian, but in her heart, she remains Baptist.
She still loves the things Southern Baptists believe, she said, and is determined to stay connected with a local church. Moore hopes at some point, the public witness of Southern Baptists will return to those core values and away from the nationalism, sexism and racial divides that seem to define its public witness.
So far that has not happened.
“At the end of the day, there comes a time when you have to say, this is not who I am,” she said.
Moore had formed long-term friendships with her editing and marketing team at Lifeway and saying goodbye was painful, though amicable. She’d hoped to spend 2020 on a kind of farewell tour but most of her events last year were canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. (Lifeway does have a cruise featuring Moore still on its schedule.)
“These are people that I love so dearly and they are beloved forever,” she said. “I just have not been able to regard many things in my adult ministry life as more of a manifestation of grace than that gift of partnership with Lifeway.”
Becky Loyd, director of Lifeway Women, spoke fondly about Moore.
“Our relationship with Beth is not over, we will continue to love, pray and support Beth for years to come,” she said in an email. “Lifeway is so thankful to the Lord for allowing us to be a small part of how God has used Beth over many years to help women engage Scripture in deep and meaningful ways and help them grow in their relationship with Jesus Christ.”
Lifeway will still carry Moore’s books and promote some of her events.
Those events will likely be smaller, attracting a few hundred people rather than thousands, said Moore, at least in the beginning. And she is looking forward to beginning anew.
“I am going to serve whoever God puts in front of me,” she said.
Bob Smietana is a national reporter for Religion News Service.
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73 Responses
Sadly, I can’t say she’s wrong. I did not vote for Donald Trump in 2016. I did vote for him – kicking and screaming – because I could not fathom a Biden-Harris Presidency. I should have gone with my first instincts and voted third party. Neither party represents my views. I am appalled and outraged that my fellow believers fell for this guy hook line and sinker. As far as I am concerned both parties are evil. Time for a third party – or at least vote my conscience since my vote really doesn’t matter.
By the way, Beth’s study on Galatians is outstanding. I plan on doing an in-depth study of that book and James this year. As a man I love her teaching!
I haven’t voted for either an R or D for POTUS since 2004. Everyone since then has either been third-party or write-in.
If her study on Galatians is so good, then how is it that she, too, was “so easily deceived” as they were?
Every citizen needs to vote their conscience, and sometimes you need to hold your nose and vote.
Hi, Bob. Thanks for this. I don’t understand about the split with Lifeway. In the beginning part you said it was recent, but then later you said that she hoped to spend 2020 on a farewell tour, hosted by Lifeway. Can you expand on that? Thanks.
We were in the middle of the biggest sexual abuse scandal that has ever hit our denomination,” she said. “And suddenly, the most important thing to talk about was whether or not a woman could stand at the pulpit and give a message.”
Critics of Moore will find it easier to dismiss her as “woke” or “liberal” than to deal with the substance of her critique, said Butler. But Moore’s concerns and the ongoing conflicts in the SBC about racism and sexism aren’t going away, Butler said.
Controversial California megachurch pastor John MacArthur summed up his thoughts in two words, telling Moore, “Go home.”
John MacArthur a self serving prig and supporter of a serial sexual predator and swindler of small contractors has the gall to criticize Beth Moore.
Who was the serial predator Johnny
Mac supported?
How did MacArthur swindle small contractors?
He means MacArthur was a supporter of Trump, who has a long track record of refusing to pay contractors (small and large) for the work he employed them to do.
Tacitus,
Yes, you read that right. I try to be careful when I write to make my thoughts clear. I understand that some read very quickly and don’t always understand my meaning.
I will try to be more careful.
Also I don’t need to call names, it is immature, unnecessary and unloving.
I apologize to John MacArthurs’s followers.
Beth, come to Canada. I’m a female, and I’m a Pastor, and I have preached “on Sundays”. I seriously can not understand how off base scripturally the belief that women cant preach, is. We do. We have. All over the world. And God blesses it, and God is glorified through it.
No comment on the political side of things except to say that we Christians need to realize that no party represent Jesus. None.
Have you ever read Paul’s letter to Timothy and Titus?
The Office of Pastor/elder is gender specific. The gifts are not.
Have you ever read Matthew 18: 8-9? Of course you have.
Do you practise cutting off your hands and feet or gouging out your eyes whenever you sin? Presumably you don’t.
Hermeneutical maturity is a good thing for which to strive.
Women in ancient Palestine were generally uneducated – especially in the Scriptures – making them unfit to teach in the public assembly, or to exercise any kind of teaching authority over men, most of whom had studied the Scriptures in Hebrew during their boyhoods – as well as learning a trade, of course. That is how Jewish boys were educated at that time. It was also frowned upon, in most ancient cultures, that women should speak in public at all. Their place was largely in the home.
Slavery was taken for granted in the ancient world – but we now regard it as an abomination to be stamped out.
Likewise, many modern women are now highly-educated and well-versed in the Scriptures – and may wish to exercise ALL of their gifts inside the Church, not just some: and that includes preaching to the entire assembly.
A lot has changed in the last 2,000 years.
Many women in the ancient world were very well educated. Just listened to a podcast from Dallas seminary on “The Table” on “Women in the Early Church” where they gave some pretty interesting information ( I recommend you google it). We read of the contribution of women to Paul’s ministry in the Epistles.
I hope Ms. Moore considers the Wesleyan Church. My wife and I have found a very active Bible proclaiming church in that denomination. Would love to see her doing conferences at Indiana Wesleyan University- would be wonderful!
What likely will define the effectiveness of her decision will be who she may become on the backside of this move to leave her church. There will always be politicians and Christian leaders to take shots at.
If the Gospel is core to her teaching, then she need only focus on it. The rest of her concerns are temporal, and need to be lived out daily, like the rest of us deal with each day.
If she establishes a more “practical” focus, then likely she will need to live in the sensation of the chatter and the Gospel will eventually slip from sight.
I pray she commits to teaching the Gospel, by which we are saved. No other cause is worthy.
“Not a SBC anymore?” Hilarious! She never was, just another faux-Christian performing her ministry of separating the wheat from the tares, sheep from the goats!
She is leaving with the sheep. Soon, only the goats will be left behind.
I was agreeing with the author until he quoted someone who referred to her as a more conservative Rachel Held Evans. RHE walked away from her faith to embrace the false gospel of “progressive Christianity,” one that is powerless to save anyone. I pray Beth is smarter than that.
I don’t see Moore doing that based upon what I have read.
Evangelical women are taught to submit to male leadership. It makes them afraid to speak up & when they do, they are not believed. In addition to the SBC scandle there are James McDonald, Bill Hybels, & Ravi Zaccharias. To name a few. All preyed on women & when the women spoke up they were not believed. The male led church should be concerned about root causes of that. Instead they were going after Beth Moore.
Beth has been named one of the most influential women in America. Men are intimidated by her. She has more than a million followers, she doesn’t need the Southern Baptist. She is too good for them.
The greatest wile of the devil in history is the feminist movement. Beth Moore is an outspoken leader in this abomination. It is the mother of LGBT, the abortion movement. It destroys every thing it touches such as the church, the family, education, government.
The greatest in history? Wow!
Hate women much?
Feminism is the advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of equality of the sexes.
Sounds good to me.
What IS the “feminist movement”?
People who support feminism.
This is a very, very, VERY short sighted (and narrow) view of world history, theology and women. I laughed to myself reading that you believe the devil is responsible for feminism. I’m pretty sure men oppressing, abusing, silencing and humiliating women is responsible for feminism. And thank God for it!
If you think the church has been destroyed by feminism, you might need to take a good look in the mirror buddy. Us men are responsible for just about every church scandal, split, coverup, heresy that you can imagine. Dont you dare blame women for that.
*Thank God for feminism is what I intended to say^
Virtue signal much?
Brian I’m not sure if that is aimed at me, but if it is, you can accuse me for that all you want. When people, particularly men, claim that femisim is responsible for the destruction of everything it touches, you can bet I will say something. Whenever anyone makes bold sweeping claims like that, they are inviting response. Perhaps if you disagree with a statement someone makes, you could explain why, instead of accusing them of virtue signalling? Then we could have a discussion.
Watch out! The feminists (And I also assume Antifa and BLM) are hiding under your bed.
I support Beth Moore in her decision. I live in Maryland and go to a SBC church here but I do not have the same problem that she is encountering in the south. If I did, I would do the same. Our church has had women deacons and women can give a talk in worship so it’s not as conservative as the ones in the south. We have studied most of Beth Moore’s books and hope this “change” doesn’t cause our group to stop using her books. I wish Beth the best in her future endeavors.
Leaving the point to ask: isn’t Maryland a southern state? The North and the Midwest thinks of it a southern??
Today I read two articles, one about a false prophet who supported Trump the sexual predator, and one about a female teacher that would not support the same sexual predator. One was sent hateful messages and lost his followers when he admitted his prophecy about the sexual predator’s re-election was wrong. The other was attacked on social media when she rejected the same predator from the start of his political career.
Both received this hate from the Evangelical supporters of said unrepentant sexual predator, con artist, reality tv star and failed businessman who filed bankruptcy 6 times. In other words, a real winning man of god. The corruption is so deep these same Evangelicals had the audacity to compare this unrepentant predator to King David.
Sounds to me like the problem is the Evangelical movement, who broke from the Catholics and became just as corrupt in much less time.
Nice way to speak of a sister in Christ.
Beth Moore and any other female have zero Biblical Truth to hold the office of an Elder, Pastor or Bishop. Not a sexist but a Biblicist. Maybe in the book of Hezekiah. The spiritual gifts are not gender specific but offices are. In essence the Bible teaches zero female elders. To do so is sin.
Beth Moore is not, nor was, nor wants to be a pastor/elder. She has a teaching ministry, but is not a church officer.
Beth Moore’s ‘A Letter to My Brothers’ (https://blog.lproof.org/2018/05/a-letter-to-my-brothers.html) is worthwhile reading. So itsRandy Alcorn’s response to John MacArthur’s dismissive ‘Go Home’ comment (https://www.epm.org/blog/2019/Oct/30/women-vital-part-christs-body).
Interesting article and any abuse against anyone is serious, As a Canadian looking in what are the options? Since abortion is murder and you did not vote Trump what are the options? Voting for Biden is like voting for murder, Biden a tool of Satan. So who did Moore vote for?
Not enough room in a comment section to fairly address. But if truly interested:
https://www.holypost.com/post/but-what-about-abortion
You do realize that people can vote third-party or do write-in candidates? It does not have to be a binary choice between the Giant Douche or the Turd Sandwich.
abortion is murder? where does the bible condemn abortion as murder? NEXT, joe biden has never caused any woman to get an abortion, nor has any politician or judge in history. ALL politicians in the USA support legal alcohol sales, if I go buy alcohol and get drunk can I blame that on “pro alcohol choice” politicians? or am I to blame? Im a democrat and liberal christian, Im not responsible for any womans abortion.
John, yes, of course abortion is murder. Every Christ-follower (and every honest doctor) knows that. It’s self-evident. Life begins at conception.
I’m sure Moore did not vote for Biden.
I voted for Trump because abortion is murder, but I regularly and loudly speak out against Trump’s persistent pride, peevishness, profanity, and pettiness. You don’t have to be a fan of someone to vote for him. Trump’s policies were pretty good, evil while his character is awful. Biden’s character and his policies are awful.
*even while
I would dispute that his policies were pretty good, save for a handful of areas. Trump in many ways was Bernie Sanders-lite. Both of are 2 sides of the same populist BS coin.
Biden as far as we know has not had multiple affairs while married and been divorced multiple times. Biden was also not involved or close buddies with Epstein either.
Julie Roys, do you have any plans to take on Beth Moore’s houses?
https://churchwatchcentral.com/2019/10/24/beth-moores-lifestyle-if-she-does-go-home/
https://the-end-time.org/2020/08/13/beth-moores-waterfront-mansion-for-sale/
Joy, very good point. If we are going to investigate some for profiting from the Evangelical industrial complex, it should include all.
This article mentions that Beth’s daughter Melissa is also supported by the Beths ministry and her salary is $130,000.
https://the-end-time.org/2018/07/20/how-many-houses-is-too-many/
I’ve looked up her salary on Living Proof’s 990s, which the ministry files every year. She makes about $250K. That’s a lot of money. But in perspective, her one full-time salary is about what John MacArthur makes from just one of his three salaries–and that was in 2015 when Grace to You still filed 990s. So, in the evangelical celebrity world, Moore’s salary is not news. No doubt, a $1.8 million home is pricey. But if it’s bought with book royalties, as opposed to exorbitant salaries, I doubt many would see it as news.
Her board governance is a red flag. There are four Moores on the board and one is an employee. The salaries of the other Moores are not exorbitant for their positions. But boards should be comprised of independent members (i.e. not family or employees).
Thank you for you honesty, Julie. I didn’t bring up salaries, but was focusing on “lifestyle.”
You mention that Beth Moore makes about $250K and that it’s a “lot of money” (you are right) however, without knowing what she makes in book royalties, we have no clue how much income Moore (or MacArthur) takes in.
It is also interesting that you jumped to the idea that perhaps her home(s) were built with book royalties, while not granting MacArthur that same assumption. Why not assume that he has purchased his home with book royalties? Maybe he gives away his other salaries to missions and builds his homes from book royalties. We don’t know.
Lastly, it is telling that in your article MacArthur’s 2-acre, 1.5 million-dollar, 5 bedroom 4 bath home is called a “luxury home” that is “more than twice the median value of homes in the area” and part of a portfolio that looks like a prosperity gospel preacher. Meanwhile, Moore’s 46-acre, 1.8 million-dollar, 7 bedroom 7.5 bathroom complex is merely “pricey.”
Do you think it is possible that you are harder on MacArthur because you are frustrated with his beliefs regarding Covid and female preachers, and softer on Beth Moore because your beliefs line up more?
Julie Roys has mentioned in an interview somewhere that many people have written to her asking her “to look into” this or that institution or celebrity pastor. She has more leads than she can follow up on.
Also, Roys is not a Baptist of any kind, and apart from what her personal beliefs might be, her church’s teachings regarding ordained elders are in a different theological context.
So, all that to say, her investigation choices have multiple factors.
Also, didn’t one of the articles on MacArthur mention that profits from books written while the author is being paid a salary should go to the organization? I think that’s why when professors write a book, they go on sabbatical to do it. I’m fuzzy on that, though.
Marmee March, that is understandable. A writer can’t write about everyone, and a journalist can’t cover everything.
However, it seems that you were a couple of comments late to this particular conversation. Julie has already “looked into” this and made a public comment (see comment on March 10th at 8:41am.) I was responding to that. In other words, I’m commenting on what Julie Roys HAS said, not something that she hasn’t said.
Also, if you are correct that Roys has said “profits from books written while the author is being paid a salary should go to the organization” then that is all the more reason to wonder why Julie would consider it to be non-news if Beth Moore (who Roys admits makes a “lot of money” from her organization) spent her royalties on luxury homes (which is the assumption Roys makes in her comment above.)
Lastly, the Roys Report (and Julie Roy’s twitter feed) has recently published things that mostly villianize Macarthur and mostly lionize (put in a positive light) Beth Moore – even though their lifestyles seem to be similar. It is understandable that some of us would notice that and wonder why.
It seems like different weights and measures are being used to evaluate and report on these issues.
To be clear, I meant that Moore and MacArthur’s FINANCIAL lifestyles seem similar. I do realize that there are many other differences between them.
Joy,
I think a key difference between John MacArthur and Beth Moore is that MacArthur is a *pastor*. Pastors have traditionally been held to a particular standard regarding modesty of lifestyle. Not only is JM earning a hefty salary, but he also earns other salaries, royalties from books, sermons, etc. He rakes in millions and no one is allowed to comment on that without serious backlash. He also does not make his financials transparent. Donors are not given a clear and unequivocal window into where all the money is going.
In contrast, Beth Moore makes her financials and Board members transparent. In my own opinion, her Board has family members on it and she lives a lavish lifestyle. I do not follow her or donate to her ministry for these reasons and more. But the difference here is that the information was made public so little “investigation” is needed. Donors, or others who wish to know, can learn where the money is going and make their decisions accordingly.
The primary difference is that in one case (Moore’s) we can obtain clear information, but in the other (JM’s) we cannot, so an investigation is warranted on behalf of donors.
I stopped following Beth Moore when she brought her daughter into the ministry years ago. Treating a ministry like your personal family business is appalling and can significantly contribute to a toxic workplace. The lack of objectivity that family members will bring to any Board is a serious problem.
I left Beth Moore a long time ago because she wasn’t handling the word of God right. She reads things into it that aren’t there and is quite theatrical misleading many, many women it’s heartbreaking.
Yes, this article is something of a “Puff Piece”, and ignores what most level-headed Evangelicals see as problems with Mrs. Moore as a teacher.
Sheri, I agree that Moore has mislead many with unbiblical teaching. It would be better to stick with the simple and straightforward gospel message rather than delve off into areas of speculation, opinion, and personal experiences. In my opinion it would be far better for individual local churches to stop importing all of these celebrity “preachers” and motivational speakers and instead develop the giftings of the women in their own churches where there is personal accountability. So many more women should be ministering and using their God given gifts within their local churches and communities. That would help to minimize the proliferation of the “Christian” celebrity syndrome along with its many pitfalls.
A person brings up to light over 700 cases of sexual abuse over a 20 year history in the SBC and MacArthur tells them to “Go Home”?? There’s something so evil about this that I can’t see this man the same way again.
“Straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel” seems appropriate to describe MacArthur and much of the SBC on this one.
I’m so heart broken at this. It’s like they have become the modern day Pharisees. I don’t want to take away all the good things that MacArthur has done but that was so low that if the article wouldn’t have mentioned that it was MacArthur I would have assumed it was a pervert or someone trying to hide a sexual predator friend!
When it was good for business, she was a Southern Baptist, When it was not good for business, she left the Southern Baptist.
why was beth moore attacked by the SBC and by john macarthur? one reason, she did not support trump. lets compare beth moore to paula white, paula is a charismatic pastor who supports trump and is against everything john macarthur teaches, YET john macarthur has never told paula white to “go home”, and not one preacher has attacked paula white becouse she is trumps “spiritual advisor”. if beth moore had supported trump she would still be in good standing. its all about do you support trump and far right politics or not. the evangelical church in america is not about Jesus or the bible but about christian nationalism and far right conservatism. this goes for the southern baptist churches, the charismatic movement, the reformed churches and even catholic and eastern orthodox churches in the USA. the church leadership in america is corrupt to the core.
James B,
You hit the nail on the head!
Few minds will be changed by the article or the comments. I’m saddened and amazed that whether or not it’s appropriate for a woman to teach Scripture is still even an issue. There is so much kingdom work to be done—what happened to praying for more workers? As far as charging Beth Moore with being a Christian celebrity, it occurs to me that there are FAR more males with whom this is a legitimate problem.
What is so bizarre about the whole situation is that Beth Moore has been solidly supportive of Southern Baptist teaching, that bars women from serving as church elders. But her critics mistake her support for sexual abuse victims, within the SBC, as being somehow critical of Southern Baptist teaching, regarding male eldership.
It is as though some real conversation needs to take place here, as this looks like two ships passing in the night.
JB , while it’s true that Joe Biden never has forced a woman to have an abortion he is an enabler. Passing laws making it easier to access abortion, doing away with the Mexico City Policy are just a few examples.
The guy who drives the getaway car after a robbery and murder was committed is held accountable by law. Hitler never personally killed any Jews but go tell a Jewish person that Hitler isn’t responsible and see where that gets you.
As far as abortion not being murder, “ thou shall not kill “ is a good start. Many of my atheist friends would argue that it is killing a living being, they just don’t think fetuses have rights. Do you really think Jesus would condone the destruction of a baby in a mother’s womb?
I’m glad I never got on the Beth Moore celebrity train.