On May 3rd, I published a piece entitled “A Letter Back to Beth Moore from Seth Dunn.” This piece was published in response to a letter Beth Moore had written earlier that day about her struggles as a female Bible teacher and conference speaker in a male-dominated field. She found no sympathy with me. My message to Beth Moore was short and to the point: quit teaching the Bible, you are awful at it. I thought something concise was in order given the extensive writing that had already been done in critique of Mrs. Moore and her exploits in evangelicalism. However, many readers of my piece reacted negatively to what I had written. Reader reactions ranged from critiques of my attitude, including accusations of misogyny and jealousy, to complaints that I had neglected to lay out a case for why Beth Moore was such a bad Bible teacher. I thought it best to write a follow-up piece…consisting entirely of statements from other people. Here’s what fellow bloggers, theologians, and pastors have had to say about Beth Moore:
Pastor and conference speaker Josh Buice wrote the following in his article Why Your Pastor Should So No Moore to Beth Moore:
Discernment is needed today in the church like never before. It should also be noted that God has called pastors to exercise oversight over women’s ministries within the church. To allow women to go through church sponsored Beth Moore studies and gather for simulcast studies is to open the doors of the church to unbiblical and dangerous teaching. Pastors, guard the doors and educate the people to exercise biblical discernment.
Pastor and blogger Travis Peterson followed up on Buice’s article by writing:
As a pastor, I have not, for a long time, recommended Beth Moore studies to our women. This is not out of any sort of personal rancor. I simply would far prefer that our women learn from teachers who are more faithful to exposition, who are less open to the charismatic, and who are less emotionally driven in their presentation. I do not condemn anyone who has loved a Beth Moore study in the past or who will happily buy the next one out there. But, I would suggest that concerns about Moore’s interpretative method, her recounting of visions and words of knowledge, and her association with false teachers like Joyce Meyer and Joel Osteen as well as her embrace of the Roman Catholic Church—a group which denies salvation by grace alone through faith alone—are valid reasons to think twice before starting that next group study.”
Pastor Gabe Hughes, a well-known discernment podcaster, tweeted out a GIF of the LifeWay building being demolished and asked, “And all their Joyce Meyer, T.D. Jakes, Sarah Young, Perry Noble, Beth Moore, Eugene Peterson, and Ann Voskamp books went with the old building, too, right? #Lifeway”. The implication of Hughes’ tweet is that Moore’s books are fit to be blown up.
And all their Joyce Meyer, T.D. Jakes, Sarah Young, Perry Noble, Beth Moore, Eugene Peterson, and Ann Voskamp books went with the old building, too, right? #Lifeway pic.twitter.com/yfRMkudzWM
— Gabriel Hughes (@Pastor_Gabe) January 6, 2018
Matt Slick, the founder of Christian Apologetics Research Ministry was once of first popular Christian theologians to warn about Moore. Slick wrote:
Beth Moore, in my opinion, is not to be trusted to properly teach from the word of God. She is leading many astray with her approval of contemplative prayer, personal revelations, and faulty biblical exegesis. Yes, I know that many claim to have been helped by her. That is fine, but the experience of feeling helped is not where truth lies. Rather, it is God’s word that is the standard of what is good and bad, not if we are helped through the world of pop psychology in Christian terminology. Therefore, I cannot endorse Beth Moore.
Perhaps the most damning condemnations of Beth Moore have come from female Bloggers. Blogger Elizabeth Prata, who has studied Moore’s work extensively, maintains a listing of Beth Moore critiques on her site. Blogger Michelle Lesley has called Beth Moore an outright unrepentant sinner and false teacher, writing:
The first thing you need to know about Beth Moore, if you don’t already, is that she is a false teacher who is living in current, unrepentant sin. She teaches false doctrine and twists Scripture to scratch the itching ears of her followers. She sinfully and rebelliously preaches to men, and she yokes in “ministry” with false teachers. These are not my personal opinions, these are verifiable facts.
I could go on and on with quote from more writers but I’ll let the blog post end here. Quite frankly, I don’t have to provide my own extensive critique of Beth Moore because so many others, including women with first-hand experience, have already produced so much of it. As the reader can see, I’m hardly alone in condemning Beth Moore. In fact, some of my earlier writing critiquing Mrs. Moore seems tame compared to what these writers have said. Unlike other bloggers, I have avoided commenting on the issue of Beth Moore teaching men. Yet, I have been accused of misogyny for taking Moore to task in a frank and direct manner. Sadly, there are many critics out there who want to make the Beth Moore issue an issue of sexism. It’s not, but, ironically, there has been a great failure of Christian men regarding Beth Moore. Christian men have failed to pay careful attention to what their wives and fellow church members have been studying…and they’ve been studying Beth Moore. Now, Moore is one of the most popular Bible teachers in the world. Instead of picking off the weakest sheep from the back of the flock, Moore openly leads them astray from the front. How exactly should we feel about someone who does this? I, for one, feel detestation.
It’s Mother’s Day. Whose mother has Beth Moore led astray this week?
*Please note that the preceding is my personal opinion. It is not necessarily the opinion of any entity by which I am employed, any church at which I am a member, any church which I attend, or the educational institution at which I am enrolled. Any copyrighted material displayed or referenced is done under the doctrine of fair use
