Years ago, when Beth Moore’s Bible studies became popular, I never really got into her teaching. It wasn’t that the content wasn’t great. She just wasn’t someone I thought I could relate to.
That changed when I saw the way she spoke out against the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) leadership on two issues: their reluctance to thoroughly investigate sexual abuse within member churches, and their downplaying of then-presidential candidate Donald Trump’s boasts of sexual assault. Beth Moore found a new voice, and I was here for it.
For years, Moore contorted herself to fit within the world of the SBC. She was a powerful teacher with a large following. Yet she went out of her way to show deference to male authority in the denomination. She repeated the teachings of the church about male headship and covering. But that changed when she saw how these subcultural norms played out, and she was over it.
As she explains in her memoir All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir:
“All this time, I’d accepted the rampant sexism because I thought it was about Scripture. What I was watching in the wake of the report, however, did not appear to be a whit about Scripture, nor did it evidence fruit of the Holy Spirit, as far as I could discern. In my estimation, this thing playing out in front of the world was about power. This was about control. This was about the boys’ club.”
Moore realized that the teaching she once espoused about women’s submission wasn’t about the well-being of women but rather the comfort and convenience of men. Women’s voices made them uneasy. It was easier to dismiss concerns to maintain their positions of privilege than to do the hard work of defending women.
For many years, Moore says, she participated in repeating the church’s teaching about women’s submission. As she began to speak out against injustice and for the dignity of women, she received harsh backlash from fellow SBC members. Her office phone line, emails, and social media accounts were pummeled with disparaging remarks trying to bully her back into her place. When asked to say a word or phrase that he associated with Moore, teacher John MacArthur said, “Go home,” to the shock of people in the audience and later on social media.
Women have long been taught to silence their voices about injustice. Our perspectives have been ridiculed and dismissed. Scriptures provide an early example of how that played out in the life of King David’s daughter, Tamar. Tamar’s half-brother Amnon, David’s eldest son, became infatuated with her, which ballooned into a lustful, toxic obsession.
A friend suggested he feign illness and ask his father to send his sister to bring him one of her signature dishes to eat. Once she arrived there, Amnon sent others away and raped her. She pleaded for him to marry her to remove her shame, but he refused. Then, the Bible says, he “despised her as much as he had loved her” and cast her out. He wanted to use and abuse her, not protect and care for her.
The desire to dominate another person, for one’s benefit, is a direct result of the fall of man, when people first stepped out of God’s original plan for humanity (Genesis 3:16). Unfortunately, this propensity has seeped into church culture through an excessive focus on gender roles.
Complementarian theology is the teaching that men and women have distinct roles to play. Men are supposed to be the authority in their home, making the final decisions, and providing protection. They are the ones that are supposed to teach in public. The teaching is wrapped in the language of servant leadership but that isn’t always how it is lived out.
As Beth Allison Barr, author of The Making of Biblical Womanhood: How the Subjugation of Women Became Gospel Truth, observes,
“Ironically, complementarian theology claims it is defending a plain and natural interpretation of the Bible while really defending an interpretation that has been corrupted by our sinful human drive to dominate others and build hierarchies of power and oppression.”
Setting up men as the authority figure in the home and the church, rather than as an equal partner, plays right into the human tendency to control and fight to maintain one’s position.
Jesus’s teaching shows how important it is for his followers to distinguish themselves from those who oppress others. Matthew 20:25-26 says,
“Jesus called them together and said, ‘You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant.’”
When we speak up against injustice, it threatens those who want to maintain power. Even Absalom preferred to take matters into his own hands by taking revenge on Amnon, rather than speaking up for his sister or encouraging her to speak up for herself.
Women are uniquely equipped to identify ways in which others are being marginalized. This empathy stems from the historic oppression that resulted from the Fall of Man. Proverbs 31:8 urges us to “Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute.” This verse is located in the same chapter extolling the virtues of women. Our voices play a vital role in the Kingdom of God, and we are encouraged to use them.
If we are afraid to use our voice, we would do well to remember the example of Beth Moore, and the cautionary tale of Tamar. Since leaving the SBC, Moore has continued to maintain a thriving, independent teaching ministry without their support. However, Tamar’s please to Amnon for marriage fell on deaf ears and her voice disappears from the narrative without vindication or restoration. This is despite Absalom’s interjection from this point forward.
Our voices are valuable. They are worth using and worth listening to.
