‘I’ll Get Slammed for This’—Beth Moore Writes Heartfelt Thread to SBC Women

Comparing the recent posts by Wolfe and Moore, Wingfield wrote, “No one responded to Wolfe with stories of how his theology or teaching changed their lives. But that’s mainly what people said to Moore about her life and ministry.” He also pointed to the trend of “our embedded culture of white male supremacy,” noting, “A white male authoritarian figure lambastes a woman as a heretic and she responds by apologizing for what she sincerely felt was the right thing to do.”

Wingfield advised Moore to next model how to “stop apologizing to angry men,” saying they “aren’t worth the breath.” In response to Wingfield, Moore wrote that her apology “was not for speaking out” but for helping to “prop up misogyny in the denomination and…build up trust in some systems and some leaders that were not worthy of our trust though I did not realize that was what I was doing.” Moore’s intention, she added, “was to be godly.”

Moore wrote that she usually can let criticism “roll off my back” but admitted that words such as Wolfe’s can break and bruise. “If the time comes that I cannot still be wounded,” she wrote, “my heart has grown hard and I’ll probably need to retire.” So for now, Moore added, she plans to “take those things to the Lord and learn from them and ask him to do something good with them.”

Is Beth Moore ‘Dangerous’ to the SBC?

On Dec. 29, professor and author Beth Allison Barr said Moore’s recent heartfelt words to women “encapsulated her ministry” and showed “how deeply grieved” the SBC should be about “chasing her out” of the denomination. “Beth Moore has always been dangerous to the Southern Baptist Convention because she is a woman who has more pastoral influence than any man in the SBC,” Barr added.

The outcry about Moore came as news broke that the SBC had settled a years-long sexual abuse lawsuit against one of its prominent leaders, retired Texas judge Paul Pressler. Some people noted the timing, with one writing:

It is no coincidence that when it is revealed that SBC leader Pressler molested hundreds of boys *with the assistance of the SBC,* the SBC focuses on attacking a woman (Beth Moore) who condemned SBC sexual abuse, rather than the abuser Pressler. DRAW THE OBVIOUS CONCLUSION, y’all.

Texas Pastor Dwight McKissic entered the conversation, posting that Wolfe’s comment about Moore was the type of “pure, evil, unadulterated sexism, that’s tolerated in the SBC”—and similar to the “kind of racism perpetuated by the SBC, and tolerated even today.”

In response, Wolfe, a former intern for Dr. Albert Mohler at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, posted, “The first thing the Devil said to God’s people was ‘Did God really say…’ Beth Moore has stood up now for years and said ‘Did God really say…only men can be pastors?’ Anyone promoting disobedience to God is doing the work of the Devil. That’s basic Christianity.”