On March 28, Gregoire posted the section of Howerton’s remarks where he spoke to the men in the room. This clip currently has 1.1 million views on X, formerly Twitter.
SBC Megachurch pastor Josh Howerton’s advice to women about the wedding night:
“Stand where he tells you to stand, wear what he tells you to wear, and do what he tells you to do.”@_jaystringer and I unpack this on Episode 230 of Bare Marriage!https://t.co/DC7wFxdD1T pic.twitter.com/ECwRD1GTKn
— Sheila Gregoire–She Deserves Better is here! (@sheilagregoire) March 28, 2024
The following morning, Howerton responded to a repost of the clip, saying, “The type of people who post these things will not care (watch how they respond to this comment – no one will acknowledge ‘oh wow, that’s new info’), but this is a lie.”
“The person who originally posted this took an old preacher joke about marriage, edited out the comment immediately before aimed at men, and then very conveniently ended the clip before it’s made clear it’s part of a joke,” he continued. “They then deceitfully presented it as my ‘advice to women’ where if all you saw was the quote or the clip they selectively edited, you don’t know it was half of a joke, not ‘advice.’”
While some responded to Howerton with support, many said that the full context did not help his case, that it made his remarks worse, and that a sexist joke is still sexist. Gregoire later posted the full video clip as well as a transcript of Howerton’s words.
During the conversation on Gregoire’s podcast, Stringer, who is a therapist, called Howerton’s words “deeply, deeply abusive and harmful to women, but…also deeply, deeply harmful for men.”
Gregoire and Stringer see a number of assumptions underlying Howerton’s comments, including the ideas that men don’t care about their wedding day and that women don’t care about sex and don’t have a significant sex drive. Gregoire and Stringer disputed those assumptions and argued that relationships are meant to be collaborative in these areas.
Gregoire and Stringer also believe Howerton was expressing a “pornified mindset” that sees a woman as obligated to have sex with her husband and ignores her humanity and sexual desires.
ChurchLeaders has reached out to Lakepointe Church for comment and will update this article in the event of a reply.