Taking Issue with Beth Moore

As I mentioned in a previous post, I am leading a Bible study for women entitled Beloved Disciple: The Life and Ministry of John by Beth Moore. First, I must say that I have been blessed tremendously by Moore as I have completed most of her studies, the first of which sparked my passion for studying God’s Word nearly seven years ago; and I have the utmost respect for her calling and her love for teaching the Word. That being said, in the course of this week’s study, I encountered something that caused me to nearly come unglued.

The third sentence of the fourth paragraph on page 107 in Beloved Disciple reads as follows: “They [God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit] knew that equipping people with their own will would necessitate a plan for redemption, because they would ultimately make some very poor choices.”

My first reaction was to write in the margin: “Yikes! Ephesians 2:1!” I was able to calm myself down enough to complete the day’s lesson, but I was really disturbed, and I didn’t know what to do. My husband suggested writing to her, and I think I will, but at the time, my primary concern was how to handle this situation with my students. I didn’t want to appear to be criticizing Moore, but I knew that it had to be addressed. As I prayed and thought about it over the next few days, God lead me to prepare a handout that included the diagram below and other comments. I reviewed the handout during class and then asked the students to place it in their books between pages 106 and 107.

The problem with Moore’s statement is that it is a completely inadequate explanation as to why a plan of redemption was needed. Our relationship with God is never about what we do (“poor choices”); it is about who were are—our condition. And how bad we are cannot be overemphasized. To say that we need redemption because God knew we would make poor choices is fundamentally incorrect. We need to be redeemed because we are separated from God, condemned to hell, and spiritually dead. Following is the diagram I prepared.

We are not lost because we sin; we sin because we are lost. And we are not saved because we do good works; we do good works because we are saved. It sounds simple, but I believe much of Christendom doesn’t really get it. Many people recognize that they are sinful and that they need forgiveness, but they look to Christ as a way to help them get to heaven rather than as the means to redeem them from a state in which they are utterly incapable of doing anything to earn God’s approval.

Moore states that her goal for weeks five and six is for us to have “more.” She wants us to be satisfied in and to have an abundant life in Christ. We cannot have this kind of relationship with Him if we do not fully apprehend and appreciate what he has done for us. Only an understanding of our complete inability to earn favor with God apart from God’s gift of salvation (Ephesians 2:8) through Christ’s atoning death on the cross can motivate a love for Christ that enables us to live an abundant life of obedience wherein our purpose is to glorify God.