Our Culture Needs Less Beth Moore And More Jonathan Edwards

Beth Moore, an evangelical lady-preacher and hyperbolic theologian, found herself in conflict with Jonathan Edwards over the weekend. She concluded Edwards must be to blame.

“For the life of me, I don’t get the appeal of Jonathan Edwards to many,” Moore shared the news with her 1,000,000 Twitter followers in an a thread Complete with a tangent about spiders and a reference to herself as a third person.

For the life of me, I don’t get the appeal of Jonathan Edwards to many. After my Bible reading this morning, I read a bit out of an old book I’d pulled off my shelf. This compilation includes many of the greatest sermons from the past. I flipped open to a page where I’d handwritten the words,

— Beth Moore (@BethMooreLPM) January 14, 2023

“I flipped open to a page where I’d handwritten the words, ‘But I have Jesus,’” she wrote, before revealing the page contained a passage from Edwards’ famous “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” sermon. She cited the following passage:

The God that holds your hand over the pit of Hell, just as one holds a spider over the fire, hates you and is horribly provoked. … You are 10,000 times more abominable in his eyes than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours.

“I get that Edwards is talking to those who do not look to Christ for salvation but I’m just saying, I was so broken & self-loathing & ensnared in my sins, such preaching would’ve made me feel like dying. Like running away, not running toward God,” Moore. “God uses all sorts of means of calling people out of sin & unbelief. At times, I have very much needed the sternest possible warning from God. I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m no big theologian but I just don’t think you’re a spider. And I don’t think God abhors you.”

Despite her status as a rockstar of women’s bible studies, Moore has been criticized for her association with questionable figures such as Victoria and Joel Osteen, her rejection Complementarianism and her heavy reliance upon emotion and arbitrary personal interpretations of Scripture (“How did God speak to you directly today?” It is common to use the term “common” question in her studies).

It’s unsurprising that someone like Moore, who emphasizes the elements of the Gospel that are less offensive to unrepentant sinners, such as Christ’s love and companionship, is uncomfortable with Edwards’ harsh message. But the love and grace of Christ can only properly be understood in the context of the grossly offensive nature of our own sin, the sinless holiness of our Creator, and our absolute need for Christ’s sacrifice so we may be spared the righteous wrath of God.

Edwards uses this context in his classic sermon. He is rich in passages from Scripture that express the same disgust for sin’s poisonous nature: Amos 9 to 2, Psalms 73:18-19; Proverbs 20 to2, Ezekiel

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