I’m not opposed to any of those things. I’ve been a part of Christ-centered recovery programs that take the type of approach you suggest.
However, I’d also suggest that MacArthur deserves no blame here. It’s easy to armchair quarterback. Doing the job is much harder than critiquing it.
Look at how Christ dealt with the woman caught in adultery, the rich young ruler, or those pretending to be sincere seekers while trying to trap him in His words.
Christ sent the adulteress away with a simple instruction: Go and sin no more.
When the rich young ruler went away sorrowful, without surrendering to Christ’s Lordship, it was not because Jesus failed him in some way.
I’ll suggest something else here as well. Influential pastors are targets of the Devil and his emissaries. Many pastors have fallen into temptation themselves. Perhaps men like Jimmy Swaggart fell into sin while trying to show compassion to women like this one who weren’t ready to surrender to Christ. Instead of him converting them, they converted him.
People like stories with happy endings. This wasn’t one. Maybe there is more to the woman’s story that we don’t know. Maybe this planted a seed that later produced fruit. But I suggest the instinct to second guess the pastor is the wrong one. It is the woman who made the wrong choice. She could have taken the risk of trusting God to take care of her, but she chose to cling to the false security of what was familiar. And it was the very thing that had caused her so much grief and harm.
- This was John MacArthur’s recollection of the conversation. We only hear from him.
- It’s also just obviously a very tiny selection from the conversation, the condensed version, leaving a lot of room for speculation. And there must have been considerably more said about the woman’s book than we’re told here.
- While the woman might well have said that the book was worth a lot of money, I do nevertheless have some doubts. Most people have a bit more filter than that, even in their own thoughts. If I were to speculate - which we’re left to do here - I’d say that it’s very possible that she said something
similar sounding that MacArthur took a certain way, and that “money quote” made for a clearer “lesson” in the telling afterward.
- With so little to go on, though, I think you have to consider alternatives. For example, we don’t know what that book meant to that woman. She might have been willing to part with it after going over it. When you hear about the lives of prostitutes, it often sounds like it’s not just “business” to them, but their pimp might be their “boyfriend.” A black man once told me that his parents, who raised a family together, were pimp and prostitute. This world is the “support system” for many prostitutes.
- Then there’s her remark, “I guess I don’t really want Jesus, do I?” I think there’s a lot of reason to doubt MacArthur’s interpretation of it. It’s probable that she came from a broken, unstable home with sexual abuse and substance abuse. She likely failed out of school. And she’s a failure by being a prostitute. MacArthur, as a spiritual authority that she can’t question, as she is such an open sinner, has given her a “test” to pass in order to be a Christian, and since she won’t burn the book right then, she knows he’s implicitly giving her an F. That’s likely what she’s saying because she feels like she has to say something — “I guess I failed at being a Christian.”
- Going by what’s written, it does sound like MacArthur ended up being judgmental towards her, though so little is said, it’s not clear where his heart was. As a Christian who has been in some ways part of both the upper middle class and the low income, including being homeless, I have experienced and witnessed how often someone in the upper class just doesn’t see what someone in the lower class is actually dealing with.
We all know that at any given time, our spiritual strength has its limits. As Christians, we are to allow Christ to grow our strength, but as long as we’re here, many situations will be very difficult for us. Oftentimes, though, more elder Christians, while aware of their own need for God’s mercy as they struggle to carry the their burdens, nevertheless don’t recognize that many newer Christians and those with very messed up lives often have a lot less spiritual strength.
While we can see when people struggle to carry something, until we actually see that, we tend to go by what seems heavy or light to us. Something that is light to the average man might be heavy to a woman, someone in bad health. Children can’t carry what adults can. Sometimes people are already carrying other things. With actual physical burdens, this is all easy to see. With invisible burdens, it’s not. Which is why we should be loathe to make quick judgments about people we don’t really know going by appearances, and without an attitude of mercy and humility.
Consider MacArthur and this lady. He has pastor responsibilities this woman doesn’t have, but he also has many advantages she doesn’t. I believe his father was a pastor, so he grew up in a Christian world. For all its faults, the church still functions much better overall than the world does. He has many burdens, but also a large, edifying Christian support system. By contrast, what does this woman likely have?
What I’ve experienced and witnessed is that often many Christians who have been in the church for a long time quickly judge people who are their “lessers” using appearances, when it comes right down to it.