Julie Roy’s Comes for John MacArthur

I am posting this here for feedback. Also to save for later since I haven’t had a chance to read.

If this has been reported correctly, I am left thinking: MacArthur is his own worst enemy. Never mind Gavin Newsom, mask mandates, or the loonier Pentecostals.

I read through this just now. It certainly looks bad for MacArthur and his elders.

These sorts of cases are difficult and require judgment calls, which then generate conflict. As outsiders, it’s easy for us to think we know all the facts and would have made the right decision. But we probably don’t have all the facts. Proverbs 18:17 applies.

I think about counseling i have received or seen that could be very easily misrepresented or twisted. Negative intent could be read into things that may have just been mistakes or misunderstandings.

Church leaders are frequently naive regarding predators. That’s why presbyteries are helpful.

Celebrities are men like us and they fail. If you are a MacArthur fangirl, cut it out, but i wouldnt say this invalidates all of MacArthur’s work to date.

MacArthur should be given an opportunity to defend himself. If he does what he’s done thus far with his financial irregularities and obscene salary which is to say nothing at all or squelch dissent, the silence speaks volumes.

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Of course it does. It’s a hit piece. Maybe MacArthur deserves a hit piece, but I wouldn’t conclude that on the basis of a hit piece alone. Your reference to Proverbs 18:17 is apt.

I’m inclined to take MacArthur’s side for personal reasons. I’ve never heard of Julie Roys. But I have to say, the way she framed the entire discussion was awful. “But at the time of Eileen’s shaming, Eileen had not yet reported her husband’s physical and mental abuse to police.” Throughout the piece, she continually refers to the church discipline process from Matthew 18 as “shaming”, as if shaming were the entire point of the process. If she had a good word to say about the precious word of our Lord regarding His best for our personal holiness, the purity of His bride and the restoration of sinners, then I missed it.

It’s certainly possible for elders to misuse or abuse the church discipline process, and maybe that happened in this case, I don’t know. But framing the very commands of our Lord the way Ms. Roys did puts my hackles up.

I’ve never been any kind of pastor, never mind a celebrity pastor, but I don’t think I would choose to re-litigate a church discipline process in the blogosphere if I thought I were still in the right. If, after 20 years of reflection, I decided I was in the wrong, that would be a different matter. What do the pastors here think?

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I think we all think John MacArthur was wrong, but you are right. Both and. Thank you for your discernment and zeal for the peace and purity of the Church. Love,

PS: Some of us have long gnashed our teeth at Julie Roys. She’s usually right, but the wrong forum and the wrong messenger. I speak of her, obliquely, in “Elders Reformed,” chapter 4.

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I came here to post this exact article and get some feedback, about what went wrong here. I am seeing many on Facebook sharing this, some have even started a podcast discussing church abuse and i wanted to understand how much of this article is hatred of church discipline in and of itself, versus how much was wrongdoing by the elders in this case.

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There’s nothing new under the sun. MacArthur reminds me a Pharisee in Dick Cheney’s clothing. I have watched a few of his sermons and he does have a great command of scripture. The article indicates there was ample opportunity to investigate and the follow up article states there was an unwritten policy to ask the victim to repent rather than the abuser. Legalistic application of scripture seem to rule at GCC, versus discernment. Incidents such as these are a great contributor to the decline of the church and civilization. I know myself and many others are not simply anti-authority, they just have a hard time finding shepherds that aren’t wolves.

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But the real lesson isn’t to distrust leaders, but to distrust the masses who made their leaders heroes and worshipped them.

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Mike,

You’re anti authority, and so am I. It’s 21st century America. We are all lolberts from birth. But it isnt just that. Being anti authority is a human universal

Ben,
I think I’ve died to myself to the point where I like being a red shirt. I’m condfident that my " Kirk" and “Starfleet” would never allow this to play out in this manner. As God saw fit, the next sermon after I posted was Tim preaching on Authority from Matthew. He discussed a woman being beaten by her husband and how to properly handle it.

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New article published yesterday:

So this is what happens when the perceived need to defend the institution, takes precedence over concern for morality and justice?