In the wake of John MacArthur’s stand against government overreach into the ecclesiastical matters of the Church, primarily worship, woke TGC contributor, Gavin Ortlund accused MacArthur of prioritizing worship above loving your neighbor and maintaining a good witness. In his piece at his personal website, Ortlund writes,
To my mind, there are at least four biblical values that should inform our decision-making in this situation:
- the importance of worship (Hebrews 10:25)
- love for neighbor (Mark 12:31)
- obedience to government (Romans 13:1-7)
- maintaining a good witness (Colossians 4:5-6)
What concerns me about defying the state order right now is that it seems to prioritize 1 at the expense of 2-4.
Of course, Ortlund fails to acknowledge that MacArthur’s Grace Community Church has a history and a reputation for all of these things and to accuse MacArthur of not placing these other items in their proper place — suggesting that they are all equal or
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somehow mutually exclusive — is absurd.
MacArthur responded to Ortlund on Fox News with Shannon Bream last night defending the decision for his church to remain open and declaring that “we’re not spreading anything but the gospel.”
