The Identity of Steve Lawson's Paramour

So, the name is out, I guess. Let's talk about it.

In the days that followed the heart-breaking news story that Steve Lawson had committed adultery for a period for roughly five years, I tried however I could without a platform besides X to urge his former followers to exercise caution.

Demands that Lawson “fully repent” in a timely fashion were unrealistic. Mostly, this is because repentance always comes “too late” by its very nature. But this didn’t stop a myriad of angry Christians from demanding Lawson prove his repentance right then, and right there.

The problem I had with that attitude, which we’ve all seen professed so many times, is that firstly, repentance takes time because sin is deceptive. Before Lawson deceived anyone else, he deceived himself. And that means he may very well have some unpacking to do, mentally and spiritually. The best apologies don’t come with a gun to the head, but after having to sit and think about it for a while.

I’ve looked back at the many apologies I sent my own church while I sat in rehab, which were all rejected on the grounds of the most obscure technicalities (this could have been phrased differently, that could have been phrased differently, etc) and I empathize with someone who has work to do on himself before his mind, heart, or conscience are clear enough to apologize well. Back then, my mind wasn’t clear, to put it mildly. In fact, the way Xanax affects the brain, I don’t really think my mind was ultimately clear until about a year later. With that fog in the head, it’s really impossible to think things out the way they should be. And of course, the church went on to reject the apologies I gave later on, too, but it’s not the sinner’s job to demand people accept their apology on their time table, any more than it’s the offended’s job to demand someone repent on their time table.

I doubt that Steve’s sin gave his brain a mental stupor like mind did, but I’m sure his mind was spinning as fast than the National Debt Ticker. When your world collapses, it’s hard to deal with personal introspection.

I also surmised that the way Steve’s friends responded to him, particularly those in the orbit of John MacArthur, likely said two things. The first is that they knew more than they were saying, and the second is that they were being defensive, which means the scandal was closer to them than they let on. I was right on both counts.

When I saw that Phil Johnson tweeted out a firm and explicit denial of Steve’s paramour being within the orbit of any of his ministries, and then I saw that tweet deleted, I assumed that the young woman could be traced back to John MacArthur pretty easily. And sure enough, I was right on that, too.

It’s safe to say that it would also do Grace Community Church or The Masters Seminary any good to expose her identity to the public. And I applaud Protestia (and others) for having the keyboard trigger discipline to keep her identity private for as long as possible. But unfortunately, the cat is well out of the bag.

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