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Once Again, Some Christians Are Upset With Beth Moore for No Reason

Once Again, Some Christians Are Upset With Beth Moore for No Reason

On Thursday evening, Beth Moore started trending on Twitter. This isn’t exactly unusual. The author, speaker and preacher is a pretty regular feature on Twitter’s trending topics, given both her status among American Christians and her rent-free residence in many people’s heads. On Thursday, Moore posted the most innocent, innocuous of posts and a bunch of people got mad.

Moore posted a picture of her Texas garden and some of the grapes she’s been growing. “It’s like a miracle,” she tweeted. “In fifty jillion degree weather. If Jesus is trying to get me to have a crush on him, it’s working.”

A fun, silly post about being proud of your garden and loving Jesus. That’s all a normal person would take away from this. But remember, Twitter is not where normal people are at their normalest. No, Twitter is full of people looking for any excuse to unleash the meanest thing they can think of on the easiest target they can find. And since Moore’s departure from the Southern Baptist Convention made her Public Enemy Number One for many believers, she’s an easy target and they took this opportunity to be angry.

The crux of the issue appears to be the use of “crush,” with Twitter users trying to lambast Moore “romanticizing Jesus.”

“This is awful,” said one person. “I am really holding my tongue right now. Really holding. I hope you repent and grow up.”

Jesus Christ is not your ‘boyfriend’ or your ‘homeboy,” tweeted another. “He is your Lord, your Savior, your Creator, your Sustainer, your King and your God. Beth Moore doesn’t have a clue who the true Jesus of the Bible even is. Read the book of Colossians, goodness.” 

We could go on. “Toxic.” “Blasphemer.” “Abominable.” All these and many more epithets were hurled at Moore for the use of the word “crush.”

But let’s be real. It wasn’t the word “crush” that actually made people mad. Christians have been using romantic language for God for millennia. The Psalms, the Song of Solomon and books from both Testaments are replete with language relating humanity’s relationship with God in romantic terms. Medieval poets were pull of passionate language for God that would make Drake blush. Even our modern worship choruses have plenty of language for God that would fit into a dating profile. Moore’s language is both extremely common and downright tame. John Eldridge and Brent Curtis wrote The Sacred Romance in 1997, for crying out loud. If people were actually offended by this language, they’ve had thousands of years to address it.

People aren’t mad at Moore for saying she has a crush on Jesus. They are mad at Moore because they like being mad at Moore. Who you’re mad at has become a source of identity for many of us, and exercising that anger feels good. It’s fun. It’s comforting. It’s doing something terrible to us emotionally, and we know that, but we often don’t care. We’ve accepted that we have a role in the culture war, and that war is to be actively mad at people online. And if we see other people being mad at someone we’re supposed to be mad at, we join in without a second thought.

Which is a special shame, because the call of Jesus is indeed to have a crush on him. “Yet the Lord still waits for you to come to Him,” Isaiah writes in chapter 30 of his letter. “So He can show you His love.” That sounds like a much better invitation that a chance to hurl insults on Twitter, thanks.

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