Beth Moore made stomachs turn on social media by saying what only gay men and newly converted 11-year-old girls who just got their first Message Bible at church camp say about our great God and Savior. Coopting the ‘Jesus is my boyfriend’ culture that characterizes much of squishy and unlearned evangelicalism today, Moore indulged in some romanticized view of the Holy God, saying, “If Jesus is trying to get me to have a crush on him, it’s working.”
It’s incredibly irreverent for a 65-year-old bible teacher to talk about Jesus this way. There’s no fear of God saying you’re ‘crushing on Jesus.’ or that he’s trying to get you to crush on him, as if he’s some pre-pubescent boy passing you a note in class that says “Do you like me? Circle one ‘yes’ or ‘no.'”
It’s childish, unlearned, and it’s a form of Theoerosism. This heresy speaks of God in terms of sensuality or eroticism and is contained historically to the 20th and 21st Centuries. Theoerosism is popularized in much of sub-Christian media, in worship songs that speak of God romantically, or in the literature that discusses God with erotic styling.
Modern adherents of Theoerosism include most prominently Ann Voskamp, whose book One Thousand Gifts repeatedly speaks of God in a sensual fashion, including using the term (or variant of the term) “make love to God,” such as this quote from the book: “God makes love with grace upon grace, every moment a making of His love for us. Couldn’t I make love to God, making every moment love for Him? To know Him the way Adam knew Eve. Spirit skin to spirit skin?”
Much of the pushback from Moore pointed out that this is not we are to speak of God, quoting Revelation 19:11-16 and asking: is this someone that you’re to be ‘crushing on?’ or someone trying to get you to have a crush on him?
And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many crowns; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written: “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”
We don’t think so.
For the uneducated, Moore’s theological ineptitude and outright horribleness are the stuff of legends, as she has routinely claimed direct revelation from God (like her famous tale of God telling her to brush a guy’s hair instead of witnessing to him), affirming so-called woman pastors and those who affirm LGBTQ+, labeling her entire denomination racist, and claiming white supremacy is running rampant” in the church. She has liked tweets dissuading believers from sharing the Gospel at BLM protests and recently said that the pulpit has become a threat to women’. She has criticized complementarianism, as ‘it wipes out half the gospel force’ and has begun preaching at churches.
