Moore was accused of saying that Jesus himself didn’t follow “the Billy Graham rule” of never being alone with a woman who wasn’t his wife or family member.

Moore has become a lightning rod for Christian outrage, refusing to become the poster child for extremely conservative evangelicals or progressive Christians. Last year, she found herself the subject matter of articles and blogs when John MacArthur, a prominent US evangelical pastor, declared she should “go home”.

This past weekend’s firestorm began with Moore tweeting:

I say these things out of neither defensiveness nor anger nor even, today at least, out of frustration. I say these things because the Bible proves them. I say these things because I’m so grateful. I say these things because Jesus was strong & bold enough to save my sinful life.

— Beth Moore (@BethMooreLPM) February 28, 2020

Responses came thick and fast.

According to Beth I'm not christlike because I make an effort not to be alone w/ women other than my wife or family. (I guess I should remind her that the woman at the well was a public and open locale but who cares about details.

Beth, way to encourage men to court temptation.

— Nathaniel Jolly (@NathanielJolly) February 29, 2020

Tweeter Dave Miller pointed out that men have a hormone called testosterone in their body, writing: “I don’t understand what your tweet has to do with the massive amounts of testosterone that define Christian manhood.”

One brave tweeter from the Gut Check Podcast attempted to reason with the masses:

She didn’t even say that godly men will make a practice of being alone with a bunch of women, just that it would be safe for a woman to be alone with him. How can you take issue with that??

— Gut Check Podcast (@GutCheckPod) February 29, 2020

Unfortunately, this comment was largely ignored, only to be validated by Moore’s next tweet when she checked back in to Twitter approximately four hours after her first tweets, and indicated she had no intention of weighing in the contentious Billy Graham rule.

Sometimes we have to be clearer than it seems like we ought. For those wondering what I meant by a Christlike man being safe for a woman to find herself alone with, I was thinking about the woman at the well not having to fear that Jesus would come onto her or abuse her. SAFE.

— Beth Moore (@BethMooreLPM) February 28, 2020

Not all tweeters expressed vexation, however, with some evidently finding Moore’s thoughts cause for reflection on the biblical story:

Imagine what He must of been like that, though He’d told her everything she’d ever done & didn’t remotely pretend she hadn’t sinned, she left the scene – not with humiliation but – with dignity. That’s my beautiful & blessed Savior. And she had to share it. Couldn’t keep from it.

— Beth Moore (@BethMooreLPM) February 28, 2020

And in the aftermath, Moore has defended one tweeter who asked her a question and was lampooned for his efforts by her own supporters, causing him to delete or hide his account.

This guy just asked me a question yesterday. He wasn’t rude. Just wanted clarification then he got hit so hard, it appears today that he closed his account. He was trying to tell me he didn’t mean anything disrespectful & I believed him. Let’s not assume every ask is an attack. pic.twitter.com/j9OFOlAxHD

— Beth Moore (@BethMooreLPM) February 29, 2020

She went on to concede that “there are some real jerks out there. Trolls of the worst sort. Liars & harassers. And sometimes I don’t mind telling them that’s what they are. But truly this was not one of them.”

A woman who has frequently been the target of recent critics – both on social media and elsewhere – Moore then offered the Twitterverse some sage advice:

“Let’s take it a little easier on one another. The meanness on Twitter takes a legit toll on the soul.”