'Oddly Terrifying'? Twitter Freaks Out Over Marco Rubio Posting Bible Quotes
Former Republican presidential hopeful and current U.S. Senator Marco Rubio garnered many hostile reactions on Twitter for writing two posts in which he quoted the Bible.
On early Monday morning, Senator Rubio tweeted out John 14:27, "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid."
A few minutes later, Rubio cited Proverbs 16:3-4, tweeting "Commit to the Lord whatever you do & your plans will succeed. The Lord works out everything for his own ends."
As a notable public figure, Rubio often gets a wide range of comments for his posts. However, the two Bible tweets got a higher than average response from users of the social media site.
Political blogger Charles P. Pierce called Rubio's Bible tweets "oddly terrifying," with his comment getting over 1,800 likes and more than 690 retweets.
Conservative blogger Jennifer Rubin claimed that the Bible tweets meant that Rubio "was hacked or he's totally lost it" while liberal handle "leah mcelrath" called it "unsettling."
Rubio responded Tuesday, tweeting, "Really? I triggered a @Twitter freakout by quoting the #Bible." He cited an article in mypalmbeachpost.com with the headline "Marco Rubio triggers Twitter freakout by quoting Bible."
Not all were concerned or offended by the Bible tweets. Rubio's two posts combined garnered as of Wednesday morning nearly 6,000 likes.
Regarding the controversy, the website myPalmBeachPost noted that for those familiar with Rubio, there was nothing bizarre or out of order about him tweeting Bible verses.
"The tweets weren't shocking to those familiar with Rubio, who often speaks of his Christian faith," reported the site.
"Rubio is a Roman Catholic who said in his 2012 autobiography that he attends evangelical services on 'most Saturday nights' and then Catholic Mass on Sunday mornings. The John 14 passage was part of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops' daily online readings for Tuesday."
The concern over his Bible posts has not stopped the Florida Senator from continuing the practice, as Wednesday morning he proceeded to tweet two more verses.
"I am the vine, you are the branches. Whoever remains in me & I in him will bear much fruit, because without me you can do nothing," tweeted Rubio early Wednesday morning, quickly getting over 2,800 likes.