Don't Believe What You Read - The Pope is Not Offering Indulgences on Twitter

C'mon, people.

Earlier this week, the major news outlets said that the Pope was offering to get people out of Hell by following him on Twitter. It was the joke of the day. Protestants with an axe to grind were trying to use it as an example of the corruption of the Vatican, while others thought it provided a reason to avoid organized religion, all together. But I thought the story sounded absolutely ridiculous.

Those who follow Catholicism more closely were quick to point out the facts - Pope Francis offered no such thing. It makes for a good headline, but it's just not true. Naturally, people will probably think this really happened for years to come because so few people are willing to look past news headlines for the truth. Pope Francis has shown himself to be a down-to-earth, reasonable person, so we shouldn't be so quick to believe these sorts of stories about him.

From StPetersList.com

Sympathy for Steve Johnson

Last Sunday, Steve Johnson (NFL wide-receiver for the Bills - I know that few of my readers watch sports) dropped a pass in the end zone costing his team the game during overtime.  He didn't take it well, and he told God, through Twitter, that he was upset with Him.  He said the following:

I PRAISE YOU 24/7!!!!!! AND THIS HOW YOU DO ME!!!!! YOU EXPECT ME TO LEARN FROM THIS??? HOW???!!! ILL NEVER FORGET THIS!! EVER!!! THX THO...

This didn't go over too well.  He's gotten some criticism, but he won't get any of that from me.  Haven't we all felt this way?  Have any of us not felt the pangs of injustice when life is unfair to us?  It's devastating to drop a pass like Johnson did, and emotions run high at those times.  Also, like any good researcher say, you can't understand someone's attitude just by examining a single document (or tweet).  The next day he told his fans:

I learned A lot Within 24hrs. Saw Both Sides.(Ups&Dwns) I AM HAPPY & THANKFUL 4 YESTERDAY! w/out Sunday iWldnt have grew closer w/The Lord!!

Now, I don't know much about Steve Johnson, but I won't fault someone for struggling with a bad piece of luck and then publicly telling everyone that the experience brought him closer to God. Believe it or not, it reminds me of the Bible.  The Bible writers were no stranger to hard times, and sometimes cried out that God was allowing injustices to happen to His people.  But they always remembered at the end of those passages to praise God during these hardships.  The book of Lamentations says that God is "like and enemy," and David was absolutely depressed in some of his writing to God.  (Yeah, I just compared the Psalms of David to an NFL player's tweets.) 

Anyway, after getting quite a bit of backlash, Johnson followed up with:

And No I Did Not Blame God People! Seriously??!? CMon! I Simply Cried Out And Asked Why? Jus Like yal did wen sumthin went wrong n ur life!

He's got a great point.  We've all been there, and I know exactly what it's like to ask God why He lets bad things happen.  I'm glad Johnson was big enough to learn from this, and I hope anyone who criticizes him will come by my website and explain to me how to live life without ever questioning God.

Friday Links - I Finally Join Twitter, Discover What a Doctorate Is, and Check Out the Rapture Index

A Professor I know posted a link titled What Exactly is a Doctorate.  It's a very short read that simply diagrams what all of the grad students in the world are doing and why it matters.

Are you aware of the Rapture Index?  George Duncan over at End Times Tavern (a light-hearted news site) has made tongue-in-cheek references to the Rapture Index (a heavy handed fear-mongering site) a few times.  It's like a stock index, but it charts every possible event that relates to the End Times (if you subscribe to their very narrow interpretation of things).  Sounds useless, but it's really entertaining to people like me.  Did you know that false prophet sightings are at a danger level of 3 while unemployment is at level 5?  Occultic practices are on the rise while demon worship is in decline, and the current overall Rapture Index is 171 - just shy of the all time high of 174.  They call it the "The prophetic speedometer of end-time activity," which sounds like a joke - but don't laugh, because the guys at RaptureReady.com are very serious.

And, finally, I'm on Twitter.  I'm not a fan of it, but you can follow me at Twitter.com/ThinkThroughIt.  (Am I the only one shocked that a phrase like "Think Through It" has not been taken by a Twitter user?  I assumed I would end up with something more obscure.  Does this confirm my prejudice against Twitter users that says they aren't into deep conversations, hence the miserly word limit?  I digress.)  Thanks to TwitterFeed I can send my blog entries there (and to Facebook) without ever looking at it, and I like that.  I don't expect to ever log into it again or check my messages, so it's really just a feed for my blog.  But, if Twitter is your thing, there it is.


Enjoy your weekend.