Twitter Will Save You!

At first glance, the latest news story out of the Vatican induce a lot of eye-rolling, or at the very least some cynical chuckles. It was only a matter of time until the religious institutions found a way to make Social Networks work for them. “Follow the Pope on Twitter and avoid punishment in the afterlife!” Actually, the headlines are a little bit misleading. It isn’t as simple as all that.

However, the troubling aspect of this story is the same problem Catholic theology has always had. Instead of believing that Christ died for the sins of the world, offering free salvation for all who would trust in Him, the Catholic Church teaches that Christ’s death on the cross is something like a huge “Grace Deposit” in a bank account managed by the Church.

If this completely unbiblical concept were true I am not sure what would be more troubling: that God left the eternal fate of mankind in the hands of a giant, corruptible, human, bureaucratic, religious institution? Or that they don’t then just make it easier for people to find that grace but insist that people pay for, or at least follow twitter accounts to earn a grace that the Bible says is freely given.