The list of questions I have for God at the pearly gates continues to grow.    I must constantly remember to temper my curiosity by referencing Isaiah 55: 8-9 which says, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts.  Neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord.  As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”   In other words, Tim, you’re not supposed to figure everything out !   Yet  my sinful self keeps trying, much to my frustration and confusion.

Two weeks ago in the local fish wrapping, a local Tampa rabbi justified his temple’s acceptance and encouragement of gay marriage by suggesting that, “at the time of the Bible the accepted practice was that men married women to have children and then went out in the fields at night and had sex for pleasure with men.” Wow, let’s try to find that in the Torah.   So, let’s just pull some fiction out of thin air (accepted practice) and use it to justify a rite not at all condoned , rather condemned by the Torah.   Glad I didn’t wake up and read these words from my rabbi.

And then this week we have Pope Francis touring the East Coast, ravishing our form of capitalism, and preaching wealth redistribution via climate control reform.   Yes, he forgot to mention the long record of the USA in meeting God’s commission to us to love God, and to love one another.  Did he forget that the USA  steps up every time disaster strikes around the world at levels not reached by all other countries combined ?   Maybe he favors the more dictatorial style of his native Argentina, which has repressed its people socially and financially (over-spending – currency devaluations) for two centuries.

The message of peace and hope spread by an optimistic, smiling Pope is wonderful to see, whether Catholic or not, but I certainly wish he would stick to the book of Matthew .    WHAT THE HECK !