the pope and i.....

ok, so the following bit of poetry came to me just now....

the pope and i
we never could
see eye to eye.......

yeah, well.....i don't claim to be a poet.....but i do have some issues with the head of one of the largest church families on earth....for starts....what is this persisting craziness about no birth control?........i have taught southern baptist sunday school for over 15 years....and never in all of my bible studies has the anti-birthcontrol message from God been in any verses i have read.......if we were to ask wdjas (what did jesus actually say....) he said many things about no divorce and adultery, but nothing on birthcontrol, or murder for that matter.......and he certainly nothing about lifestyle issues such as who is an acceptable mate (genderwise or otherwise)......and he never said anything about church leadership being male versus female, or married versus celibate......all of that craziness came from the early catholic church's 'interpretation' of fellows like paul who claimed to have it from God.......nothing can be inferred indirectly......jesus never said stuff like.......let woman have so many children that the family could starve in trying to feed them all..........and so many children that there will be somebody left when the plague or the inquisition comes........or so many children that names cannot be possibly be kept straight.....oh wait, that was the plight of my catholic inlaws......but i digress from birth control.....frankly, if jesus was against birthcontrol i assure you that the southern baptists would be preaching against it from the pulpit.........and then there is this business of the right to die......heaven's sakes....even jesus didn't get to prolong life through extraordinary means......he knew he would die, and he accepted this...though he did ask if this cup could be passed from him.....which i take to mean that he would have dropped the whole crucification plan like a hot potato if God had been willing.........for all of those zealots who used terri schiavo for personal or political agenda....let me remind you all that jesus lived a positive, tolerant existence......one of healing, reconciliation, and love........he frequented the homes of the outcasts, the lowly......which surely meant the homosexuals, the liberals, and the progressive thinkers........if and when jesus returns, he will probably seek out the same crowd.....sorry mr delay.......he had a real problem with pharisee types........and so, with all eyes on rome, waiting for the pope to pass on to his maker......these things are on my mind......i must add that i was proud of the pope for admitting that the whole earth-is-flat business was wrong, and that galileo was right........hopefully some future pope will admit that the whole birthcontrol is evil business is wrong, too......