“The wise are not learned and the learned are not wise”. It’s a line from the Tao te Ching that I first read in the Tao of Pooh. A Franciscan nun from Philadelphia suggested I read the book about five years ago. I go back to the book occasionally because there is a lot of wisdom brought forth by the author and in the person of one of my favorite bears, Winnie the Pooh. I was reading an article about the decision of the United States Catholic Bishops regarding the deliberate marginalization of gays. I’m not gay, no one in my family is gay, but I do know folks like Andrew Sullivan who are gay and Catholic and who seem to be thoughtful folks worth listening to. This all seems contrary to the Gospel. I have yet to read anywhere in the Gospel where Jesus condemns homosexuals. It just isn’t there. In another part the book Pooh says, “”Lots of people talk to animals,” said Pooh.”Not that many listen though.””That’s the problem.” I don’t think the bishops are listening. Peace.
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Jesus of Nazereth did not say “Let he who is without sin come to me.” which seems to be the teaching of far too many churches today. (This is completely separate from whether I consider loving another person to be a sin. I don’t. I think this is yet another instance of people taking cultural ideas and putting them in God’s mouth.)
Jesus didn’t say to Zacchaeus, well, I’ll have to put up with you, but try to pretend you aren’t who you are. Instead, he walked up to the tree Zacchaeus was hiding in and said let’s have dinner together, let’s talk.