Peace Hacks

I know, Ronald Reagan’s dead, but hang with me here.

Years ago, in response to then president Bill Clinton’s indiscretions with Monica Lewinski and beyond, Evangelical pastor and conservative politician Mike Huckabee wrote his smash hit Character IS the Issue: How People with Integrity Can Revolutionize America. Huckabee felt strongly, as most of us religious folk do, that people with weak moral character have no business running our country, or weilding half the influence that the president does.

In the same vein, with regards to Donald Trump, many in the US believe that his character faults far exceed those of Clinton, but a great many others believe he’s a wonderful man – the very one needed to save our country.

Since Donald Trump took office, many have come forward accusing him of lies, racism, collusion, and lately, serial laziness; and he’s the only president to go on record in defense of, well… that thing he said in the now infamous Access Hollywood video.

But that was just friendly banter, “locker room talk” that Trump issued an apology for. And the multiple sexual assault allegations were just allegations. No proof. Collusion with Russia? Mueller’s been on that one for a long time and seems to be rolling nothing but donuts.

CNN spins the presidency like Continue reading What the Past Three Republican Presidents Think about the Current One, and Why We Should Listen

When we think about Heaven, our thoughts are less than compelling:

“Heaven will be an eternal church service.”
“Heaven will be a place where there is no pain.”
“In Heaven we’ll bask in the glory of God for all eternity.”
“I have no idea what Heaven will be like, so I don’t think about it.”

Does it matter? Who cares? We’ve got so many other fish to fry in this life, why perseverate over the next one? So we spend 0 hours a day dreaming about what Heaven will be like.

But imagine how your life would be affected if you firmly believed that, sometime in the future, everything you ever dreamed of would come true.

Say, for example, Bill Gates announces that he’s building a house – for you. In 20 years, you can move in. You look at the blueprints in shock; 20 acres on the coast in California, a mansion, people to help look after it, and as a bonus, enough $$ to retire forever.

If you believed him, this future thing would affect every day of your life for the next 20 years. Every time life threw lemons at you, and you couldn’t find the sugar and the vodka, Continue reading What Will Heaven be Like? The Blueprints are Right Under Your Nose. Like, Literally.

Was Jesus boring?

People flocked to this guy. Sure, the religious elite muckety-mucks hated Him, but that’s because people were flocking to Him – they were jealous, threatened.

You can’t be that popular, and boring.

He began His ministry on earth by turning 180 gallons of water into wine at a wedding because the host had run out of adult beverages and everyone clearly wanted to keep the party going.

He could have done it any way He wanted; rain wine from the sky, magically fill everyone’s tummies with wine, sneak off and get more wine from somewhere else, shoot wine from His fingers, etc.

Instead, He took some large water jars that were used for ritual cleansing ceremonies, and defiled them with alcohol, making a clear statement that parties are always more holy than any ritual you could come up with.

He could have sent that message any way He wanted, too, but chose instead to send it in a way that would make uptight, boring religious people really upset.

What a smart ass. Who wouldn’t want to hang out with Jesus?

But when we read our Bibles, there aren’t many stories Continue reading God and the Bored Christian: Why Having Fun is Just as Holy as Anything Else