Shouting [About Gun] Fire in a Crowded Theater

Posted on July 20, 2012 by theboeskool

Some time last night, while most of us were asleep, someone in a Denver suburb named Aurora threw a teargas canister into a movie theater full of people watching a midnight showing of The Dark Knight Rises and started shooting people. I woke up in the middle of the night (after a little more than three hours of sleep) and I have no idea why I am up right now–There is really no reason for me to be awake, but I woke up feeling some sort of Obi Wan Kenobi-esque disturbance in the force (it might have just been gas–I ate a ridiculous amount of pretzels last night), saw the breaking news story on Yahoo News about the shooting, and now I can’t sleep. And I feel compelled to write something….

No. It doesn’t.

I am so sad and so angry and frustrated all at the same time. Sad for all of the families who are hearing, in the middle of the night, that someone they love has been senselessly killed. I’m angry that there are so many people out there who look at these deaths as some sort of necessary inconvenience that we have to put up with every once in a while in order to keep our right to have any sort of gun we might want to have. And frustrated that we, as a country, can’t come together and rationally work out how to make this crap stop. Any sort of call for tighter gun control in the wake of a shooting like this will most likely be met with accusations of trying to politicize a tragedy. Well, I don’t care. Enough already. At what point does one person’s right to keep and bear arms infringe on another person’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?

Sure…. But you’re not taking your spoon into a theater and force-feeding all kinds of other people. Until they are dead.

For the last couple of days, people have been circulating a picture on Facebook of a man holding a sign that says “Gun sellers are accomplices of crimes” standing next to another man holding a sign that says “Spoons made me fat.” It’s a fun new twist on the old adage “Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.” Except, when you wake up in the morning and read about 14 people (so far) being killed and 50 being injured while watching the new Batman movie, it makes it a little less fun. Yes–We all know that if someone wants to kill someone else, they could use a baseball bat or a knife…. But, you know what? THINGS LIKE THIS DON’T HAPPEN WITH BASEBALL BATS!!!! They happen with guns. They happen with assault rifles and handguns with giant clips for killing multiple people. Nobody has ever walked into a theater and killed 14 people and injured 50 others with a baseball bat.

Another broken egg in our freedom omelet….

I realize that we are so divided as a nation about so many different things–People hear about something like this happening and half the country calls for less guns while the other half thinks the solution is more guns–but there has to be something we can move toward that feels like common sense without feeling like the government is plotting to disarm its citizenry. Every so often, we hear yet another story of someone with a gun deciding to kill a bunch of people. A man walks up and shoots 19 people while Gabby Giffords is giving a speech, and a short time later we all forget about it…. All of us other than the families of the ones who were shot, that is. This shit has got to stop. How many tragedies, how many shooting sprees, how many destroyed lives and families must we endure before we can come together and talk about this with a measure of sanity. Is it possible that our collective freedom is enhanced when we limit other’s freedom to possess highly effective killing machines?

Behold, the face of freedom…. Until the a meth lab blows up or a junkie robs you. Don’t worry, though–If that happens, you can defend yourself with your gun.

We, as a society, limit people’s freedom all the time. We limit a person’s freedom to cook meth in their house–even if they are only going to use it for themselves. We have the right to free speech, but that right ends when it infringes on other people’s safety. We DO NOT have the right to shout “FIRE” in a crowded movie theater, nor do we have the right to call in a fake bomb threat…. I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why we feel like it is beneficial for a society to protect the right of its citizens to possess automatic weapons designed to kill many people in a very short time. If they are used for what they are designed for, it will almost always be a crime. Sure, they are fun to shoot at the range…. but are we willing to put up with this increasingly frequent brand of mass murder just because some jack asses enjoy shooting machine guns at the range?!?! This is lunacy.

Posted in 2) Politics, 5) Not Quite Sure | Tagged , , , , , | 26 Comments

Rejecting Jesus For All The Right Reasons

Posted on July 11, 2012 by theboeskool

Wait…. Jesus hates who? You guys realize that Jesus was a Jew with dark skin, right?

Imagine, for a minute, that you knew absolutely nothing about Jesus…. That you lived somewhere far away from America, with its hundreds of thousands of churches–Both the omnipresent, small congregations that pepper each block or two of every U.S. town, and the giant mega-churches and their sprawling campuses–and had no preconceptions (positive or negative) when someone told you that they were a “Christian.” Then imagine that one of these Christians tells you about this “Son of God” who died for the sins of the world, but also taught us how to treat each other and showed us what things were REALLY important: Namely, ridding the world of the Blacks and the Jews. Then, this “Christian” tells you that unless you accept this Jesus as your Lord and Savior, God is going to send you to burn in hell for all eternity, and they say, “Do you accept or reject Jesus?” If this was me, I’d be like, “Sorry dude–I completely reject Jesus. That person offends every good thing in me. I guess one of two things is true: Either I’m going to burn in hell, or you are full of shit…. But I’m going to bet on the latter.”

Now, imagine another person–living far from any land with Bibles in every hotel room…. Living far, even, from anything close to a “hotel room”–who lived for a time, and then dies without ever hearing anything about Jesus…. What happens next? Would a just God sentence this person to an eternity in hell for not accepting someone they never heard of? Or does God use a different standard when dealing with people who apparently never had a chance?

This kis better hope he doesn’t die soon.

People have a lot of different ideas about this theological question–This whole “What happens to people who die who never heard of Jesus?” question. It also encompasses other questions as well–Questions like: What happens when babies die? What about kids who die (and is there such thing as an “age of accountability?”)? Or people who are mentally handicapped in some significant way? And what happened to all the people who died before Jesus? Christians over the years have come up with all kinds of theological explanations to make themselves feel better about these difficult questions, and the way that people have answered has led to many splits in congregations and denominations. As varied as people’s answers to these questions are, most people would agree that handing out a punishment of eternal torture to a person for not accepting someone they have never heard of does not seem like the actions of a just God.

People believe a lot of different things about hell (ME, FOR INSTANCE). Many people believe that hell is a place only for those who actually reject Jesus. So if someone never had an opportunity to reject Jesus (like a baby, or some African teenager living in some remote village) then it wouldn’t make sense for God to send that person to hell…. But what if the “Jesus” that a person rejects is a completely false Jesus? A “Jesus” like the one I rejected at the beginning of this post?

Jesus was definitely against gay Oreos.

For example, I live in a state where there are actually people who are trying to pass legislation that would make it legal to bully kids who are gay–As long as it’s for religious reasons. This legislation was promoted by something called the Family Action Council of Tennessee, or FACT. They try to promote “Biblical beliefs” in public policy (as I throw up in my mouth a little), and introduced this legislation less than a month after a Tennessee teen took his own life after years of relentless bullying because he was gay. These are the sort of Christians who introduce people to a Jesus whose “important things” are making sure gay people don’t have equal marriage rights, defeating Obamacare, and insuring that kids have the religious freedom to tell gay kids they are going to burn in hell–A false Jesus.

Seriously…. It’s in the Bible.

So here are MY Biblical beliefs: If there is a gay kid who grows up being told by all the people he loves that in order follow Jesus he has to be straight, I believe that kid was introduced to a false Jesus. And if some kid was brought up to hate homosexuals so much that he feels like his bullying of gays is justified by the Bible, I believe that kid is following a false Jesus. And if some kid hears that “God hates gays” and “Jesus Christ died so that you don’t have to be gay anymore,” and she rejects that Jesus–She didn’t reject JESUS. I believe she rejected a bullshit, counterfeit version of Jesus. Maybe she never heard anything about the real Jesus anymore than some someone in the third world who has never even heard his name. Maybe, in God’s eyes, she is no more accountable than a child….

I’ve been thinking about it, and if there is a hell (whatever hell is like) for people who reject Jesus, it turns out I’m probably a lot more likely to burn than some poor, gay kid who rejects a hate-filled Jesus that was presented to her. Because the Jesus she rejected SHOULD be rejected. Maybe there are people reading this who have rejected Jesus. Maybe you rejected a hate-filled Jesus. Maybe you rejected a Jesus that tries to change the world through violence and manipulation and war. Maybe you rejected a consumerist, me-first, red, white, & blue Jesus. Maybe you rejected a Jesus who only allows straight people into church or at the table. Maybe you rejected a Jesus who reveals a God who created humans knowing that the vast majority (billions and billions of us) would burn in hell for eternity. Maybe you rejected a Jesus who can’t forgive you…. If this is you, I’ve got some good news for you: That wasn’t Jesus. I reject that Jesus too. I love Jesus, and that is just not him.

Unfortunately, I’ve also got some bad news: If you are one of the many people preaching the Jesus I mentioned above…. Well, that isn’t Jesus either. Cut it out.

Posted in 1) Jesus | Tagged , , , , , , | 80 Comments

50 Shades of Skank

Posted on June 28, 2012 by theboeskool

When you work at a restaurant, you overhear a lot of conversations–many of them far too disgusting to repeat, even for a blog that delves into topics of bathroom humor. Most of the time, people show at least a little embarrassment when they realize that you were standing there waiting to take their order while they were conferring about some sexual encounter from the night before or discussing how much money it would take before they would put a horseshoe crab inside of their butt. No shame was shown, however, during one conversation I remember walking up on recently that was particularly disgusting….

Personally–with the cornrows–I would have given her about a 9.3…. But who’s going to go to a movie to see a 9.3, right?

This one wasn’t a conversation about having sex or shoving anything up your butt. It was just two guys sitting at a table, flippantly talking about a girl one of them had dated. One of the guys (the one who had dated her was the one doing most of the talking) was describing her. He shared how she never shut up as he made a talking motion with his hand and rolled his eyes. And then he said something that I don’t remember bothering me nearly as much before I had daughters: He said, “She’s about an 8.” I know this sort of thing happens all the time, but for some reason when this guy, with his $60 haircut and his pinstripes and his power tie, rated some woman I didn’t even know, I got so grossed out. I started wondering what imperfections he was considering to make her lose those two points, I thought about my two amazingly beautiful daughters, and I just got pissed. Pissed at this douche bag leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his head while loudly and unapologetically inflicting a number-rating to A PERSON, but also pissed at myself for all the times I had done the very same thing…. Though, when I had done it, I had at least kept it a little bit quieter.

Even as a kid I knew there was nothing admirable about these guys. Now Carmine…. That guy knew how to treat a lady. You don’t earn a nickname like “The Big Ragu” biting your hand at women.

Now I realize that all of us, men and women, look at people and kind of size them up. We do this our whole lives–and getting married does not stop a person from noticing someone they find attractive. If you’re wise, you teach yourself to not look…. At least not as much. I think that in a lot of ways we are hardwired for this sort of thing–“This sort of thing” being lust. I don’t think that men possess more of a predisposition toward lust than women, it’s just that we seem more likely to embrace that predisposition and celebrate it. But there is nothing admirable about a line of men making cat-calls at a woman walking by. There is nothing honorable about objectifying someone’s daughter. There is nothing commendable about giving a woman’s body a number value. Behind it is the beating heart of the Juggernaut that is the pornographic industry, and it is truly something for which we–men especially–should be ashamed.

Seriously–Lie and tell me you don’t see the resemblance.

This is why it has been really gross (and really disappointing) for me to see all of this garbage going on with women surrounding the book 50 Shades Of Grey, as well as all the furor over this Magic Mike movie. Women are losing their freaking minds. I was at the dentist yesterday, and some crap cable channel that caters almost exclusively to women was on the TV. I think it was HGTV…. Is that a something? They should call it CYNHTV–Covet Your Neighbors House TV…. Anyway, there were about four commercials for Magic Mike in the time it took me to get my teeth cleaned. It looks so dumb. There are thousands of reasons NOT to go see Magic Mike–not the least of which is that Channing Tatum (as a female friend recently pointed out) strongly resembles a big toe. Basically, the commercials are just words on the screen that are broken up by clips of oily, shirtless men (not MY kind of oily…. the other kind of oily–the SEXY kind). The first one said, “Warning: In three days your boyfriend may seem inadequate.” The second one said, “Tell your boyfriend you’re going to book club.” They wrote “boyfriend,” but I know for a fact that a GIANT demographic that they are going after, as well as a giant portion of the people who will go watch the movie, is married women. If you insert “husband” in place of “boyfriend,” it gets even more sad.

I went to a strip club once. I was just out of college, and I think we were celebrating someone’s bachelor party. I guess it was a nice club…. It was fairly clean, and the girls were very pretty–topless, with G-strings over some sort of thick, flesh-toned nylons. After the initial “Wow…. Boobs” wore off, I started looking around. It was the sort of feeling you get when you eat at a Shoney’s, and all of a sudden you notice the obese hopelessness all around you, and you think, “What the hell am I doing here? Am I one of these people?” The strip club just got really sad. I talked to a girl briefly, and she told me she was putting herself though grad school. She was very nice. I had the thought that she was probably way to cool to ever date someone who would actually go to a place like this. I felt very sad, and very ashamed, and I was ready to go. I walked quickly to my car, praying that no one I knew would see me walking out….

I read it for the articles….

I believe that being seen walking out of the movie Magic Mike or reading 50 Shades of Grey should feel to a woman like it feels for a man to run into someone you know while walking out of a strip club or buying a Hustler at a sketchy gas station. Granted, I have not seen Magic Mike. It may be a tender portrayal of love and loss within the setting of an all male review–I don’t know. I also have not read 50 Shades of Grey. I did thumb through it, stopping to read a page or two at a few different spots. Every place I stopped was filled with some pretty raunchy stuff. You can call it what you want: Smut, Erotica, “Sexually Explicit Literature,” whatever…. Any way you look at it, it’s Girl Porn. I know, I know, ladies–“It’s a really good story.” Well, you know what? A porno with a good story is still a porno. Especially a porno that started out a Fan Fiction for the Twilight books (which 50 Shades did, by the way). I suppose it makes sense–It’s the next logical step in the sort fantasy world that created the unobtainably perfect Edward Cullen.

“OMG!!! Who do you think should play Christian Grey when the movie comes out!?!?! Oh yeah…. He is so hot!” Look around, ladies–Your’e eating in a Shoney’s

And now I have to deal with women posting shirtless pictures of a big toe with a six pack on Facebook and squealing about how hot Matthew McConaughey is (As an aside, another thing that annoys me on Facebook is when girls leave comments telling others girls how “HOT” they are every time there is a picture where their cleavage is showing. Stop it). And this is not an equality issue either. Imagine how skeevy it would be if a guy–especially a married guy–posted pictures of some hot girl in a bikini on his page in anticipation of some new stripper movie. Women are like,  “Men get to objectify women…. Why can’t women objectify men?” But a better question is “Why would you want to emulate the worst part of a man?” I’m all for gender equality, but there are some things about men that women should be smart enough to want no part of. You want to be like a man? Men are also way more likely to be mass murderers (about 93% of mass murderers are male) and pedophiles (about 95% of pedophiles are male)–You want an equal slice of those pies as well? Objectifying people and escaping into a sexual fantasy world–This is the stuff of the people-groups I mentioned above. THIS IS NOT A STEP FORWARD. We all are guilty of objectifying people at times, and we all dabble in fantasy, but when we start to embrace that stuff–that LUST stuff–we get ourselves into trouble. Real life and its real people (with all our faults and our non-sexy kinds of oiliness) start to not be able to compare with the fantasy, and marriages and lives end up falling apart. If we stumble into a strip club, the right response is to look around and be ashamed. And then leave. We shouldn’t be celebrating it on Facebook or in book clubs or anywhere else. The guys who would do that sort of thing are gross and stupid and immoral. And you know what? So are are the girls. I mean, Come on…. You’re women. You should know better!

Posted in 3) Bathroom Humor, 5) Not Quite Sure | Tagged , , , , , , , | 40 Comments

Seven Annoying Things People Do On Facebook

Posted on June 18, 2012 by theboeskool

Seriously. Stop it.

If there is one thing life keeps teaching me, it is that there are a whole lot of different kinds of people in the world, and most of them are very different than me. I learn this lesson many places (work, Church, even family), but there are few places in which this fact is as readily apparent as on my Facebook feed. But I figure that’s fine though, right? If everyone was like me, the world would be a lot less interesting. There would also be a lot less pictures of cats with captions, a lot less posts about how drunk someone got/hungover someone is, and a lot less updates about what people just ate. Now I am CERTAIN that there are a lot of things that I post on Facebook that many people could do without–Silly things my kids say, political crap, controversial whatnot, posting my blog, stories from the toilet, etc…. I’m far from perfect with my discernment about Facebook posts. I’ve been defriended by so many people that most of the folks who come up on the “People You May Know” part of my page used to be my FB friends at some point. But you know what? This is my blog and I can do what I want. I’ve come up with a list of some of the most annoying things that people do on Facebook–things that we can all agree have got to stop. So here they are:

Nope. Obama did not make out with Hugo Chavez. It’s called photoshop–Please look into it.

1) POSTING BULLSHIT
If you are posting something to Facebook, then you have access to the internet. Use it. Go ahead and do 30 seconds of research before passing something along that is completely (or even partially) false. Here’s a good rule of thumb: If the thing you are passing along seems even a little hard to believe, just do a quick Google search of it along with the word “Snopes.” For example, if you just watched a youtube video “proving” that Obama’s Birth Certificate is fake, type in “Obama’s Birth Certificate” + Snopes. Chances are you are not the first idiot to pass this along as fact. Posting a link to the Snopes article that debunks some rumor/urban myth/email forward a person just posted is one of my favorite things to do on Facebook. On the flipside of this, if you post something that you discover is bullshit, TAKE IT DOWN. And then apologize for passing along something false. I’ll tell you the same thing I tell my kids: “When you lie, you make it harder to trust you.”

2) POSTING PICTURES OF FOOD 
So many of you do this. Now I get it–Sometimes food is beautiful. While I was in Vegas, my wife and I had a caprese salad that was so beautiful that it looked like a piece of art. It had these heirloom tomatos that were so colorful–It looked like a sunset. I wanted to paint my kitchen to match those colors. We took a picture of it and posted it for all to see…. But if this is something you are doing with any sort of regularity, you need to cut it out. No one cares.

If you feel compelled to let people know that your veggies came from Whole Foods, you MIGHT be annoying.

And along with this (and probably more importantly), please don’t brag about how organic your food is.  I don’t care that you just drank a glass of milk, and I care even less that the milk came from cows who were only fed organic grass that was watered with unicorn tears and fertilized with the manure of free range chickens. I don’t care that they only milk the cows by hand, and that they only allow farmers with the softest skin to do the milking. I also don’t care that the farmers whisper encouraging things to the cows as they milk them–Things like “You are so beautiful” and “You’re a great friend” and “These are some amazing teats.” I. Don’t. CARE! None of us do. My wife makes me buy that same milk, and it costs six times as much. Get over yourself.

3) POSTING ANYTHING THAT TRIES TO GUILT ME INTO REPOSTING
If you post anything–AND I MEAN ANYTHING–that ends with the words “98% of you won’t repost this….” or something thereabouts, you can be sure of one thing: I have you hidden from my feed. Anything that tries to guilt you into reposting is lame–From Christianity to Cancer, it is all lame. Yes–We all hate cancer. Please don’t try to make me feel like if I don’t repost your status, cancer is going to win (or conversely, that if we all repost, it will have any sort of effect whatsoever on the fight against cancer). Cancer doesn’t read your Facebook posts.

4) POSTING ABOUT PROBLEMS WITH YOUR SIGNIFICANT OTHER
Get off the computer, call a friend, have a talk…. Do whatever, but don’t post something critical of your husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend on Facebook. Whether you are just wanting to vent or looking for validation, bitching about your significant other in any way is not what Facebook is for. It makes everyone cringe when people do this. Conversely, my wife has a theory that if you are one of those people who only ever posts about how awesome your spouse is, you are probably fighting non-stop. Either way, keep that crap to yourself.

5) POSTING ABOUT ANY SORT OF MULTI-LEVEL MARKETING
This should go without saying, but if you are using Facebook to try to recruit people to sell the same garbage you are selling, you are annoying huge swaths of your friends. We can see the dollar signs in your eyes and smell the insincerity in the post. Even if you really believe in the product (which you all do), Facebook is not the place. Peddle your wares the old-fashioned way: Lure us over to your house for a “party.”

Great…. You woke up early and went running. Thank you for letting us all know about it.

6) POSTING ABOUT HOW MUCH EXERCISE YOU’RE GETTING
Here you go: This is from all of us to all of you, for all of the times you’ve exercised in the past and for all of the times you will in the future…. “Good work. Well done. Good job going to the gym and lifting those weights and going for a run. You should be very proud.” Now please stop telling us about it. I realize that there are apps that automatically post how far you ran (That’s fine–Whatever), but if you are constantly posting about working out, you are every bit as annoying as the person at work who walks around groaning and rubbing their legs for the first half of the day in the hopes that you ask them why they are groaning and rubbing their legs. Then, when you don’t ask, they tell you that their legs are SO SORE over and over again until you ask them why–knowing full well that they are going to tell you about how hard they worked out…. Since you asked. Don’t be that person. And if you do happen to post a picture of yourself at the gym, please don’t flex or try to be sexy in any way. It’s annoying.

Which brings me to my biggest Facebook annoyance….

No–I will not comment on your picture about how good you look. Please stop taking pictures of yourself.

7) POSTING PICTURES OF YOURSELF….     THAT YOU TOOK
Both guys and girls do this, but girls do it WAY more. And it is OH so annoying. Listen, if you catch sight of your reflection, see that you are looking good, and your first thought is “I should take a picture of myself and post it to Facebook so that everyone can tell me how hot I look,” you have got a lot of stuff to work out (and no, I’m not talking about going to the gym). Taking pictures of yourself with a kissy-face, from just the right angle, with just the right amount of cleavage showing…. It’s been done literally a billion times.  It reeks of “tell me that I’m pretty,” and that is almost always a smell that makes you seem less beautiful. I understand wanting to have pictures of yourself where you look your best, but if you go through the photos of you and notice that a whole lot of them were taken by you, you might want to check your vanity.

If you read this and realize that you do one or more of the things on this list, here’s what you should do: Stop it. Stop it right now. You’re being annoying. I’m not the only one who thinks so. Please stop. Thank you for making Facebook more fun for everyone.

Anything I have missed any stuff that annoys you?

Posted in 5) Not Quite Sure | Tagged , , , , , , , | 65 Comments

Hating Obama More Than You Love Jesus

Posted on June 5, 2012 by theboeskool

It’s not quite as inspiring as Obama’s poster, but then…. He’s not quite as inspiring as Obama.

You know what? I really don’t care who wins the presidential election. Six months from now, I will cast my vote for President Obama–Mostly because I feel like he will do a better job looking out for the poor and working towards a more just and fair society, but also because I feel that, of the two candidates, Obama has more integrity. I think just about everyone, if he or she is being honest (and lacking the advantage of having an actual relationship with either of the two men), would probably say that it at least FEELS that way. I am inspired when Barack Obama talks, and that is something of value to me. Not many people I know get inspired when Mitt Romney talks–certainly I don’t…. But the point is that my hope for real change in this world has little to do with who is elected President of the United States. I am cynical that anything of any significance will change should either man win. Also, I live in a state whose electoral votes Barack Obama has no chance whatsoever of winning, so my vote doesn’t really matter either way. So yeah…. I don’t really care.

Do yourself a favor: If you search for a Santorum picture on Google Images, make sure you have the safe search settings ON.

Here’s what I DO care about: I don’t want the Church to look like a bunch of hypocrites. I don’t want the world to have yet another example of Christians saying one thing and doing another. There are a TON of people out there who truly believe that it is a Christian’s responsibility and even DUTY to vote other Christians into office. Most of the people who hold this view–I am not one of them–also happen to believe that it’s their responsibility to vote republican (though, admittedly, there are people on both sides of the aisle who believe it’s their Christian duty to only vote for Christian leaders). Most of these sorts of people didn’t want Mitt Romney to be the republican candidate for president. I live in a state whose republican primary was won (by a fairly large margin) by Rick Santorum for just that reason. But despite all of the disapproval by evangelical republicans during the primary run, we now find ourselves with the choice between a Mormon republican and a Christian democrat.

I believe my wife has used half-breed muslin in her crafting before.

Listen…. There are plenty of good reasons to vote republican, just like there are plenty of good reasons to vote democrat, just like there are plenty of good reason to vote for Ron Paul…. Whatever party he is. What is not okay is this: It is not okay to diminish the differences between Mormonism and Christianity–VERY SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES–just to try to win an election. If you believed before (say four years ago when you passed along all those BS email forwards claiming that Obama was a secret Muslim and was sworn in by laying his hand on the Quran) that Christians should only vote for other Christians, you have one of two options: 1) You can admit that you were way off before and what you really care about is NOT the professed religious beliefs of the candidate, but instead whether or nor that candidate shares your political perspective–That really, for you, God actually has nothing to do with it. Or 2) You can stick to your ideological guns and vote for Obama.

Romney is seen here laughing after being asked if he is “concerned about the very poor….”

A third option is NOT to make it seem like the differences between these two faiths are so insignificant that you can continue to act like God is the one compelling you to vote the way you are. That is just douchey and disingenuous and dishonest. And even worse, it makes Jesus and his Church look douchey and disingenuous and dishonest (I actually do care very much about right Christian theology. VERY much. Sweeping the differences under the rug to try to secure the Christian vote is not just douchey–It’s theologically dangerous). When we watch the other republican candidates (as well as church leaders, who, as Jon Stewart said, “Hate Obama more than [they] love Jesus”) tear apart Mitt Romney as being the absolute worst candidate for the job for a myriad of reasons, just to turn around later and endorse him when it becomes clear that he is going to become the nominee, we all cringe. Even the people at FoxNews cringe–because it is just gross and dishonest. The Church SHOULD be above this sort of thing. If we are walking around representing Jesus to a world that is desperate for something authentic–all while playing the same sort of dishonest games that we have come to expect from politicians–what happens is that it’s not just you that looks bad…. Jesus looks bad. And that is just not cool. Please stop. Seriously.

*As a postscript, the last time I wrote something about Mormons not being Christians, my blog post got LDS bombed by a bunch of pissed off Mormons. I am not trying to pick a fight with Mormons. I happen to be a person who believes that where Mormons line up with the God and the Jesus Christ that is presented in the Bible they are getting it right, and where they line up with the different God and Jesus presented by Joseph Smith and the Book of Mormon (and, to a greater extent, Free Masonry), they are getting it wrong. I’m sorry if that offends people, but surely even Mormons who desire to be called “Christians” can admit that there are real and substantial differences between our two faiths. Otherwise, why try to convert Christians, right? Anyway, it’s not my intent to offend. Peace.

Posted in 1) Jesus, 2) Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

Illiterate Smokers, and The “I Saw That” Campaign

Posted on May 26, 2012 by theboeskool

My current mustache makes this guy’s face look like it’s adorned with a Hobo Stache…. Of course, I don’t drive a Ferrari.

It always surprises me when people mess with me while I am driving in my piece of crap car. Do they not know the old adage about never getting into a fist fight with an ugly person, because they have nothing to lose (Wait a second…. no one’s ever gotten into a fist fight with me! What does this mean?). My car is pretty ugly. For some reason, what started out five years ago as a spot where the paint was coming off has now spread to most of the paint job–If it were a dog, it would have mange. But it keeps me humble. Left unchecked, the combination of my mad blogging skills and my flawless facial hair might give me an inflated ego, but my beat up Nissan Sentra (as well as the Slim Jim wrappers on the floor) helps keep my feet on the ground.

“Hey Mister!! That beer belly better have a baby inside it, otherwise you just TOOK MY PARKING SPOT!!!”

Anyway, if someone messes with me and makes a jackass move on the road, I’m not the sort of person that’s going to do something to get myself shot–There are way too many people driving around with guns (especially in the South). I’m not going to blare my brights at someone, tailgate somebody, get in front of them and slam on my brakes, flip somebody off–I rarely even use my horn…. My wife, however, is not so cautious. She has been known to confront strangers face to face about minor infractions like parking an SUV in a compact spot, or parking in a spot reserved for pregnant mothers: “Excuse me, sir. When are you due? I said WHEN ARE YOU DUE? Because I just saw you park in an expectant mothers’ parking spot, THAT’S WHY!!!” Followed by me saying, “Roll up the window, sweetie. You’r going to get us shot.”

You’re lucky all you’re getting is a disappointed head shake.

I handle things a little differently, but if someone acts like a jerk in their car there is something in me that, just like my wife, feels compelled to let them know about it–or at least let them know that I KNOW. I will go out of my way for the chance to get next to them and give them a really disappointed look (I know, I’m pretty hard core). Sometimes, they will act like they don’t notice my disappointment (which REALLY pisses me off), or else their windows are too tinted and I can’t make eye contact(infuriating), but most of the time that little disappointed look–that little pursed-lipped frown with a head shake–makes me feel just better enough. As if they are going to consider my stern look of disapproval before they decide to cut someone off the next time…. One can hope.

So a little while ago, I wrote a blog about Why You Should Quit Smoking, and one of the big reasons I gave to quit is because Smokers Are Litterers. Every one of them (Right, I know that not EVERY smoker is, but it sure feels this way). They throw their cigarette butts out their windows, they bury them in the sand at the beach for my kids to find, and they flick them on the ground and step on them to put them out. And we all watch them do this and we say nothing. If you saw someone throw a McDonald’s cup on the ground, most people would probably say something, but we stay silent when it comes to butts. Here’s the thing: I don’t have a problem if people want to smoke cigarettes. If you want make yourself stinky, if you want to kill yourself one cigarette at a time, if you want to do something that you will almost certainly regret someday as you try over and over to quit–That’s your business. But throwing your trash on the ground for someone else to pick up is just not cool. And from now on, if I see you throw your cigarette butt on the ground and leave it there, I’m saying something. Even if I’m the only one.

Yeah, I’m going to go ahead and give you a big, fat preemptive “I SAW THAT!!!”

Though it would be a lot cooler if I wasn’t the only one saying something…. If there was some sort of movement to discourage the non-stop littering. Every good movement needs a good slogan, so I’ve been trying to figure out what would be a good thing to say–I thought maybe “That’s littering,” but that seemed a little too impersonal and simplistic. So I thought maybe, “You’re a litterer,” but that seemed a little TOO personal. It needed a little snark, and the word “litter” skews a bit Middle School. Also it also came out sounding like you were saying, “You’re illiterate,” which, if it happens to be true, could be really hurtful. So here’s where I’ve landed: If I see someone throw a cigarette on the ground, I’m going to say three simple words–“I Saw That.” Step on a butt and walk away? “I saw that.” Flick it on the sidewalk? “I saw that.” Send a cherry flying out your window? At the next light, I’m rolling down my window and you’re getting yourself a big, fat “I SAW THAT!!!” It’s at least mildly funny, it draws attention to the fact that they are doing something they shouldn’t be doing, and it’s probably not going to start a fight. Probably….

It fits right in your cup-holder–STOP LITTERING, JACKASS! Wait a second…. That’s got a nice ring to it. Nah, that will just start a fight–I like “I SAW THAT.”

I figure if enough of us start saying “I Saw That,” maybe the streets will not be so filled with butts. Maybe the myth that cigarette butts are biodegradable (which they are NOT) will stop being spread. Maybe instead of throwing them out of their car windows, people will put them in their ash trays instead of their spare change, and then dump them out when they get home. Maybe they will spend a couple bucks on one of THESE COOL PRODUCTS (an ashtray that goes on your car window, a smokeless ashtray for your car, and a pocket ashtray). And maybe the streets and sidewalks and beaches would not be so gross. How cool would that be? But I can’t be the only one saying it–we have to work together to make it lame to throw cigarette butts on the ground. Who’s with me? 

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Something So Stinking Cool That You’ll Freak

Posted on May 23, 2012 by theboeskool

This is my friend Steph.

So listen–My friend Steph is three things: She is super-talented, she is out-of-control kind-hearted, and she is as funny as a kitten with a mirror…. I don’t know how funny that is. She is as funny as a monkey in a burlap bag…. That’s not it. She is as funny as llama with allergies…. Crap. I don’t know. She’s really funny, though…. Let’s go with the monkey. Anyway, she’s more things than that, but those are the big three: Talented, kind, and funny–not necessarily in that order (This is her BLOG). She was over at our house last night, and I asked my sweet wife (who happens to also be those same three things, with descent portion of sass added to one of them) if she would make me some cool/funny business cards for my blog. Steph said, “I think it would be cool if you just had a card with a picture of a beard with some glasses.” A minute or two later, I had the picture you see below.

It’s just a mustache now, but this is still awesome. Self Art Face….

When I came home today from work, I checked my Facebook and saw that my wife had changed her profile picture to one of Steph’s drawings. And it was ALSO very cool. I immediately said to the wife, “She could totally sell these things.” My wife, not without a certain degree of sass, informed me that she had already decided to make them for people as a fund-raiser for her upcoming trip to Haiti (with some “That’s so four hours ago” sort of tone). This year’s trip will be her third year going to Haiti to help out at an orphanage and spend a while loving some kids, and she still has a bunch of money to raise in order to go.

Even without her face, you can still get a sense of the sass….

So she will make you your very own…. um, I’m not sure what they are called.  Pop art silhouette? Customized portraits? Art Face? I like “Self Art Face.” Say it out loud. If you click on THIS LINK RIGHT HERE and donate $10 to her Haiti trip, she will make you an awesome Art Face. What’s that? You have a family of three? No prob, Bob…. $30 will get you something awesome, and you will be helping to send a really cool woman to Haiti to kick it with some orphans. You’ll get the digital file, and you can use it for whatever you want–Facebook profile, wedding gift, even business cards for your blog. This is about the best way that I can think of to spend $10. Take advantage of this offer, and help a sister out. And even if you don’t buy one for yourself, you need to go ahead and share this post. One last thing–James1:27 says this: “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

Posted in 5) Not Quite Sure | 3 Comments

Perfection, Truth, and Finding Your Porpoise

Posted on May 18, 2012 by theboeskool

I miss college. I enjoyed my time in college so much, I decided to stay for a fifth year–that, or I had (have) no idea what I wanted to do. I think I realized too late how good I had it. I spent thirteen years going to school getting ready for college, and four years trying to finish college, and then sometime midway through my fifth year I was like, “Wait a minute…. My only responsibility is learning new things, and that will probably never happen again. This is kind of awesome.”

Anyone ever heard of Play Dough? Anyone…. Anyone….

I was definitely one of the people who talked a lot in my classes. One of my favorite memories of college happened in a Philosophy class. It started off as a very quiet class. On one of the first days of class, and the professor asked if anyone knew anything about René Descartes…. No response. He asked if anyone knew of any French philosophers…. Again, no one moved a muscle. He rubbed his forehead and goes, “Has anyone ever heard of France?” I think two hands went up. You could tell he wanted to get a conversation going, but nobody was biting–It was a very “Bueller… Bueller…” sort of situation. Later on, as he was talking about Dualism and Plato and whatnot, he was trying to explain the concept of forms being different than the actual object. He gave examples of a chair or a ball being different than the purposes of a chair or a ball–very heady stuff. Then he asked the question “Where do the purposes reside? Where do they live?” My hand went up, he called on me, and I asked, “In the ocean?”  Every head in the class turned to see who had just made an ass of himself…. There was about five seconds of silence, and I smirked, “Oh PURposes…. I thought you said PORpoises.”

I don’t want to take complete credit for how awesome that class turned out to be, but I was definitely a big part of it.

This holy illumination also doubles as a reading light…. So that’s awesome.

I’ve been thinking about my old philosophy classes recently–especially with regards to the Church’s response to the issue of homosexuality and gay marriage. To many people, the issue could not be clearer. Their argument is this: The Bible says being gay is sinful, the Bible is free from any error and the Bible never changes: therefore being gay is sinful. This argument is not limited to homosexuality–Really, you can insert any sin in place of homosexuality and the argument stays the same. It boils down to this: “The Bible says it. I believe it.” If you’re a person operating in this mindset, any disagreement with you is easily dismissed by telling yourself that the other person doesn’t believe what the Bible says. The argument has been framed as one between people who believe what the Bible says and people who are creating a god in their own image. “Who are you to decide which parts are true and which parts aren’t?” they say. “Either every word of the Bible is completely and factually true, or the Bible is worthless!” They scream,”CULTURAL RELATIVISM!!” But I believe there are some deep philisophical presumptions behind these beliefs.

“Let the little velociraptors come to me.”

It comes down to a belief in “Biblical Inerrancy”–The belief that the Bible is factually true in every way…. So the Earth is 6000 or so years old and was created in six 24 hour days, Jonah was definitely in the belly of the whale for three days (he may have been…. I don’t know), and Noah’s flood actually killed every person and animal on the planet other than the ones on the ark–every part. This strict adherence to inerrancy has some interesting ways of explaining scientific discoveries (“God created the Earth with dinosaur fossils in the ground to test our faith” sort of stuff), but it also informs people’s views on many other controversial topics. It forces adherents to perform mental backflips in order to make sense of apparent inconsistencies. Now–let’s never mind, for a moment, that the Bible (when you consider the WHOLE Bible) is not nearly as clear on the some of the divisive issues of the day (for example–homosexuality, as well as issues of damnation, hell, and Rob Bell’s salvation) as most people think. Let’s ALSO never mind that there are many things (things like slavery and systemized misogyny) that the Bible seems pretty clear on that we (because of our collective conscience or continuing revelation–call it what you will) have reasoned ourselves around or out of altogether. Let’s focus instead on WHAT people mean when they say that the Bible is inerrant, as well as WHY they insist inerrancy has to be accepted.

When people insist that the Bible is inerrant, they are insisting that every word is factually true. Now “true” can mean different things for different people–A person can believe that everything in the Bible is TRUTH, while not confessing the factual truth of every word. Take, for example, the Biblical account of Judas killing himself. Matthew 27 tells us that Judas hung himself in a field purchased by the chief priests, while Acts 1 says that he died by falling “headfirst there, his body split open, spilling out all his intestines” in a field he himself purchased. Now, someone insisting on Biblical inerrancy (sometimes referred to as a Biblical Harmonist) would take these two seemingly contradictory accounts and explain that, because the Bible is inerrant, BOTH accounts are true–That Judas must have hung himself, the branch broke, he swung upside down (to fall head first) and then he landed on the ground and his intestines spilled out–all in a field that he AND the chief priests bought. Whereas, someone interested in TRUTH might say, “Judas killed himself in a field purchased with the same silver coins he was paid to betray Jesus,” and feel just fine about that.

This whole “TRUTH without necessitating factual accuracy” thing is not without precedent–Jesus did it all the time. When an expert in the law asked Jesus “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus said, “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers….” and continued on with the story of the Good Samaritan. This story may or may not have actually happened (It probably didn’t), but either way–This story is just dripping with TRUTH! But we do not need to believe that there was an actual man walking from Jerusalem to Jericho who got beat up and left for dead, was passed by a priest and a Levite, and helped by a dirty Samaritan in order for this story to be TRUTH. Or in order for this story to change your mind and your heart and your life.

Dualism, the Debt Crisis, and Danny Zuko’s haircut…. My three least favorite things to come out of Grease.

I think that this insistance on Biblical inerrancy is a result of an underlying presumption of the nature of “PERFECTION.” We say, “God is perfect, and since God is perfect, he never changes. If God changes his mind, then he was wrong before, AND GOD IS NEVER WRONG!!!” But this idea of equating “perfection” with “unchanging” is a very Greek way of looking at things. The Rabbis and teachers of Jesus’s time would have been very familiar with the story of Hezekiah, to whom Isaiah brought “the word of the Lord” and told him “you are going to die. You will not recover from this illness.” (Isaiah 38:1b) But then Hezekiah prayed and wept bitterly, and a few verses later it says that God Heard his prayers, saw his tears, and decided to add another 15 years to his life. This Perfect God that they worshiped was somehow both a God who could change his mind, as well as a God who “remains the same” as David said in Psalm 102. But this sort of dissonance doesn’t sit well in our Plato-influenced minds, so we make up rules to fit God into our pre-conceived notion of perfection–Rules and concepts and words like Immutable, Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Impassable…. All to describe a Being we couldn’t (and shouldn’t) hope to limit or define. And, because of our pre-held ideas about perfection, we are left with a God who can do ANYTHING…. Anything but change. What if real perfection is being able to improve? Again, this is not without precedent, as Luke tells us that even “Jesus GREW in wisdom.”

Then, it’s thought, we’re left with this quasi-transative relation: If God is perfect, and God wrote the Bible (I’m leaving alone the difference between the concepts being “God-inspired” and being “God-written”…. For now), then the Bible is perfect. And if the Bible is perfect, our pre-held concept of perfection tells us that it cannot change…. Therefore, (because of a few verses in Leviticus) God hates gay people and is going to send them to burn in Hell for eternity. And people pass this sort of crap along and call it “Speaking the truth in love,” all the while attempting to deify a text that makes no claim to its own inerrancy. We do this to relieve ourselves of that scary feeling of uncertainty that comes with relationship to a God (and a Bible) that is full of mystery and even contains a few *gasp* contradictions. And we do this all at the expence of folowing the things it clearly commands…. Namely, the command to love our neighbor.

“LOOK AT MY BUTT! LOOK AT IT! It’s a perfect circle! It’s so perfect, scientists use it to calibrate their instruments!”

It’s kind of like drawing a perfect circle on a piece of paper and saying “Look! It’s perfect!” And it is! But then, when people look at the circle under a microscope, you see that the line actually looks bumpy. Instead of trying to explain away the bumps (that are naturally going to occur when you draw on paper), we should be focusing on this amazing circle—“Look at the perfect ratios! It represents pi to 100 decimal places! It couldn’t have just been chance that this circle is SO PERFECT!!” The Church’s insistence on inerrancy of all microscopic bumps of scripture misses the awesomeness of the perfect circle—if only we might change our definition of “perfection.” “Now, you might say, “It’s not MY definition of perfection. It’s GOD’S definition of perfection!” Really? Examine how you came to that conclusion. Did you use your logic and intellect? Do you also ascribe “perfection” to your own intellect? 

It’s hard to see the forrest with all these trees around….

We use vast stretches if imagination in order for this Magical, Wonderful, TRUTH-FILLED book to fit into a self-created (and often illogical) idea of factual “perfection,” when all along, we were never meant to act like there are no bumps under the microscope (nor were we meant to explain them away, or even damn the microscope)—The Circle is Perfect! There is nowhere near enough time in our lives for us to fully soak in the TRUTH of something as simple as “We love because He first loved us.”–We certainly don’t have time to devote to setting firm and unchanging boundries in Orthodoxy concerning issues that are clearly mysterious and even *gasp again* evolving. This conservative view of Biblical perfection attempts to stifle the mouth of God, which is still speaking to our hearts today–EVEN NOW!!! Our faith in God is not built on the authority and perfection of the Bible–It is built on the authority and the perfection of Jesus Christ, and the continuing revelation of His Holy Spirit.

Wow. That was Jesusier than normal…. I need to pull in some bathroom humor.

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There’s Something About A Mother That Makes The World Better

Posted on May 13, 2012 by theboeskool

Yup, I’m a puppeteer. It’s sort of like this, only with more questions, and without all the prestige….

Since I have become a blogger,  basically have three jobs now. My blogging habit is supported by a day job that I love, and my day job habit is supported by my job working as a server. Part of what I do for my day job is to teach third graders about child abuse. How do I do this, you ask? Well…. I, along with a team of a bunch of talented people, use the magic of puppetry. It’s a lot like Sesame Street that comes to your school–only we don’t teach kids about about Reading, wRiting, and aRithmetic. We teach them about some pretty sensitive topics to talk to elementary and middle-schoolers about, and we do it really well. There is always a opportunity for the students to ask us questions. I say “us,” but the students are really asking the puppet kids the questions. We talk to kids about a whole range of things: Things like lessons on empathy, awareness of differences, making healthy choices, bullying, prejudice, HIV/AIDS, teen pregnancy, organ donation, and my personal favorite…. Child Abuse Prevention. We stay in character as the kids ask us questions like “Were you scared?” or “How did you feel when….” or “Did you know that my cat has eight nipples?” (Some kids are stupider than others).

It’s hard for dads to compete with this sort of intimacy.

After the presentation, we review with the kids about some of the stuff they learned–About how child abuse is never EVER a kid’s fault, about how we know that it’s hard to talk about, but it’s OKAY to talk about, and about how if ANY sort of child abuse ever happens to them, they need to tell a grown up that they  trust. We then ask them for an example of one grown up that they trust. And you know what? I’d say that about 95% of the time, the first name out of a kid’s mouth when asked to name a grown up that he or she trusts is this: “My Mom.” Usually it’s the second name that they give as well…. Honestly, most of the time, when they finally throw a “My dad” in there as an answer, it feels like it is out of a place of obligation, or maybe out of a place of not wanting to have the same answer as the previous person. And although there are some dads out there that are detached and distant and dumb, I don’t think the reason for this phenomenon is bad dads…. It’s just that there is something so special about moms.

Today at church I was bookended by the most important mothers in my life–The mom who gave birth to me and the mom who gave birth to my kids (aka my wife). Growing up, I never realized what all goes into being a mother. When you’re a kid, your mom is just that person who is always there, who is always ready to listen, who is always ready to give you a little sympathy when you need it, who is the only person you are comfortable enough with that you are okay with her licking a tissue and wiping something off your face. Our mother is where we learn about the concept of unconditional love–That there is someone in the world who loves us simply for who we are, and not for what we do. As a kid, you don’t understand what a big deal this is…. It’s just something that is there that we all take for granted.

Besides being one of the top selling tattoos, if we ever make it onto TV, our Mom is the first person we say hello to.

And then, at some point in the lives of most men, the most important mom in our lives changes, and we see first hand what all goes into being a mother. Well, even from the front row seat of fatherhood, we only see part of what goes into being a mom–there is a lot of stuff that goes down when nobody else is around. For me, when I think about my wife I am just impressed. I am amazed at the excellence with which she does things with the kids–the projects she finds for them to work on, the patience she demonstrates, the playfulness with them…. It’s inspiring. And it reminds me of something that is very important for me to remember: I couldn’t do what she does. But it’s more than what she does. It’s who she is. There is something magical about the connection between a child and his or her mother that a dad just can’t replicate.

Where would we be without our mothers? I suppose we wouldn’t BE without our mothers, right? Without moms, there would be a whole lot more fat, stinky kids sitting in front of the TV, wearing underwear from three days ago, eating a Krystal Sackful. There would be a lot less parties for the kids to remember. There would be a lot less cool things on the walls of their rooms. There would be a lot less pictures, a lot less organization, a lot less baths…. And a whole lot less love.

There are a lot of different kinds of Mothers out there other than the sort who give birth. And they all make the world better.

I think about Mother’s Day as a celebration of everything about women that makes the world a place worth living in. There are all kinds of Mothers out there who don’t have any kids right now (for one reason or another) that carry with them this same magic–this ability to listen and care and nurture and wipe away tears and teach and whisper when everyone else is yelling. Some of those mothers are waiting to have kids of their own, and some of them may never have kids, but the heart and the value of what it means to be a mother is buried in every woman, and it brings a peace that is always needed. So let’s take some time today and thank God for the wisdom to know that the world needed women/mothers–For more than just their ability to be encouraging and nurturing and hard-working and lovely and patient and strong and understanding and compassionate and trustworthy and even being able to transform a house into a home. Our mothers show us, more than anyone else, what it means to be human. And thank God for that.

So on behalf of all the sons and brothers and husbands and men–Thank you to all of the mothers and sisters and wives and women for putting up with our crap. Thank you for softening things. Thank you for making everything more beautiful. And thank you reminding us how to love when we forget (as we often do). Happy Mother’s Day!

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An Open Apology To Gay People Everywhere

Posted on May 9, 2012 by theboeskool

That black smudge on the heal is actually the trampled rights of the minority.

The people of North Carolina went to the polls yesterday, and they spoke their minds. North Carolina became the 31st state in America to have a gay marriage ban in the language of its state constitution. Even though gay marriage is already illegal in NC, the people of the Tar Heel State decided that the time was right to pass a law that will make it even harder if someday in the future its citizens tried to give people who are gay equal rights. With this one voting stone, they killed a second civil rights bird by stripping gay couples who had entered into a civil union of any rights that they previously had with their same-sex partner. It is yet another victory in the battle that has been waged by “the religious right” in this country to make sin illegal. Once (their idea of) sin is illegal, we can finally have the sin-free paradise that the Founding Fathers envisioned.

Something tells me they’re not going to touch that tricky old sin of divorce, though….

Christians apologizing to a gay man at a Pride Parade…. At least they assumed he was gay–They didn’t ask. Either way, it’s awesome.

So I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize to all gay people within the sound of this blog post. I know it seems like Christians have led this charge to make homosexuals feel like second class citizens–and it feels that way because it is largely true–but on behalf of the many people who call themselves followers of Jesus who think this sort of law is complete bullshit, I’d like to say that I’m so, so sorry. I’m sorry for people who make it look like Jesus is all about ignorance and fear and bigotry. That’s not what Jesus is about. Jesus is about love and justice and service and freedom and life. Jesus is frickin’ awesome, and there are a whole lot of people who call themselves Christians who will work beside you until this unjust garbage is a thing of the past. But yeah–So sorry.

Also, if you want to check this older post out, FEEL FREE

Posted in 1) Jesus, 2) Politics | Tagged , , , , | 21 Comments