By Steven Dustcircle ~ O n the way to the gym, I drive by this house that has a weird display. For years, this rickety, little house has a weathering paint job, rusty vintage vehicles, and a roughly constructed wooden cross shoved into a hole in the ground. Across the crossbeam are crudely-painted, blue capital letters reading, VOTE BIBLE. Perhaps—like myself—you've already mentally pictured the type of person that would do this. You've drawn him or her, or a couple and their kids, in your head. Like me, maybe you've put together their theology or how they would debate you considering religious matters. Maybe you've put together their voting patterns and maybe what kind of work they do, or what kind of health they are in. I mean, really, what kind of person puts a homemade Etsy reject in the front of their property, to face a fairly busy street of traffic for everyone to see. VOTE BIBLE What does that even mean? Any theologian—and layman—would tell you that ...

By Steve Dustcircle ~ P eople are people, and events happen. There is nothing you change or prevent, within reason. You accept people how they are, and hope that they will choose on their own what you dislike about them.   I felt this way about others' musical and film choices. I felt this way about people's sexuality. I felt this way about other choices others would make, about not having children, about donating time and finances, about habits like smoking and drinking, and about other things that lie within the boundaries of “ethics” and “ morality .” It didn't matter what my view was. I was taught by my mentors to  love the sinner, hate the sin , and I wanted to practice that sort of accepting love. Sadly, however, I honestly didn't see much of this among my church or college peers. This idea of trying to be like Jesus, hanging out with sinners, was admired by some and detested by others within my church circles. Not that I was pure in thought, and...

By Steve Dustcircle ~ G rowing up as a Christian in various worship forms and levels of dedication, leaving all that I know behind wasn't easy. It was not unlike going through a breakup, or even perhaps more similarly to experiencing the death of a loved one. All my life I have been taught about God, Jesus, the Bible, the Ten Commandments, the Holy Ghost , and the stories of the Apostles, Disciples, Prophets, and the Kings. No matter how the stories were told to me even as a child, I had a decent grasp of the Bible. Its textual understanding and personal application were a different matter, but as the mind develops and grows, there's only so much one can comprehend on such a thick subject matter. One cannot disagree that the stories usually had a morale—Jonah and the big fish, Jesus and the cross, David and the giant, Daniel and the lions, and the feeding of the multitudes. Each was selected for a reason, and could be applied by a Sunday school teacher to our young li...

By Steve Dustcircle ~ M y wife and I don't have kids, but the topic eventually comes up in a hypothetical sense:  Would we tell our children about Santa Claus ? We both are in agreement:  No. The big man himself brings up the rear at the 2009 Santa Claus Parade, Toronto. (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) I come from a household that pretended there was a Santa Claus when I was a small child. When my parents had “the talk” with me, I don't remember. But I do remember when one of my uncles played Santa and came down the stairs with a large sack of toys. I vaguely remember getting military toys. However, what is clear in my memory was one of my cousins saying, “That's Uncle Jeff!” I never forgot. I don't remember the trauma I might have felt, but I assume there was confusion, hurt, disappointment and possibly anger. There  had  to have been, because of the clarity of the memory of that event (Memories form when you repeatedly chew on an occurrence). ...