Monthly Archives: March 2012

The Reason Rally and My Letter to the Defiance Crescent-News About It

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This entry is part 6 of 22 in the seriesLetters to the Editor

Here is a wonderful video  about the Reason Rally put together by the Thinking Atheist.

Link to video

Here is a letter to the Editor I wrote to the Defiance Crescent-News today.

Dear Editor,

I waited in vain to see a Crescent-News report on the March 24, 2012 Reason Rally in Washington, DC. Over 20,000 people gathered on The Mall to give their support to the idea that America should be a country governed by reason rather than superstition and religious dogma. The Reason Rally crowd was comprised of atheists, agnostics, humanists, and secularists, every one of them with a love for America and its secular values and principles.

Noted speakers at the event included people like Richard Dawkins, David Silverman, Michael Shermer, James Randi, Dan Barker, Roy Speckhardt, Greta Christina, and Nate Phelps, son of homophobic Westboro Baptist Church pastor Fred Phelps. Videos from people like Bill Maher and Penn Jillette were shown and musicians like Bad Religion and Tim Minchin played for the crowd. Adam Savage, co-host of the popular TV show Mythbusters, gave a passionate speech that encouraged and stirred the secular faith.

The Reason Rally was the American secularist movement’s coming out party. As the recent census showed, secularism is on the rise in America. As people turn away from religions that no longer provide the answers to life’s important questions, they are realizing that answers, hope, meaning, and purpose can be found in a non-theistic, humanistic way of life. With no promise of heaven or threat of hell, secularists are focused on improving the world we live in. We only have one life and we best be about living it. If we want a better future for our progeny we have no time to waste dreaming of promises of mansions in heaven.

I realize the Crescent-News leans towards the right politically and socially. The editorial page is so right-wing that it falls right off the right side of the page. That’s your right as a newspaper. I also realize you represent what the vast majority of Defiance area residents believe and support.  However, you do have a duty to report the news and the March 24, 2012 Reason Rally was indeed news. It is news that is not going away. The Reason Rally was but first shot over the bow of Ship Christian Nation. We are here and we are not going away.

Sincerely,

Bruce Gerencser
Ney, Ohio

Promoter of Child Abuse Speaks at Calvary Bible Church, Lima Ohio

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Yesterday, Calvary Bible Church, an Independent, Fundamentalist, Bob Jones loving, church, in Lima, Ohio celebrated its 52 anniversary. The special special speaker for the day was Hephzibah House operator Ron Williams. Williams and Hephzibah House is well known for promoting the abuse of children. Over the years, many allegations of physical and emotional abuse have been lodged against Hephzibah House.

The Calvary Baptist Church bulletin described Ron Williams this way:

We will Welcome Ron Williams of Hephzibah House on March 25th to help us celebrate 52 years of God’s great blessings.  We have supported Hephzibah House prayerfully and financially for most of the years of its existence.  Dr. Williams left secular social work to establish this ministry when he and his wife saw great need for a residential home for girls who were in great spiritual need.  This work has been hated by a very vocal minority who have used the internet for several years to harass and attempt to destroy.   God has preserved Dr. Williams in spite of these attacks, and we believe this ministry will continue to be a blessing.  Ron Williams is an eloquent speaker, and we know we will his messages in Sunday School and church.  We will have an anniversary dinner at 2:00 which will replace our normally scheduled evening times.  The afternoon session will also be a PTF meeting for all school parents.

The vocal minority on Sunday was four brave women who stood on public property outside of Calvary Bible Church and protested Ron Williams speaking at the Church. Here are a few pictures of their good work. I want to commend these ladies for their fearless stand against the continued misuse and abuse of children that is going on in Independent Fundamentalist circles.

For further information please check out Chuckles Travels. They have a lot of good information on yesterday’s event.

Link to Calvary Bible Church website.

What About You, Bruce?

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I can see this one coming, so  I thought I would head it off before it makes its way to my front door.

I was a Christian for almost 50 years. I was an ordained Baptist pastor for 25 years, many of those years spent pastoring Independent Fundamentalist Baptist churches.  I pastored churches in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. I have been open and honest about my time in the ministry.

Some will surely doubt that I have really been open and honest. I write of the sins of the IFB church movement. Was I not a sinner too? Was I not an abuser like those I now point fingers? Was I not a part of the very institutions I now criticize and condemn? Have I forgotten, he that is without sin, let him cast the first stone?

I would answer these questions yes and no.

Have I ever had an extra-marital affair? No.

Have I ever stole money from a church? No.

Have I ever hid acts of child abuse, sexual abuse, pedophilia, or other serious crimes? No.

Was I a controlling, I am the Lord thy God, I am anointed by God, pastor? Yes.

My wife knows I have never had any type of sexual relations with anyone in a church I pastored besides her. Could I have had sexual relations with female church members? Sure. The temptation to do so was a part of the ministry. Any pastor who denies this is either clueless or living in denial.

Early in my ministry I had several occasions where women came on to me while I was counseling them. I realized quickly that I was walking on dangerous ground. One women, as she later told me, came into my office with the express purpose of bedding me. I would like to tell you I was some pillar of virtue but the truth is the temptation to violate my marriage vows  frightened me. I feared that, despite having Jesus close by my side, I was going to fall, or, dare I say, run into sin.

As my wife can testify, this is the reason I quit counseling women privately. I made sure the door was always open and someone, most often my wife, was nearby. A wise old preacher told a group of preacher-boys to be that a stiff prick has no conscience. He was right and sadly many preachers forget this sage’s advice.

When it came to the church’s money I was the bookkeeper and the person who determined when and where the money was spent. (a practice I roundly condemn today)  In two of the churches I pastored this was not the case, but even in these churches I exerted a huge influence over how the money was spent.

I can say that I acted honorably and above board when it came to church funds. This does not mean that there were not complaints over how the money was spent. As any Baptist knows conflicts over how the money is spent are as common as altar calls.

One man accused me of stealing from the church. He told everyone who would listen that when the offering was counted it was one dollar for me and one dollar for the church. At the time, I was living with a wife and six kids in a 12 foot by 60 foot trailer I paid 2,800.00 for and I was driving a 500.00 car. Either I had a whole other life……perhaps I was blowing the money on hookers and crack OR this guy was full of shit. For those wondering……..this guy was full of shit.

When it came to criminal behavior or improper sexual conduct among church members I was not one to bury such things. As any former parishioner will tell you I was an advocate of full disclosure. I am sure they have fond memories of the open church meetings I held to discuss the various matters affecting the church. There were no secrets. I believed then and I still do that church members have a right to be fully informed about what is going on in the church.

There are times I wished that I had been more secretive. I have not so fond memories of a few church business meetings that turned into street fights. Ugly, awful stuff.

I took seriously my responsibility to the children of the church. I turned in a few parents to children’s services over what I suspected was abusive behavior. On one occasion I literally ran off a pedophile that came to the church trolling for young boys. (he went down the road to another IFB church) The children of the church knew they could talk to me, though I suspect most of them were afraid to do so because of my thundering preaching on Sundays. I like to think I was a protector of the church children but I have no doubt I failed them in this regard.

All this aside, I am not without blame. I was, after all, an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist pastor. I was the head honcho, the chief potentate. I was the man of God, called by God to rule the church. I was the final answer, the interpreter of all things. I lorded over the people I pastored and in many cases robbed them of their ability to think for themselves.

I was arrogant and I thought that my beliefs ought to be everyone’s beliefs. I had little to no tolerance for dissent or difference of opinion. It was my way or the highway. As I have said before, I ran off a lot of good, decent people whose only sin was disagreeing with me.

Towards the end of my time in the ministry I became less controlling and I tried to change my ways. I like to think I was a kinder, gentler, more open pastor at the end but I suspect I was still far too controlling. (and this says more about my personality than anything else) Since I have left the ministry and Christianity I have worked very hard at becoming a different person than I was as a pastor. I remain a work in progress.

As a pastor I was a compassionate, helpful man but my compassion and help was measured by the narrow beliefs I had. As an atheist the length of my compassion and help has broadened because I am no longer constrained by religious dogma. I am free to love people as they are, where they are, with no expectation of their conformity to my way of thinking.

If I had to focus on one area that I am most ashamed of it would be  my use of corporeal punishment, also known beating your children. Like all good IFB pastors, I believed children should be spanked often and hard. After all, the Bible commanded parents to take a rod to their rebellious children. A good parent beat his children.

In one church, we had a Christian school and we used corporeal punishment as a means of discipline. We did not overuse it, but more than a few students were whipped for being disobedient.

As I look back on this now I see that I used abusive disciplinary practices with my children and the students in the Christian school. I have apologized to all of my children and to the Christian school children I have had contact with. I now think hitting children is morally wrong. I regret having spent decades teaching parents how to effectively abuse their children. I can’t undo what has been done. All I can do is admit that I was wrong and try to do differently. I am glad that my children have chosen a different path with my grandchildren. Hitting children is wrong regardless of the reason.

There are days that I have a hard time with the past and what kind of pastor, father, and husband I was. My wife, children, and former parishioners have told me that I am too hard on myself but I still have regrets over  how controlling I was.

My counselor has told me more than once that I am not as bad a man as I think I am. I appreciate his encouragement but the guilt remains.  There are no do-overs in life and all I can do is own what I have done and try to do differently.

Do I have any “secret” sins? Sure, and so do you. I have been a less than perfect human being. I have done things and been places (like a strip club) that some would consider sinful. (and I considered sinful at time I was doing it). I have been through bankruptcy. I have had difficulty managing money. I know my faults and failures well.

Saint Bruce, I shall never be. All I can hope to be is a frail, feeble human being who gives an honest accounting of his life. I have said more in this post than I need to say or perhaps should have said but I hope this post addresses those who are inclined to think of me as a finger pointing hypocrite who is now throwing rocks at the very institutions he was once a part of.

As always, I hope this post is instructive and helpful. If I can help others find a better away and perhaps find a bit of forgiveness for myself then much good has been done.

The Fundy World Tales Part 13

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This entry is part 13 of 17 in the seriesFundy World Tales

In July of 1983 we established the Somerset Baptist Church in Somerset, Ohio. The church was a Independent, Fundamentalist Baptist church (IFB). We rented a small store front to hold services in. The rent was 100.00 a month. The owner even gave us a couple of months rent free to help us get our feet on the ground.

We cleaned up the building, built a wall separating the sanctuary from the nursery/Sunday school room, lettered a sign on the front of the building, built a flimsy pulpit, moved in an old upright piano, and set up chairs and we were ready to go.

16 people attended for our first service. Some of the people  were from my father-in-law’s church in Buckeye Lake. We had several families attend the first service who had read the write-up about a new Baptist church being started in Somerset. We had one profession of faith on our inaugural day. I took this as a sign of God’s blessing on our work. Over the course of 11 years over 600 people would make a profession of faith.

The church met in the store front for a few months. We then moved to a new building called the Landmark building. We held services on the second floor of the building. We had lots of room. (way too much room) The Grange used to meet in the building. They left behind a piano which we bought for 50.00 We would remain in the Landmark building until the Easter of 1986.

Somerset is an old town dating back to the early days of the 19th century. Somerset was located near Zane’s Trace. Zane’s Trace was:

A frontier road constructed under the direction of Col. Ebenezer Zane through the Northwest Territory of the United States, in what is now the state of Ohio. Many portions were based on traditional Native American trails. Constructed during 1796 and 1797, the road ran from Wheeling, Virginia (now Wheeling, West Virginia) to Maysville in the portion of the Northwest Territory that eventually became the southeastern quarter of the state of Ohio

Ohio History Central has this to say about Somerset:

Somerset, which was once known as Middletown, was formerly the county seat of Perry County, Ohio.

In 1807, John Finck erected the first log cabin in what would become Somerset. Several years later, Jacob Miller arrived, becoming the second settler in this community. The men named the town Middletown, since it was approximately equal distant to Lancaster to the west and Zanesville to the east. Soon residents changed the town’s name to Somerset, as most early residents were from Somerset, Pennsylvania.

In the 1810s, Somerset grew quickly and, in 1817, became the Perry County seat of government. In 1846, Somerset boasted a population of nearly 1,400 residents. That same year, the community included four churches, three newspapers, sixteen stores, an iron foundry, and a tobacco warehouse. The town also claimed a Catholic nunnery and St. Mary’s Seminary, a school for young women. Two miles south of Somerset was also located St. Joseph’s Church, the first documented Catholic Church in Ohio.

By 1850, Perry County’s population had reached nearly twenty thousand people. Many residents desired to relocate the county seat from Somerset, which is located in the northern part of the county, to New Lexington, a more centralized spot. The county seat moved to New Lexington by the start of the American Civil War.

During the remainder of the nineteenth and the first portion of the twentieth centuries, Somerset’s population remained stable at approximately 1,200 residents. Many residents earned their livings in the surrounding iron and coalmines. As iron and coal deposits began to decline, residents began to find employment in other industries principally in the nearby cities of Lancaster and Zanesville. In 2000, Somerset’s population had reached 1,500 people.

There were five churches in Somerset, a Church of Christ, Methodist, Lutheran, and two Catholic churches. The population of Somerset was around 1500 people.

I did what every good IFB church planter did. I began knocking on doors witnessing to people and inviting them to our church.  One man told me I was a brave man trying to start a Baptist church in a town with TWO Catholic churches.

The Church was about six months old when we decided to buy a bus. We planned to use the bus to pick up children in Somerset and bring them Church. We bought the bus from Faith Memorial Church in Lancaster, Ohio for 400.00. Faith Memorial was one of the fastest growing churches in the United States. John Maxwell was the pastor.

The church had a healthy jump in attendance as a result of the bus.  Bill and Peggy Beard started attending the church. Bill was a local farmer and his wife was known throughout the area for her work with children and vacation Bible school. The Beards operated the bus and took on the responsibility of teaching the children. By early 1986 the church had grown to about 65 members.

While meeting in the Landmark building we held our first big time Revival meeting. Dennis Corle came and held a week-long meeting at the church. A number of people were saved and baptized.

One day in late 1985 I was out and about the countryside east of Somerset. Five miles from Somerset, on Sego Hill,  I came across an abandoned Methodist church. The Methodist congregation had disbanded a few years prior and propped a concrete block in front of the front door and walked away.

There were two buildings sitting on an acre and a quarter of ground. The sanctuary, a brick building built in 1835, was 1,200 square feet. The annex was 1.600 square feet, a block building, partially below grade, with a sold concrete deck. (the Methodist church planned to build an addition) Both buildings were in deplorable condition. Collapsed floors, leaking roofs, along with upkeep made the buildings a work project that would keep us busy for several years.

I became excited about the prospect of having our own church building. I contacted the former leaders/members of the local church and asked if the building was for sale. They said it was. We held a church business meeting out at the prospective building. After looking at the building we went back to our current building and talked about whether or not we wanted to buy the building. The majority of the church voted NO.

I was devastated. I thought, “can they not see what a good deal this is?” A week later one leader of the Methodist church called me and asked if we were interested in the building. I asked him, “how much?” He said, “make us an offer.” I had a real dilemma on my hands. The church voted NO, but I was certain God was saying YES. So I decided to test God. I offered the Methodists 3,000.00 for their building. The Methodist leader said he would get back with me. A couple of weeks later he called and said, “we can’t sell the building for 3,000.00 but if you’ll pay 5,000.00 we will sell it to you.”  Before I could even pray a word I said YES!

Of course, the church had exactly ZERO money in the bank. The Beards had left the church a short while before the vote on the building. Bill and I always seemed to bang doctrinal heads. He was Arminian and I was, at the time, a 1 point Calvinistic Baptist. We good remained friends, and I would over the years pastor them two more times. Bill and Peggy had a heart for new church plants, and after I told them about the prospect of buying the Methodist building Bill said he would like to help with the purchase. Bill and Peggy more than helped us. They wrote a check for 5,000.00, the full payment for the property.

Once the church body found out that I had said YES to buying the building and that it was also paid for they changed their tune about the building.(I learned later they voted NO because they thought the buildings needed too much  work) We arranged with the Methodists to purchase the property. We met with the Methodists at a local law office to sign the sale papers. While we were there the phone rang and the lawyer said the call was for me. On the phone was the District superintendent for the Methodists and he told me that the people I was dealing with had no legal authority to sell the property. Once a church closes the property reverts to the denomination.

It took several months to work out the legal issues but finally we were able to buy the Methodist church property, at 10218 Madison Twp. Rd 54, Mt Perry, Ohio. It was ours. We had a place to call home.

For the next three years the church would have dramatic growth, especially for a church in the country. For a time we were the largest non-Catholic church in Perry County.

Stay tuned.

Disclaimer: Some of the dates and numbers are the best I can remember. I have tried to be as accurate as possible within the limitations of my finite mind.

Christian Reality vs. Reality

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Christian view of reality:

  • God has a wonderful plan for your life.
  • God use pain, suffering,financial reversal, sickness, loss, and death to teach you or get your attention.
  • For those who love God and are the called according to his purpose, everything in life works out for good.
  • Nothing happens in life that is not part of God’s purpose or plan for your life.
  • God loves you and would never do anything inconsistent with his love for you.
  • It only seems that God is NOT involved in the day to day workings of his creation. Behind the scenes, in ways that no human can comprehend, God is working, moving, changing, correcting, tearing down, and building up.
  • God hears every prayer and answers every prayer according to his will.

Of course, the Christian view of reality is for Christians-only. Non-Christians are under the wrath and judgment of God. Non-Christians deserve to be cast into hell this very moment. Non-Christians may at times enjoy the blessing of God (it rains on the just and unjust) but God reserves his blessing for those who are his children. Non-Christians are the children of the devil.

I have come to see that Christianity reality is delusional. It requires a suspension of reason. It requires shutting oneself off to what can be seen, experienced, and known. It requires the rose-colored glasses of faith, glasses which allow the Christian to see a reality that is not visible with normal human eyes.

What does a non-Christian reality tell us?

  • There is no purpose or plan.
  • Shit happens.
  • Life is a crapshoot and there are no guarantees that it will turn out one way or the other.
  • Genetics play a factor in our lives.
  • Being at the wrong place at the wrong time can have catastrophic consequences.
  • Human powers outside of my life make decisions I have no control over that affect my life in good and bad ways.
  • Talking to myself might be helpful psychologically and might make me feel better but I am just talking to myself.
  • Inanimate objects have no power of their own. Kicking the car and swearing at it when it breaks down may make me feel better but it is just a car.
  • No you can’t be anything you want to be. It is not true that anyone can be President and it is not true that you are destined to win American Idol/The Voice/The Sing Off/America’s Got Talent/X-Factor.
  • There are things that happen that I can not explain. What does this mean? That there are things that happen that I can not explain. Why assume the Christian God is behind the unexplainable? How do I know it is not one of the thousands of mankind’s “other” Gods? Better yet, perhaps it is all due to luck. Some people are lucky and some people are not.

Reality tells me, knowing how fraught with danger the world is, it is amazing that any newborn lives to old age. Christian reality tells me that, yes the world is fraught with danger, but the newborn lives to old age according to mercy of God. God controls the keys to life and death and it is God who kills us at our appointed time. I wonder…does God pencil in a time next to our name when we are born? How does God determine this? It there a annual birth lottery where, like the military draft, God pulls death dates for each newborn?

What comfort is there in having a God who controls your life from birth to death? I much prefer a life where I at least have some say in the matter. Where my choices and decisions matter. A life where disaster and death lurk in the shadows, a life that is a game, trying to beat the odds, trying to beat the grim reaper.

No letting go and letting God. No putting your hand in the hand who stilled the waters and calmed the seas. No surrendering to the will of a deity. No embracing of death because a better home awaits.

Christian reality is pretty much a denial of everything that is real. It is an alternate reality where bad becomes good, suffering and pain becomes blessing, and death is just a change of location. I want nothing to do with such a reality.

Life is harsh. If we live long enough it will bruise us, bloody us, and ultimately it will kill us. I don’t intend on resigning myself to anything. As much as lies within me I plan on running hard, fighting long, and when I leave this life I plan to leave it knowing I lived my life to the best of my ability. By my own strength, with the help and love of family, friends and my fellow human beings.

And then……according to Christian reality…….I get to go to hell and be tortured by God for eternity.

Christian Naïveté

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Are Christians naïve? In many instances, yes and here’s why.

The Christian gospel presents Jesus as the way, truth, and life. Jesus transforms people. Jesus takes vile sinners and makes them saints. No matter the sin, Jesus not only forgives sins but he casts it into the sea of God’s forgetfulness. Once confessed, God no longer “remembers” the sin.

Christianity speaks a lot about grace and forgiveness. If God has forgiven them then shouldn’t they forgive others? If God “forgets” their sin shouldn’t they “forget” the sins of others?

This kind of thinking, while noble and appealing, is a denial of a few basic facts about human nature.

Obrion, a regular commenter on this blog wrote:

The lesson I get from this is that Christians are exactly the same as the outsiders they preach so strongly against.  However, what the church lacks is a reality check– just because someone believes, that belief does not really change their behavior.

This comment pretty well hits the proverbial nail on the head. A year ago, in a post titled a Do People Change, I wrote:

The short answer is rarely or never.

However it is not that simple.

If I make an honest assessment of my life I must conclude that, in many ways, I am no different today than I was 10, 20, or 30 years ago.

Let me explain.

We all have certain character traits that play a large part in defining who we are. Each of us have experienced life in a certain way and our experiences have shaped us in ways we can not even imagine. Our successes and failures, our hurts and our pain, have all helped to make us who we are.

There are many factors that come into play when determining “how” we became what we are and “how” we got to where we are.

Each of us has a story to tell. It is unique to us.There is no greater offense than for a person to discount or dismiss another person’s story.  I find as I get older that I am more willing to listen to the stories of others. I am fascinated by the life stories that people tell.

I have made many changes in my life. I went from an independent, fundamentalist Baptist to an atheist. I started out adult life as a right-wing John Bircher and now I find  myself  a liberal on the the other end of the spectrum. For the past ten years my life has been all about change, change, change.

Over the past ten years I  have lived in Ohio, Michigan, and Arizona. I have moved 8 times. My children have all grown up, with my youngest son graduating from high school in a few weeks. I have five grandchildren and another one on the way.

My health has been on a steady, but slow, decline. Life is now measured by “I can’t do that any more.”  Physically, there is no light at the end of the tunnel for me. I know that. My family knows that. And my doctor knows that even though he fights like hell to find a better outcome for me.

My circumstances have changed but have I changed?

I want to think I have. I hope I am a kinder, gentler man. I hope that the seeds of racism and homophobia in my being have died. I hope I am a better husband and father. I will leave it to others to decide whether or not  I have changed.

But, I also know, that, in many ways, I am the same Bruce Gerencser today that I was in 1975. I am temperamental. (I do have red hair, a perfect excuse) I am a pessimist. I have battled depression my entire life. Dark days come and no matter what I do it seems I can not outrun the darkness.

I have always been a person that likes order. I like to be in charge, to control things I think this is why my physical debility bothers me so much. It is beyond my ability to control it.

My counselor warned me of my penchant for wanting certainty, for wanting to see things in a black and white way. Just because I left Christianity and left the ministry does not mean I have abandoned fundamentalist thinking. (in fact this is one of the biggest problems I face) I am having to learn, or should I say re-learn how to think. 

I spent decades in a system that valued fidelity to a belief far more than it did rational thought. For most of my life decisions about morality and ethics were decided for me according to what the Bible said. I didn’t matter. All that mattered is what God said. Now I find myself having to decide for myself what my moral and ethical values are. (much to the consternation of fundamentalist family)

The passion I’ve had most of my life still burns in my being. I am always looking for the next cause. Granted the focus of my  passion has moved from trying to get people to heaven to telling people heaven and hell  does not exist. Where you stand on these issues determines whether or not you like my passion. Is there such a thing as being an atheistic soulwinner? 

I remain a hardheaded, dry humored person. I am, in many ways, the same old Bruce, but how I look at life and how I determine what matters in life has changed greatly.

How is it for you?

Are you a Jesus? The same yesterday, today,and forever?

Maybe you are a Bob Dylan? The answer my friend is blowing in the wind?

Do people change? Sure, but change is hard, requires great sacrifice, and most people simply don’t want to invest the time and energy necessary to effect lasting change. Change is painful. Change requires an honest, open accounting of our lives. All of it. Even the dark, deep secrets we hold on to. We know ourselves better than anyone else and true, effective change only happens when we come to terms with who we are. Sometimes this means we can’t do certain things, go certain places, etc.

Let me use an illustration (spoken like a preacher, yes) I have used numerous times on this blog. Each of us must draw a circle on the ground, stand in that circle, and judge every person in the circle. Far too often we focus our judgment on others rather than self. We can’t change others.

For many years I thought I could “change” my wife Polly. She has some character traits that annoy me. Surely if she would just “change” all would be well. Of course, thinking like this allowed me to ignore my own character flaws. Somewhere along the marriage path I finally decided that we needed to accept each other as we are. I can’t change my wife and now I don’t want to. I ignore the things that annoy the hell out of me and she does the same. Every once in awhile we will fight over these things but post-fight we always come to the conclusion that we are idiots for fighting over such trivial things.

Now, let me pull this all together.

When a person first converts to Christianity they are excited. Everything is new. Perhaps their lives were all messed up before they found Jesus and now everything is changed and new. After all the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 5:17:

Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

New converts can be spotted a mile away. They have that, Oh how I love Jesus glow about them. Over the years I pastored hundreds of new converts, and I know first hand about the zeal and passion new converts have.

Over time the newness wears off. All of a sudden the not-so-new convert begins to battle with what they “used” to be. At this juncture the not-so-new convert is encouraged to pray more, read the Bible more, and to make sure they attend church every time the doors are open. Their problem is they need a constant infusion of Jesus and this infusion comes through prayer, Bible study, and Church attendance. (or the anointing, filling, or baptism of the spirit)

Often the not-so-new convert  is told that the struggle they are facing is one EVERY Christian faces. At its root is Satan, who likes nothing more than to destroy Christians. Since he can’t take their soul to hell he does his best to make their life a mess and he does all he can to ruin their testimony.

I contend there is another reason for all this. Over time the not-so-new convert reverts to who he really is. His religious change was temporary. Over time he becomes the every day, normal or not so normal, human being he was before. No matter how much he prays, reads the Bible, or goes to church, he can not shake WHO and WHAT he is.

I know this sounds quite cynical but the facts are on my side. While I think people can and do change, for the most part they don’t. (for the reasons I mentioned above) This does not necessarily make them bad people. They are human just like the rest of us.

Christians are naïve if they think they should give a person a clean slate just because they found Jesus or they confessed their sins and got right with God.

Evangelicals have an altar ritual in which a Christian can go to the altar, confess their sins, and start life anew. This is the Evangelical version of the Catholic confessional. No matter how often the Christian commits a sin, if they just ask for forgiveness, all is forgiven. (and yes, I know all about forsaking sin but reality tells me that there is a lot of forgiving going on and not much forsaking)

There are some behaviors that can not be fixed by the blood of Jesus. Sorry, my Christian friend, but that’s just how it is. I am of the opinion that rarely are child molesters or pedophiles delivered of their demons. Unless they are closely monitored they will commit heinous acts again. That’s why I support lifetime incarceration for many child molesters and pedophiles.

I need to be careful here because I don’t think that just because someone’s name is on the Sex Offender Registry that they are a pervert who should be locked up for life. Every case must be examined carefully. Some of the people on Sex Offender Registry are teens that had consensual sex with someone outside the age minimum/maximum of a particular state’s law. However, for those who molest and abuse children I think society MUST be protected from them.

Since we don’t incarcerate such people for life we must deal with them in society. Often these kind of people know they have a problem so they seek solace in religion. They find Jesus. Surely Jesus will fix their life.

What do they find? People who love them and accept them. People who believe Jesus can change the hardest of hearts and the vilest of sinners.

However, the child molester and pedophile is like the leopard mentioned in the Bible. Can the leopard change its spots? No. So what happens. The child molester and pedophile begins to have “those” bad thoughts again. No! No! No! but no matter what they do the thoughts remain and here they are in the midst of a people who trust them, people who have now given them access to their children and teenagers.

Churches should not be surprised when one of their members commits heinous crimes. It is their fault because they naïvely believed that a leopard can change their spots, that a person who has aberrant thoughts about children can change their ways. (and in some cases I am sure change is possible)

Look at all the stories of fallen pastors and church leaders that make the front page of the our newspapers. Does anyone think Ted Haggard just up and decided one day to use crack and seek out male prostitutes for sex? Does anyone really think Eddie Long just up and decided one day that he wanted to have sex with under age boys? (and both of these men are STILL pastors)

Take the case of deceased Pastor Bob Gray, long time pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Florida. This is what Conservative Babylon had to say about Gray,

Claims to fame: 80-year-old pastor of Independent Fundamental Baptist (IFB) Trinity Baptist Church (Jacksonville, Florida) for 38 years; co-founder and president, Trinity Baptist College; gay-hater; accused molester of little girls

Moral apex: Allegedly, french-kissing six-year-olds.

“Basically it was a make out session,” one victim told First Coast News about “a french kissing ritual with her that lasted for three years,” beginning when she was about eight. “Sitting on his lap. Hugging. But he never put his hands where you would consider you shouldn’t put your hands.”

What’s worse: A number of Gray’s other accusers say he touched them down there.

What’s worse: It wasn’t just one, or two, or three kids… As of early June, 2006, some 17 women stepped forward to tell essentially the same story of childhood molestation by Gray.

What’s worse yet: It appears the current pastor of Trinity Baptist, Tom Messer, tried to cover up at least two incidents, and — far worse — one father tried to cover up the abuse of his own child.

At one time Bob Gray was one of my favorite preachers. He was a Holy Spirit powered man-of-God. A man worth emulating. Yet, best I can tell, he spent his entire 50 years in the ministry as a child molester and sexual pervert.

Gray didn’t just decide one day to become a pervert. He had these proclivities most of his life. Certainly we can debate how and why he had these proclivities but the fact is HE HAD THEM!

Churches have no excuse. We have the internet. We have Sex Offender databases and access to 50 state criminal background checks. No person should have access to church children and teenagers before being thoroughly vetted and that INCLUDES the pastor.

This vetting should be done annually. Vetting someone once is not enough. Arrests without convictions often don’t appear on criminal background checks. Michael Pitts, pastor of Cornerstone Church in Toledo, years ago was arrested several times for indecent exposure. He was able to wiggle his way out of the arrests both times and he remains a pastor to this day.

Here is what one website said in 2003:

You see, Pastor Michael Pitts was charged with several counts of exposing himself to strangers. I should make it clear that he was never convicted of any of these charges. (I want to make sure that his lawyers, wherever they may be, see I am making this clear.) But there was a significant amount of evidence that many people found quite convincing.

In 1995, he was stopped by police after allegedly being spotted masturbating in front of two young boys hitting golf balls at a local baseball diamond. Officials did not press charges after Pastor Pitts agreed to seek counseling with a psychologist who sees sex offenders, they said. (The Pitts camp claims the officials are lying.)

In 1997, he faced eight counts of public indecency and seven counts of criminal trespass, linked to a series of incidents in which a man matching Pastor Pitts’ description was reported exposing himself to people in places like a local park and a Wal-Mart parking lot. His car was spotted near where several of the incidents occurred.

Pastor Pitts hired some very fine attorneys and, in the end, all charges except for two criminal trespass misdemeanors were suddenly dropped. His final punishment: 14 days of house arrest with an ankle bracelet and a $500 fine. As part of the unusual plea agreement, both prosecution and defense agreed that neither side would be allowed to discuss the reasons for the sudden deal.

His public acts of perversion would not likely show on a criminal background check. Does anyone think he has stopped having desires to expose himself to strangers in public places? Perhaps his family and handlers have been able to manage his perversion BUT I have no doubt the desire is still there.  The most amazing thing in this story is that the Church ignored his behavior, accepted that it was a Satanic attack, and Pitts remains their pastor.

Sadly, I think Christians will continue to be naïve about these things. Their theology requires them to be forgivers and forgetters. They just need to understand that the rest of us are not so forgiving and forgetting. Acts of child abuse and sexual molestation of children and teenagers should be punished to the fullest extent of the law. Religious beliefs should NOT be allowed to muddy the water. Churches that knowingly allow perverts access to the children and teenagers of the church should be held criminally liable. Again, religious beliefs should not be part of the discussion. All that matters is protecting the children from predators. If a church’s naïve blindness keeps them them acting responsibly then they have no one to blame but themselves when their leaders are arrested and their good name is ruined.

Why are there still Catholics sitting in the pew on Sunday? Naïveté. How many boys and girls must have their lives ruined before the people say enough is enough? Evidently, more than the thousands of cases already known. I simply do not understand this. The Catholic Church hierarchy and leaders have forfeited their right to be the spiritual guides of anyone.

What is your thought on this subject? Do you have any stories you would like to share?

Man Looks On the Outward Appearance

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…for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart. I Samuel 16:7

As an Evangelical pastor I often reminded people that, yes God looks on our heart, but human beings judge us by how we look. The proof that someone is a follower of Jesus is not what is in their heart or what they believe. The proof is in their conduct. James was clear on this matter….faith without works is dead. According to James’ works gospel a Christian shows their faith by their works. No works? No faith.

Many of the Christian zealots who come to this blog to set me straight prove they are not Christians at all. Their conduct reveals the reality of their heart.  They are often hateful, mean-spirited, vengeful, and nasty. In their world the only thing that matters is right-belief. As long as they have right-belief, conduct does not matter. Lost to them is that right-beliefs should yield right conduct.

I also know that perception is reality and it is easy for us to put up a façade to make people think we are this or that. Millions of Christians are Christians 2 hours a week. They put up a façade on Sunday and take it down the rest of the week. They are Christian in name only. (and we see this in all religions and social, cultural, political, and economic beliefs)

As a person with a debilitating illness, I am acutely aware of the “man looks on the outward appearance.”  It is quite amusing how differently people treat me when I am in a wheelchair. The wheelchair becomes the outward symbol of my physical brokenness and people respond appropriately. 

When I am just walking with my cane, people have a different attitude toward me. I get the looks……the “what’s really wrong with you? I bet you just want a handicap parking spot” look.

Today I had a counseling appointment and on our way to Defiance we stopped at Werlor Waste Control to drop off our recycling bins. I was sitting in the passenger set of the car and Polly was unloading the bins. Our daughter with Down Syndrome was helping her. We had quite a bit of recycling so it took a few minutes.

In a car next to us a woman was glaring at me. She had a look of disgust on her face. I knew this look right away. I have seen it many times before. She was upset over me sitting in the car while Polly unloaded the recycling. I am sure she thought I was a lazy man.

I refrained from giving her a piece of my mind and quietly, in my mind, said, fuck you, lady. You see, she judged me based on outward appearances. She knew nothing about me and the physical problems I have. She knew nothing about the hellish night  I had, the unbearable pain that no drug seemed to curb. All saw was me, a man, sitting in the car, while my wife and daughter did the work.

I am acutely aware of the whole perception is reality notion. On more than one occasion I have loaded heavy things into the car that I had no business loading. Polly urged me to let her do it, but I said NO! Why? Pride. There were people nearby and I didn’t want to be viewed as a weakling, a man who needs a woman to do his work for him.  (and I struggle with this all the time, in public and at home)

I suspect this will be a continuing problem for me. I continue to fight my new reality and I still yearn for what once was. I am a man, and while my body is physically declining, I still think like a man. I want to be the protector, the provider. I want to be the person who takes care of things and does the heavy lifting.

I am grateful for a wife who understands this and tries to be helpful even when I tell her I don’t WANT her help!

When I came home today the RG-6 splitter I ordered for the antenna arrived. In classic Bruce Gerencser fashion I started to install the splitter. I had to lay on the ground to do this, so I put a big towel on the ground and went to work. I had to unhook 4 RG-6 connections, 2 grounds, and then reattach them to the splitter. By the time I got to connection number 2 I was out of strength and my left arm and shoulder were having spasms. I knew I never should have started this small project. I should have waited for one of my sons to help me…..but waiting has never been my strong suit.

Fortunately, Polly saw and heard what was going on and she asked if she could help. Now there is an angel I can believe in. She finished tightening the RG-6 connections and the job was finished.

We all can judge by outward appearances.  Our first impression of a person is often made by how they dress, their body language, and speech. If there is one thing I have learned in life is this……..looks can be deceiving.

It All Make Sense Inside the Bubble

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I am currently reading John Jeremiah Sullivan’s Pulphead Essays. The first essay in the book, Upon This Rock, details Sullivan’s trip to the Christian music festival Creation Fest.

Sullivan, an Episcopal turned Evangelical turned agnostic had this to say about Christianity:

Everything about Christianity can be justified within the context of Christian belief. That is, if you accept its terms. Once you do, your belief starts modifying the data (in ways that are themselves defensible), until eventually the data begin to reinforce itself…

This is why you can never reason true Christians out of the faith….it’s that faith is a logical door that locks behind you. What looks like a line of thought is steadily warping into a circle, one that closes with you inside.

Sullivan succinctly details why Christians believe things that, from the outside, are viewed as irrational, bat-shit crazy beliefs.

A Christian must first embrace the belief that the Bible is truth, that it has supernatural qualities, a message from an infinite God to his finite creation. Once the Bible is embraced as truth everything can then be judged by that truth.

The Bible becomes self-attesting.The Bible is true because it says it is true. Until a person sees or even dares to contemplate that the Bible may not be what Christians say it is, it is quite impossible to have a meaningful discussion with a Christian. They believe because they believe.

This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t continue to engage Christians on rational, evidence-based grounds, but we should be cognizant of the fact that they will not likely be won over by evidence alone.

While my deconversion ended with a rational, open reevaluation of the Bible and the central claims of Christianity, it began with my disaffection with the Christian church. Most deconversions, I suspect, are a mixture of emotional responses and intellectual pursuits.

Independent Fundamentalist Baptists and The Secrets They Keep

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This entry is part 8 of 10 in the seriesChurches That Abuse

(Note: I use words like sin in this article for the benefit of readers who are Christians. Sin is a religious construct that I  reject. There are good and bad behaviors and  good or bad is determined by how the behavior affects others. I want to ensure this article is widely read so I use some words that in normal circumstances I would not use. I hope my non-Christian readers will understand my intent)

Independent Fundamentalist Baptists (IFB) pride themselves in being bold proclaimers of the truth.  IFB preachers are known for their fire and brimstone sermons, sermons that name names and call sin sin.

As a long time IFB pastor, I know the movement well. I know its outward persona and I know its secrets. In mob-style fashion, I know where there bodies are buried.

The IFB church movement is built upon the personalities of preachers and fundamentalist colleges. IFB preachers and their churches gravitate towards certain colleges and certain preachers of notoriety. Preachers who have arrived, arrived meaning have a big church or college, are revered as gods. Go to any IFB conference and listen to the speaker introductions. If you didn’t know any better you would think one of the most famous, most renowned speakers in the world, was going to speak. Remember this is a movement where its preachers think becoming President of the United States would be a step down for them.

Outwardly, IFB preachers and their churches, give the appearance of letting it all hang out. Let the chips fall where they may. IFB preachers are known for their fearless, stepping on toes preaching. Yet, when it comes to the sins of its leaders or sins that could hurt the ministry of the church or educational institution, all of a sudden these same fearless preachers become mute. All of a sudden calling out sin and naming names is considered causing division and strife and condemned as a sin against God. It is one thing to call out the sexual sin of Joe-Blow Church member but altogether something different to call out sin of the IFB superstars.

IFB churches are generally ruled by one man, the pastor. Some churches have a plurality of elders, but even then one elder is THE head elder, teaching pastor, etc. Some IFB churches have a deacon board, but in most cases the pastor is the head of the board and has the final say on matters.

When power is consolidated in one man or a few men (note women have NO power in the IFB church outside of the nursery or kitchen) it is inevitable that abuse will occur.  I am not suggesting that that these men are deliberately abusive but the ecclesiastical structure of IFB churches lends itself to abuse.

A hallmark of success in the IFB church is longevity. IFB colleges encourage young preachers to go to a church and never leave. It is not uncommon for pastors to have long tenures, stretching 30-50 years. I know numerous pastors who have been at their church for over 25 years. My wife’s uncle, James Dennis, has been pastor of the Newark Baptist Temple for over 40 years. Pastor Dennis had a good role model to follow. The chancellor of the college he attended, Midwestern Baptist College, pastored Emmanuel Baptist Church in Pontiac, Michigan for over 50 years. There are numerous Midwestern graduates that have spent their entire adult life pastoring one church.

With longevity comes increased power.  Over time the pastor gains the respect of the congregation. If he happened to start the church he even has more power. He is the alpha of the church, the beginning of all things. With good intentions, long tenured pastors exercise the power they have, but over time arrogance and corruption seeps in, and the church, instead of being a New Testament body of believers worshipping Jesus, becomes Pastor So and So’s church.

This corruption of the church becomes entrenched further when the long-tenured pastor retires or dies and his son or son-in-law is made pastor. Like the English throne, the power is passed on and the control continues. Some IFB churches have been around long enough that we are now seeing grandsons following in Father and Grandfather Preacher’s steps. (Bob Jones University is case in point)

Now to the point of all that I have shared so far.

The Independent Fundamentalist Baptist church movement has a lot of secrets. While IFB preachers love to rail on the Catholic Church and its abuse scandal, the IFB church has its own scandals. As I have said many times, Catholic priests seem to like boys,young men. IFB preachers seem to like young girls and married women. Different strokes for different perverts.

The level of sexual scandal and infidelity within the IFB church and its preachers  is astounding. Child abuse, spousal abuse, perversion, theft, and misappropriation of funds is widespread. Take at look at the Freedom From Religion Foundation Black Collar Crime feature in their monthly newsletter, the Stop Baptist Predators website, Christa Brown’s blog, or the Conservative Babylon blog, and you will quickly see that abhorrent behavior is quite widespread.

Add to this the plethora of organizations, blogs, and groups devoted to the survivors of IFB group homes, camps, and ranches and there is no other conclusion that one can come to other than that there is a huge stench coming from the putrefying bowels of the IFB church movement. (please see my collection of posts under Churches that Abuse)

Some days I think their days are numbered. Thanks to the internet, activist bloggers, and investigative reporters, their evil works of darkness are being brought to the light of day, and in some cases brought to the light of the  State and Federal Judicial system.

And then I will get an email from a person who has been abused. Or I will get an email from someone asking for advice about what do about this or that scandal that is going on in their church. I often weep as I read their emails. Such pain….

I try to help people as much as I can. As I told one dear person the other day when asked if I knew of a church they could attend, I would look for the most liberal church I could stand and attend there. I would NOT attend any church where power and control is held my one man or a small group of men.

Of course I could evangelize for atheism but that is not my goal. I genuinely want to help people and I know that anything I can do to help people see that fundamentalism is THE problem, is a huge step in the right direction. I know that most people will have some form or the other of belief in God. The best way to help them to encourage them to seek of  religious groups or beliefs that are not abusive and controlling.

I want to be clear here…….I don’t think that most IFB pastors or the churches they pastor are evil. I know some people want, even demand, the narrow, defined, certainty that IFB churches offer. However, due to their ecclesiastical structure and Bible literalism the probability of abuse, misuse and control is quite high. Unless these churches are willing to make systemic changes I can not recommend that ANYONE become a member of an IFB church. (and I certainly wouldn’t recommend sending someone to an IFB college like Bob Jones University, Pensacola Christian College, Hyles Anderson College, and the like)

IFB pastors and churches have secrets because they believe that the most important thing is to protect the testimony (reputation) of the church. They will often say they are protecting the name of Jesus but make no mistake about it, the name being protected in the pastor’s name and the church’s name.

Instead of naming names and calling sin sin, they become quite pragmatic. Instead of doing what is best for everyone involved they do what will best preserve the institution and its name in the community.

Result? Terrible sins are hidden, swept under the rug.  Sometimes, theology gets in the way of proper action. Since Jesus forgives us of our sin, we should forgive others. Since the blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin, every sin, no matter the act, should be forgiven and the sinner given a clean slate.

I know of more than a few pastors who oppose criminal background checks for people who work with children in the church. They oppose this on the grounds of what is in the past is in the past and the blood of Jesus covers past sins. Never mind the fact that some sins and behaviors are so entrenched that all the Jesus blood in the world won’t deliver the person from their proclivities. Sexual predators, child molesters, pedophiles, and the like aren’t cured or delivered. They will have these dispositions throughout their life and it is naïve to ignore this.

It is one thing to allow a sinner saved by grace to sit in the pew and worship God. It is another thing to grant them access to the children and teenagers of the church. Why are IFB pastors and churches so blind to this? Imagine the church treasurer being caught stealing money. It is all well and good to forgive the person, but would it be prudent to allow the person to be the church treasurer again? Of course not. Why is it then, when it comes to sins that carry a greater social, physical, and mental price, sins like child abuse, sexual abuse, and pedophilia, do IFB pastors and churches think that, with time, all is forgiven and the offender should be given unrestricted access to the children and teens of the church?

I know of one case where a man was caught in a sexually compromising position with a male youth on one of the church’s bus routes.  The whole matter was quietly dealt with and no one was the wiser. Over time the offender was allowed back into “ministry” and 20 years after the first incident was caught sodomizing a teenage boy. This time the pastor couldn’t sweep the incident under the rug and the man was arrested and prosecuted. He and and his family were banned from the church and were put under the care of another area IFB church.

The pastor bears the burden of these acts because he acted irresponsibly when the first act was committed. Such actions should never be hidden or kept from the church body. Full disclosure is absolutely required, even if it means ruining the ministry of the church and its name in the community.

Over the years I have watched church after church where sinful acts by pastors, evangelists, missionaries, deacons, Sunday school teachers, and Christian school leaders and teachers, are hidden from the light of day. Sometimes, the offender quietly moves on to another “ministry” or church, taking their proclivities with them. (in the case of David Hyles we know how disastrous such an approach is)

I know of a number of pastors, evangelists and missionaries who have benefitted from the “protecting the ministry” notion. Instead of facing the consequences of their behavior they resign and go to another church. Since the IFB is an amalgamation of loosely affiliated churches, as is the Southern Baptist Convention, child abusers, pedophiles, perverts, adulterers, fornicators, and abusers and misusers people, are free to slink out of town in the dark of night only to set up shop again 5 states away. (fortunately the internet is making this practice much harder to pull off)

I am often asked how much do I think church members should be told about this or that. One word! EVERYTHING! Full disclosure. There is no place for secrecy in the church. Pastors and church boards need to stop deciding what information church members should be given. Adult church members have a right to know what is going on in their church.

Of course, the problem here is that in the IFB church movement the church is the PASTORS rather than the membership. The pastor is the one person who decides what will be revealed and what will be buried. I know of several churches where when pastors are asked about this or that rumor or scandal they tell the church member, You need to trust me. It is better if I don’t tell you anything. This, of course, is the problem. Like Ronald Reagan’s approach to Russia, I think the right approach is, trust but verify. Yes, in most cases pastors should be trusted, but that trust is only merited when matters of importance are not secreted away or buried.

The IFB church movement has over the years shoved so many things under the rug that the rug is exploding above the roof of the church. It’s time for a complete and full disclosure of the secret sins that have long been buried under the guise of protecting the ministry. People have a right to know. Parents have a right to know whether or not their child is safe in the nursery, Sunday school, or youth group. Criminal background checks must be an annual requirement. Churches have a right to know about the pastor’s past, what he did at his last church, or five churches ago. No pastor should be able to slink out of town with the assurance that his sin will never be revealed. Once a predator, always a predator, and it is unconscionable to allow a pastor to go down the road to a new church and prey on unknowing church members.

Let me finish with this. I know a some fine IFB pastors and churches. As an atheist, I have no love for their beliefs. That said, many of these men are good, honorable men. They have a genuine love for people. They sincerely believe what they believe and they want to help others spiritually. Some IFB churches are free from the things I mention in this post. Good for them. I hope they will consider what I write here and make changes in their ecclesiastical structure. The only way to correct the abuse is to take the power and control out of the hands of the pastor or a small group of men. I know this means disobeying what you think is a clear teaching of the Bible. Ask yourself, what’s more important? Your interpretation of the Bible or the welfare of the church body?

To the serial abusers I know, those men who have screwed their away across America, I hope your days are few. I hope you get caught and I hope some church will not let you continue your pernicious behavior. To those men who are strangling the life out of their church by asserting their kingly right of pastoral authority, I hope your power is ripped from you and, like Nebuchadnezzar I hope you will learn you are but, a frail, feeble human.

The Delusions of A Christian Warrior

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Chris Honholz at Defending Contending writes:

As a Christian, I believe that the Bible is the inspired and inerrant word of God. That means it is the direct revelation of God to man. This means I believe everything it says. Everything. When it says something is a sin, it’s a sin. What culture says about it today is irrelevant. No matter how we try re-work or re-word what God has already said, His truth remains. I will not bend, I will not yield, I will stand. I will proclaim God’s word, all of it. I may be called arrogant. I may be called ignorant. I may even be called a hateful bigot. But no matter what the world thinks of me, I care more of how I am viewed by my Savior than by anyone else. Jesus paid my fine with His life’s blood. I owe Him nothing less than my total love and obedience.

Because I trust in Christ for my salvation, and because I believe God’s word is true, I will proclaim to the world that it is in sin against God. I will proclaim that through Christ and Christ alone is their salvation. I will do this because I love people far too much to leave them in the delusion that they are “OK” with God. I love them enough to warn them of the judgment that is coming. I love them enough to risk being hated by them, and even have them turn against me. If I am willing to risk my life to save a drowning man, or a child trapped in a fire, how much more must I be willing to risk my standing in people’s minds to try and rescue them from the fires of Hell. It matters not if a blind man does not believe in the cliff he is walking toward. Thus, I cannot and will not stop my warnings because people do not believe as I do. I love them too much to stop.

I make this declaration today because I believe the world is beginning to openly war against Jesus Christ and those who follow Him. I make this stand today to make it known I will stand for Him no matter how tough the opposition may be, and no matter what it may cost me personally. I declare this to let you all know that I believe the greatest love I can possibly show is to point to the way of salvation, not to allow people to remain comfortable in their sins.

Chris is convinced that the Bible is truth and that his interpretations of that truth are that which MUST be believed by everyone. It doesn’t matter to him what others think of his beliefs or his attempts to evangelize people who do not believe like he believes. Like all zealots armed with infallible truth, Chris cares only for his beliefs. They are the truth that all humans must believe lest they die and go to hell.

Chris has no time for concerns about feelings, appropriateness, and the like. His truth MUST be heard even if people don’t want to hear it. Chris thinks he has the God-given right to interrupt and accost people at will. Don’t like it? Tough shit. Chris is working for God.

Zealots, armed with truth, begin to see everyone else as the enemy. Chris, living and blogging in a nation built on freedom of expression, thinks that those who believe differently than him are at war with him.  He wants everyone to know that no matter how tough the opposition is and how much it costs him, he is going to stand on the truth of God’s inspired, infallible, inerrant Bible, also known as “Chris’s Little Book of Truth.”

Chris, I beg you come in from the cold. It is making you delusional. There is no WAR going on. There is no ENEMY out to get you. The truth is your Bible and Jesus is becoming irrelevant. As Americans continue to move toward a cultural, name-only form of Christianity, people like Chris will feel more and more threatened. Their rightness is proved by the disaffection they see all around them.

I understand Chris and his delusion. I once was where he is now. Armed with certainty, I felt it my duty and obligation to tell everyone the truth. What people thought of me and my truth didn’t matter. What God thought of me was the only thing that mattered.

Until Chris sees that most people just want to be left alone and that they really don’t give a shit about what he thinks about God, the Bible and eternity, there is no hope for him.

Discussing God, the Bible, and eternity with people who WANT to talk about those things is fine. I am all for open and honest discussion about everything related to the Christian religion.(and all religions) Free discourse is an important part of a free, open society. At the same time, we have the right to be free from the Chris’s of the world and their insistent truth selling. Find someone who WANTS to listen to it…….I for one don’t.

Think you have a right to come to my home and preach at me whether or not I want to hear it? Let me introduce you to another long-held American right….. the right to throw your ass off my porch.