Warning! Lots of snark ahead! You’ve been warned!
Several years ago, I posted an excerpt from the Spiritual Minefield website. My post was titled Christians Say the Darnedest Things: How to Shield Yourself From Porn and Sexual Excitement. The author of the excerpt, Alex Ruiz, decided to respond to my posting of the excerpt by writing a post titled, Why Do Atheists Seem To Have The Urge To Always Attack God’s Word? Here’s what he had to say:
Today I got pingback from an atheist who takes pleasure in maligning believers in Jesus Christ. Here is a quick bio of Bruce which he put public.
Copy and paste from his site
Bruce Gerencser, 59
Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for 25 years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005 and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
The question that enters my mind is why do atheists hate Jesus so much as to go out of their way to attack Him and try to desperately prove that He is false? I think that the answer is because deep down in their spirit/heart they know that the Word of God is true and judgment will come to them but they want to feel better about their sin and rejection of Christ so by trying to disprove Christianity, they are trying to convince themselves, listen closely, “they are trying” to convince themselves of their own lie which Satan has whispered into their ears so that they can’t get saved. When a person is not in any perceivable danger, they won’t call for help and Satan is successful at convincing these atheists that they are not in danger.
The evidence that God exists is so overwhelming that the only way to go against pure evidence is by reprogramming their thoughts to completely bypass logic and reason.
Bruce Gerencser is a sad case of what an apostate is and the reality is that those who are not grounded in the faith will get hit hard by the devil who’s [sic] eyes are constantly on the believers. Saying that, I believe according to 1 John 2:19 that Bruce was never saved but was close and those without the Holy Spirit cannot stand against the pounding of the wind and waves of the enemy according to Matthew 7:26-27 which says, “26 And every one who hears these sayings of Mine and does not do them will be likened to a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house. And it fell. And its fall was great.”
Why have I mentioned this atheist by name? It is because I want all Christians to bring Bruce Gerencser’s name before the Lord for his salvation because the hell that’s waiting for him and all those who believe Satan’s lie is truly and unfathomably horrific.
Where oh where do I begin?
First, I don’t hate Jesus. Hating the DEAD Jesus would be a colossal waste of time. What I do hate is the Fundamentalist ideology advanced by this author and others of his ilk. (Please see Why I Hate Jesus) Do I hate individual Evangelicals for doing so? I’m tempted to do so, but I am not the type of person who hates people. I focus my hatred on beliefs, not believers. To use the Evangelical mantra: hate the sin, not the sinner, I hate the belief, not the believer.
Second, I don’t hate the Word of God — the Bible. I do, however, hate what is done using Biblical justification. The author appeals to the Bible to justify his judgments of my past and present life. Doing so allows him to escape responsibility for his behavior. I’m just quoting what G-O-D says! Don’t like it, take it up with Him! I would take it up with the Big Kahuna, but he is nowhere to be found. Last I heard, he was on vacation. Since God is AWOL, all I am left with is Evangelicals quoting verses from a book that is very much of human origin. The only reason I bother with such people is that they believe that the Bible is some sort of supernatural book given to them by a supernatural God and that its words must be explicitly obeyed. Again, look at what’s happening in Washington D.C. with the Supreme Court and Congress. In fox-in-the-hen-house fashion, the theocrats have breached the fence and now the future of our democracy is being threatened. The only way I know to combat such ignorance is to wage war against the notion that the Bible is in any way a divinely written book; that its words are in any way applicable to today. As long as Evangelicals continue to demand fealty to their God and the Bible, they can expect me and other outspoken atheists to marginalize, denigrate, and intellectually destroy the Bible. Until Evangelicals are freed from Bible Brain Rot®, atheists, agnostics, humanists, and progressive Christians must continue to lay an ax to the foundation of Fundamentalist Christianity.
Third, the clueless author shows he has little understanding of atheists — how they think and view the world. We don’t deep down believe or not believe anything. Can someone tell me where the hell is “deep down”? I’ve spent all day digging and I still can’t find it. Atheists do not see any compelling evidence to warrant a belief in the existence of the Evangelical God. Suggesting that the Bible provides such evidence is laughable. (As well, suggesting that the natural world provides such overwhelming evidence that atheists are forced to deliberately ignore it is ludicrous.) Even Evangelicals don’t believe in the Bible God. Whenever I confront Evangelicals with the Bible God — actually a plurality of Bible Gods — they either try to distance themselves from said God or say that I am “misinterpreting” the Bible — misinterpreting, of course, meaning, having an interpretation different from theirs.
Fourth, the notion of “sin” is a religious construct. As an atheist, I don’t believe people are sinners, depraved, evil, or wicked. All of us have the power to do good or bad things. When I do something that hurts someone, I do my best to make things right. No need to pray to a fictitious God and ask for his forgiveness. The only person I need to talk to is the person I have harmed. The humanist system of forgiveness and restitution is much easier and more straightforward. No commands against porn or looking at women and admiring their beauty. No obsession over sex, fornication, or masturbation. Humans are sexual beings. Atheists and other non-Evangelicals are free to embrace their sexuality without fearing a voyeuristic God will judge them for loving the wrong person or using the wrong orifice for sex. Here’s hoping that the author of the post on Spiritual Minefield will one day embrace his sexuality and lustfully enjoy the pleasures that are at his disposal. Until then, let me remind him that what consenting adults do behind closed doors is none of his business. If Evangelicals want to practice “Biblical” sex, by all means do so. But, please let the rest of us masturbate and copulate in peace.
Fifth, I fear what the Republican Party might do far more than I do a nonexistent God. God has neither talked to me or laid a finger on me in almost sixty-five years. I have zero fear of him. I do, however, fear what people who believe God talks to them might do. I do fear that the Trumpist horde might usher in World War III. I fear what real flesh and blood people might do, not mythical Gods, be they Jesus, Allah, Jehovah, or any of the other Gods of human creation.
Sixth, atheists bypass logic and reason? Really? I have no words for this one. The author believes the earth is 6,026 years old; that God created the universe in six literal 24 hour days; that Adam and Eve are the father and mother of the human race; that God destroyed the world with a flood 4,000 years ago, killing every person save Noah and his family; that a Holy Ghost impregnated a virgin who gave birth to a baby who, as an adult, walked on water, healed the deaf, blind, and sick, walked through walls, made himself invisible, resurrected from the dead, and ascended into “heaven.” Anyone who believes this kind of nonsense is the one lacking logic and reason.
Seventh, I am quite happy to be an apostate, a worker of Satan, a deceiver of immature Christians. By all means, keep praying for me. Every unanswered prayer is a reminder that the heavens are devoid of Gods and that what really matters is how we make life on this planet better for all. Part of making life better is the driving of a stake through the heart of religious Fundamentalism. Fundamentalism — in all its forms — remains the biggest threat to human and planetary existence. The ascension of Trumpism and Qanon are poignant reminders that people of reason, science, and progress must continue to push back against those who desire to chain us to the Bible and its God. It’s the twenty-first century. It’s high time we remand God to the dustbin of human history; the depository of countless other failed mythical Gods and their “divine” texts. Until this happens, the Internet will be littered with ignorant posts about sex and every other human behavior deemed sinful by Fundamentalist Christians.
Now, get out there and do some sinning!
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
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Bruce, what an annoying comment. You’ve dealt with it very well, with your usual assertiveness, refraining from the personal attack that many would adopt. It’s interesting that the writer is a low educated, presumably homeschool tribal base (yes I know there are loads of well educated homeschooled, but it’s a low proportion), but who yet seems to feel himself qualified to conduct in depth psychological analysis of you.
My only additional comment is on the sentence “The evidence that God exists is so overwhelming that the only way to go against pure evidence is by reprogramming their thoughts to completely bypass logic and reason.”
What evidence is this? Does he mean the world around us? If that’s what he means by evidence then he’s wrong, it’s simply an observation. I can see everything he does, from blue skies, to majestic landscapes, to parasitoid wasps, and I wonder about it. I don’t come to conclusions about it, though I understand that we are gaining more knowledge about it (evolution, palaeontology, astronomy, for example). If you want to see it as evidence of a creator then you have to explain, in infinite regress, where the creator came from. It’s no good quoting trite phrases about ‘existing in eternity’ or ‘outside of time and space’. Those are meaningless diversions best saved for your ‘little book of silly terms’.
Indeed, I’d take the opposite point of view. The observable world may have some redeeming features, but on the whole it is so full of unpleasantness, evil, war, starvation, pain, to name just a view, that it is clear there is no guiding hand at work. The evidence for god isn’t just lacking, it is very much that the evidence supports his non-existence.
“… completely bypass logic and reason.” What the heck is logical or reasonable about religion?
“The evidence that God exists is so overwhelming that the only way to go against pure evidence is by reprogramming their thoughts to completely bypass logic and reason.”
That ^^ is awesome, so much comedy gold right there in that single assertion sentence.
His argument could be re-framed: “The question that enters my mind is why do christians hate homosexuals so much as to go out of their way to attack them and try desperately to not let them have equal rights.” (https://spiritualminefield.wordpress.com/2016/07/09/spiritual-landmines-being-gay-is-ok/)
Is it because deep down they themselves desire to be homosexual?
You could swap out homosexuality with many other humans rights and this would be true.
I have basically concluded that the more someone rails against same-sex attraction or being transgender, the more likely it is that that person is in fact gay, lesbian, bisexual or transgender themselves. But they are so ignorant of basic science and human sexuality, or so god-brainwashed (or both) that they cannot accept themselves, and so they lash out at the rest of us. They are rather pitiful creatures, really…
I worked for many years in a provincial psychiatric emerg and it has always amazed me how utterly convinced the client was of the most bizarre delusions. They very often pitied the triage staff for their lack of said delusion. So it is with these over-the-top evangelicals.
Delusions strike both the bright and the utterly stupid: They are real to the believer, utterly real. And these delusions cause the believer to state completely insupportable ‘truths’, skirting any need for reliable proofs. Yes, indeed, in the end it must be admitted that they completely bypass logic and reason. And they do so claiming to have used both!
Bruce Gerencser was almost a Christian but didn’t quite make it. And the USA did not give Trump the presidency: God did! (The woo in this room is making me light-headed…)
If you say that I’m wrong then clarify it on the post that we are talking about and I give you my word that I will take down the post that has your quote. If you don’t clarify it than I take the context as is.
I stand by what I have written.
It is not my problem that you cannot understand what I have written. Everyone else knows the difference between the words Fundamentalist and Fundamentalism.
Use your supposedly god-given reason to research the differences between these words. You know, the difference between a Catholic and Catholicism.
I don’t hate people. I hate certain beliefs, world views, and ways of thinking. Life is too short to hate people, though Donald Trump is making me reconsider whether hating him might be warranted.
I will say here what I said on your blog: if you say I hate Fundamentalists as individuals you are lying. And remember what the inspired, inerrant Word of God says….no liar shall inherit the kingdom of God.
I presume you are not going to approve my comment on your site? Perhaps you haven’t gotten around to approving comments so I will, for the moment, give you the benefit of the doubt (even though you have approved several comments after mine.)
I reread it like three times and to be frank, you have pure hatred. You hatred is towards God if you would read what I wrote is that you hate Jesus Christ. You can down play it but your context says it out loud that you hate God period and are always attacking and mocking Christians. Sir, that’s hatred but since you don’t have a conscience, you can’t tell the difference between loving and hating someone. I don’t believe that Santa Claus exist, I don’t make posts or write letters attacking Santa because he isn’t real but when you attack the Living God and mock Him and those who follow Him is because bitterness and hatred has filled your heart and deep down inside you know He exist. My blog is to expose Satan’s activities which you happen to be one of his so you can say you don’t hate but the liar sir is you not I. I just quoted what you said and if you have a problem, its with your own writing not me I just quoted without adding to it. Fundamentalism is a person who lives out the Bible. If one lives out the bible and takes it literally than how can there be fundamentalism unless Christians call out atheists, Muslim, and etc has false and demonic? You cannot have fundamentalism without someone living it.
I can see that you are so intransigent (look it up) that no amount of reason or facts will change your mind. With that in mind, this will be your last comment. If you want to continue blabbering lies and misrepresentations, you’ll have to do it on your own blog.
Spaniard, I know you probably wont read and or respond to this but belief in santa does not affect policy decisions and peoples lives unlike fundamentalist thinking which is utterly toxic and if taken up to high levels of goverment can. The blatant power grab by evangelicals and their incessant need to control peoples private lives and certain medical decisions is utterly abhorrent. They can try to live by their priciples in their own lives but need to understand they cant force them onto others through force of law. When evangelicals finally get that, and when they also stop trampling others boundaries, they may start regaining some of the respect they formerly had though considering the growing hypocrisy and whining going on, it seems unlikely to ever happen
Sumbitch. Santa ain’t real?
Bruce, I never said that you hated people and I know the difference between fundamentalism and fundamentalists. The core beliefs of the Christian faith is Jesus Christ, you know full well when you were a minister that Jesus is the Word John 1:1 and buy hating the beliefs or doctrine is hating God because it reveals who Jesus is. I personally don’t hate you or anyone for that matter but you do have hatred and like I said in my post, ” You want to see what’s true atheism and what their hearts is filled with? The answer is hatred not toward Christians but towards God who lives in the believers.”
Your hatred is for God not people, I hope I’m clear on that. Regardless if you like it or not I will keep you in my prayers.
Nice re-write on your post, removing what I objected to.(I made a mistake here. The author didn’t change the body of the post. My objection is primarily to what he said in the comment section. Please see my response to him below.) Let me clear, I don’t hate anyone, nor do I hate God. The former I must get along with on planet earth, the latter is a fiction I can safely ignore.
You live in a delusional world where anyone who objects to what you have written is a tool of Satan. What’s next….your words are God’s, not yours, so if I have a problem take it up with your God?
Not only are you obstinately misrepresenting my words (lying), but you are also providing wonderful examples of some of the reasons people leave Christianity. Maybe you, Spaniard, are being used by Satan to cause people to think poorly about Christianity. If so,by all means keep going Lord Satan’s bidding. Maybe I’ll see you in hell, yes?
Thank you for finally posting my comment on your site.
Until next time,
Bruce
I don’t know what you’re talking about, No revision has been made to any of my posts concerning atheism.
You are right. See how easy that is? The Godless, Satanic heathen knows how to admit an error or a misstatement, but the Holy Ghost filled Christian does not. Interesting.
I did find what I was referring to in the comment section. You said, “How about saying that he would like to drive a stake through a religious persons heart. If that isn’t hatred from an atheist I would like to know what would he do if he really hated you even more.”
I actually said, “Part of making life better is the driving of a stake through the heart of religious Fundamentalism. Fundamentalism — in all its forms — remains the biggest threat to human and planetary existence.”
End of discussion.
Comment deleted
I am guessing he was banished to gerencser hell. Oh well life is too short and there are more fun things to do.
You’ve said it before Bruce, but it’s probably worth repeating: they tend to project on us like crazy! We have to talk about Jesus so much because deep down we still believe in him and the talking about atheism so much is like our daily dose of staying atheist in the first place….
Oh wait, doesn’t that sound a lot like Christianity though? Go to church every Sunday, read your Bible every day, pray as much as you can, lest you lose your faith.
I think that he thinks that we recite to ourselves daily: I do not believe, lest we begin believing again 🙂
Oh, that painting is gorgeous by the way, who is it by?
Carmen Lomas Garza
Thanks!
The Spaniardviii has posted another article about me. You can read his article here:
https://spiritualminefield.wordpress.com/2017/02/07/part-2-the-true-darkness-of-atheism/
Please do take the time to read his post. Beware, though. He has posted some Bible verses that will purportedly turn atheists into Christians. ??
Hi Bruce,
I have left several questions on his website which he seems to have deleted or he is not going to answer (some are still awaiting moderation, but others seem to have gone) When he does choose to answer, he chooses those questions that he wants to answer. He quotes bible verses, sometimes ignoring the context and thinks that such quotations will be God answering me.
He said on one post that he doesn’t adhere to human understanding of the Word in theology books or confessions of faith but goes by the bible only. What nonsense! He was going to reply on a set of questions that I asked with a new article, but he hasn’t yet responded.
He says that I am all over his blog with detailed questions and he is not going to reply any more. So effectively, I seem to have been banished from his blog.
His whole theology is Fundamentalism on steroids, and he misrepresent you and won’t recognize this.
He cannot see that if one holds to a creator God, this does not necessarily mean that it is Yahweh. He dogmatically asserts that it is Yahweh, as if this is evidence for his position.
He has a whole new section under topics called atheism. So expect more denigration from this guy.
Shalom,
John Arthur
John Arthur
Hi Bruce,
This guy is slippery and I think dishonest He claims the high moral ground and says that he is going to answer some of my questions but has deleted the ones that were awaiting moderation. That’s his prerogative, but he claims he has the Holy Spirit indwelling him. He’s deleted your comment on atheist post (2) so no one would know ( if they came into this post now) what he originally claimed.
This guy is not only slippery, but also delusional. He claims that God speaks to him in dreams. (see dreams posts).
shalom,
John Arthur
spaniardviii says “…Satan’s first attack was God’s Word which is the only way to defeat the individual’s faith in the LORD…” I chuckled at that… You believe because you were overcome with need to have an imaginary friend and poof! there he was! The book could be closed forever and it would not change your ‘faith’ your need. In fact, many Christians don’t bother much with the Bible at all once they get ‘the message’. When someone brings up the Bible with a question, BINGO! The devil has arrived and dares to question God!
It is necessary to obey the Bible without questioning? To obey Authority without asking why or disagreeing and hashing it out? Ha! You speak of the conniving ways of the evil one but you miss the sleight of hand right at the beginning! Any writings and any statements from any Authority must be challenged, questioned, proven unwise or false if they are. You start with supposing that the old black book is God’s Word. Who told you? The black book told you the black book was God’s black book? Or did you have a dream, spaniardviii? Do you think that all the images you see in your head are real or are dreams the body’s way of dealing with experience, the day’s joys and pains…
Your proposition begins with delusion because you believe first and then deny access to the black book for scrutiny. Questioning is twisting and of the devil according to your words. Would you sacrifice your child, gut him on a rock for God? If God said do it? Satan, another imaginary friend of Christians (very necessary for the model to work) can be blamed for trying to pull the wool over your eyes but it is you who shuts your own eyes. I could care less if you want your imaginary buddie-and-bad guys but it irks me when you think I should fall for the same drivel, spaniardviii. I am in my later years, the son of a faithful IFB preacher. I have heard and eaten at all the tables where your feast is served. Please give me over to one of your friends and kindly, very kindly fuck off. I so hope you don’t have access to the minds of innocent children because you are ravenous in your delusion. Your humger blinds you to common decency and respect for fellow human beings. Your mantra is “Let us prey..”
“He cannot get through God’s shield which protects you unless you leave from its protection and that’s what Satan wants to accomplish through these atheists.”
Oh riiiiggghhhhhtttttt! I’m in the employ of one of your imaginary friends, spaniardviii…. Oh sure, let’s tell stories from the black book now and prey on these atheists. If I say you piss me off with your insidious charges, you will come back that you have no choice but to spread your Joy! Blind as Black. Black book blinded.
I just went on his blog and gave him a piece of my mind.
Tossing pearls to the swine eh?
He may or may not post your comment. He posted mine, and then deleted it. He’s done the same with several other commenters.
Hi Michael,
Notice how Spaniard says your filled with pride. He accuses anyone who asks questions or questions the bible and doesn’t agree with his Fundamentalism as being filled with pride. He wants to shut down discussion or just cannot answer the questions.
Shalom,
John Arthur