“Dr.” David Tee (not his real name; his actual name is David Thiessen), a self-described Evangelical theologian and archeologist, doesn’t like me. My feelings are so hurt. 🙂 Yesterday, he wrote a post on his blog objecting to my post, It Only Takes One Errant Word to Destroy the Inerrancy of the Bible. Tee, an ardent, closed-minded Fundamentalist, had this to say about my post:
Over the years as we have followed God’s call to work with Christian pastors in our limited fashion, we have come across a lot of different people. Many of those people are like Mr. Bruce Gerencser a deconverted Christian or former pastor who used to believe the Bible (Or however he describes himself).
We are sad that he is sick but that is life and we all suffer at one point in time or another. We have known Mr. Gerencer for many years and never see eye to eye like the owner of Muskrat Musing.
In one of his articles on his website, Mr. Gerenscer has written It Only Takes One Errant Word to Destroy the Inerrancy of the Bible, which we do take issue with. (sorry had to change colors as it blended in with the link color).
The impression we got from reading his content, is that he thinks his eyes were opened to the truth and that he received the truth, which is why he downgraded the Bible and left his pastorate, career, and calling.
There is a lot of content in his article that should be refuted and we will bypass the Dr. Ehrman quotes for this article. The gist of the content is that Mr. Gerenscer thinks he has the truth, and all the fundamentalists and Christians he hates do not.
That is impossible as Jesus said he was the truth and he did not say the Bible was in error or had any errors in it. He told s if things were not true, he would have told us and we have received no divine scripture that corrects the biblical content.
….
At best, he points to works written by secular authors or scientists and claims that they have the truth over God’s writers. But how can that be when Jesus said the Christian is to be the light unto a dark world.
It is not the secular world or secular science that has the truth. If they did, Jesus would not have been needed nor would we need him to die on the cross. We would go to the person leading those secular people instead.
….
He is very misguided and deceived as it is not the Christian, their faith, the Bible, or Jesus that are harming those people who refuse to repent of their sins. The person harming those people is the one who traps them in those sinful activities and fights to keep them from being converted-the devil.
The Christian is showing the love when they try to rescue those unbelievers from that trap while Mr. Gerenscer and people like him are showing their hatred towards those people by helping evil keep its hold on them.
….
Mr. Gerenscer, and people like him, listened to those who do not believe over God. The people who infect young minds with falsehoods are those who stop believing God and accept the words of unbelievers who were not at the event they are trashing.
….
Mr. Gerenscer moves on to social issues and claims there are proof texts prohibiting certain preferences etc. Those are not proof texts but God’s communication on how he feels about certain things.
Yes, many believers get the verses wrong and apply them in a wrong fashion but that is due more to immaturity and bad instruction. Not to errors in the Bible. If God did not say those words, then we do not have God’s view of those social activities or preferences.
In other words, Mr. Gerenscer and others like him, want to live life their way and be god declaring what is right or wrong, good or evil, moral or immoral. They do not want to humble themselves and accept God as their God and live by his rules.
….
You cannot solve problems if you are going to leave the answers at home or in your car but then Mr. Gerenscer does not want to solve problems, especially God’s way. He wants people to remain in their sins because he has determined that God and his word are wrong (according to his limited thinking).
If people are going to trash me publicly, I wish they would at least spell my last name correctly. How hard can it be, right? GERENCSER.
I “love” Tee’s passive-aggressive comment about me being sick. What Tee is saying is this: everyone is sick now and again. Quit talking about it, wimp. As you shall see in a moment, Tee thinks I am “weak.” Besides, what does the fact that I suffer from gastroparesis, fibromyalgia, and osteoarthritis have anything to do with inerrancy? Of course, Tee said very little about the subject of my post: the inerrancy of the Bible. Instead, he went after me as a person. Tee can’t square my story with his theology or personal experiences, so he attacks my character instead. Sadly, this is common behavior by Christian Fundamentalists. Instead of critiquing my writing, they zero in what they believe are character flaws/failures. Tis the price paid for being a public figure, I suppose. Such behavior only drives people farther away from Christianity. One of the reasons I publish the stuff people say about me is that it shows readers the ugly underbelly of Evangelical Christianity. And, it’s fun.
Tee wasn’t done with me. Today, he wrote post titled, We Call Them Quitters. While Tee used plural pronouns in the article’s title, the body of the text reveals that the title should have been, I Call Bruce Gerencser a Quitter. The post is excerpted below. My response is indented and italicized.
In our last article, we wrote about one man who turned away from Christ and left his faith. He actually represents all the people who have done the exact same thing since Christ was here.
Tee believes in original sin and the substitutionary death of Jesus. Simply put, when Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden 6,023 years ago, humanity sinned. We had no choice in the matter. We don’t become sinners — we are sinners. Of course, since Tee believes we are created in the image of God, that means that God either gave us our sin natures, or God himself is a sinner, and we are just like Daddy.
When the virgin-born, sinless son of God, Jesus, was executed on a Roman cross, he died to provide atonement for human sin. We deserved to be executed (why? Jesus is one who did what he did, not me) but Jesus died in our place. His Father hates sin and those who do it. If the All-Father (tell me you get the reference) had his way (you mean God can’t have his way?) all of us would end up in Hell for eternity. Jesus, the mediator between God and man, stood between humanity and his angry Father, dying on the cross on our behalf (unless you are a Calvinist — then Jesus just died for the elect. Non-elect need not apply). Even today, Jesus sits at the right hand of his Father, interceding on our behalf. This makes me think that Jesus’ Father needs to take anger management classes. Blaming billions of humans for what Adam and Eve did doesn’t seem just or fair. Regardless, that’s the plan the Father, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit — the “we are not three gods, just one” deity — cooked up from before the foundation of the world.
Much like Adam and Eve and Jesus, I too represent a group of people: those who turned away from Jesus Christ and Christianity. I, Bruce, Gerencser, am the substitutionary Christian-turned-unbeliever. Not just Christians who are now atheists or agnostics, ALL Christians-turned-unbelievers. Awesome, right?
We are not singling him out as he just parrots the same words all the rest of the former Christians say and nothing is new coming out of his mouth or from his keyboard.
Hell, David, at least be honest. You most certainly are singling me out.
The Bible talks about running the race, fighting the good fight, and keep on doing it till the end. But Mr. Generscer and the people like him, have decided that they know better than God and quit the race, etc.
We do not support their moves, call them intelligent, or think they have something to offer. Instead, we call them quitters. They could not handle the fight, strive to the end, and did not take the right precautions to protect their faith.
Generscer? That’s a new one.
According to Tee, I am a quitter. Instead of running the race set before me, wearing a faith condom, and persevering to the end, I just up and quit. Instead of trying to understand the complexities of my story, Tee reduces my life to that of a quitter.
I attended Midwestern Baptist College, an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) institution, in the 1970s. Dr. Tom Malone (who had a doctorate from an accredited university, Wayne State University), president of Midwestern and pastor of a nearby megachurch, Emmanuel Baptist Church, frequently railed against quitters in his sermons. Quitting was viewed as a cardinal sin, a sign of weakness. I heard this theme repeated over and over again at IFB Bible conferences and pastor’s meetings. Good Christians never quit. The fact that my six-month pregnant wife and I, recently unemployed, left Midwestern after three years was proof to Malone, our professors, and classmates that we were weak. I vividly remember a close friend of mine telling me as we were packing up the U-Haul to leave, “If you quit, God will NEVER use you.”
Seven years later, Malone was preaching at a Bible conference at the Newark Baptist Temple in Newark, Ohio. The church was pastored at the time by Polly’s uncle, James Dennis. Her father, Lee, was the church’s assistant pastor. At the time, I was pastoring Somerset Baptist Church in Mt. Perry, Ohio. In the mid-80s, the church grew quickly, reaching 200 in attendance — quite a feat for a country church. Hundreds of people were saved through my preaching. By all accounts, I was an up-and-coming pastor.
My father-in-law told Malone about my exploits for Jesus. Seeing that I was sitting in the pews, Malone called me out by name and then said, “If Bruce had stayed any longer at Midwestern, we would have ruined him.” Everyone laughed. I thought, “I wonder what those people who called me a quitter think now?”
I have quit all sorts of things over the years. I suspect most of us have done the same. No big deal, right? Tee, however, is using the word “quitter” as a slur. People who “quit” Christianity are weak, unlike Mr. Tee, the True Christian®.
When you look at their websites, there is a common theme to them. We won’t quote from Mr. Gerenscer’s site, we will just link to his commenting rules page as that is where you find this common element found among all those who have left the faith.
Now we are to one of the reasons Tee’s feathers are ruffled, why he has written two posts about me in recent days. Tee doesn’t like the commenting rules for this site. He doesn’t like that I don’t let him and other Evangelical zealots publicly masturbate (it’s a metaphor, David)) in the comment section. Tee wants the right to whip out his Bible Dick whenever he wants on this site. Me telling him to put it away, zip up his pants, and move on down the road is an affront to all that is holy and true.
The commenting policy was crafted due to me spending the past thirteen years dealing with the David Tees of the world. For those who have not read the comment policy, here’s what it says:
— begin comment policy —
All commenters are expected to use a functioning email address. The use of a fake or non-functioning email address will result in your comment being deleted.
Pseudonyms are permitted. Please use one, and only one, pseudonym when commenting on this blog. People using more than one will have their comments deleted.
All first-time comments and comments with more than one HTML link are moderated. Depending on the time of day, It might take hours for me to approve your comment.
Before commenting, please read the ABOUT page to acquaint yourself with my background. You might also want to read the Dear Evangelical page and the WHY page
The following type of comments will not be approved:
- Preachy/sermonizing comment
- Bible verse-quoting comment
- Evangelizing comment
- I am praying for you comment
- You are going to hell comment
- You never were saved comment
- You never were a Christian comment
- Any comment that is a personal attack on me personally, my family, or the readers of this blog
- Any comment that is not on point with what the post is about
- Any comment that denigrates abuse victims
I write about issues that might not be child-friendly. Please be aware of this. I also use profanity from time to time, and I allow the use of profanity in the comment section.
The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser is not a democracy where visitors have a right to say whatever they want. This is my personal blog and I reserve the right to approve or disapprove any comment. When a comment or a commenter is abusive towards the community of people who read this blog, I reserve the right to ban the commenter.
If you can be respectful, decent, and thoughtful, your comment will always be approved. Unfortunately, there are many people — Evangelical/Fundamentalist/IFB/Conservative Catholic Christians in particular — who have a hard time playing well with others. Using a passive-aggressive approach in the comment section will not be tolerated and will result in a permanent ban.
This blog is also not a place for hardcore atheists to preach the gospel of atheism. While I am an atheist, some of the people who read this blog are not. Frank, honest, open, and passionate discussion about religion, Christianity, and Evangelicalism is encouraged and welcome. However, I do expect atheists not to attack, badger, or denigrate people who still believe in God. If you are respectful, decent, and thoughtful, you will be fine.
Generally, I will post one comment from a preachy, Bible-quoting, evangelizing Evangelical. If this describes you, please make sure you say all you need to say in your comment. By all means, say whatever it is you think “God” is leading you to say, but understand that no further comments will be approved once you have said your piece.
My writing is direct and pointed, and so is my response to comments. Please do not confuse my directness and pointedness with me attacking you or your religion. This is a grown-up blog, so cries that I offended you or “attacked” your religion will fall on deaf ears.
If you can play by these rules, I hope you will become a part of our community and join the discussion.
If you have further questions about the commenting policy, please use the contact form to email me.
— end of comment policy —
I determined long ago that my target group was Christians (primarily Evangelicals) who had questions or doubts about their faith and people who had already left Christianity. This blog is for them, not Evangelical apologists. That said, EVERY Evangelical commenter is given one opportunity to say whatever it is they believe God is laying upon their heart. If they show that they can play well with others, I will approve further comments. If I have learned anything over the years, I have learned that most Evangelicals are pathologically unable to play well with others. Give them the opportunity to comment, and they will show their true colors. When Evangelical commenters DEMAND further access to the comment section, I typically tell them to fuck off and to start their own blogs. Such people can start a blog in five minutes. Then they are free to critique my writing, deconstruct my life, or attack my character. Go for it!
As you read those rules, you will see that he, and others like him, act worse than they claim God acts. They are little dictators who demand that their readers and commenters follow their rules exactly or they will be excluded from public viewing.
I act worse than God? Really? I don’t believe I have ever committed genocide or slaughtered the whole human race, save eight. I am, in every way, a better person than God. All one needs to do is read the Bible to see that Richards Dawkins was right when he said:
“The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”
They hate God for excluding sin from his paradise, yet their own little world comes with worse rules than what God has set up. Violate them in a minute way and you are gone.
Sorry, David, I don’t hate God. You know this. I have told you this before, dude. One has to believe God exists to hate him. I don’t. I don’t hate mythical beings. Doing so is a colossal waste of time. Do you hate Santa Claus?
Again, Tee’s post is about him not being allowed to comment on this site or not being permitted to say whatever he wants. (He is not presently banned.) Imagine me going to an Evangelical church and demanding that they let me speak. I want to share with them the Gospel of Bruce Almighty. Do you know of any church that would let me preach to them the unsearchable riches of Bruce? Of course not. So it is with this blog. I want to be a help to people who have questions and doubts or have left Christianity. I use the comment policy to protect the people that matter to me. Well, that and the fact that I haven’t heard an original thought from Evangelical zealots in years. I’m bored, people.
What this tells you is that those who have left the faith have nothing to offer anyone, especially their former Christian counterparts. If they had such a better way, why is it not present in their rules and their conduct?
Huh?
I can say this much, thousands of people read my writing every day. So much for not having anything to offer anyone. I would be glad to compare traffic numbers with Tee. I suspect we will find out who it is that really has nothing to offer anyone. Size matters, David.
If they found something better than God why is it not permeating their words and actions showing the believer there is something better than God and his ways? When you read their content and comments, all we are seeing in them is more of the sin that Jesus is trying to save everyone from.
There is nothing in these people’s words or actions that show the world that they have found something no one else has. They just glorify sin and revel in it. That is not worth giving up eternal life.
Another common element you will see in their words and actions is hatred. They hate God, Jesus, and those that follow them. They hate other people who cling to their Christian faith, they hate hearing other people’s points of view if it is religious in nature.
Yep, this blog is all about sinning. Wait until you see the photos of me doing my Santa striptease act. I wish I could do more sinning. I am too sick to do so. Of course, I am being sarcastic. Well, not about the sinning part. I suspect that my life would measure up quite well with that of Saint Tee and his merry band of critics. Tee can’t bear that I am happy post-Jesus. Nope, in his mind, I sit around all day raging against God, the Bible, and True Christians®. Sure, dude, sure. I’m going to the zoo tomorrow with my youngest daughter’s family. And Sunday, Polly and I are going out on a date. I don’t have much time to hate on Hey-Zeus.
Sorry, David, you have concocted a picture of my life in your mind that is not true. That Bruce Gerencser does not exist.
Oh, our pingback from the other post was never approved, which backs up our point (we checked several times). Then they hate it when people disagree with them or try to bring them back to the faith, which Peter has said is impossible.
Ah, now we arrive at the real reason Tee is upset at me. I allegedly didn’t approve a pingback. What is a pingback, you ask? WP Beginner describes it this way:
“Pingback allows you to notify other bloggers that you have linked to their article on your website. Although there are some minor technical differences, a trackback is basically the same thing as a pingback.”
I approve ALL ALL ALL legitimate pingbacks. I have received no pingback from either of Tee’s posts. It must be my fault, right? What else could have gone wrong? As long-time bloggers know, the pingback system is not infallible. Just like the Bible. . .
Here’s the irony of Tee’s complaint. I have mentioned several of his posts over the years. I have pingback enabled on this site. That means Tee has received pingbacks from this blog. Where are they, David? Not one pingback from this site is shown on your posts. Why is that? Hypocrite. (Update: Several pingbacks have now miraculously appeared on Tee’s blog.)
What Tee wants is attention, and outside of this post, I will not give it to him. Per the comment policy, I will grant him one comment on this post. Let ‘er rip, big boy.
We are not and do not try to preach to Mr. Gerenscer and others like him as that would be a waste of time. We just point out the errors in their thinking to protect believers.
Those people have nothing to offer you but like the evil they follow, they will try and rob you of eternal life with Jesus. You have to take care to protect your faith as no matter what level in life the unbeliever enjoys, they have nothing over God to offer you.
Their education and experiences are used against them to ruin their faith and they are no trying to do to you what was done to them. At best ignore them and point out their fallacies to others so you can win souls for Christ instead of losing yours to Christ’s enemy.
….
The unbeliever has nothing to offer you even if they are the greatest scientist, teacher, leader, athlete, and so on in the world. Just do not be fooled by their fake claims of being a Christian.
I am just one man with a story to tell. That people find my story helpful or compelling is not my fault. Perhaps, the real question is WHY my story resonates with people. (Look in the mirror, David.) I am content to write and leave it at that. I have received thousands and thousands of emails, comments, and social media messages from professing Christians over the years — some of whom still read this blog. Not one time I have ever tried to deconvert someone. My goal has never been to make atheist converts. Helping people had always been my objective. I leave it to readers to determine whether I have done so.
I suspect Tee’s real issue with me is that he sees my congregation growing. He sees my words influencing and helping others. He reads stories about people who praise me for helping them in the deconversion process. Thus, Tee feels the need to demonize me and attack my character (and the readers of this blog). He simply can’t stand losing.
And dammit, my last name is spelled Gerencser. Get it right! 🙂
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen 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.
Connect with me on social media:
Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.
You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.
“They will try and rob you of eternal life with Jesus”?
What eternal life? No evidence for such a thing. (Even if there was, though, you worship a weakling god if it can’t protect you from an Internet flashmob of atheist mortals.)
“That is impossible as Jesus said he was the truth and he did not say the Bible was in error”
Yes, no matter what the evidence, it’s impossible because somebody once said so. The pronouncements of the master outweigh any facts or logic that can be shown. That’s a totalitarian, enslaved mind-set right there.
“We would go to the person leading those secular people instead”
Science doesn’t have or need a “leader”; something as amorphous as secularism needs one even less. If religion is losing the culture war, it’s in part because they’ve never bothered to acquire even the most meager understanding of what they’re fighting against.
It’s the same with all the accusations of hating and sinning. They can’t get outside their own cramped and simplistic frame of reference to understand what people different from themselves are actually thinking and feeling. And then they wonder why their words have no effect on the people they’re ranting at.
Writing of Jesus, there’s also the problem that “the Bible” didn’t exist in his day. There were the Tanakh–Hebrew scriptures–and the teachings of various rabbis. Jesus’s teaching and his claims were something new. He could hardly have said the Bible was or was not in error, since the New Testament hadn’t yet been written.
Exactly, Thatotherjean. Most of the early “events” of the OT were written while the Jews were in Babylon.
Bruce, If you have nothing to offer, then why do Fundamentals spend so much time and energy trying to trash your blog? Sounds like they are scared. And they should be. Christian fanatics are revealing more of their ugly side everyday.
Good point. The Internet, with scores of ex-Evangelicals telling their stories, has made all the difference in the world. People find out they are not alone. Beliefs and secrets are exposed for all to see. Access to information plays a big part in the numerical decline of Evangelical churches. Younger people, having grown up with the Internet, are fleeing religion in droves. The proverbial genie is out of the bottle. Good luck trying to get the genie back in the bottle. 😂
No we have nothing to be afraid of. But we do need to point out erroneous content to young and immature believers so that they will know what to avoid and why
Quit is an interesting word, you quit smoking, you quit ‘sinning’, you quit believing in fairytales (2 Tim 4:4 – fables) and quit hurting actual people with a thousands of years old book which keeps getting proven wrong scientifically, historically? Silly insults don’t impress anyone except people with ‘itching ears’ (2 Tim 4:3) who perhaps want to hear what they want to hear, instead of ‘quitting’ listening to eg a Pastor with little more than a high school education who declares himself an expert on science, psychology, disliking anyone from wearing pants to voting for Joe Biden and how the acolytes should live their lives and what they should think.
There are plenty of examples of human failing in every endeavor there is. That certainly includes church. Its not my job to judge atheists or anyone else simply for their beliefs, or lack of. My biggest challenge seems to be to keep my eyes on Christ while the huge storm rages around me. I’m more at peace now than I used to be, but I still have a long way to go. The debates are not important. Our inner peace is important.
Back in the day of letter writing the BBC had an expression for a letter with extreme conspiratorial views and/or letters with extremely poor grammar as a ‘green ink’ letter, the reason for this is that in almost all cases the writer for some reason chose to pen their letter in green ink. Perhaps it’s an unfortunate coincidence, but Dr David Tee’s website makes use of the green font.
In regards to his credentials, I notice him mentioning his Korean based experience. There is a Korean connected branch of Ruckmanites with a prominent figure of Dr Gene Kim who is or was a Pastor of a small church in America with a reasonably strong YouTube presence. Could this person who wrote the article about you be connected to Peter Ruckman, hence their extremely strong response to questioning biblical innerancy? It’s possible.
The fact of the matter is that if a person is honestly searching for the truth then they have to walk the narrow path of that strait gate of truth. The truth is that life did not appear on earth 6000 years ago as the bible teaches. Sorry but if the bible were true and had no errors then why do we have this error? The broad path would be just to refer to answers in genesis as science, I suppose?
Little is known about Tee’s background. He claims to be a “Dr” but refuses to say where he went to college or anything else about his life. He’s free to do so, but he shouldn’t get upset when people doubt his claims.
Tee is an “author.” You can find his books on Amazon.
https://www.amazon.com/Dr-David-Tee/e/B00JESIJRU/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_ebooks_1
So. We have a “lettered doctor” from a diploma mill. These kinds of people basically are “quitters” of high school and post secondary education. “Quitters” are often found with diploma mill degrees because, well, an education means work.
U don’t like to work ?!? Well quit by grabbing a “doctorate” from a diploma mill. It takes only a few days. THAT’S the sign of a quitter. So. Ask him where he got that “quitter’s degree”. Press it home. We would all like to hear ……..
Tee could have an earned doctorate, but he refuses to provide any evidence for his academic claims. Tee says it’s between him and God. 😂 Calls to God, 419-666-6969, were not returned. 😂
David Tee needs to mind his own business and stay in his lane. In my personal subjective experience, not giving a flying fuck about what fundies think has made me significantly less stressed. My advice for for him would be to ignore us. Unfortunately he will not.
I don’t mind Tee critiquing or responding to my writing. However, he wrote two posts that were more of a personal attack than a response to something I said. For some reason, Tee really doesn’t like me. My fee-fees are hurt.😂
It is nice to see you twist my words and put a meaning to them that I did not. I am sad that you are sick and it had no meaning beyond that. It may be better if you took off your rose colored glasses and stopped reading into people’s words what you want them to say.
Also, you were just representative nothing more. The only place we have met is on the internet and that is not enough to make further ‘judgments’. I may not like your content, but I am sad you left the faith.
P.s.
You can also find my books at this web page https://theoarch.wordpress.com/contact/ . Just click on the price to go to them
Sure, David, sure. You wrote, I read, and then I responded. Don’t piss into the wind if you don’t want sprayed.
As far as you misspelling my name? Really, David? You “tried?” How hard would it have been for you to get it right?
I see that you got a pingback for this post. Either that, or you are spending way too much time on this site. 😂 I know, I know, God sent you here to protect “immature”Christians (Greek for anyone who doesn’t think like you do).
The cure for your “sadness” is to avoid its source. Yet, you keep reading. 😂 Hmm . . .
P.S.S. Sorry for misspelling your name. I tried to get it right
And per the comment policy, please use the same email address and name. You know the rules, David. Remember, I’m God around here. Or king, if you prefer. Or a man who has little tolerance for Evangelical assholes —- that’s you, by the way, just in case you can’t see your face in the mirror.
Sorry I thought I was. I tend to forget those little details
Oh, come on. CTRL+C to copy, CTRL+V to paste. Simple as that. Not sure you got it right? Go and look. Not sure you can remember it correctly? Copy and paste. It’s elementary courtesy.
Well said Bruce!
I really don’t get it, Bruce. You are such a thorn to so many people who are obsessed with you. It isn’t okay to allow you to just live your life honestly, they have to trash you and shit all over you. And then claim they aren’t doing so. Why these Christians can’t just go away and live their lives? If we are so lost then let us be lost. Anyone that believes that their fellow men and women deserve to burn forever aren’t good people, loving people, or kind people. These fundamentalists have been weighed in the balance and have been found wanting. MENE MENE TEKEL UPHARSIN
As someone who’s had several dealings with David, I feel your pain. I nearly laughed out loud when he referred to your commemte policy as being like a dictatorship. I’ve had comments deleted on his site that highlighted how David was ignorant of a number of employment laws in discussions about discrimination. Irony doesn’t appear to be something Evangelicals have a good grasp of.
Tee wants privileges he refuses to grant others. His comment rules are quite restrictive. Others have told me he deleted their comments. I’m fine with however he wants to run his blog. However, demanding of me what he himself refuses to do is hypocritical.
I’m not sure he can appreciate the irony in his behaviour, nor can he see the irony in his positions. He left a comment on my blog querying my positions on public healthcare and pay rises for nurses (among other things) – and I quote: https://meerkatmusings.co.uk/my-political-compass/#comment-80206
‘ “I am in favour of things like a public healthcare system”— ‘someone has to pay for it. Where is the money going to come from? Taxes aren’t fair and too many loopholes.’
All well and good right? I don’t agree with his position but it’s pretty clear from the above that he doesn’t favour public healthcare. Why then does he rally against the expensive private system of the US elsewhere?
To quote: ’40 million people in the U.S. do not have access to healthcare. The social and economic inequalities that are an integral part of American society are mirrored in the inequality of access to the health care system. (Ibid)’
It seems that hypocrisy is in his veins, sadly.
Why isn’t the traditional Hell of eternal fire and brimstone talked about in the Old Testament? Did God create Hell AFTER Jesus came? If so, then tens of billions of humans are actually WORSE off after Jesus came than before! His death and resurrection would not be good news!
If the consequences of sin are physical death, followed by eternal conscious punishment in a raging pool of magma, wouldn’t God have told Adam immediately from the get-go (if not show Adam this place of damnation firsthand) This place was presumably prepared before Adam to punish Satan and the rebellious angels who sided with him. And they likely rebelled against God BEFORE Adam was made, which was why Satan was a liar and a sinner before humankind. Mankind would only end up in Hell if they sinned and then refused to repent and make amends to show they are sorry.
If more than 90% of all humans are all going to hell, then ultimately, life had no meaning to them! It doesn’t matter how they lived, because they were going to hell anyway! In fact, they were better off had they been aborted as soon as they were born. That way, they would’ve died before they sinned and likely go to Heaven!
But wouldn’t this mean Heaven is going to be full of aborted babies and fetuses?
Well, Mister Gernser, you really have reeled in a whopper in this fella! Now, Mister Gernessesir, why would you persist in being such a fisher of men? This flopper and groper, Mister Gernugiser, sir, does not even try to evoke basic competence in writing but Mister Gunisticker, you allow him to publish! Mister Gandickser, what is your problem, anywayz? I stand with the good doctor, Mister Gernencsire and lwhat part of Jesus said don’t you haters understand???
Oh Mister Gernisterker, failed preacher, the good doctor Tee has 10 years of history teaching English to Koreans! Bow down and learn his special, Jesus stream-of consciousishish spelling! (Ha! Thanks for the guffaw and please remember to throw the whopper back into the drink when you are done…)
Actually, that is old news. It went up to 14 years after I unretired and then was forced retied a few years later as I was getting too old
Dear Bruce
If there is no God/Creator ,then how did life on earth came to be since you don,t believe the Biblical explanation?. You believe in science and hard EVIDENCE so i trust your answer will include the relevant factual data.
Have a great day
I can’t speak for Bruce but I believe that life evolved. I KNOW that it didn’t happen 6,000 years ago because simple natural science proves that it is much older.
Dear William
Life evolved from what?
Have a good day
The origin of life from inorganic matter is a well established science known as abiogenesis.
Dear Geofft
Abiogenesis is just the ability of a cell to copy itself without the assistance of another. It does not explain where life as we know it come from.
I’m replying to your comment regarding abiogenesis, but can’t for some reason reply directly. Abiogenesis is not the replication of cells, which is actually the basis for evolution. Abiogenesis is the formation of organic material from non-organic, the basis on which life begins.
From inorganic matter.
Let’s say for one second you didn’t want to but that. Let’s track back to the original statement. Life has existed on earth for well over the 6000 years your bible teaches. If God doesn’t make mistakes why did God make this terrible blunder about his own creation?
Etienne, there is scientific evidence that the universe as conceived by scientists (you know, those people who test things and believe in basing stuff on facts) came into existence 13.8 billion years ago. This has been determined based on measurements of electromagnetic radiation of said observable universe. In fact, the Cosmic Microwave Background, or CMB,* is a key proof of this. Every time you turn a TV to a fuzzy channel (can that be done anymore?) or hear static on the radio you are seeing and hearing the CMB. Whereas, there is ZERO proof that something unusual happened in regards to the planet oh, say, a tad more than 6000 years ago.
Now, if you want to believe in creation on faith, that makes sense as that is your religion. But don’t try to tell us that scientific facts, that is, stuff backed up by evidence, need to be ignored in favor of myths from your Bible.
By the way, I’m not any kind of scientist although I love learning about space, black holes, the Big Bang etc. I’ve spent many hours reading about this stuff and listening to videos, and still know very little. But a search beginning with Wikipedia and onward will enlighten you to more knowledge.
PS: I was a Christian, but no longer am. I don’t call the deity I believe in the Christian god, as my deity doesn’t burn flawed humans for eternity. Also, since I can’t prove there is a god, that makes me close to a functional agnostic in relation to other people.
*https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cosmic_background_radiation
I favour the abiogenesis-from-organic-compounds hypothesis as a possible starting point, followed by billions of years of evolution.
The god of the Bible is too fucking incompetent to create anything more than a colossal mess – Eden failed, the Flood failed, even the faux sacrifice of Jesus failed.
Etienne, your use of the phrase, “relevant factual data” is quite the Greekish irony. You mean this as a joke, correct? Otherwise, you must present some relevant factual data to support your faith that life on earth was magically created by a God that can thus far neither be proven or disproven…. you FEEL good about faith and that wins you over? Your feelings are factual relevant data?
Dear Brian
I know for a fact that no scientist on planet earth ,have the foggiest idea of either how the earth/universe was formed, nor how life on earth came to being.Most scientists support the big bang theory because of lack of alternative explanations.
A parable made in 2 Peter 3:8 says that 1 day is like a thousand years and vice verse. This can possibly explain why the earth is substantially older than 6000 years. Nobody in the time of Moses would be able to comprehend the term billion. Theoretically speaking it then could or might have taken millions/billions of years to form the earth/universe by the Creator/God .
Have a great day
Etienne, you yet again misrepresent science. We know a great deal about how the universe and the earth came about, and we know that life came about via abiogenesis. Your comment about the Big Bang isn’t, I’m sure, intended to be humorous or ironic, but it absolutely is both! It’s your reference to ‘alternative explanations’ that I find funny, because this is precisely the point. You say a ‘lack of alternative explanations’, but a cosmologist would simply say that it’s the best explanation. We don’t know for sure that it’s true, and undoubtedly it will be refined over time, but it is the best explanation. And, quite frankly, you don’t have a credible alternative.
As there are some very reasonable theories regarding the formation of the universe, the formation of the earth, and the origin of life, it appears that you have committed false witness. I’d repent of that if I were you, Etienne.
Etienne,
2 Peter 3:8 has nothing to do with redefining time, it is a reference to Psalm 90:4 which reads, ‘For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night’
What this means is that Peter is saying Christians are supposed to be patient on waiting on God to fulfil his promises. The word day and the word night are clearly defined and the genealogy from Adam can be traced to, give or take a couple of years, around 6000 years old.
Etienne, there are people here who know their bible better than many, former Pastors, Evangelists and so forth. You know yourself that the earth and life on it is not 6000 years old, because you try to change the meaning of scripture to apologise for it. The earth is also not flat like the bible teaches. The bible, allegedly written by an infallible diety, just gets the whole thing wrong. Why? Perhaps because it is not a supernatural book, but because it was written by men using their best understanding of the world at that time. The creation story, the age, the making of plants and animals, the original sin, Paul explains the reason for Jesus’s sacrifice based on these incorrect ideas, so the whole thing becomes senseless as a valid belief system.
Etienne….you actually proved our point, that your holy book was written by humans for their time. If I overlook the fact that that passage means something else altogether and your just picking passages to justify your false claims, then the realization I would get is that your creator who you insist is the inspiration for your book and is the one who passed every letter on to them and only using them as a vessel didn’t know that there would be a time when humans would comprehend numbers up to a zillion lol jk. Oh, well he isn’t all powerful now is he, according to what you’re saying. It just proves ur book was for that civilization only, just like we’re saying. Peace ✌️
“Dr.” David Tee (David Thiessen) has responded. He denies EVERYTHING in this post.
Tee wrote:
“And dammit, my last name is spelled Gerencser. Get it right!”
Maybe he should practice what he preaches. After all, we did call him Mr. throughout the article. At least we were respectful even though we disagree with him.
But then he and people like him live in denial because they are afraid to face the fact that they made the wrong decision and only hell awaits them. They may claim to be happy but what is happiness now when an eternity of suffering is their next destination.
Everything in his post proved our three articles on this topic true.
If you have doubts ask God to lead someone to you to help you overcome those issues and gain the victory so you do not end up like Mr. Gerencser and people like him.
Jesus is the only way and he is the only answer for the world. Don’t make Mr. Geerencser’s (and people like him) mistake and reject your only hope of salvation. There is no other. Learn from their mistake and avoid them and keep your eyes on Jesus so you never fail or fall.
https://theologyarchaeology.wordpress.com/2021/05/29/the-state-of-denial/
Damn, he’s upset I didn’t call him Mister. 😂😂
Ha Ha. At least give me credit for getting your name right this time.
OMG! I’ve just read your responses on your blog and they are factually ridiculous. For example, the bible has been exposed to be almost entirely at odds with history, science and archaeology (it’s now the consensus of informed opinion that the Exodus story is complete fabrication, as an example). That the universe is 13.8 billion years old is factually consistent with the evidence presently available. In time it likely will vary from this figure as new evidence emerges. It will never get down to 6000 years!
Fortunately nobody seems to read your blog.
Keep in mind every comment you make on this post may be deconstructed on Mr. Tee’s blog.
https://theologyarchaeology.wordpress.com/2021/05/30/addressing-some-comments/
I read them and had a good laugh. All Tee has on offer is his religious faith, which is something that I have never possessed and do not value.
I laughed especially hard when he played the “Oh yeah? Well -you- can’t create something from nothing, so there, nyah!” card on me. I guess he never got the memo that creation ex nihilo is an absurdity. The energy to perform an act of creation is not “nothing,” so Tee’s god could only be rearranging matter/energy that already existed.
Can we make him the poster child for logical fallacies? He seems to be especially fond of special pleading.
He could at least have paid for the minimum WordPress website imo… While he’s denying all scientific and archaeological information with the proverbial fingers in the ears, weird sometimes non-Christian themed adverts appear between paragraphs. I’ve nothing against people doing things for free but really David, surely after all your work in the education system, your earned ‘Dr’ – orate could you not possibly spend a couple of dollars a month for your cause? No worries.
Sorry to disappoint you but when I left Korea for another country I lost my Korean credit cards and can’t get one here. So free is what I am stuck with
I wonder if he will even let us comment on his blog? The only claims he has to support his case all come from the bible or are loaded with presuppositions. Unfortunately he seems to prefer the echo chamber to actually following the evidence and being honest or truthful. If he has a doctorate earned from a reputable school, he shouldn’t be hiding it. The fact that he is speaks volumes about him. Honesty and transparency never seem to be on the menu when it comes to preying on lost souls and lying for Jesus.
Tee had this to say on June 2:
#2. Keep in mind every comment you make on this post may be deconstructed on Mr. Tee’s blog.
“This is a comment made by Mr. Gerencser at that link. He is wrong of course as we were not deconstructing anything when we wrote ‘Addressing Some Comments‘
We were actually honestly answering what people said. But as a teaching moment, this is one of the reasons why you are not supposed to listen to unbelievers.
They think it is the person doing the reading or the listening that has the knowledge of how a person wrote or spoke. That is not even true as the reader or listener has to clarify first in order to get the real intent behind someone’s words.
If they don’t then the reader or listener is just lying. And that is what the unbelieving world does. Since they do not have an objective moral code to live by, they can say whatever they want, whenever they want, and call it truth.
Their standards are all subjective and can change in a twinkling of an eye. Usually, that is called eisegesis and it is condemned by scholars everywhere, but to the common unbeliever it is just a way to protect themselves from facing the truth
The only way for the listener or reader to get to the true intent is by asking the person who said it or wrote the words.”
Where I live in the north of England we have a somewhat succinct phrase to describe Mr. Tee – ‘gobshite’.
Ok, let me get this straight. All we ask for is EVIDENCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! is that too much to ask. You provide none, you only come back with claims of unhappiness and destruction for the so called unbelievers, LMAO! I laugh at how pissed they get when they see someone saying we’re happy without your version of God, truth is they know that billions of people are doing great but they cling to the only thing that makes it worthwhile for them…drums pls….eternal life of bliss, well good for you. Also, I’d also like people to put themselves in others shoes before shouting THEY’RE WICKED, PERSECUTION or other shit. Pls I’d like to come and speak to your congregation on my belief and why they should know the truth, would you let me? No? Why you persecuting me? Funny thing is that you’ll probably never realized how hypocritical you are if you so much believe what your doing is right…I’m doing air quotes around the right btw. I think people are tired of getting into arguments with you. When you have evidence, present them. Science doesn’t know everything, but at least we strive to know and keep knowing by research and find actual evidence for what we teach and believe, not concluding that it must have just been done by a being. One thing though, about you’re book, on the tower of Babel, the language stuff, they were building a house that would touch heaven and it almost reach heaven right? Where exactly did it reach? Space? 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣.damn! I get why you despise science.
I went to theologyarchaology’ s site some months back, and was wondering if he( David Thiessen) is a misogynist, because of how he defends that famous pastor Ravi Zacharias’ actions while he was alive. No pastor should own a spa, that’s just bizarre ! He was very denigrating towards the women who outed Ravi. And other conservative,abusive positions. There are better sources of Christian info, if you’re into that stuff. His blog is very triggering to abuse survivors, so be warned. And I hope you had a good holiday, Bruce,Polly, and family !
Hmmm. This is someone who says he has a doctorate, but won’t say from where. Someone who defends abusers like Ravi Zacharias, behaves inappropriately on someone else’s blog, and insists that others follow rules he doesn’t follow himself. Someone who can’t or won’t spell the name correctly of the person he’s addressing. Constantly misspelling someone’s name, especially given the ease of cut and paste, is a passive-aggressive and disrespectful behavior. In contrast, I appreciate what I get here: Scientific literacy, superb critical thinking skills, humor, great commentary, and awareness of different types of logical fallacies. I’ll keep hanging out on this blog to enjoy the lively discussions from this group of smart and fun people.
Thanks! I appreciate your kind words. ❤️