“Dr.” David Tee (David Thiessen) — an Evangelical zealot — is an expert in passive-aggressive writing. Of late, Tee has written five or so posts about me. I am starting to think that Tee has a man-crush on me — even though I am not gay or bisexual. Sorry, David, I know you want me, but it ain’t going to happen. 🙂 My three wives and 666 concubines keep me way too busy — wink, wink, if you know what I mean (just following in the footsteps of Solomon, the “wisest” man in the Bible).
I have responded to Tee several times:
David Tee Says I Am Envious and Jealous of Evangelical Churches
David Tee Says I’m a Quitter and Have Nothing to Offer People
Tee warns Christians — especially “immature” believers — not to read my writing lest I lead them astray. Evidently, I am more powerful than God. Cool, right? Tee views himself as a Bible expert. I suspect what irritates the heaven out of him is that I know as much as he does (if not more) about the Bible and Christianity. He knows that my writing can and does lead people to the light — of skepticism, reason, and intellectual inquiry. So, he rages against me, hoping that the few people who read his blog will be warded off from this site. Much like the gospel he preaches, his efforts are doomed to fail.
Tee has written two posts about me (and others) this week. The first post is titled Applying Scripture. Here’s an excerpt from this post:
We have done many articles recently using two non-Christian websites as a source for our topics. It is not wrong to do so and we may address more of the issues they raise n future articles.
What is important though, is how to respond to these people. One of the keys to approaching those that either do not believe or did believe and turned away from their salvation is that they do not accept God’s definitions, God’s thinking, nor anything to do with God.
That makes it very tough to deal with because they will avoid the truth as much as possible.
….
God’s love tells everyone to forsake evil, wrong behavior, and so on. However, only God defines those categories and places different actions in each category. Star Trek and unbelievers do not have the authority or power to change that categorization.
All they can do is create something that continues to corrupt people and leaves them in their sin. They call it by other terms but it certainly is not love. Then there is Bruce and his views on abortion (We are tired of trying to type his last name).
….
It is impossible for Christians to talk to unbelievers and quitters because they have a low view of human life and think it is okay for women to murder or kill. They change the concept of an unborn child in hopes of relieving any guilt or regrets from disposing of human life for selfish reasons.
A woman has no right to kill anyone including an unborn child. Pro-abortionists do not have the power or authority to change the status of the unborn child. The pregnancy period is God’s choice and life starts at conception no matter what sinful term is used to describe it.
These are the situations where applying scripture correctly will help believers focus their energies on topics and issues that really matter. That application takes correct discernment.
First, you have to discern if it is really God leading you to interact with these people. Then if that is so, you need to discern which scriptures will help you in that interaction. Both steps are governed by your going to your prayer closet and praying.
You will need prayer to protect you from the subtle attacks of unbelievers and those that turn away. Then you need to ask for wisdom and understanding to tackle the interaction. Having the correct knowledge will help as well.
One of the biggest complaints atheists have had over the years is that believers do not know anything or they know very little. Getting the right knowledge is not wrong as your ability to discern will help you use that knowledge with God’s help in a manner that is effective and convincing.
Bruce tends to complain a lot when evangelicals make comments on his website about his desire to return to the faith and so on. Those comments are not very discerning as they ignore what Hebrews says in chapter 6:
4 For it is impossible, in the case of those who have once been enlightened and have tasted of the heavenly gift and have been made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then have fallen away, to restore them again to repentance, since they again crucify to themselves the Son of God and put Him to open shame
Sometimes it is best to ignore such people and just use what they write on their blogs as teaching tools to show believers what to watch out for. Remember that unbelievers will camouflage their deceptive thoughts with a lot of truth.
For example, in the quote above Bruce mentions that right to life people are only right to be born advocates. That is true in many circumstances. He wasn’t the first to say it, as Robin Williams said it before him and we may have beaten him to that fact as well.
But that fact does not mean we stop being anti-abortion supporters. We just have to broaden our methods and reach more people through a better strategy that only God can give. Also, the Bible does not say to focus on saving the unborn only. They are plenty of other innocent people who need our help.
That is where discernment comes in. Knowing which strategies to use and where to apply them will help make you a better success for God than ignoring God’s instructions in hopes of saving those who cannot be saved anymore.
When you get the correct discerning powers, you will notice that the unbeliever, etc. will think they have been enlightened, that they came to the truth, and that they alone can make determinations for everyone else.
….
No, we are not hypocrites because we are doing what God says to do. We do not listen to unbelievers because the Bible instructs us not to; we do not accept sinful positions because they are wrong and sinful; we do not have ultra-literal interpretations because we are doing what Christ said to do- know the truth.
Meerkat is upset because his ideas are being rejected and he has no say in the Christian way of life. But he rejects God and his ways so why should he expect to be accepted when he attacks the very belief of those he wants to accept his views?
It is neither rational nor logical and discernment lets you know that and that he is doing nothing but trying to ruin Christian lives and get them sent to hell. He may not realize that is what is taking place but Christians with discernment see it very clearly.
Bruce is the same way. He wants his views to be accepted but he will reject anything to do with God, the Bible, and Christianity. The two are hypocrites because they say one thing but in reality, act differently from what they say.
As you can see, Tee thinks of himself as a uber-mature Christian who is called by the Evangelical God to “protect” weak, immature followers of Jesus. Evidently, the Holy Spirit, who allegedly lives inside every Christian, is too busy playing golf to protect them from atheist bloggers. Christians should be glad that Mr. Tee is on the job, protecting them from an evil Meerkat and Santa Claus. (Please see Ben Berwick’s blog, Meerkat Musings.)
I love that Tee has finally admitted why he refuses to take the time to spell my last name correctly. He’s too lazy to do so. Tee can write thousands of words about me, but he can’t spell my last name correctly.
Today, Tee wrote another post about me. Titled Inside the Mind of an Atheist, Tee purports to peer into my mind and know what is going on therein. Polly would love to know how he does this, as would my counselor. 🙂 Here’s an excerpt from this post. Paragraphs in bold font are from my post Understanding Christianity From a Sociological and Economic Perspective.
We all know what is going on inside the mind of an atheist. But it is nice to have them make confessions once in a while. B.G. (Bruce Gerencser) has written a little confession that clears up any confusion. His very first line tells us everything we need to know about atheists:
Atheists of every stripe agree that all the gods of human religions are false; that these gods do not have magical, supernatural powers; that they do not answer prayer, heal the sick, or raise the dead. These gods are made and shaped by human hands and do not, as many religionists suggest, live beyond the space-time continuum.
The only thing true about this comment is that it describes exactly what the atheist believes and thinks. The Bible says the fool has said there is no god and this is not something that has suddenly appeared in the 20th or 21st century.
It has been going on since almost time began. B. G. is saying nothing new and after all these millenniums you would think the atheist would come up with something new and better. They don’t because they have nothing to offer anyone.
The first line in that quote doesn’t prove anything except that the atheist is not using fact, physical evidence, reality, or even truth to make their decision. They also use no authority either. They have just decided that is the way it is and then attack anyone brave enough to admit that they cannot do life alone.
Their statement that there is no God is not fact just what they wish it was. They hope for this because they have been deceived and do not want to think about the ramifications of their decision.
They also ignore all the evidence proving that God does exist. They are not enlightened but simply deceived. They do not have the truth ut gave it up for whatever false promise they have been given by evil.
Then they think they are winning because they are being successful in turning people away from God. How sad that is because they are aiding evil in its hatred against God and destroying people’s eternity and lives.
They mock those who hold onto their faiths and that is a sign of weakness, as most people who can’t, mock those who can. They are too weak to take the step of faith and live the life that Christ wants them to live so they do whatever they can to harm those who can.
The atheist may not realize it as they are blind to what is going on in their lives and who is pulling their strings. These people are too afraid to deal with reality so they deny the existence of evil as well.
Those denials leave them in a quandary as they now have no source for good and bad behavior. They have no standards to measure themselves or others to see if they are on the right path. Instead, they failed so they deny everything that would remind them of their failure.
Atheism is the absence of belief in the existence of gods. While there may be a God that has not yet revealed itself to us, such a possibility is improbable. Most atheists are comfortable living their lives with no thought of God or religion.
This is another sign of weakness. They do not want to draw a line in the sand so they leave a little opening there just in case. What they are really saying is that the God who has revealed himself to everyone is not real and they are waiting for a god that does what they want.
In other words, they want to be in charge of their god and have it do what they say. We know they are not going to bow down to that god who may reveal himself eventually because they refuse to do it for the one who has revealed himself.
Of course they are comfortable living their lives that way. They get to make their own rules, make judgments, lie, sin, and do whatever they want because they reject the rules of the God who has revealed himself.
The atheist wants to be master of their own lives even though they are ruled by evil and that goal will never happen.
Many Christians believe that Christianity gives them a one-up morally on the rest of the world.
It goes without saying that we are morally superior to the atheist. Not because we have created our own moral system like the atheist has. But because we are courageous enough to admit that we cannot live morally without Jesus.
We recognize our true state and seek to change our lives through belief in Jesus and following his ways. Some are more successful than others. Those that refuse to do this mock those who can and have.
We also recognize that we cannot create our own moral state. That our human capacity is not great enough to accomplish that goal. We also recognize that we do not have the authority to create great moral codes.
Even those Christians who have tried to create a system they believe is right falls short of what God has created already. We know we cannot do better than God and even if we tried, there would still be people who claim it is wrong, inferior, exclusive, racist, sexist, and so on, then reject that human-created option to design their own.
It takes a lot of courage to live the Christian life and one has to be brave to do it. However, atheists have shown that they have neither characteristic as they cowardly leave the faith or reject it and join the unbelieving world.
They must think there is safety in numbers but they are wrong. They are not safe, it is just an illusion and denying reality only proves they are weak and not brave.
A religion need not be true for people to benefit from it.
While this is a true statement, that does not mean that all religions are false or fake. False religions exist for the same reason atheists exist. To deceive people into thinking they have been enlightened and know the truth.
Without one true religion, no false belief would exist nor would atheists. There would be nothing to reject or avoid nor would there be anything that people would need to be deceived about.
The best way to understand religious belief in general and Christianity in particular is to view both from a sociological and economic perspective.
This is not a true statement for it demands that people ignore all the truths about Christianity and look solely at the faith from a deceived standpoint. The best way to understand Christianity is to examine it with all of its characteristics intact using an open mind.
Evangelicalism is numerically in decline.
This is not news to the Christian. Not only did Jesus tell us this would take place but he also said that people love darkness over light. B. G. and other atheists are not proclaiming some phenomenon here or that they have the truth and are winning the battle against evil.
Christianity is not evil. It is the best thing that could happen to this world. we have a better way to live and treat others, we are not deceived and living a lie and we have promises to hold onto to help us meet the challenges that come with life.
The criticism hurled at Christians by B. G. and other atheists are without merit as they look at things through blind and deceived eyes. They deny the existence of the enemy and the work it does to successfully destroy believers like they were destroyed.
They cannot see the reality of life because they live in a state of denial not a state of illumination. That is why Christ came to earth and why his followers continue to cast that light.
We are not losing, it is just that sinful men do not love God enough to change and be brave enough to live the Christian life. We do not take B. G. seriously as he has said that when he was a preacher and following God, he was quite successful.
Yet, he denied and denies the very evidence for God that took place in his own life. If he was as successful and on fire for God as he claims, then he should be ashamed. He let evil destroy him so that success could not continue.
That is not something to be proud of.
I could write a series of posts on Tee’s lies and half-truths about atheism in general, and the infamous B.G. in particular. I won’t do so, however, because I have covered Tee’s objections to atheism and B.G. before. I might change my mind on this if readers are interested in me doing so. What say ye, dear heathens and false god worshipers?
Thanks, Mr. Tee, for the comedy bit. Keep it up. You are an awesome evangelist for the one true religion — atheism.
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.
Well that sure is a….lot of words. Poor worn-out old Mr. Tee, too tired to type out “Gerencser” and yet he can manage paragraph after paragraph of uninteresting BS about abortion and atheism, with some strange straw man construction thrown in. Fascinating that you’ve provoked him to multiple days worth of blog posts, “B.G.” 🙂 Instead of preaching the merits of his own faith, he takes the reactionary approach of insisting that non-Christians/atheists should be bent into the mold of Christian belief–and when they don’t fit, touting that as some sort of tautological victory. Surely there are better things a good god-fearin’ man should be doing? Sigh.
“First, you have to discern if it is really God leading you to interact with these people. Then if that is so, you need to discern which scriptures will help you in that interaction. Both steps are governed by your going to your prayer closet and praying.”
Geez, I wonder what skeletons he is hiding in his prayer closet. Is he still posting our comments in other posts? He should be careful as he is constantly giving you free advertising😁. He may also want to take a second and look up the Streisand effect and think of its ramifications before continuing to analyze and elevate your blog for his followers.
Can’t be bothered to spell your name, but can create an enormous, non – nutritious word salad. And yet, not one convincing reason to join his religion.
Btw, Star Trek isn’t a religion, it’s a cult. I know, because I’m a proud member of it. 🙃
Missimontana, I’ve been a Star Trek fan since 1966. But thought it was incredibly strange that DT (too lazy to spell out his name!) would mention it.
Old BG has a problem. He thinks everything is about him. Its not but I let him think that anyways.
Yet, you have written more than five posts about me. And no I won’t fuck you, but I will respond to your continued lies, mischaracterizations, and character assassination. The readers of this blog can read and count. I’m confident that they will see what I said about you is true. Except for the sex part. They understand humor and sarcasm too.
Hey DT, can’t be bothered to spell your name. ‘With or without religion, good people can behave well and bad people can do evil; but for good people to do evil – that takes religion.’–Steven Weinberg.
Wading through your posts was illuminating, as it convinces me more and more that you don’t know a thing that matters. I have some lovely Christian friends, even some ministers, who are kind, caring and empathetic. They “love your neighbor as yourself.” You don’t seem to fall into that category. I’d like to see ONE fundie/evangelical be nice to Bruce Gerencser (spelled out because I do care about him). It doesn’t happen. Instead, you all are like jackals who want to rip those who are different to shreds. I see no evidence of Christian superiority here, and there is zero love.
You speak of not being interested but write about Bruce repeatedly. Practice what you preach maybe?
I love the mealy-mouthed assertion that you’re in control of what Bruce thinks.
You have an unhealthy obsession with Bruce Gerencser. In contrast, this is a vibrant, fun, and intelligent blog commentariat. Bruce says that we understand both humor and sarcasm; that’s true. In this community I find scientific accuracy, media literacy, and sound critical thinking skills. That’s why Bruce reaches thousands of people every day. This is a good and enjoyable place to be.
When you don’t have evidence, logic or the ability to reason, you attack the person who showed the weakness of your argument. That seems to be the M.O. of Trumpists and folks like Dr. Tee.
I tried to read what you quoted from DDT (“Dr.” David Thiessen — I won’t be writing it out after this, because I’m tired of trying to remember how it’s spelled and far too lazy to copy and paste) and honestly? After about three paragraphs, it just turns into this unutterable droning. Reading it is the visual equivalent of trying to decipher what Charlie Brown’s teachers are saying.
I’m amused by the idea that you’re leading people away from Christ, as DDT suggests. Isn’t the indwelling of the Holy Spirit supposed to protect against that sort of thing? What does it mean if that doesn’t work?
“Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.”
~Voltaire
The same could be said of all the evil we do not prevent. And the same could be said of God, were He around to do anything.
Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane? 😂
Mere coincidence of initials, I’m sure.
Re: Getting your name correct. Maybe it’s just me, but as a Supply Teacher (I think you call them Substitute Teachers in the US.) I tried very hard to learn every child’s name in a new class, before lunch. It seemed only respectful, a common courtesy to do so. It gave dignity to each student. I disliked hearing a colleague say to a student, ‘You-there-whatever-your-name-is.’ My daughter, Rachel came home angry sometimes cos 2 x-tian teachers at her school called her Rebekah, cos hey, you know, both are bible names, what does it matter, who cares? So the ignorant, silly excuses of ‘DT’ about not bothering to even get Bruce’s name right, make me have little respect for his views -which are stupid and arrogant anyway – but politeness means a lot.
‘Nothing is ever lost by courtesy. It is the cheapest of pleasures, costs nothing and conveys much.’ – Erastus Wiman. A life-lesson you need to learn Mr DT.
Politeness is the social manifestation of morality.
He could have saved himself some time and just kept it simple.
We are weak but he is strong. Yes David loves us. His Bible tells us so.
I do think there must be some talent in the ability to sling a lot of words together which sound logical but actually miss the true logical conclusion. Or maybe it’s just a BS artist deftly tossing BS around.
“ It takes a lot of courage to live the Christian life and one has to be brave to do it.” Yeah, mmmhm, ok. It takes no courage at all. Their white male dominated, patriarchal Christian religious/political systems have a death grip on how to behave in the USA and make every effort to enforce it through laws and politics. Cry me a river. DDT (to steal from Michael, ty) has never suffered one ounce of discrimination or suffered for his belief. His is a protected status with no fear of pain or loss.
Courage is the woman standing up to a system that represses them and tells them their value is less than men. Courage is the black person standing for equality even when it may mean assault, jail time, or death. Courage is the non-binary person simply living visibly when the system wants to eradicate them. Courage is the gay, lesbian, and trans people who have risked all to demand equality and simple basic human rights. Courage is the indigenous people standing up and refusing to be eliminated when the church joined with politicians to systematically erase their culture, belief, and their lives.
Someone telling DDT that his belief is not only a lie, but also toxic and oppressive, does not compare in any way to the struggles mentioned above. I would prefer DDT go hang out with his like minded friends and let the rest of us get on with living life in peace, love, and harmony. It’s much easier without the Christian bigoted rhetoric.
And by the way, DDT, you may want to go ask a few Jewish Rabbi’s how they interpret the Old Testament portion of the Bible with regards to abortion, after all, they wrote it, and you are only borrowing it. You may find they have a slightly different belief on this topic. Perhaps not all, but I suspect most would disagree with you.
You hit the nail on the head and did so far more eloquently than I could. David’s position (in a nutshell) is that the LGBT community is selfish for existing, and selfish for wanting to be treated fairly by society. He also thinks racism doesn’t exist and that women should be doubted.
Yet another Christian who somehow knows exactly how agnostics and atheists view the world. Sigh.
All the guff about abortion and how agnostics and atheists have “a low view of human life” is risible especially when you consider that most of these oh-so-Christian people are great fans of the death penalty.
And oh! how they cheerfully worship a god whom they believe is going to torture billions of sentient beings for eternity… simply for not believing in Jesus. Torturing people for a fucking thought crime is about as low as one can get.
DDT, WHAT keeps leading you to Bruce’s blog? The devil or the holy spirit? And what do you have against Star Trek? Is it too egalitarian for you?
OC, the values in Star Trek are definitely opposed to fundie Christianity. But it’s even weirder that DDT mentioned it. I mean, a fictional scifi/fantasy world? I would think he can’t even watch that because it encourages people to think outside of the patriarchal Christian box.
It could be my fault that he goes on about Trek. I was talking about Trek in context of a conversation about tolerance, and he jumped on the reference.
Darthtimon, I missed that. He obviously can’t handle tolerance anyway. Because that would mean from his POV he’s sinning etc. I will say this, I’ve known some pretty conservative Christians who do love Star Trek. I always wonder how they fit the Star Trek philosophy into their mindset. Ok, maybe it’s because it’s a fantasy world so they can discount it?
I know of a school of thought that conservatives like Star Trek for its militaristic overtones… I’m not sold on whether Trek is particularly militaristic, but I can’t discount the idea either. Some right-wingers believe we’ll get to a Trek-style society because of capitalism and conservatism – which to me is laughable.
This quote from DT:
“Without one true religion, no false belief would exist nor would atheists. There would be nothing to reject or avoid nor would there be anything that people would need to be deceived about.”
So false, when it is applied to Christianity. Christianity is so fractured and splintered, there is no True Christianity®️.
…………
I spent almost 20 minutes writing a response to this one quote, and realized I was wasting my time. Even pointing out the absurdity of those statements using Bible verses
wasn’t going to change his mind, so I deleted it. I distilled my thoughts to the following:
The idea that only Christianity, as defined by one sect and refined by one subset and as practiced by only a few churches, is true is mind-boggling, now that I am no longer a part of it.
Indeed, Ian! DDT quite obviously needs a remedial course in clear thinking and common sense. False beliefs can very easily exist in the presence of false religions. They can’t all be right, but all of them can be wrong.
And of course, rejecting something as bat-shit insane as True Christianity®️ According To DDT is perfectly acceptable.