Last week, I received the index card above in my mail from Tommy Steverson, a 70+-year-old Evangelical man who lives in New Orleans, Louisiana. Today, I received a six-page single-spaced letter from Steverson, along with a tract and tract-like business card.
The tract-like business card is a lame attempt to prove that no human is a “good person.” Titled “The Good Person Test,” the card says:
Place your left thumb on the gold square and leave it for eight seconds. If you are a GOOD person then the gold square will turn green.
The back of the card says, in part, Did you pass the test? The fact is no one can pass the test.
Well, that’s a lie. I put my left thumb on the gold square and left it for eight seconds. Low and behold, the square turned green! That means I am a good person. I don’t need to be saved from sin because I’m not a sinner. I am not perfect, but I am, indeed, a good person.
Steverson’s letter is titled “Crispy Critters.” The gist of the letter is that I will one day be a “crispy critter” in Hell unless I repent of my sins and accept Jesus as my Lord and Savior. Steverson ends his letter with Revelation 21:8 (NIV):
But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death
Steverson poses what he calls three salient questions to atheists, agnostics, skeptics, and card-carrying unbelievers (all grammar in the original):
- How is it that four different men [the writers of the gospels], and countless eyewittnesses, never recognized or recorded, even “one” instance of pride in Jesus Christ, in three and one half years of his life? How is that possible?
- How is it, that four different men, and countless eyewitnesses, never heard of recorded even “one” instance of the words” I’m sorry, I made a mistake or please forgive me, from the lips of Jesus Christ? How is that possible.
- How is it, that you probably never recognized any of this yourself? How is that possible?
Let me answer Steverson’s third question. The reason atheists, agnostics, skeptics, and card-carrying unbelievers don’t “recognize your claims” is because they aren’t true. We have no idea who wrote the gospels. They most certainly are not eyewitness accounts. We have no idea what kind of person Jesus was, or if the Jesus of the gospels remotely resemble the Jesus of first-century history. We do know that Jesus was a “man.” Thus it seems reasonable to believe that he had the same passions as the rest of us. The Bible is little more than a fairy tale shaped around a very human first-century man named Jesus.
It’s clear from Steverson’s letter that he is a Fundamentalist Christian who believes the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God. This faith claim cannot be intellectually or rationally supported. If Steverson would like to talk about this subject with me, I would be glad to do so. If not, I encourage him to read several of Dr. Bart Ehrman’s books. Ehrman is a New Testament scholar at the University of North Carolina. Author of numerous books on the text and history of the Bible, Ehrman disabuses Evangelicals of the notion that the Bible is in any way an inerrant/infallible book written by a supernatural God.
I won’t bother with the rest of Steverson’s long-winded, incoherent rant. New day, same old shit. If you would like to read the complete text of Steverson’s letter:
Steverson signed off saying, “Have a Nice Eternity.” In other words, “Bruce, I hope you enjoy burning in Hell.”
Sigh . . .
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.
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There really isn’t a point in responding to a person who’s missing as much attic insulation as ol’ Tommy, is there?
I would like to help him find a hobby, though. He apparently has waaaay too much time on his hands.
Amimental. just spluttered my coffee everywhere to read ‘missing as much attic insulation as ole Tommie.’ You’ve just given us a new expression. My BIL says in his strong welsh accent of someone like this ‘he hasn’t got all his chairs at home’…our previous best way of putting it. Thanks for the new one.
And to Tommie I’d say, so god loved us so much he had his son tortured to death. What father does that? He’s supposed to be all-powerful and could surely have come up with a million other ways to get our attention. I think it was a commenter here who once said that if you were told you could hold the hand of your worst enemy on a hot stove for five minutes, you’d give up after a few seconds, you’d not be able to bear their screams of agony…..but Tommie’s all-loving god would have us experience that for all eternity- whilst he and his fellow believers look on smugly and gleefully????? What nonsense.
I think the squirrels in Tommy’s attic ate the insulation.
And some of the insulation on his mental wiring, too.
and you win the internet, astreja. Blew coffee all over my screen.
So, Tommy Stevenson, how does it feel to be a judgmental ass? I mean, a self-righteous, judgmental ass? You must not really want to convert or save anyone, as your actions only turn people away from your god. Have you thought about just loving your fellow man? NO, threatening your fellow human isn’t love, it’s hate. And glee.
Tommy, what does it say about you that you cannot live and let live? That you are taking the time to physically write/type and post letters to Bruce, when ultimately whatever Bruce says has no bearing on your life (unless you feel his words have shaken you?!), speaks to a certain fragility.
This poor fellow has some serious issues.
Whenever I read one of these screeds I am reminded of how incredibly ridiculous it sounds. As someone who grew up in this, I am familiar with the words, doctrines, and verses they use, but otherwise it’s really just jibberish. I read screeds from fundamentalists of other religions, and they sound equally ridiculous – plus, I don’t have the advantage of knowing their terms and doctrines. It’s really easy for those of us outside the religion to hear this and say, “Whatever, dude.”
Tommy Stevenson, of Louisiana. I take it he’s White,from settler/ slave owner stock ? Jim Crow culture and all. I’ve been watching ABC’s Thursday series on Emmet Till and his life, when I can. I was struck by how many Jim Crow adherents are also dedicated churchgoers. A church on every corner,yet the most violent region of this country outside of the inner cities. Gleeful sadism runs through those states, especially towards kids and and animals. I’ve seen both on TV and in person their preachers smile,hard eyes twinkling as they recount people they knew and assumed went to Hell, most definitely if they weren’t willing to attend THEIR church ! My, does this bring back memories. This Stevenson is over 70, and ought to be aware that people repent anyway,later in life. So how can he be so certain that He’ll is where you are going. Plus, like BJW said, his conduct so far,is the kind that drives others AWAY from Jesus( thanks to that cultural baggage). Say, Me. Steverson,you don’t live in the house with Bruce. You are assuming ( and hoping for) something that can’t actually happen. God’s reputation really suffers in the U.S. and other places, because of your CULTURE. If souls are that great a concern to you, then park on the terminal wards of the local hospitals, where you can do some real good for those who are unsure about the afterlife. You can help them to transition and have peace. But do this with kindness and respect, not fear mongering.
Honestly, at this point in my life I just find these things tired. They’re so deeply self-referential, and they keep treating statements of belief as if they were independent evidence and honestly I feel like we could save a whole lot of time by just assigning numbers to these arguments, and people could just call them out instead of making us read through yet another iteration of yet another tired bit of presupposition.
I actually differ with Bruce in that I don’t think that Jesus was an actual historical person at all; I think the whole thing is a bit of mythology that caught on.
Whenever I read something like this it reminds me of the Christians who are in palliative care &/or are in hospice centers, who spent their years demonizing and wishing hell on the very people who are now caring for them in their last days, with human compassion, kindness and patience. Even patience enough to listen to them (the pontificating Christians) go on and on trying to evangelize that non-Christian doctor, nurse, dietary aid and housekeeping staff. Tommy Steverson, one day you may be there, dying and in need and it doesn’t even cross your mind that, that kind, generous person caring for you, treats you with more dignity and character than you espouse here on earth to your fellow human being who just happens to not share the same belief system as you.
That letter is an atrocity to logic and typography. It may be single spaced but he used a larger font with small margins and a terrible typeface choice for reading(serifs work better for longer blocks of text in general, but there are exceptions). Tommy, next time you threaten an unbeleiver with hell, you first need to convince them that your book is everything you say it is and you haven’t. You should also be able to do that without having to resort to using the bible itself. The instant you use the bible to prove itself, you already lose. You may disagree with science or several other things but there is actual cold hard data behind most of it and it has to get reviewed before being published. Most religious texts don’t do this and aren’t scrutinized and when they are, they are found sorely lacking.
What is a “ser., vant.” Something tells me this was not a typo in Tommie’s letter.
I wondered the same.
When it comes to downloading a PDF file, my phone won’t cooperate. Need a real computer for that 10- page letter , I’m curious about that oddity now,lol.🤣
wow, Tommy is not bright.
He’s also trying to convert us lot over here in the UK. Just received a 4 page letter of hate (July 2023) about pronouns and the LGBT+ community. apparently we gay men die 20 years younger than our heterosexual friends… Now, I’m not a bible person or ever read past versus highlighted for me during funerals, however, I’m fairly sure God hasn’t specifically designed us gay folk with a 20 year shorter shelf life… if indeed he designed anyone at all.
But, apparently, we’re all in trouble thanks to Elon Musk, ABC and Big Tech… Having read your website and realise this fellow is in his 70s, then I’ll forgive the rambling nonsense a little. My dad’s in his 70s and also rambles, though mainly about the weather and how hot the dinner plates are… you know, real important things in life.
Anyway, just thought I’d chip in as one of the (How did he phrase me…) “21 million deceived people who identify as LGBTQ etc and are so stupid, that they can’t figure out why their equipment doesn’t fit properly, in the other person.” – oh and trust me, I’ve seen enough videos to prove things fit just fine! Anyway lets keep it clean.
I guess the saddest part of all this is he’s spending his pension on stamps to the UK. If he tries to reach all 21 million of us he’s gonna be broke fairly quickly.
Hope you all have a bright gay day ahead (gay being old English for happy, jolly). 🙂
I live in California and received a letter through the USPS postmarked 19 September 2023from Mr. Steverson. It was addressed to “Occupant.” In the letter were comments about Jews and what I would characterize as anti-semitic; he tied abortion to Jewish practices and likening them to Democrats and possessing “demons”. I reported his letter to the Anti Defamation League.