Evangelical Vaughn Longanecker Says I Need to “Repent” of My Thinking

Vaughn Longanecker, a vocal Evangelical Christian from Oregon, sent me an email today. Longanecker, showing no curiosity, read all of one post on this site — Sixteen Reasons Why I am Not a Christian — before he fired off an email to me. Not meant to be a lengthy thesis on the reasons why I am no longer a Christian, I wrote:

What follows are sixteen reasons WHY I am not a Christian. There are many more reasons than these, but this list should satisfy those who continue to prod and poke, trying to find the REAL reason(s) I am no longer a Christian.

1. I no longer think the Bible is a God-inspired text.
2. I no longer think the Bible is an inerrant text.
3. I no longer think Jesus is God.
4. I no longer think Jesus was virgin-born.
5. I no longer think Jesus turned water into wine, walked on water, healed the sick, raised the dead, or performed any of the other miracles the Bible says he did.
6. I no longer think Jesus resurrected from the dead. Jesus lived and died, never to be seen again.
7. I no longer think there is a Heaven or a Hell.
8. I think the belief that God will torture all non-Christians in Hell for all eternity is repugnant, abhorrent, revolting, repulsive, repellent, disgusting, offensive, objectionable, cringeworthy, vile, foul, nasty, loathsome, sickening, nauseating, hateful, detestable, execrable, abominable, monstrous, appalling, insufferable, intolerable, unacceptable, contemptible, unsavory, and unpalatable.
9. I think the Bible shows a progression of belief from polytheism to monotheism.
10. I think the Bible teaches multiple plans of salvation.
11. I think much of the so-called history found in the Bible is fictional.
12. I think the Bible God is an abhorrent, violent deity, one I would not worship even if I believed it existed.
13. I think science best explains the natural world.
14. I no longer think humans are sinners.
15. I think humanism provides a moral and ethical basis for life.
16. I see no evidence for the existence of the Christian God; thus I am an atheist.

These reasons are based on a lifetime spent studying the Bible and studying the textual, historical, and moral underpinnings of Christianity. These studies led me to conclude that the Christian God is a fiction, as is much of the Christian narrative.

Evidently, Longanecker didn’t like this post, so he decided to ignore the statements on the contact page:

If you are an Evangelical Christian, please read Dear Evangelical before sending me an email. If you have a pathological need to evangelize, spread the love of Jesus, or put a good word in for the man, the myth, the legend named Jesus, please don’t. The same goes for telling me your church/pastor/Jesus is awesome. I am also not interested in reading sermonettes, testimonials, Bible verses, or your deconstruction/ psychological evaluation of my life. By all means, if you feel the need to set me straight, start your own blog.

If you email me anyway — and I know you will, since scores of Evangelicals have done just that, showing me no regard or respect — I reserve the right to make your message and name public. This blog is read by thousands of people every day, so keep that in mind when you email me whatever it is you think “God/Jesus/Holy Spirit” has laid upon your heart. Do you really want your ignorance put on display for thousands of people to see? Pause before hitting send. Ask yourself, “how will my email reflect on Jesus, Christianity, and my church?”

and send me the following email. My response is indented and italicized. All spelling and grammar in the original.

Are you in the least a Nicodemus, wanting to know how to “see the Kingdom of God”/be saved/have eternal life/go to heaven? “…you must be born again”. (Jn. 3:3) Before you answer that answer this question, “how much did you have to do with your first birth? Correct answer, “nothing” (only answer that can truthfully be right). How much does any person have to do with their second birth?” Yes, it is the same answer, the only correct answer, the only answer that God’s plan of salvation and in creation that is possible, “nothing”.

Of course, I was a Nicodemus — a man who was born from above at the age of fifteen, called to preach a few weeks later, and pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years. I am not sure what point Longanecker is trying to make? That I “saved” myself? Nothing could be farther from the truth, as anyone who knew me would testify. That said, I would be more than happy to engage Longanecker in a discussion about what the Bible actually says about “salvation.” There are numerous plans of salvations in the Bible.

So where does that leave you with your supposed ability to have become a Christian on your “think”/belief/abilities, and your abilities to supposedly nullify, reverse, make something that God did as though it never occurred. For this to have occurred you would have to be able to do what God has done, make planets, DNA, prophecy, (try the challenge of Is. 40-46, if you have any abilities or wisdom that are equal to Almighty God, prophecy), incarnate from deity, die and come back to life.

Longanecker believes once a person is saved he can’t lose his salvation. Thus, the only possible answer is that I never was a Christian. If God really “saved’ me, it is impossible for me to deconvert. This kind of thinking reveals a lack of imagination of Longanecker’s part and a lack of understanding of the various soteriological systems. Arminians, for example, have no problem understanding my loss of faith.

Here’s what I know, I once was saved and now I am not. That Longnecker can’t square my story with his theology is his problem, not mine.

So, are you greater than God, you who make yourself out to be god, knowing what is true and what is not ?

Welp, there is no God, so, yes I am greater than God. Now, I don’t call myself God. That title is reserved for my wife. I worship her, especially when she feeds me. We do, however, believe in the Devil. Everytime our two youngest grandchildren, ages two and four, come over, we are reminded that the devil walketh about seeking what he may break and love. 🙂

You who got what being a Christian so wrong, we should listen to what you “think”, more than that which has been historically, archeologically and spiritually to be true, we should listen to what you “think”, over that which not just Nicodemus knew was obvious but millions upon billions of both “Christian” and pagans and secular and atheist and those from other religious persuasions that Jesus wisdom and miracles have effected billions around the world for their worldly benefit and eternal life.

I am just one man with a story to tell. All I can do is share what I think. Unlike Longanecker, I have an open mind, a willingness to understand and embrace the stories of others, even if they are different from mine. Longanecker, based on a quick search I did on his unique name, busily travels the Internet’s highways and byways preaching his peculiar version of Christianity. All I do is write. Longanecker came to this site of his own volition. He chose to read my writing. He could have meaningfully engaged me on one or more articles, but he chose not to. Instead, he disparagingly preached AT me. What did he hope to gain by taking this masturbatory approach?

Perhaps, Longanecker will read this post and respond. Perhaps he has a test I could take that would show me that understanding of Christianity is every bit as comprehensive as his. Time for a gospel dick showdown.

You don’t need to “rethink”, you need to repent of all your “thinking”. (Mt. 4:17)

Evidently, in Longanecker’s world, “thinking” is a bad idea. What he wants me to do is ignore what I “know” and just faith-it. Sorry, that ship has sailed. I’ve been to the Promised Land. Why would I ever want to return to the garlic and leeks of Egypt? Evangelicalism has nothing to offer me — literally. Well, I do miss the potlucks, but outside of that, Evangelicalism is the ghost of Christmas past.

Longanecker’s email has nothing to do with me. He has a pathological need to be “right.” What better way to fill this need than seeking out non-Evangelicals, atheists, and agnostics and preach AT them, letting them know they are w-r-o-n-g.

Saved by Reason,

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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