Yesterday, I shared with readers an email discussion I had with Larry Beer, an Evangelical Christian. Based on Larry’s search history, it is likely he is an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB).
Today, I received two more emails from Larry .
First Email
You can tell me to fuckoff or any word you chose, but I am still here in the presence of the God you believe does not exist and I love you as he loves all of us even though we do not believe it exists.
Love mean nothing when hate rules the mind and the heart you have found from others then you give back what they gave to you that you think is your love to expose hate?
You have the same unloving feelings of the Evangelists in your mind that you blame God changed them into yet you say God does not exist.
I am here any time you want to talk about why you do not like me even though I like you as my friend every minute of the day or night.
Second Email
Okay Bruce your totally right, there is no God or Satan to blame for our own desires and choices.
You gave the worldwide invitation on your own site; yes people gave you undeniable hate.
I do not see what you’re complaining about when you give back what you receive even to those who do not believe as you do you by you doing the same things you judge other for doing!
Yes you can tell me to fuckoff and ignore me that your own freewill choice, not mine;
When I was in a complete nervous breakdown and told I would end up in a wheelchair for the rest of my life guess what Bruce all that was healed by the same God you chosen to refuse to believe.
I know God is my judge for I know him by his love he gives to me and I tell you that is yours as well, what you do with that truth is your own freewill choice.
I will be here any time you can think Larry does love you because there is a God or why would I take the time to even go on your site.
No commentary from me. Larry’s words speak for themselves. He’s starting to sound like a stalker, someone who has a perverse understanding of “love” and “friendship.”
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.
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.
Passive -aggressive word salad. I couldn’t put up with his crap.
“I will be here any time you can think Larry does love you.” Aack, the creep/stalker tone is pretty strong right there! Shudder. 😳
Karuna—An abuser of mine used those exact words when he stalked me after I broke up with him.
MJ – That’s pretty disturbing! Hope it’s left no long term trauma for you. You’ve had more than enough to deal with over the course of your life. You know, the only man who’s ever stalked me was from my church. I had forgotten all about that sick man until I started writing this reply to you. Happened to a sister as well – another church and another stalker. We both were ultimately okay, but it really shook us both up while it was happening. 🙁
What an effin’ creep!
And if a nervous breakdown threatened to put him in a wheelchair, I suspect it was a functional disorder rather than an organic one such as a spinal cord injury. (As such it would respond to something like prayer, which would be a psychological cure rather than a magical one.) Good thing it worked for him, but I do wish he’d MHOFB and STFU.
I’m sure he wonders why the bullshit he’s flinging isn’t doing what he was expecting.
Well Larry, when you throw shit, people don’t like it.
What a tool.
Who is he kidding? He doesn’t know you, and he certainly doesn’t love you. Also, I feel like I could compose a standard rebuttal to these Christians, and save myself keystrokes, as each one acts similar to all the others.
Ummm 😳😳🧐🧐🙄🙄🥱🥱
Love must be pretty cheap when you can express love for someone you do not know.
What is it about these fundies and their butchery of the English language? I say if you’re going to insult someone, at least have the decency not to do it with run-on sentences.
Jen, I was thinking the same thing as I read “Larry’s” words.
I think that folks like him simply can’t express themselves without the Bible—or whatever their pastors or Sunday school teachers told them about it. And even in the best English translations, the Book is full of stories that contradict each other or simply don’t make sense, expressed in archaic, convoluted, stilted language.
In other words, without their “script,” so to speak, they have no language—or, more precisely, any idea of how to use it. Plus, being a Fundangelical seems to destroy a person’s desire to learn anything else, including language—if indeed the person had it in the first place.
A lack of education is certainly at play here. How can you write well without proper training and good reading skills? I also suspect that, knowing how a lot of Americans eat, that bad nutrition also plays a big role in their muddy thinking.
Larry: “When I was in a complete nervous breakdown and told I would end up in a wheelchair for the rest of my life guess what Bruce all that was healed by the same God you chosen to refuse to believe.”
Zoe: Next? The miraculous healing testimony.
Poor Larry doesn’t have anything better to do than stalk Bruce and compose run-on sentences. Using punctuation properly is a key to effective communication, so Larry’s lack thereof creates an uphill battle. Additionally, he doesn’t seem to understand how to accept no for an answer.
Bruce said: “What is it about Evangelical Christianity that turns some believers into vile, hateful people?”
This is one of the few really great questions that rest in my mind as well. However, instead of “some believers,” I would have been more inclined to say “so many believers” instead. When I was a regular on the old John Pavlovitz blog, when he still allowed comments, professing Christian Fundamentalists and Conservative Evangelicals were easily the most hateful of the many tens of thousands of people who regularly followed that blog. Most of them showed up to tell John that he was not an authentic Christian because his blog’s main thrust was not about evangelism, the sinners prayer, and supporting the fundie side in the so-called “culture wars.”
What is it about Evangelical Christianity that turns so many believers into vile, hateful people? And when you have the courage to call them on the carpet for it, why is it that the carpet caller is the one who gets accused of being the “hateful one” ?
Miss ya on FB ol’ friend… hope you are well!
I grew up Catholic in a golden age of US West Coast Catholicism. Vatican II had had happened not all that long ago, the liberal priests and nuns were looking forward to a great opening up of the religion, and at least in the churches and schools I attended, they preached real, sustained love for everyone, a love that was a goal to work toward with the help of God, and you expressed that love by being concerned for their physical wellbeing, their kids’ safety and quality of public education, you might march for equal rights for People of Color or to bring attention to the terrible situation of most farmworkers, maybe you chain yourself to a nuclear missile silo gate and get arrested to protest the proliferation of nuclear arms. At work and school, you showed God’s love by treating everyone fairly and practice kindness and generosity, to every person, not just the people in your religious circle. If you show God’s love, you shouldn’t need to preach God’s love.
As a theology goes, it isn’t any more vapid than any other, and boils down to what I think of as Christian Humanism. (Some other entity might have claimed that label.)
So, yeah, there’s a kind of love you can have for your fellow humans that can happen in the abstract, without knowing them. It sure as hell isn’t the kind you can express by stalking someone, and sensible people understand that telling strangers they love them does not make a case for any kind of truly loving deity. It makes for capturing communications and creating an evidence file.
Apologies for the lead-in run-on. Distracting discussion happening elsewhere in the house.
I love Statler & Waldorf.
Regular readers who see this graphic know the post is about an email or comment from the Evangelical peanut 🥜 gallery. 😇
“When I was in a complete nervous breakdown and told I would end up in a wheelchair for the rest of my life guess what Bruce all that was healed by the same God you chosen to refuse to believe.”
but this god does fuckall when it comes to visible injuries and sicknesses. Larry just lies and no amputee or burn victim gets healed.
Yep. I have a long list of health problems God could take care of. Just choose one ☝️ Jesus, heal me, and I’ll believe. Gastroparesis? Fibromyalgia? Degenerative spine disease? Herniated discs in my upper back? Just choose one oh mighty son of God! Supposedly, nothing is too hard for Jesus, right? 😈😈
Well, all these Christians need to do is practice their faith healing. One day in a hospital should convert a big number of people to Christianity and could help make the need for a burning Hell unnecessary. Of course, how could we worship a god willing to burn finite humans for eternity anyway?
Larry sounds a little creepy.
Yep. Sadly, there are a lot of Larrys who stop 🛑 by to evangelize me, berate me, threaten me — their ill-bred behavior is endless.
I just read a bit of your story on your blog. I’d love ❤️ to post your latest article on my blog if that interests you. Regardless, you have a new follower. 🫥🫥❤️❤️
Hey Bruce, yes, that would be great. Thank you!
Absolutely! I would love for you to post something from my blog. Thank you, thank you!