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Dr. David Tee’s Apologetic Method: Accuse, Attack, Discredit

dr david tee

Fake Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, continues to write about me on his blog, even though he refuses to mention me by name. Today, Thiessen wrote a post titled Christian Counselors. He used my 2019 article titled Beware of Christian Counselors as the foundation for his post. Instead of mentioning me by name or properly linking to my article, he instead linked to a counseling site that I gave permission to republish my article.

As I read Thiessen’s latest screed, it dawned on me that the post provided a good example of his apologetic method. The subject doesn’t matter. Thiessen has used the same apologetic method in every post he’s written about me: accuse, attack, discredit.

What follows are quotes from his latest post:

Never feel bad about graduating from a Christian counseling program or even taking a few classes. The secular world never accepts anything that is remotely connected to Christianity, especially Evangelicalism.

….

How would pushing your faith and answers to the side help the persons needing counseling? It doesn’t. It is a technique used by unbelievers to hide from any truth and answers. They do not want God in the counseling room just like unbelieving scientists do not want God in the science lab.

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This is the core of the problem. It is that little word ‘objectively’ that causes a lot of problems for Christian counselors. The author certainly does not know what the term actually means or how it is applied.

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However, it must be noted that there is no such thing as true objectivity. Everyone is on a side. The unbeliever is on the side of evil and their perspectives are often skewed by their unbelief and the deception in their lives.

The Christian is on God’s side and often has the answers the people need. If the author wanted true objectivity, he would have to allow the fact that Christians have a perspective and that perspective is valid.

But he is not objective when it comes to Christian counselors. His bias against these people colors his perspective and leads him to trash people most of whom he will never meet or know. In his analysis and thesis of this topic, his bias is in plain sight.

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He is not being objective nor is he being honest. He only takes his experience and paints with a very broad brush. There are many good Christian counselors who know how to use their faith correctly when counseling others. They do not follow the demands of the unbelieving world and provide actual help to the afflicted.

Just because he could not do it, doesn’t mean others cannot. Just because he had no answers, doesn’t mean others do not have the right answers. His attack on Christian counselors, in general, is wrong and misleading. It also hurts innocent people.

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The Christian has the advantage as they know right from wrong and can effectively counsel the woman so that she sees that getting an abortion is not the right thing to do. The Christian, with God’s help, can easily counsel this woman and stop her from making a mistake.

The unbeliever can’t because they do not always accept the fact that the unborn child is truly human. They also do not accept what is truly right and truly wrong and replace God’s standards with their own. That is failing the client, not helping them. It is not great counseling either as it is done unobjectively.

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There is nothing wrong with this as the unbelieving way is not the right way to do counseling. The Christian has knowledge that the unbeliever does not have and they should be allowed to be employed where they want.

Also, the Christian has compassion and caring that unbelievers do not have Barring the Christian counselor from any job is discrimination and illegal but that does not stop the author from recommending that action.

When it comes to counseling, the Christian has far more answers and insight than the unbeliever has and if the unbeliever wants to be truly objective, they have to let the Christian and their perspective practice their counseling training and knowledge.

The unbeliever does not have all or any answers for hurting people.

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God knows the heart of men and women and who is better at arriving at an answer- the unbeliever who has their own personal preferences when it comes to counseling and doe snot know if the client is lying to them or not or where the truth lies? Or the Christian pastor who has God on his side showing him what is actually wrong with the person and providing the answer to the pastor?

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It is not up to the unbeliever to determine who can or cannot counsel and in what way that they counsel. Pastors are to obey God, not unbelievers. Spiritual answers are better than the many non-answers that unbelieving counselors give.

Plus, counselors are to provide the truth, not some theory or some false answer that keeps them coming back to the counselor for years of therapy.

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No, there are very few complex problems in this world. Most of them can be resolved if unbelievers accepted the fact that evil exists. But they don’t thus they are not good counselors, they are just people keeping others trapped in their problems.

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Pastors are not dangerous, it is the unbeliever that is dangerous as they try to hide the truth and the answers from people.

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This is not true and the bias of the author is clearly seen as he disqualifies people with the answers simply because they disagree with his religious viewpoint. He is not qualified to write this type of article because of his prejudice and bias against God, the Bible, and Christians.

There are a lot of personal statements made in that article that we will not deal with right now. Suffice it to say, that those topics came about for a specific reason or two. Maybe in the next parts, we will address those issues.

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This is the problem with going to unbelieving counselors. Their bias against Jesus, Christianity and the church has them robbing people of their faith. They are unqualified to handle spiritual problems or those issues that require faith building.

Everything the author said against Christian counselors applies to unbelieving ones as well. They are not qualified to handle spiritual problems. The unbelieving counselors make God, Christianity, the Bible, and its content the problem when in reality it is evil creating the problem.

The unbeliever cannot help the believer because they do not share the same beliefs or perspectives. One comes from sin, while the other has been freed from sin. When you open yourself up to unbelieving ideology and teaching, then your believing side suffers and you are separated from God eventually.

What the author failed to do in this article was be honest. He knew what the Bible says and he ignored it in his attempts to bash professional people who do not believe as he does. To do counseling correctly, one needs wisdom.

Thiessen has a simplistic worldview: I am right and everyone else is wrong; Christianity is right, secularism is wrong; non-Christians, especially atheists, have nothing to offer the human race. Theissen has spent most of his life immersed in Fundamentalist thinking. As time goes on, Theissen becomes more certain that he is absolutely right. In his worldview, there is no place for nuance, shades of gray, doubt, or honest differences of opinion. In fact, in recent months, Theissen has intimated that he is just like Jesus, in thought and deed; that his words and God’s words are almost identical.

Thiessen will continue to write about me. He has a pathological need to do so. And as sure as the sun comes up in the morning, Thiessen will continue to accuse, attack, and discredit. He has been doing these for so long, that it’s just who he is.

Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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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7 Comments

  1. Avatar
    Brian Vanderlip

    Thiessen is fixated on Almighty Bruce and probably spends more time thinking of him than of Jesus. Calling Thiessen’s worldview simplistic is very generous. It seems to this reader that the man is not very curious, simply not very bright. His rigidity is shallow, without nuance or color. He reminds me of a parrot, though parrots are more entertaining. At any rate, revealing scammers is necessary work and this blog has done a fine job of billboarding this quack so that fewer folks are misled.

    • Avatar
      GeoffT

      So much right wing commentary is pure opinion, but disguised as objective fact. The abortion debate is especially susceptible to this tendency. The forced birth approach is to try and pretend that science answers questions such as when personhood begins, or when something can be described as a human being, or when rights begin to exist, but the reality is that these are matters of philosophy, culture, and law, not science. Of course, once the forced birther admits this they realise that they become pro-choice, because that is the only rational approach to issues of philosophy.

      • Avatar
        Augustus

        Geofft, I would prefer the terms “biology” and “social science of law”, where you employed the word “science” in your post. Philosophy and culture are also fields of social science.

  2. Avatar
    Lee

    he does go doesn’t he? (a reference to Charlie Weaver’s humorous commentary “Letters from Mama”, more than 60 years ago.

    • Avatar
      Aylogogo77

      Oh my gosh I thought I was the only one who remembered Charley Weaver’s Letters from Mama! And yes, Derrick does go on, doesn’t he! My father was a big fan of Charley Weaver aka Cliff Arquette, and when my sister and I were kids he’d have us read one of the letters after dinner. The adults would crack up while us kids didn’t get the jokes at all, but we loved seeing our Dad roar with laughter.

  3. Avatar
    MJ Lisbeth

    “Dr.” Thiessen, like so many other dogmatic Christians, doesn’t actually believe that God, Jesus or the Bible are the ultimate authority. He and folks like him actually believe–or at least behave as if they believe–that they themselves are the ultimate arbiters of what is right or true, and simply use the Bible or whatever text to bolster their opinions.

    Come to think of it: He doesn’t cite very many Bible verses, let alone explain his assertions, in is posts. He simply says, in effect, “the Bible says…”

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