Earlier tonight, I received the following email from a drive-by reader named Brandon. Brandon read a handful of posts before emailing me. Brandon ignored my request to NOT send me emails such as his, and emailed anyway. Evidently, he lacks basic decency and respect for other people.
My response to Brandon’s missive is below.
Dear Bruce, I’m so saddened by your story. But it’s one of mankind.
Why be saddened by my story? I have been happily married to the same beautiful woman for forty-four years. We have six wonderful children and thirteen grandchildren. We own our own home, drive a 2020 Ford Edge, and own a 65-inch TV. We even have a cat. I am well-fed and own enough clothing and shoes to last me the rest of my life. My life isn’t perfect, but damn, Brandon, you gotta admit that I have it pretty good.
Now, if you were saddened by my health problems, I would understand. I am saddened too. Every day is a challenge for me. However, I suspect what saddens you is my atheism; my rejection of your peculiar God. I am quite willing to believe in your God once you provide sufficient evidence for its existence. Further, you claim that the Bible is the Word of God. You might even believe the Bible is inerrant and infallible. Again, once you provide sufficient evidence for your claims, I will believe. The same goes for the supernatural claims found in the Bible or your affinity for John Calvin’s gospel. Convince me, and I will believe.
You, of course, have provided no such evidence. Instead, you just want me to know that I am headed for Hell. You could have spent your opportunity convincing of the truthfulness of your claims. Instead, you preached AT me, condemning me to the flames of the Lake of Fire. Perhaps you think I know all I need to know, so there’s no need to share the “truth” with me. This would be strange since, according to Calvinism, God must give me eyes to see and ears to hear. Maybe this was the night God opened my eyes and ears to the glorious Calvinistic gospel. You wasted a golden opportunity to reach me.
Of course, I am being sarcastic. You have zero chance of reaching me for Jesus. Even “God” can’t save me. I am a happily unsaved, apostate, reprobate atheist. I’m confident that the only thing I will “see” after I die is nothingness. There is no afterlife, no Heaven, no Hell. Surely you knew that I was not a prospect for Heaven, yet you emailed me anyway. Why? Think about that for a bit, Brandon. Be honest. Your email is all about you being “right,” and not about leading a poor lost sinner to saving faith in Jesus Christ. Remember, God uses “means.”
You were never saved, nor was I who grew up in the church and had a similar story.
How can you possibly know if I am saved? For that matter, how can you possibly KNOW you are saved? Calvinism teaches that a person must endure/persevere until the end to be saved. Thus, no Calvinists can KNOW they are saved. For all you know, I am presently saved, God is chastising me, and will safely bring me to the end in grace. How dare you speak for God! 🙂
Surely you know it is a bad idea to judge others by our own personal experiences. I am not you. You have no idea who I am or what I have experienced in life, yet you choose to judge the sum of my life through the lens of your own life.
Let me quote you my favorite Bible verse: Answering before listening is both stupid and rude. (Proverbs 18:13)
You cannot and will not accept Jesus. He chooses you. You have no say in the matter, and you cannot reject Him. I was convinced I was saved until I realized I was not. We have no say in the matter. No matter what prayer you pray, how much you do, or how “good” you are, you cannot do a thing to make Jesus save you. I learned the hard way. I hope you learn too.
Sigh (Please see Why I Use the Word “Sigh.”) You do know that I was a Calvinist for years, right? I know the gospel you are preaching inside and out. (Please see the series Why I Became a Calvinist.) I am sure that you will find some way to “pick” at my story, hoping to prove that I never was a Christian. However, all the extant evidence suggests that I was a devoted follower of Jesus. You will search in vain for someone who knew me at the time that will say “Bruce was never a Christian.” Either I was a master deceiver, deceiving church members and colleagues in ministry, or I was, in fact, a committed Christian. That you cannot square this with your peculiar theology is not my problem. I once was saved, and now I am not.
He sends most of us to hell because He is a good and just and loving God. It is only His right, and His mercy and love that He even had Jesus die for a select few of us for His glory. It’s not about us, never has been and never fully will be. Man’s chief purpose is to glorify God in all ways, even if He does not save you, you will acknowledge Him, and you will glorify Him- either in His grace, or His justice.
There’s Calvin’s God in all its heinous glory. I hope readers will ponder Brandon’s words. It is just and loving for God to send sinners to Hell. I assume this applies to children, and infants too; and anyone who is not elect.
Think and read. May God be merciful upon you.
I have done all the reading I need to do, Brandon. Did you seriously believe your judgmental letter would enlighten me in any way? I hope you will think twice before arrogantly and self-righteously emailing strangers and telling them they are headed for Hell and na-na-na there’s nothing they can do about it. Do better, Brandon, do better.
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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In the spirit of your column about why you use the word “Sigh”… sigh, oh Brandon.
The paragraph of his that starts “He sends most of us to hell because He is a good and just and loving God” is like an MC Escher drawing of stairs that just turn back in on themselves.
shakes head Sigh
Brandon, do you make excuses for your evil little god-thing because you’re scared it might send you to hell if you don’t publicly defend its honour?
It reminds me of that meme where Jesus is standing at a front door and knocking:
Jesus: Knock, knock.
Unseen Person Behind The Door: Who’s there?
Jesus: It’s Jesus, let me in.
Unseen Person Behind The Door: Why?
Jesus: So I can save you.
Unseen Person Behind The Door: Save me from what?
Jesus: Save you from what I’m going to do to you if you don’t let me in.
Honestly? Every one of these fundies sounds the same. God loves you and will burn you forever, you can be forgiven no matter what, but it’s okay if you hide the fact you are a pedophile (implied), blah blah blah.
” A select few” of US. Indeed,how can Brandon know if he’s actually part of that group ? Some of his words ape that John Piper , who says the exact same thing- that man’s chief purpose is to glorify God. Maybe Brandon is a close follower of Piper’s. He sounds so much like him, that he appears to copy him in paragraphs.
He is. The first post he read on this site was a John Piper post.
‘….However, all the extant evidence suggests that I was a devoted follower of Jesus….’ Me too, and lots of us ex-true-believers here Brandon. I jesus-ed my socks off 24/7 for decades. Hubs and I were always the first to volunteer to run outreach, missions, sunday schools, soup kitchens, camps, retreats etc etc etc. And financially we gave till it hurt. Then I deconverted, for reasons Bruce blogs about, no evidence, god being conspicuous by his absence in a world full of pain, trauma and suffering etc etc. So my question to you, Brandon, is, why on earth did god allow us to go on for years and years, making all those false converts? He saw our ardent zeal, just one word from him and we’d have changed immediately to be the type of believer he wanted through those pearly gates and been delighted we brought so many ‘true believers’ with us to occupy those mansions in the sky. Nah, sorry, if he exists, he’s a barbaric cruel monster whom I won’t ever ‘serve’ again. To quote Bruce, ‘I’ve found the Promised Land, why would I want to return to bondage in Egypt?’
I think the most telling phrase from Brandon is “…the select few of us”. It doesn’t occur to him that he may not be amongst them, nor that maybe he has it all wrong, nor that maybe Islam is the one true faith. That’s the trouble with belief without evidence: you can believe whatever makes you feel best. I can’t help but feel that this is the underlying problem for Brandon and people like him. They feel as though they are losers in this world, or at least not the achievers they’d like to be, so cling to the idea of becoming a member of a select few in the next world as a form of personal psychological revenge on those they think feel superior.
Brandon’s God sounds like a child reveling in killing small animals because he can. Killing small animals just because one can (and not for a purpose like hunting fir food) is typically a sign of severe disturbance that requires intensive professional help. Brandon’s God needs help, and the fact that Brandon glorifies this horrible deity says a lot about Brandon.
exactly. this religion depends on fear, misery and ignorance.
Brandon is only sorry because he has to admit that people don’t have to agree with him to be happy.
“He sends most of us to hell because He is a good and just and loving God. It is only His right, and His mercy and love that He even had Jesus die for a select few of us for His glory. It’s not about us, never has been and never fully will be. Man’s chief purpose is to glorify God in all ways, even if He does not save you, you will acknowledge Him, and you will glorify Him- either in His grace, or His justice.”
a sick sad cultist.
Club–If all Brandon’s God cares about his his own glory, what makes him/her/it different from Donald Trump?
I don’t begin to understand Brandon. He says that he is convinced that he is NOT among the saved, so why is he still worshiping the god who is going to torture him for eternity, no matter what he does? Go, Brandon. Life your life, love your neighbor, try to do good and make the world a better place, without worrying about any gods at all. If you can’t change the destination, you might as well try to enjoy the ride.
Has anyone yet heard about this social media site, Gab.com ? It’s for the Brandon- types. Far- right hysteria. The mid-term elections are looming, and an aggressive ,even Fascist bent in this country can’t be ruled out if moderate Republicans and Democrats lose all these seats up for grabs.
“He sends most of us to hell because He is a good and just and loving God.” I… just… what?
Brandon, I doubt you’re reading this, but if by any chance you do I would very much explain how any evil I could possibly do in my mortal lifetime would justify an eternity of punishment.
And then — if, after considering that question, eternal punishment still seems “just” to you — I would like you to explain how Jesus could “pay the cost” for something that merits eternal torment by merely hanging on a cross for a few hours.
Because I tell you now, this makes no sense at all to me.