Dr. David Tee, an Evangelical preacher whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, mounted his blog pulpit to opine about my use of narcotic medication for chronic pain. Thiessen’s post is in response to Will the War on Chronic Pain Sufferers Ever End?:
We were at the BG website the other day and we read a big whining article about his need for opiates to control his pain. However, he was whining about the rules that govern the usage of opiates and he did not like them.
As usual, he wanted people to break the rules for him and other opiate medication needing pain sufferers. However, he knew the rules and he should not whine. it is life. Governments have a moral responsibility to regulate medications so they are not abused.
He does not like that either but the government is supposed to exist to protect people from themselves among other things. We had a guy like this in Korea. He fought hard tp [pass a law that all NETs had to have a clean criminal record history in order to teach in the country.
We fought against him but his side won. The next thing we read in the Korea Times is an article about his whining that his criminal record, as slight as it was, should be given a pass even though his advocacy led to many people losing their jobs.
He whined about having a family to feed, etc., yet he could no longer teach. He only has himself to blame as he is one of those people, like BG who think their personal circumstances allow them to violate the rules. While everyone else has to follow them.
My post was about how the government is presently waging war against people with chronic pain; how following the rules left me without pain medications for almost five days. I wasn’t whining, I was shouting. Thiessen shows no sympathy or compassion for me. “Just suck it up, BG, them’s the rules.” Spoken like a True Fundamentalist, always following rules.
Thiessen says that I asked people to break the law for me. I most certainly did not, and I can find no evidence that remotely justifies his claim. I have had a handful of readers offer to help me pain-wise over the years; people willing to commit a crime to get me what I need (This is the third time in recent years that I have had to go through withdrawals due to pharmacies not having my medication.) I always say no, save for the time a reader sent me some Kratom and CBD products. I have never asked someone to break the law for me. I would never knowingly risk the freedom and economic security of others just for pain relief.
I am, however, quite willing to break the law myself, and that’s exactly what I did on Thursday. We drove to Michigan to check out a cannabis store. We had a delightful time, both driving through Amish country and perusing the store’s products. The staff was helpful, suggesting what works best for nausea and chronic pain. I bought $120 of gummies and prerolls. So far, the marijuana has helped with my pain and general flu-like feeling from narcotics withdrawal.
It is government that necessitated me to break the law. There’s no reason that government at both state and federal levels couldn’t immediately legally legalize pot. I had to choose between dark suicidal thoughts and using an illegal drug I knew could help reduce my suffering (which was affecting my mental health). I chose the latter. I regret to inform slippery-slope believers: no, I am not already hooked, and no I haven’t already moved on to cocaine (the two things Evangelical preachers often tell youths about marijuana.)
I am an advocate for chronic pain sufferers. I use my stories about experiences with pain and suffering to encourage people who are in pain and to demand government action on better treatment of chronic pain sufferers. I want good laws, effective laws, not laws that foster unnecessary pain and suffering. Of course, Thiessen doesn’t care about any of these things. He is a member of a religious cult that glorifies suffering. Get saved, die, ascend to Heaven, no more pain, stop whining. Of course, none of this is true. As a humanist, I believe this present life is the only one I will ever have. Death is stalking me, and it won’t be long before he catches me. And then, that’s it. I will be turned into ashes and strewn along the eastern shore of Lake Michigan. Why in the world would I not try to find things that will help me physically — even if it meant breaking the law? Less pain means I can be more active and productive.
Or it could be that Derrick Thomas Thiessen lacks the ability to empathize with others; to truly be loving and compassionate. And Thiessen despises me, so in the Good Samaritan story, he’s definitely walking by my bloody body along the roadside, pausing to say “stop whining” as he smugly, self-righteously walks away.
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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I’m happy you were able to find help. Take care ❤️
Thiessen quickly responded:
“We did not expect BG to respond so quickly to what we said in our last post, and we cannot let what was said go unanswered.
I am, however, quite willing to break the law myself, and that’s exactly what I did on Thursday.
iI is this confession that destroys any credibility or authenticity BG thought he had. Anything he has published, is publishing, or will publish is now non-credible because he willfully admits to breaking the law.
Nothing he says can be taken even at face value because he thinks he is above the law. In our ethics and other theological classes, we discussed situational ethics and many people advocate for them.
However, situational ethics does not exist and the end does not justify the means. This type of behavior only opens up a can of worms that ruin society. Breaking the rules is not okay unless you are obeying God’s commandments.
We obey God over man when man’s laws contradict what God wants us to do. Getting opiate pain medication through illegal means is not obeying God no matter the situation.
My post was about how the government is presently waging war against people with chronic pain; how following the rules left me without pain medications for almost five days. I wasn’t whining, I was shouting. Thiessen shows no sympathy or compassion for me. “Just suck it up, BG, them’s the rules.” Spoken like a True Fundamentalist, always following rules.
We would probably have more compassion for BG if he did not attack us at every turn. But what we focused on in our post was that the government is not waging war on chronic pain sufferers.
The government has the right to regulate pain medicine, dosage, and more. That is why they are the government. Now we are not saying the government is always right but in this case, controlling opiate medication is essential to protect people from themselves.
Just because BG fell through the cracks a few times does not mean the laws governing opiates are wrong. It is only wrong in BG’s mind because he is being deprived of the medication he feels he needs.”
….
https://theologyarchaeology.wordpress.com/2023/08/12/a-postscript-2/
He has no right to complain of anyone else breaking the law, given his history.
Hey “Doctor” Tee, here’s something for you- “and Jesus said judge not lest ye be judged, condemn not lest ye be condemned. For by the measure ye judge so shall ye be judged.” Or something like that- probably not an exact quote. Someday you will be in “BG”’s (why not just call him Bruce, that’s his name?) condition, and I am pretty sure you will be begging for someone to help alleviate your pain. I suffer from occasional back pain and I can only imagine the pain Bruce’s condition subjects him to. My guess is that you’re also anti abortion on grounds of compassion. Compassion is not a bad thing, but if you limit your compassion because of the law your are not following Christ, you are instead making government your “god”. Why not begin the amending of your life by wishing Bruce a reduction of his pain, encouraging him, etc? You can engage those you don’t agree with respectfully but most importantly also acknowledge the humanity of everyone. These petty religious disputes have a way of stripping away your humanity, which I believe is why Jesus came down so hard on the Pharisees.
Derrick Thomas Thiessen: When a man turns away from his progeny and hides his legal name to flee his obligation, what choice does he have? Missionary work overseas! How many marriages, Derrick Thomas Thiessen? How many abandoned children, Derrick Thomas Thiessen? How many names are included in your ‘we’?
Jesus has sure worked wonders on you, Derrick, truly miraculous wonders… Or is it wanders?
I have in the past taken you to task for using ‘we’ all the time when it is clearly ‘I’ that is speaking in your statements. But you use ‘we’ for a good reason, don’t you: So that you can continue your personal denial in using whatever name you feel like using at a convenient time. Use the Doctor name for social status, some other name to avoid supporting your own children and other names when blogging. We (the readers, plural readers of this blog) are not so easily able to malinger in denial with you, sir.
What do you preach, Doctor, concerning a father’s obligation in love to his wife and children? Do you preach that he must pray until God gives him the answer he wants and he can run away (again)?
The danged thing about erring, Derrick Thomas Thiessen, is that it creates a warp in our life trajectory that brings us back and around to the error, back and around, back and around. That’s a human phenomenon you don’t avoid by joining a church or believing you are ‘saved’. If the errors of your life are wiped clean in salvation, why do they line up in front of you when you go to bed at night? Why do you repeat your ‘sins’?
A man called Jesus is said to have suggested that you love not just whom you naturally choose to love (like, for instance, one’s own children) but also love your ‘enemies’. Fundamentalism in religions turns that statement on its head so that ‘love’ can mean whatever the heck you like… It can mean physically beating up men, women and children. It can mean fathering children and abandoning them. It can mean stepping over hungry people while you get to your Sunday morning church service. It can mean lying about your identity and running all over the world to escape. But you have not escaped, Derrick Thomas Thiessen. Pick a name, any name… it matters not, daddy. The mote in your eye must be removed first… that’s a human reality.
Then you can begin to see clearly.
Well said, Brian!
In my experience, people who tell others to “suck up” their pain are experiencing little or none of it themselves. And those who tell people that pain is “God’s way of testing “ then are making the most selective or warped reading of Scripture—or are wholly ignorant of it.
On a somewhat related note: I don’t know whether to laugh, cry or cringe when a man who abandoned spouses and families in two countries excoriates another man who has remained married to the same woman for 45 years, remains close to his children and grandchildren and faced the truth, as he understands it, about something to which he dedicated the majority of his life.
May I suggest, David Tee, that you have never been in serious, unmedicated pain over a long period, for which it was not possible to get prescription pain medication? Like Bruce, I have. Like him, I am not an addict, but I do suffer from chronic pain.
I can only say that Mother Teresa and her ilk were/are more than a little nuts. As an agnostic, I don’t believe in suffering drawing me closer to Jesus. I just want enough of it to go away so that I can function. I have zero compunction about mail-ordering what will help do that, to have them available when prescriptions run low on a weekend. That may be not quite legal, yet, in my state. Do I care? No. I don’t believe in “sin,” in the way you do, fortunately. I’m just happy to be able to get out of bed.
Bruce: “We drove to Michigan to check out a cannabis store. We had a delightful time, both driving through Amish country and perusing the store’s products. The staff was helpful, suggesting what works best for nausea and chronic pain. I bought $120 of gummies and prerolls. So far, the marijuana has helped with my pain and general flu-like feeling from narcotics withdrawal.”
Zoe: So good to hear you are getting some relief.
Derrick Thomas Thiessen appears to be trapped in a delusional fantasy of his own making in order to disassociate from his own reality. I wonder about the roots of his pain.
Gods below, what a sanctimonious ass. My completely atheist measure of bad behavior is, did it hurt someone? Bruce bought THC-containing OTC meds in a state where they’re legal. How the heck could that hurt anyone? Now leaving them out where a grandkid could get high, that would be wrong, but Bruce and Polly wouldn’t do that.
Do some jumping jacks
From D&D describing the lawful evil alignment : “Obviously, all order is not good, nor are all laws beneficial.”
I’d gladly send you the pills you need and are prescribed with the caveat that you return the same when you are able to get your prescription filled. I’d do this for the same reason heroes to humanity broke the law to harbor Anne Frank. I don’t agree with the government’s indifference to people with chronic pain, and I’d gladly fudge the rules if the end result is a benefit to the greater good.
As for Dr. T… Well my ass sometimes makes interesting noises, but I don’t think they (or Dr. T) are worthy of reporting.
Derrick Thomas Thiessen is useless. And he knows it. He can only hope that his flock follow his teaching and expect everything to somehow be okie-dokie once they die and go to “heaven.” But when it comes to the life we’re in, here and now, oh well. And you’re so right about how fundies make a fetish of rules. Who wrote these laws anyway? Really worth examining. The laws are clearly not based on compassion. Just punitive authoritarianism and more than a little racism.
Hope whatever you choose to do regarding your pain will continue to work.
The conundrum is why he is so interested in Ben’s and Bruce’s blog? A blog post like the Friendly Atheist could garner hundreds or more responses. A jealous troll like Dr. T would quickly get lost in the cacophony. But a smallish size blog can deliver the attention he so desperately craves.
Bruce, I am glad you live close enough to Michigan to get what you need to help you ease some of the pain. You did the right thing. Christians often appeal to “higher” laws when it suits their needs – when the law of the land is in conflict with their religious beliefs. Those of us without religious beliefs examine laws in terms of their merits – how they help or harm humans, animals, the earth, etc. Dr Tee is one of those people who will probably bend the rules for himself but will condemn others who do the same – at least, that’s how he comes across in his writings. He seems to have no compassion.
Ah, so Tee Hee is at it again ? He has too much time on his hands,pestering people about their medical choices. Near as I know, no laws were broken by driving to Michigan. And although Tee Hee did abandon his wife and kids- they’re better off without him in their lives. He’d be busy oppressing them,feeling entitled to do so. Of course, Big Pharma is why it’s hard to get the medication,even muscle relaxers, that patients need. There’s lots of profits in these drug policies. Tee is a waste of space, a waste of air. A total boob. I feel bad for Filipinos and Koreans putting up with him. He’ll wind up wrecking their lives,if he hasn’t already. Another loser missionary making problems overseas.