Yesterday, I received the following email from an Evangelical woman named Melissa Lord. My response is indented and italicized. All spelling, grammar, and punctuation in the original:
I was raised in church, and I had no intentions, whatsoever, to becoming a Christian. However, when I was 25 years old, I did become a Christian and forward saved me. I totally understand you, because I have seen so much hypocrisy in my life, which is why the word of God tells us not to look to man, because who can no the heart because it is desperately wicked. I do not have confidence in men, because I’ve seen too much. However, I will have confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ until the day I die, because, while seeing so much hypocrisy, I have seen, and been friends with witnessed the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, in so many lives.
I read your article regarding Gus Harter. I knew of him, and a People that liked him. I met him, and wasn’t crazy over him from the first time I saw him. I did not see him as a pervert, but I did not feel any godliness from him. Satan knows the bible. Many, so called, creatures also know the Bible, and will get behind a puppet and try to preach, but with no fervency behind it.
I do understand you, but if you know the scripture, you would know “not” to pit confidence in any man. That is where people fall. We are to keep iur eyes on the Lord.
I know you said you left the faith, so maybe you’re an apostate, I don’t know. I can only hope and pray that you come to know the Lord Jesus, for yourself, and for the sake of your family. I know when it comes your time to die, and you will, that you, surely don’t want your children to see you die without the Lord. If you don’t believe, now, you certainly will immediately after death.
I will pray for you, and your children, as I pray for mine.
Sincerely,
Melissa Lord
You can read my response here.
I sent Lord a link to my response. Instead of commenting or emailing me, Lord messaged me on Facebook:
Message from the Lord #1
Message from the Lord #2
Message from the Lord #3
Message from Bruce Almighty #1
Message from the Lord #4
Message from Bruce Almighty #2
Message from the Lord #5
Lord, of course, wasn’t interested in engaging in conversation as equals. Oh no, God talks to her. She hears voices in her head and reads words written by God in a magic book called the Bible. When she was done preaching, God told her I was evil — a pig — and she was not to contact me further. And with that, Lord blocked me from messaging her. As I stated in my response, the only voice she was listening to was her own.
I have been dealing with the Lords of the world for seventeen years. Armed with certainty, they arrogantly think they are absolutely right. How do they know they are right? God told them. It is impossible to engage people who think like this. Lord doesn’t give a shit about me, my family, or my eternal destiny. I am a complete stranger to her. She knows little to nothing about me other than what she read in a post or two. Yet, she thinks she is more than qualified to render judgment on me as a person.
According to Lord, my two responses to her were “evil.” In what way? I challenged her ignorant, ill-informed belief that Christians don’t molest children. Sure, they do. They rape them, physically abuse them, sexually molest them, starve them, and even murder them. I have published over 1,000 stories in the Black Collar Crime Series. Every story is about a CHRISTIAN — mainly Evangelicals — who committed mostly sex crimes against children, teenagers, and vulnerable adults. Does Lord expect us to believe that none of these criminals was Christian? Child, please. Besides, the Bible records the criminal actions of a man after God’s own heart (David), a righteous man (Lot), and great “godly” leaders such as Moses and Abraham. Does Lord think David, Lot, Moses, and Abraham were unbelievers too?
Christian salvation is not a cure for bad behavior. Christians can, and do, do bad things — awful things. And, yes, Christians can do good things too. The same can also be said for evil pigs like me too. In fact, I suspect I live a better Christian life than most True Christians®. I know lots of “godly” atheists, agnostics, and atheists.
I directly challenged Lord’s belief that Jesus suffered horribly on our behalf. I hoped that she might think a bit about her claim. Did Jesus really suffer more than anyone — ever? Of course not. Sure, he suffered, but it was short-lived. Besides, we don’t know what happened after Jesus gave up the ghost on the cross and, according to Christian orthodoxy, descended into the bowels of the earth to preach and set captives free. Seems more than a party or church service than horrible suffering.
At the end of the day, I feel sorry for Lord. Having once been an Evangelical Christian and pastor, I understand where she is coming from. Her mind is so sotted with Bible nonsense that she cannot fathom being wrong or being anything other than what she is. As a result, as her messages show, her life has become an endless string of Evangelical cliches. Until Lord ponders the fact that she could be wrong — and she is — there is no hope for her. I could press her on any number of theological issues, but to what end? Lord knows what she knows, and no atheist stranger is going to convince her otherwise.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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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‘You don’t want your children to see you die without the lord.’ Same old, same old attempt to guilt trip. I was converted from a non-church background at the age of 13yo. A memory of my teenage years in x-tian youth groups, is of the guilt trip thing. I must witness and witness, cos if I didn’t, that person whom I could have told about jesus, might get run down by a bus that night. (Why was it always a bus that did for them?) They’d go to hell and it would be my fault. This was London and big red buses were two a penny, so I always had that in mind as I went to catch one home from church. I looked very warily around me in case one was out to get ME instead of that heathen I hadn’t witnessed to. Many years on and I rarely visit London now – but take extra care when crossing a London street, just in case…….!
Every time there is a Part Two I think . . . ugh. Nothing ever lands. Any response is always going to be seen as “evil.”
Crucifixion is horrible. Christs crucifixion, as described in the Gospels, is a ghastly story of mans inhumanity to man.
I watched the Mel Gibson movie version of it like many others, I found it to be awful, unless one enjoys the horrors of watching thugs beat a man almost to death and then crucify him. Frankly, I wish I had not attended. I have only myself, and that gutteral human predisposition to watch such horrors, to blame.
Which leads me to a couple of points:
First:
My understanding is, that after the slave rebellion led by Spartacus, thousands of those on the losing side were crucified on the Appian Way.
Of course Spartacus and his followers are not the only example. My understanding is that crucifixion was practiced
quite a bit in that era, although surprisingly, there seems to be some debate as to exactly how this horrible punishment was doled out. Jesus was not the only person to suffer this horrible indignity and death. Crucifion was not “exclusive to him”.
Second:
Just like you Bruce, most, if not all of us are interested in our origins, our purpose and our fate. So, my own opinion
as to the underlying reasons for the explosion of popularity in the region, of what we call Christianity, was a rejection of Roman Imperialism and the iron rule of of Roman administrators. I find the conditions existing in the Roman empire in the 1st century AD to be fertile ground for just such a cultural (and it was cultural) change of direction by the citizenry. After all how many citizens of the Roman empire enjoyed the “fruits” and how many citizens were chattel labor or slaves?
“Witnessing” is not exclusively for and by Christians!
Anyway, thank you for your site and sharing incredibly personal details. I am very interested in your and others, deconversion stories.
This poor woman doesn’t seem too bright to me. The spelling and grammar aren’t very good, and she seems most comfortable being told what to believe and do by people she considers to be authorities. She seems caught up in a “no true Scotsman” argument about whether abusers are real Christians or not. She seems content to live in the “certainty” of her brand of Christianity without examining it too closely. Anyone who challenges her is “of the devil” and should be blocked. How sad.
What the hell’s a so-called creature? Either it is or it ain’t. Straight thinkin’ don’t seem to be her strong point.
“Christians don’t molest children.”
Just like,’”In Iran, we do not have homosexuals.” (Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, 24 September 2007)
And Navalny died because he felt unwell after taking a walk.
Interesting how Christians marvel at the suffering of Jesus for an afternoon but fail to be appalled by the concept of never ending eternal torture sanctioned by their loving and compassionate god. No decent rational person can objectively consider this”punishment “ and not be sickened by this. This is monstrous and their complicity makes them monsters as well. Such a god does not deserve to be worshipped.
Spartacus, the real person, was a hero of mine. History didn’t have enough people like him. As for Hell, I always felt that it’s inhumane and overkill, I was never comfortable with the idea, though I don’t discount it’s existence,either. I have a hard time understanding anyone who thinks such a place is right to exist, to me it’s like saying that cancer should continue to exist and not be cured. That it serves a purpose, like sharks or parasites do. Certain very creepy people really get off on that concept,too. They WANT Hell to exist,and they WANT people to go there ! You see this in conservative sects throughout the Abrahamic faiths.
All I could think of was John Cleese in Holy Grail: “A blessing! A blessing from the Lord!” Yeah, you got blessed by “the lord” all right. All the suffering in this world right at this very minute and she is weeping on her couch at the thought of one dying man 2000 years ago. I can’t fathom it.