I am hopelessly behind on answering emails readers send me. I have emails dating back six months that I still need to answer. As I was quickly leafing through these emails, I noticed that many of them are from Evangelicals who wanted to share their personal testimony of saving faith with me, suggesting that if I met their God, their Jesus, interpreted the Bible as they did, or had the experiences they did, I, too, could become a Christian. With a quick wave of their hands, these believers dismiss my past and present experiences. You see, I have a personal testimony too. We all do. We all have stories that explain our lives. These stories may or may not be true. More often than not, they are an admixture of facts, misunderstandings, distortions, delusions, fading memories, and lies.
Generally, I take at face value the testimonies of others. If someone says that he is a Christian or that Jesus saved her, I believe them. I believe that they think they have a real, personal relationship with Jesus. That, however, doesn’t mean that I think their testimonies are factual. If Christians want me to, based on their personal experiences, become like them, then they must provide evidence for their claims. I cannot and will not take their word for it.
No matter how detailed a testimony you share with me — and believe me, I have had Evangelicals send me emails thousands of words long that go into minute detail about their experiences with God — I am going to have a lot of questions for you, starting with what evidence do you have for the existence of your peculiar God or the particular claims you made from the Bible? Quoting Bible verses is not enough. Verses are claims, not evidence. The Bible may be enough for you, but for atheists, agnostics, and other unbelievers, quoting words from a religious text will likely be unpersuasive.
If God, Jesus, Christianity, and the Bible give you purpose and meaning — fine. Awesome, Go with God. If you find personal peace and satisfaction through these beliefs, who am I to object? However, when you want me to abandon my worldview and beliefs for yours, you are going to have to do better than just telling me a subjective story. You say Jesus delivered you from ______________, but how can I possibly know that he did? Countless behavioral changes are attributed to the supernatural actions of a supernatural deity, yet when asked for evidence for such claims, Evangelicals often run to faith or say, “I know what I know . . .” And that’s fine — for you. But if you want me to join your merry band of Christians, it is going to take more than a personal story for which you have no evidence other than you believe it to be true. But, Bruce, look at what Jesus supernaturally did for me. Again, these are claims, not evidence. I have found that most supernatural claims can be easily explained away, and the few that can’t are not enough for me to abandon atheism/humanism for your peculiar version of God and Christianity. I will politely listen to your testimony, but I cannot and will not become a Christian just because you tell a good story.
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.
Connect with me on social media:
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.
I cannot imagine myself emailing someone just to try and convince them my views are the only correct ones. What goes on in these people’s heads?
I have a personal testimony about my journey away from evangelical Christianity which is very real and powerful to me but I don’t go around hitting Christians over the head with it. On the few occasions where I have been backed into a corner and responded with my testimony it’s amazing how quickly the conversation has ended.
And what is the New Testament but a bunch of personal testimonies, some of them delivered second, third, tenth hand?
Evidence huh? It’s the bugaboo of religion and all superstitions. Evidence being that which tends to prove or disprove truth or falsehood of material facts seems to me the single most important understanding for life in a society with ubiquitous manipulation. It’s simply what, and what not, to believe. I’d teach some form of it as soon as grade school. A basic understanding of evidence makes the difference between being easily led and healthy skepticism. Teaching evidence to children could diminish religion to the vanishing point in a generation. Perhaps that’s why it isn’t done?
It always amazed me how often my fellow congregation members would exaggerate, if not downright lie, when giving their “testimony”. Further proof that testimony is not evidence for God or a validation of Christianity.
I am embarrassed when I think of the “testimonies” I gave in my Evangelical church and in Bible studies and prayer and revival meetings. I told a few good tales, I mean lies, if I do say so myself. But interwoven with them were some true stories—of suicide attempts and other terrible experiences. I told my congregation that Jesus stopped me from jumping off the George Washington Bridge when, in truth, it was a friend : I called her from the nearest pay phone (remember those?)) i didn’t tell her I what I was thinking of doing: I just recounted the difficulties I was having after the then -recent deaths of my grandmother and uncle and the suicide of another friend (of whom I’ve written in a guest post). Turns out, I needed an actual human, whether or not she had a license to practice therapy, who understood or at least empathized.
About the only thing Jesus “saved” me from was living as the person I am.
Thanks for this, MJ…. I sure appreciate your presence… Thank Almighty Bruce for the platform you choose to speak and thank goodness you chose you to live. -brian
You ask the key question, and it’s a question I sort of ask myself: Why is your version of your God the right one? As sure as night follows day, if you ask that question of any Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, or anyone of any religious persuasion, they will reference their holy text. To which you can of course then ask why is yours better than someone else’s?
When x-tian, I knew folk who got worried that they couldn’t recount a dramatic conversion experience with a clear memory of the exact time and place when it happened. They felt second rate x-tians to those who could claim that, and got even more brownie points if they actually ‘heard God speak to them’ or somesuch. I knew some x-tians, raised in x-tian families who could never remember a time when they didn’t love Jesus. This was suspect in some circles.
Your last name wouldn’t be Wormwood would it? Sad this person is afraid or ashamed to actually say the word CHRIST.
“x-tians”. CHRISTIANS. name above all name JESUS CHRIST!
Yeah…um…
Fred, that is an incredibly perfect real life example to prove the point Bruce was amazing.
🙄🙄🙄
Jesus Christ, Fred. Give it a rest
“Christ” is a bullshit title, Fred. The Jesus of the Gospels only got “anointed” when the influencer Mary Magdalene smeared some overpriced moisturizer on his feet.
He certainly wasn’t anointed as an actual Messiah by the Jewish people, because according to the Gospels he utterly failed at doing the job of an actual leader – not only did he not liberate them, but he got himself killed by being an arrogant, narcissistic dickhead who thought he and his followers could take on the Romans.
And are you not aware of the significance of the “X”? It isn’t “X as in xylophone”; it’s the Greek letter chi, which looks like an X and is the actual letter used to spell “Christ” in the Gospels – which were written in Koine Greek – Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ.
Sheesh! Haven’t been up for an hour yet this morning, and already I’m educating believers on their own fucking scriptures. As Bruce Almighty is wont to say, “Sigh…”
” X-tian ” is merely shorthand for Christian, because one must type more letters otherwise,so it’s a matter of convenience,nothing more. Just calm down.
Of all the sucks that ever sucked in the history of suckdom, religion has got to be the suckiest suck of all.
It all started with Moses and that damn burning bush. I say we should redirect all military spending to the development of time travel technology. Then we can send somebody back in time with a couple of fire extinguishers to put out that damn fire. Then there will be no more need for a military budget and we can use the money for better things. Like making sure that everybody is properly fed, clothed, and sheltered. We can start with buckets full of peanut M&Ms and go from there.
I always felt loke an inferior Christian because I didn’t have a dramatic testimony to share. I had been raised in evangelicalism as a child and didn’t know anything different. I got pressure to make a profession of faith when I was 12. As one must in order to escape eternal damnation and torture in hell, I did so. I must have prayed the sinner’s prayer hundreds of times as a teen as insurance that I was really saved, and each time it felt lole such a relief, so it must have been real and the proper member of the trinity entered my heart. But which time? I don’t know, as they all felt the same – so was I truly saved? Ah, the life of an evangelical……
I have a brother-in-law who constantly screws up his life with the wrong women, meaning decent women who just aren’t right for him. Most recently, one of them charged him with abuse and stalking, for which he served a short stint in prison. After each incident with broken relationships, he becomes increasingly Christian. This most recent breakup, especially after release from prison, has been filled with social media posts about Jesus Jesus Jesus. It’s to the point that I don’t follow him on social media anymore because he’s so annoying. And has Jesus made him a better person? No, he’s the same judgmental, womanizing dickhead. My father-in-law became increasingly religious after his time in prison for fraud, and he’s become a MAGA dickhead. So I don’t see how any members of the trinity have helped these guys…..
OC – Do you think these two men have retreated into fundamentalist thinking because it shields them from confronting their own shortcomings and failures? It’s a painful thing to do, looking at your screw ups and trying to improve yourself. These men are now “saved by the blood of Jesus” and have the Holy Spirit, so how could those men ever be wrong about anything, or have to change their ways? They’ve lost an opportunity to become better people, due to their muddled thinking and lack of courage. The people I deeply admire are those who confront themselves and work to become truly good, honest and creative people. Bruce is definitely an example of someone who has done the grueling and lonely work of self-realization. Your relations certainly haven’t taken up their crosses and followed Jesus, for all their yakking and posturing.
Mr Gerencser,
I have a question not to be offensive either.
if one of your children or grandchildren accepted Christ and were called to preach what would you say ? how would you react?
Here’s my response:
https://brucegerencser.net/2024/04/bruce-what-would-you-do-if-one-of-your-grandchildren-got-saved-and-became-an-evangelical-preacher/
Thank you for asking.
Bruce
I suspect that I am not the only Christian that agrees with what I see as the central message of this post.
If you were to accept my beliefs as your own, simply because I told you they were true, a large part of me would be profoundly disappointed. Your intellectual integrity is appealing.
If I feel the touch of God in my life, I can expect that you will not accept this a proof, or even evidence. In fact, I can acknowledge that it may have other explanations. Am I recovering from a distorting trauma? Did I consume the wrong mushrooms?
The reverse is also true, I think. What is not evidence to you may be legitimately be felt as internal proof to me.
One example is consciousness. I possess self-awareness. I cannot prove it to you, Turing Test notwithstanding.
I came across a cartoon that amused me. A guru is asked by a supplicant:
“What makes us human?”
The wise one answers:
“Selecting all images with traffic lights.”
I really like this from your piece:
“If you find personal peace and satisfaction through these beliefs, who am I to object?”
I try to follow your good example in reverse.
We can wish more folks would join in that simple ethic, but it’s a free country.
I thank you for your frequent wisdom. I am a devoted (See what I did there?) reader.
Thanks, Burr.❤️