I used to enthusiastically preach that Jesus was hope for the hopeless and rest for weary. Unfortunately, for many people, Jesus, or I should say Evangelical Christianity, made them weary and hopeless.
What should have been a source of hope and rest turned into something destructive — so destructive that some people have thoughts of committing suicide.
It shouldn’t be this way. I am convinced that Jesus — real or not — is not the problem. I find nothing in the words of Jesus that would cause me to lose hope or have thoughts of suicide.
No, it is what the church has done with Jesus over the past 2,000 years that is the problem. God, Jesus, and the Bible have become tools of manipulation, control, and destruction.
I wish I could share with you the emails I get from people who are former, or trying to be former, Evangelicals. I can’t share them because I respect the privacy of those who email me. For some, my email inbox has become their confessional. I can tell you this: there are a lot of people who are hopeless and weary as a result of their immersion in the Evangelical Christian religion.
They often have no place to turn. In many instances, their families or spouses are still in the church. They desperately need someone to talk to, but they have no place to turn. They can’t go to their pastor — he wouldn’t understand. If they live in a small town, they can’t even seek out a local counselor because everyone will know (you would have to live in a small town to understand this).
So they suffer in silence. In the night they toss and turn and wonder what has gone wrong. Where is God? There is no God. Where is the God of hope? There is no hope. Where is the God who gives rest? There seems to be no rest.
Their thoughts turn to suicide. No, I can’t do that, I’ll go to Hell. Wait, there is no God, who gives a shit?
I want you to know that I give a shit. I have been where you are and some days I am still where you are. There are a lot of readers of this blog who know your story. They have lived it. They are still living it. They know the struggle you are going through — the struggle of a life of faith that has turned into faithlessness, a life of believing that has turned into unbelief. Maybe you are like the man in the Bible who cried “Lord I believe. Help my unbelief.”
I am not out to convert you to my cause or change you. It does not matter whom you worship, where you worship, what you believe, or what label you give yourself.
My desire for you is hope and rest.
For many of us, the Evangelical Christian faith has caused psychological harm. The wounds and scars run deep. All the attempts in the world to marginalize our feelings will come to naught. We know what we know.
It’s late . . .
I can hear the clock ticking.
Another night with no sleep.
I hear my lover snoring.
I think of our life together.
So much time wasted.
So much work invested in things that do not matter.
Years have passed us by.
God, we served you.
God, we loved you.
God, we worshiped you.
God, we left all to follow you.
Careers, ambitions, wealth, family . . .
All forsaken to follow you.
Only to find out it was all a dream, and a bad dream at that.
And so, in the still of the night, I reflect on the heap of my life.
What am I to make of all this?
Can I go on?
Will I go on?
I must go on.
God or not, there is a life to be lived.
God or not, I still must live as if I am dying.
Because I AM dying.
So much life yet to live.
So much life yet to experience and enjoy.
God is back on the shelf where he belongs.
Maybe I’ll dust him off again on my final day.
Probably not.
Until then, I will live morally and ethically.
Until then, I will love and hate.
Until then, I will walk the path called life the best way I know.
Without God, without the Bible, and most certainly without the church.
I still have hope.
My hope is no longer built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
My hope is built on the love and goodness of humankind.
These days, the only gods I see are my family, friends, and fellow humans.
I devote myself to these gods.
I worship them.
That’s enough for me.
I will leave eternity to another day.
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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Bruce, for what it is worth, this is why I read and contribute (hopefully positively) to your page. From the beginning I’ve sensed you are a good and decent person, and I believe you were as a Baptist Pastor as well, albeit working within the confines of evangelicalism.
I grew up in charismatic Pentecostal Christianity. I have fond memories of the adult men in Royal Rangers (a boys’ camping group) who became role models for me as far as how you treat other people in general. However, I do not ascribe to the religion, which in the words of the host of “Cults to Consciousness” is a high energy high demand religion. A lot of the weariness you describe IMO is due to several factors- the expectation of emotional enthusiasm for every worship service, the expectation of constant participation in multiple church events (and planning those events if you are in any leadership or support role), the rigidity of belief not just theologically but politically and socially. And a 1984-like soft surveillance and “correction with love” for those who may be thinking outside these boundaries. You are helping many who are in a religious and mental version of North Korea.
I think the weariness has nothing to do with Jesus and a lot more to do with our modern day American culture, where you must feel lazy if you’re not involved in 10 different groups doing 10 different things. Many parents feel weariness due to the modern expectations that their kids must be on select sports teams year around, with all the travel that comes with it. I also think evangelical Christianity is tied very closely with modern American “hustle culture”, because every good American should want to be a winner!
The Covid pandemic along with the aftermath of Trump is beginning to fracture this culture, and that has been long overdue. In the Gospels, Jesus mentions that he will bring rest to the weary. As a Catholic I believe this. Unfortunately his “church” (including my own) in the good old US of A has usually brought the opposite.
Thank you for sharing this Bruce.
I want to say bless you, in a nonreligious and respectful way. This was very good.