Over the years, I have received many emails and social media messages from Evangelical preachers, evangelists, missionaries, college professors, youth pastors, worship leaders, and everyday church members, thanking me for something I wrote that they found helpful. This is especially true for people affiliated with the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) church movement.
I find it gratifying when someone tells me that my writing helped them. Often, something I wrote helps them to see the light or the errors of Fundamentalist Christianity. Typically, such people hang on to the Christian moniker, choosing, in their minds, not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. And this is the point where their praise of my writing turns into Fundamentalist judgmentalism they can’t seem to shake. You see, I may have helped them, but I am still headed for Hell because I am an atheist. Until they abandon the doctrine of eternal punishment, I will remain, in their eyes, a good man who is going to split Hell wide open after I die. Not because of how I lived my life, but for one reason alone: I have the wrong beliefs.
Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 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.
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.
Want to Respond to Bruce? Fire Away! If You Are a First Time Commenter, Please Read the Comment Policy Located at the Top of the Page.