Shannon Davis, an Evangelical podcaster who goes by the moniker Omegaman, left the following comment on Bruce, What Do You Think of the Marjoe Gortner Story?:
Bruce, did you ever stop to consider you needed deliverance from demons? Hell is Real as is the Lake of Fire. At one point in your ministry did you realize you were operating in doubt and unbelief?
Surely Davis knows I am an atheist, and as such, I don’t believe in the existence of the Christian God. Further, I don’t believe in the existence of Satan, demons, spirits, angels, or anything supernatural, for that matter. I live in a material world, one best explained by reason and science. Granted, there is much we don’t know about Earth and the universe, so I can’t say with one-hundred percent certainty that the supernatural does not exist. That said, all I have touched, viewed, and understood is material, and not supernatural. If you object to my claim, please provide empirical evidence for the supernatural. Not personal testimonies or anecdotal stories; actual empirical evidence. If you cannot provide evidence to rebut my claim, then it stands until you do.
Am I demon possessed? Of course not, silly boy. There’s no devil/demon/spirit to possess me. Any possessed behavior is one hundred percent Bruce Gerencser. This is true for all of us. No Flip Wilson saying, “The Devil Made Me Do It.” Mental issues or brain abnormalities can and do cause “possessed” behavior and other irrational deportment, as can the overuse of drugs and alcohol, to name a few of the substances that can cause people to seem “possessed.” No exorcist, preacher, or Bible needed to understand this. Science and common sense give us everything we need to understand “possession.”
Besides, what in my behavior suggests to Davis that I am demon possessed? I am a well-adjusted sixty-eight-year-old man — my medical chart says so — with a plethora of health problems, including depression. I am, by all accounts, “normal” (however one might define “normal”). Maybe the mere fact that I am an outspoken atheist and a Cincinnati Bengals fan is enough to give me the “Possessed by Demons” label. Of course, no evidence will ever be provided to justify such claims. No, the Davises of the Christian world just know what they know cuz they had a warm fuzzy feeling in their “hearts” that tells them they are right.
Davis goes on to assert, again, without evidence, that Heaven and Hell are real. How can he possibly know this? Has he physically gone to Heaven and Hell and shot a feature-length video that shows the world the wonders of Heaven and horrors of Hell? That’s a rhetorical question, by the way. Of course not. The existence of Heaven and Hell are claims, for which Christians have yet to provide persuasive evidence.
Now to Davis’ question, “At one point in your ministry did you realize you were operating in doubt and unbelief?” Davis makes a false assumption: that there was a point in my ministerial career when I realized I was operating in doubt and unbelief. There wasn’t. My doubts and questions came after I pastored my last church in 2003. There were five years between my last pastorate and my deconversion in 2008. It was during these five years that I reinvestigated the central claims of Christianity and concluded they were false. It was Me and Jesus until the end.
Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen 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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Well obviously it’s the Bengals thing
My main issue with this whole supernatural claim, and whether it be gods, angels, demons, ghosts, or whatever, isn’t that it lacks evidence (which it absolutely does lack) but rather the problems that would be presented in the real world. People are dismissive of these problems, but just think it through. If demons exist such as would affect our behaviour then what about all the work done in the areas of psychology, neurology, mental health, and so on, none of which include demons in their studies. If demons were a factor then all the drugs and treatments out there would suddenly be rendered worthless, or certainly very much minimised. Indeed, if supernatural interventions were actually to happen then we would lose the ability to negotiate the world because we would never be able to rely on cause and effect, which is probably the most important consideration in our everyday activities.
Shannon: “Bruce, did you ever stop to consider you needed deliverance from demons? Hell is Real as is the Lake of Fire. At one point in your ministry did you realize you were operating in doubt and unbelief?”
Zoe: Shannon, did you ever stop to consider that there are no demons? That hell is not real and there is no Lake of Fire? Has there ever been a moment in your ministry when you realized you were wrong?