I was the pastor of Somerset Baptist Church in southeast Ohio for eleven years. The church had grown rapidly in the mid-1980s, but by 1988, attendance had declined, we stopped our bus ministry, and started a tuition-free Christian school for church children. To save the church money, I bought a 12’x60′ trailer for our family to live in, and parked it fifty feet from the church building. This was the first home that was ours.
One day, we found out that a stray female dog had gotten underneath the church building and given birth to a bunch of puppies. The dog warden picked the mother and her pups. We kept one of the puppies and named it Bear. This was long before my view on animal care changed. Bear was primarily an outside dog. He loved to run free, and since we lived in the country, Bear was free to roam the countryside. One day, Bear came home bleeding profusely from his head. I found out that the drug dealer up the road from us had shot Bear with a .22 caliber rifle. (His children tattled on him.) Fortunately, thanks to the small caliber of the bullet, Bear survived. If I remember correctly, the veterinarian bill was $120. Cheap, compared to today. Our vet charges $90 for an office visit. One of our cats recently had an eye infection. Cost? $194.
My young children witnessed all of this, including what happened next. Down the dirt road came the drug dealer in his car. In a fit of homicidal rage, I stopped him in the middle of the road, intending to beat the shit out of him. He was bigger than me, but that didn’t matter. He started to get out of his car as I was screaming at him. I was sure we were going to duke it out. However, because my wife and children were standing nearby, I stopped myself and walked away. At the time, I credited the Holy Spirit for keeping me from murdering my neighbor. Today, I know that reason overcame my irrationality; that the future beckoned me from the present. If I had acted on my rage, I would have either ended up in jail or left my children fatherless. If I learned nothing on that day, it is this: Walk away. Never let anger overcome me and determine what I do next. I have had to learn this lesson over and over and over again.
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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At that price it be cheaper to just finish them off. And if litter of kittens gas em.
Unlike you, I’m a kind, compassionate person. How a person cares for animals says a lot about them. You are in the serial killer category, asshole.
Revival Liars, I have had several cat companions through my adult life, and you are a cruel asshole if that is what you would truly do to kittens. I don’t know what happened to you in your life but please find a therapist (a good one) to talk to.
Seek mental health immediately, you obviously need it. It will help your anger here until Hell greets you and then don’t let the door hit you as the saying goes you sad Revival Fires evil pathetic being.
Revival Fires, you are one seriously sick individual!
Is this person 🤔 a real “revival fire” kind of person, or a troll just using such a name? Because he sounds more like a satanist.
Revival Fires is a born again Christian; a member of your family. He’s not special. I’ve dealt with scores of Revival Fires’ over the years. Just another vicious, nasty follower of Jesus.
My family is spiritual, not nominal. God looks at the heart, not the outer name. I’ve found followers of Jesus under many different names than “Christian”. Some names which some “Christians” would find “un-Christian”. Ye shall know them by their fruit.
We do judge Christianity by the fruit it produces. That’s one of the reasons we’re atheists, agnostics, and pagans.
People who are mean to defenseless animals lack compassion and character.
There have been atheist rapists, thieves and murderers, but I don’t consider them members of your family. Everyone is an individual.
Nice try. Most murders, rapes, and burglaries are committed by religious people. Same goes for people incarcerated.
Well no, that is not so…there are homicides, burglaries, etc. that happen each day, and it’s got more to do with drugs than with religion or atheism.
What I said is factually correct. I just read a study about this very issue last week. Are you saying drug users aren’t Christians?
Life is cheap to personality types such as Revival Fires. Animals are viewed as nothing more than a disposable commodity. Want to gauge the quality of a person? See how they treat the weak and defenseless.
-P.S. Revival Fires you are a disgusting human being.
I live in a town up in northern 🇨🇦 🍁 🇨🇦 🍁 Canada 🇨🇦 😎, and on my street, there have been shootings, stabbings, we’ve had over $2,000 worth of stuff stolen from our shed, and it’s all been drug/gang related.
Revival Fires, who are you really? There is no way 😕 that you can possibly know God and say such things.
Revival Fires’ behavior is not uncommon on this site. I delete most of his comments. That said, here’s a list of Jesus-loving Christians you might want to peruse:
https://brucegerencser.net/category/black-collar-crime/
The “they aren’t real Christians” or “such behavior is rare” arguments don’t play well here.
This is why I read Bruce’s site. I am not here to contend with Bruce or anyone else. I have my own struggles and imperfections that keep my conscience occupied.
Revival Liars is just an overt example of the true attitude of alot of Christians and religious fundamentalists in general. Trying to minimize their jackassery with claims that they aren’t “True Christians ®️” is ironic because most of these folks would make the claim that I myself am not a “True Christian “ because I don’t hold the right political views (I’m relatively liberal), I don’t attend a hip Yay-Jesus! Church with praise bands and light shows, some hardcore conservative Catholic-adjacent Calvinist/Reformed church (like Christ Church in Idaho which is Hegseth’s church), or in my own community, the Traditional Latin Mass.
I have also soured on using the claim that people like Revival Liars just don’t know how to “Jesus” the right way. I guilty of this myself, but I’m no longer going to make these arguments because it sounds smug and condescending on my part. Revival Liars is an asshole. He would be an asshole whether he was an atheist, Muslim or Buddhist. I have the capacity to be an asshole myself, so in a way Revival is really someone to use as a cautionary lesson for my own attitudes and behavior towards others.
I hope for a day where people can just live with one another. respecting their differences and personal journeys. One where ideas can be respectfully exchanged and discussed without resulting in hatred and oppression. Where the Christian will rush to defend the rights of the atheist and vice versa. One where disagreements are resolved through consensus building and not conflict. One where everyone feels accepted and included.
I understand that folks will not agree with everything I express in my comments, and that’s cool. I am still on my personal journey and I welcome the chance to hear other points of view.
To consume so much bad news is not good for the heart. For the morale. Best to guard your heart and focus on those things which are wholesome, of good report, lovely.
That’s why I don’t watch too much news. In centuries past, people weren’t bombarded with “news” which is usually negative. Like, for every crashed plane they report, thousands get to destination safely. But the focus is do disproportionately negative. We have so much depression out there these days, and I credit alot, if not most of it, to the negative vibes from “bad news”.
Well said, John!! I HEAR ya!
Disgusting comment deleted