I love it when a new reader assumes that I am just an illiterate atheist who doesn’t know anything about the Bible. Typically, such people lack curiosity, so they don’t read my ABOUT page. Then I let them know that I was part of the Evangelical church for fifty years; that I spent twenty-five years pastoring churches in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. When told this, their arguments switch to questions about what I “really” believed or what hurt me enough to cause me to leave Christianity. Sometimes, Evangelicals, with a wave of their sanctimonious hands, dismiss my story out of hand, saying I never was a believer. What they never do is engage me on what the Bible actually teaches.
Sometimes, when confronted with posts by me that challenge their beliefs, Evangelicals dismiss me by saying that it is evident I have never read the Bible. I snicker when someone says this to me. I have read the Bible from table of contents to index numerous times — more times than MOST Evangelical Christians. Further, I spent 20,000 hours of my life reading and studying the Bible, reading countless (well, I could count them if I were inclined to do so) theological tomes in my studies. Years ago, a Christian school student walked into my study and looked at all my books, saying, “Preacher, did you read all of these books?” I smiled and said, “most of them.”
Recently, I bought an NRSV study Bible. I plan to re-read the Bible as time allows. I am interested in seeing how my thinking about the Biblical text has evolved over the past seventeen years. Granted, some atheists are illiterate about the core teachings of Christianity. Believe me, I find their pontifications embarrassing too. Atheism is not well served by apologists who are too lazy to study and understand that which they criticize. The good news is that many atheists are former Christians. We are not ignorant of what the Bible teaches.. Contrary to what Thiessen said above, We know the Bible inside and out — no Holy Ghost needed. We are living testaments to their false claim that people deconvert because they were poorly taught or lacking knowledge about the Bible. If you happen to think all atheists are stupid, by all means press your claims in the comment section. Let’s see who is stupid.
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.
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