The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser

My Religion is True, Yours is Not

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Bruce Gerencser

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want truth read bible

All of us should be skeptical of not only the beliefs of others, but our own. Sadly, many of us are only skeptical of beliefs different from ours. Put a Mormon and Evangelical in the same room for a discussion, and both of them will claim that their beliefs are true. Evangelicals quickly point out the “errors” in the Mormon worldview, but when the same skepticism is applied to Evangelical Christianity, they deny that there are any errors or contradictions in the Evangelical worldview. Evangelicals will point out all the crazy things Mormons believe, but when it comes to young earth creationism, Noah’s flood, the tower of Babel, a talking snake and donkey, or a virgin birth — to name a few — Evangelical beliefs make perfect sense, or so they say, anyway. Evangelicals cannot or will not rationally examine their beliefs in light of other religious worldviews. They claim, without evidence, that the Bible is the very words of God, and whatever it says is inerrant and infallible. These claims cannot be rationally sustained.

Just because Mormon beliefs are irrational doesn’t mean Evangelical beliefs are not. Every religion must be judged on its own merits and claims. While I have not investigated every religion known to man, I have carefully examined the Abrahamic religions, and I find them to be intellectually lacking. I haven’t heard a new or original argument for the existence of God or the exclusivity of Christianity in years. In fact, I have concluded that no new arguments will be forthcoming. Either you believe or you don’t. I don’t, and until persuasive evidence is presented to me, I will remain an unbeliever. If that means Hell after I die, so be it. However, I am confident that there is no afterlife, so I have no fear of spending eternity in the Lake of Fire.

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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6 responses to “My Religion is True, Yours is Not”

  1. Avatar
    Brian Vanderlip

    Greetings Bruce et al, I have been challenged in the last years to reassess my movement away from Christianity as more and more of the Middle-East is ravaged and I lose humanistic expression in dealing with the genocide, or, more truly, the modern day holocaust of Palestinians. I had mostly felt that my way of being at 73 years old had for the most part removed hatred from my heart but Israeli savagery, especially live-streamed has shown me how shallow my understanding has been: I hate Israel now and regularly publicly state that I believe it was mistake in ’48, a diabolical construct of Herzl Zionism that was doomed from the start as it inherently takes an ethno-supremicist stance and makes the holocaust narrative an eternal ‘victim’ tool to be used as a hammer on Germany and all humanity. While Germany continues to pay reparations to Jews for WW2, Israel gulps the gargantuan American sugar-slushie of ‘aid’ from USA and plunges forward in the Greater Israel Project, a project of bombs and thievery in every direction, making war with various neighbors while continuing its Zionism (reality on its head) and crying “Victim! HAMAS, antisemitism” and all the rest. And now Trump is being called a genius by Naomi Klein for bringing the ceasefire of October 2025, a ceasefire that even an old Canadian man, without political station, knows is the same lying plot as always. Netanyahu has no intention of peace and will barely pause his barbarity long enough to restock his American-made 2000 pound bombs to wreak more havoc in the world. I have been rereading the Sermon on the Mount and so when the president of the United States used a phrase from it in his blog, I realized again how great my hatred has become now. “Blessed are the peacemakers?”
    Are you fucking kidding me, you warmonger plop of cow-shit? Reality on its head. Orwell will never be just fiction again and we are hurtling into dark times called MAGA or whatever bullshit America sucks through the straw of Untruth. One of the dangers, a somewhat new one, is AI of course, because it is getting so good at deceiving the eye. One might say that the sudden explosion is its use is really the result of our desire to be lied to… 2+2=5.
    So, here I am, reading the words of Jesus and yet rejecting the movement known as Christianity… I have always been here, I think; perhaps less aware of my leaning on ‘the fence’. Christ had a damn good day on the Mount overlooking the Sea of Galilee… If only the wisdom of his words could be embraced instead of the man who said them. I hate Israel now. The hill of Beatitudes is not in ISRAEL, the made-up Rothschilds zone of stolen lands. The Sea of Galilee is Palestine but why does that matter… What matters is ‘deeds’ and what Israel has been doing essentially since the NAKBA of the gangs of ’48, is displace and kill, impose apartheid and punishment. The so-called Synagogue of Satan rises into vision as it pleases. Is Satan real or are we humans making ourselves Satan, desiring lies over truth, profiting from making bombs and letting Israel toss them like cancer-confetti over humanity… One thing feels fairly sure in my heart and head: Jesus would weep watching those who say they are his, remain silent or actively support the savagery of GAZA. He may have come to fulfll but he is an idol owned by Zionism now in much of the USA. Putin sounds more Godly than our preachers. The Chinese speak with clearer vision of the world than close to one hundred percent of Congress under AIPAC. They tell plain truth about the United States of Israel. They ask us to simply do our own research. Who has made war and proxy war over the last century? America. And many people in Alberta, Canada where I now reside, want to join you. Please let us attend THE LIE we desire or we might have see some truth. Jesus may have said ‘follow me’ but the man was poetry on legs. He wanted us to read the poetry, follow the metaphor, not idols. Whether or not the Metaphor is resurrected in America is about ‘you’ and not some blowhard polititian. ‘Are you a believer?’ What the hell does that even mean today? Or would you say, ‘I know the Lord Jesus Christ, my personal pizza!’ Cuz that’s how it often looks.
    Some Jews in Jerusalem spit on Christians they pass in the street. This is a very direct expression, without ecclesiastical diplomcy you might say. Something about the belief disgusts them… me too sometimes. To stomach Christianity I banish it until I hear the words of Christ. Those words are poetry and lead me to try to become more human and the human I become the more I find myself shying away from Christianity. Still, my penchant for hatred, now so focussed on Israel, is a humbling reminder of how shallow I become and how quickly. The one thing Naomi Klein says that I can agree with is somewhat akin to Lennon’s lyric: All we are saying is give peace a chance. I have to use a mirror more when singing along, I guess.

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  2. Avatar
    Jeff Bishop

    Speaking only for myself –

    Bruce you are far better versed on the Abrahamic religions than I ever will be.

    I would suggest one of the great fallacies of these and (all) religion’s, and proof they are untrue and unreliable, is there fractious, disputed, interpretations, of the few ancient texts available. Truly, if there was a “God” with the powers these religions claim, the supposed creator of the “heavens and the earth”, would have made sure, and delivered the “miracle” of a concise, universal, consistent message, in all languages, both in writing and via “messengers” to all living humans EVERYWHERE around the globe.

    I lol that people who claim that “The God” maker of (at minimum) two TRILLION galaxies, could not do this.
    This one issue, for me, completely debunks any and all claims as to the existence of “God” or “Gods”.

    I came to this conclusion rather early in life. Thankfully I was not “indoctrinated” into one of the American “Cults”.
    Tempted, yes, when I was 15, I was saved at Pensacola Christian summer camp. But I was never fully vested.

    Around the same time I started reading the Time Life series on the creation of the solar system and more importantly the concept of Hominid Evolution on planet earth, (with the iconic illustrated chart of the straight line progression of human evolution) and becoming incredibly interested in what LSB Leakey and his wife Mary were digging up in Africa. Then I stumbled upon Carl Sagan, the book, Dragons of Eden, Cosmos, and many other Secular driven, scientific books and journals. I have never looked back.

    Frankly I find the past, and current, secular model of the story of humanities evolution (which constantly changes and is updated with new information based on field and DNA research) to be INFINITELY more satisfying and logical
    than the braying stupidity of cultist shaman that are mostly inflexible, referencing unreliable historical sources, and repeating the same tired messaging in an effort to manipulate and control peoples minds.

    No science is not perfect, far from it, but it is flexible and it is backed up by cross referencing fields of study. I find the scientific method a far more convincing and powerful tool to “believe in” compared to lunatics “telling us” they know the truth.

    Reply
  3. Avatar
    lilarebecca

    I grew up in the Northeast. I was raised Jewish, but had Christian family. Most of my friends and neighbors were Catholic. And there were a few Muslims and Hindus around, which have grown in number in the last 30 years. There were few evangelicals. I knew that there was a broader worldview out there than what evangelicalism had to offer. I got saved when I was 20 and got into those churches though and I became this kind of person. The kind who witnessed to people everywhere I went. Deep down, I knew that black and white approach doesn’t really work. I, too, listened to many apologists and find it tiring.

    Reply
    1. Avatar
      Bruce Gerencser

      I attended an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) college in the 70s. The college administration pushed planting new IFB churches in the Northeast. I know several men who started churches, some successful, others not. The thinking went that the Northeast was one of the most unchurch areas in the United States.

      Reply
  4. Avatar
    ObstacleChick

    My kids ended up being my experiment with regard to religion. I wasn’t meaning to use them as guinea pigs, per se, but I went through a tough period where I decided to “take a break from religion” after 30+ years of nearly constant church attendance and Christian participation. My kids were pretty young at the time – 8 and 6 – and despite having gone to Sunday school and watching Veggie Tales, it didn’t take long for them to forget the stories. By the time they were in high school and were introduced to a few Jewish and Christian stories in a mythology literature class, I realized they didn’t remember any of the stories. Through the years, I had offered to take them to any religious services they might be interested in, but they always declined. I guess hearing their friends talk about having to go to CCD, Hebrew school, etc., they didn’t want MORE SCHOOL. 😄

    Anyway, they’re both in their 20s now, young adults. They have friends from various religious backgrounds, and we have family who are evangelical on my side and Catholic on the other side (though the younger people are mostly nonreligious, and a few are Jewish). My kids both say they just don’t believe in religions, deities, afterlife, any of it. They say it all sounds like mythology.

    So that was my experiment. What happens when you don’t indoctrinate a child in religion? For n=2 they don’t believe in religions at all.

    Reply
  5. Avatar
    Mary

    I regret the years i spent in religion and churches at the expense of family life and time with the kids. Grown kids are now pretty liberal and progressive. One attends a liberal church because he enjoys the community but it’s a chill place. The others don’t and are ok too. I dropped it years ago and wish I had sooner. We stayed so long because it was hard for for husband to give up. Now he’s happier without it.

    Reply

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