I came of age in the 1960s and 1970s Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) church movement, attended an IFB Bible college in the late 70s, married an IFB pastor’s daughter, and pastored IFB congregations for a decade before realizing how bankrupt my religious heritage really was — though the IFB indoctrination and conditioning affected me long after I stopped associating with IFB churches and colleges. In some ways, IFB poison still lies deep in the recesses of my mind, requiring frequent therapy to root out the disease.
IFB churches and preachers are known for what they are against. Lots of rules, called church standards. These rules dictate virtually aspect of life, especially in matters of sexuality. I have come to the conclusion that it is nigh impossible to be a true-blue IFB believer and have healthy attitudes towards sex. IFB preachers are modern day Puritans and legalists, demanding sexual purity from everyone except themselves. (And don’t get your knickers in a bunch preacher. I know the cult’s secrets.) Nudity, in particular, was expressly forbidden, especially on TV, the Internet, and the printed page. NO NUDITY, IFB preachers demand, all the while perusing porn sites and visiting strip clubs to do “research.” 🙂
Let me conclude this post with three stories from our days as IFB parents.
Remember the Sears and Roebuck catalog? When the catalog arrived at the Gerencser home, Polly and I would tear out all the lingerie ads before our children could view it. We felt it our duty to protect our older boys from scantily clad catalog models! Another generation of boys saved from lust, right?
From 1989-1994, the church I pastored at the time operated a tuition-free private school for church children. The school had a library of sorts, made up of castoffs and books purchased at library sales and garage sales. I donated to the library my past copies of National Geographic. Before allowing students to check out the magazines, we went through them and blacked out the nudity. Can’t have boys staring at Aborigine breasts. Another generation of boys saved from boobies.
Finally, I used to subscribe to Sports Illustrated. Every week, my older boys would read the newest issue; well, except for one: the annual swimsuit edition. This edition came at the same time every year, so I would intercept the magazine to keep my sons from seeing it.
One year, the swimsuit edition never arrived — or so I believed. I thought no more of it until I was working on a cabinet light in our bathroom. Guess what I found “hiding” on the top of the cabinet? The Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition! One of my sons had hidden the magazine so he could “lust” later. He will remain unnamed. None of us should be judged for what we did as teenagers.
Crazy shit, right? However, these stories are quite normal in IFB churches. Jack Hyles, pastor of the largest church in America at one time, wouldn’t allow women wearing pants to attend worship services. Those wearing pants were required to put a paper dress over their clothing — the mark of shame at First Baptist Church in Hammond, Indiana. Shocking? Just another day in the IFB.
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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