The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser

Category: Evangelicalism

  • Short Stories: Midwestern Baptist College — The 1978 Yearbook Incident

    midwestern baptist college freshman 1976
    1976-1977 Midwestern Baptist College freshman class. Polly is in the first row, the first person on the left. Bruce is in the third row, the eighth person from the left.

    From 1976-79, my wife and I attended Midwestern Baptist College (IFB) in Pontiac, Michigan. Midwestern, an unaccredited Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) institution, was established in 1954 by the famous IFB pulpiteer Dr. Tom Malone. More than sixty years later, the college campus has been sold and commercially redeveloped, Tom Malone is dead, and the church he once pastored, Emmanuel Baptist Church, is shuttered, with weeds growing around the buildings and through the cracks in the parking lots.

    In the spring of our sophomore year, Malone gathered the student body in the chapel so he could “talk” to them. Students were told to bring the recently released 1978 yearbook with them. As the students settled into their seats, Malone stood up and came to the pulpit. It was clear that he was quite upset about something. We quickly learned that Malone was livid about three of the yearbook pictures. Mike Veach, currently the pastor of First Bible Church, a Fundamentalist church in Staten Island, New York, shot the photographs. Mike was (is) an excellent photographer. A few months after what students would later call “The Yearbook Incident,” Polly and I went to nearby Cranbrook Gardens so Mike could take pictures of us. We still have these pictures, reminders of the youngsters we once were some fifty years ago.

    What was so offensive about these photographs that a noted IFB pastor and college chancellor would deem it necessary to talk to the entire student body about them? See for yourself.

    1978 midwestern baptist college yearbook

    Photograph number one was taken during Founder’s Day. Always held on the Friday after Thanksgiving (students were not allowed to go home for Thanksgiving), Founder’s Day was a day set aside for showing off the college to prospective Fundamentalist high school students. Part of the day’s events included a singing talent show. This picture is of a group from a nearby IFB church.

    1978 midwestern baptist college yearbook

    Photograph number two is a picture of Julian Lyons, Emmanuel Baptist Church’s bus pastor. Lyons and I did not get along. He considered me a slacker because I didn’t want to work in the bus ministry after my freshman year. (All students were required to work in the bus ministry their freshman year.) I considered Lyons a racist because he stopped running the buses in Detroit. (The overwhelming majority of the kids from Detroit were poor and black.) One day, as I was exiting the school building, he and I ran into each other and had words, each telling the other what we thought about them. We never spoke again. I was surprised that I did not get expelled from school for what was surely viewed as insubordination.

    1978 midwestern baptist college yearbook

    Photograph number three was shot during one of the chapel services. Pay close attention to the student in the middle of the picture.

    I am sure you are scratching your head right now, trying to figure out what is wrong with these pictures. Can’t you see it? Look closely. Put on your IFB alternate reality glasses®. Still nothing?

    In the first picture, the boys (not Midwestern students) have long hair, and in the second picture, it looks like Lyons’ hair is over his collar. Midwestern had/has a strict policy against men having long hair. Male students were required to keep their hair short, with the college even going so far as to legislate that the back of men’s hair had to be tapered and not block cut. Hair on the collar, ears, or long bangs were forbidden. Men caught breaking the hair rule received demerits and were ordered to get a haircut immediately.

    And the third photograph? The student “looks” like he has bushy, long hair on the back of his head. What he really had was the student’s hair in front of him, that student being my future wife, Polly. As photographers know, perspective and angles can do strange things to photographs. Sadly, Malone was only concerned with the “appearance of evil” (I Thessalonians 5:22).

    Malone was furious over these photos, so much so that he took one of the yearbooks and tore it in two right in front of the student body. What a man, right? Hercules, himself. He then ordered the yearbooks collected. They were later returned, but not before the offending photographs had been marked-out with black, permanent ink felt markers.

    So why do I have an unaltered copy of the yearbook? I refused to turn my yearbook in to prison authorities. Even then, as Fundamentalist as I was, I knew that Malone was acting like a crazed wild man over these photographs. It made no sense to me to mar the yearbook that I paid for just because three of the pictures showed men “allegedly” with long hair. If Malone was serious about giving “sins” the black permanent marker of death, why not mark out:

    • The photographs of the man who was having an affair with the wife of the dean of men
    • The photographs of the gay teacher who lived in the dorm
    • The photographs of dorm students who committed fornication

    These “sins” were well known by students, yet they were pushed into the deep recesses of the Midwestern closet. Instead, very ‘70s-looking hair became the target of Malone’s “righteous” indignation and wrath.

    I know this story sounds bat-shit crazy to some readers, but this is an excellent example of the Fundamentalism I was raised in and a part of for many years. To this day, there are IFB pastors and churches who preach against the “sin of men having long hair.” A man with long hair is considered rebellious and effeminate. If you have not read my post, Is it a Sin to Have Long Hair? please do so. I think it will help you understand the kind of thinking that goes into someone concluding that men having long hair is a mortal sin, one worthy of anger and rage from Tom Malone.

  • Why Am I Different From My Bible College Classmates?

    bruce gerencser 2002
    Bruce Gerencser, 2002

    During the 1970s, I attended Midwestern Baptist College in Pontiac, Michigan. It was there that I met my partner, Polly. Started in the 1950s by Dr. Tom Malone, Midwestern was a school known for turning out preachers. Most women attending Midwestern were there to snag themselves a man. My partner was no exception. She believed she was called to be a pastor’s wife. I was studying to be a pastor, so I suppose you could say our divine callings matched and our marriage was made in Heaven — or something like that, anyway. (We celebrated forty-eight of marriage last July.) All we knew for sure was that God called us to build churches and evangelize the lost. Everything we were taught at Midwestern had these two things as their goal. We left Midwestern in 1979 and embarked on a twenty-five-year journey that took us to Evangelical churches in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Virtually everything we did was in fulfillment of God’s call upon our lives, yet, today, we are no longer Christians and it has been more than nineteen years since we darkened the doors of a church. What happened to us?

    I cannot and will not speak for Polly, but I can say, for myself, that the Christian narrative no longer makes sense to me. I wrote about this in a post titled, The Michael Mock Rule: It Just Doesn’t Make Sense. Most readers know my story, so I won’t retell it here. New readers are encouraged to read the posts found on the WHY? page for more information about my life as a pastor and my subsequent deconversion. My story has been deconstructed by countless Evangelical zealots determined to invalidate my past. Try as they might, the fact remains that I once was a committed, devoted, sold-out follower of Jesus Christ; a man who hungered and thirsted after righteousness for his name’s sake; a man who believed every word of the Bible was true; a man who preached the Christian gospel to countless people. Them there are the facts, regardless of what my critics might say. I know what I know because I was there when it happened. Who better to know and tell my story than me? That said, I do ponder the question, Why am I Different From the My College Classmates? Some of them have moved beyond the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) training they received at Midwestern, yet they still believe. Sadly, for most of my college classmates, their beliefs have changed very little, if at all, over the years. Many of them still attend or pastor IFB churches. Oh, they might agree with me about the crazy rules at Midwestern, (please see Thou Shalt Not Touch: The Six-Inch Rule) but their core theological beliefs are decidedly Fundamentalist. (Please see Are Evangelicals Fundamentalists?) Why do they still hang on to these beliefs and I don’t?

    The easy answer would be to call all of them stupid hillbillies, but that would be a cop-out. Many of my former classmates have wonderful families and ministerial careers. According to the theological and social standards of IFB Christianity, they are, in every way, successful. I have no doubt that many or even most of them are true-blue believers, completely and totally committed to IFB doctrine, thinking, and way of life. Yes, some of them now consider themselves garden-variety Evangelicals, but most of my classmates still believe the fundamentals taught to them by their pastors and their professors at Midwestern.

    If I had to pick one reason for why my former classmates still believe, it is because they were taught to never, ever doubt the Bible and its teachings. All of them believe in some form of Biblical inerrancy, so the foundation of their lives is THUS SAITH THE LORD. Insulated from contrary or challenging thoughts, they see no reason to question their beliefs. Souls are lost, Hell is hot, and Jesus is coming soon. They have no time for doubting or questioning their beliefs. When Jesus comes again, they want to be found faithfully serving him, not reading Bart Ehrman’s latest book. For me, however, I reached a place in the late 1980s where I seriously questioned the doctrines I had been taught at Midwestern. I ultimately abandoned them and embraced Evangelical Calvinism. Calvinism allowed me to study theology and read books outside of the IFB rut. While the Calvinists I associated with were still quite Fundamentalist theologically and socially, they valued education and intellectual pursuit. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective), the more I studied and read, the more questions and doubts I had. This is why people who knew me well told me that BOOKS were my problem, and what I needed to do is stop reading books and only read the Bible; the King James Bible. Of course, saying this to a book lover is akin to telling a cocaine addict to stop using drugs. I was addicted to intellectual pursuit, and I doggedly followed the path until it led me out of Evangelicalism, out of the Emergent church, out of progressive Christianity, and right on down the slippery slope to agnosticism/atheism and humanism. I ended up where I am today because I couldn’t stop my questions and doubts. I ended up where I am today because Christianity had no satisfactory answers for my questions. Oh, they had “answers” but I found them to be hollow, circular, and, at times, farcical; answers that might placate those within the Evangelical bubble, but unsatisfactory to anyone on the outside looking in.

    There are days when I wish I could be like my former college classmates. I see much in their lives I admire. However, I am unwilling to forsake the meat and potatoes of intellectual and scientific inquiry for the pottage of Evangelical Christianity. I have read and studied too much to go back to the garlic and leeks of Egypt. I would rather be known as a Midwestern Baptist College-trained atheist than a coward who couldn’t face doubts and questions head-on. “One” may truly be the loneliest number, but I would rather stand alone for truth than embrace theological dogma. If Midwestern and Dr. Tom Malone taught me anything, it was the importance of standing for truth and principle and being willing to hold to your beliefs and convictions no matter what. So, in that regard, Midwestern played a crucial part in my deconversion from Christianity.

    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.

    Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

    You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

  • The Good and Bad of Midwestern Baptist College in Pontiac, Michigan

    polly shope bruce gerencser 1977
    Polly Shope and Bruce Gerencser, February 1977, Midwestern Baptist College Sweetheart Banquet

    Several years ago, a man named Steven Tassell left the following comment:

    I attended Midwestern from 1973-1979

    I had my problems however I’m not trying to destroy anyone. If you had a problem with sex at school that was on you. I was a chaplin [sic] for USAF, taught school at Fort Knox and I’m a pastor with my Doctorate in counseling. So instead of telling the bad because any school has that tell the good.

    Polly and I attended Midwestern Baptist College from 1976-1979. Polly’s father attended the college from 1972-1976, and her uncle James Dennis, attended Midwestern in the 1960s. None of us knows a Steven Tassell. Now, that doesn’t mean he didn’t attend Midwestern. There were a number of married students who attended the college that neither Polly or I personally knew. We were dorm students for two years, marrying during the summer between our sophomore and junior years.

    I attempted a cursory search on Tassell’s name. That returned very little information other than Tassell is the pastor of New Hope Baptist Church in South Pekin, Illinois. I am uncertain as to why Tassell felt the need to recite his “important” work history, especially since it bears no relevance to the post he commented on. Tassell says he had a “Doctorate” in counseling — a D.Min, not a typical PhD. As readers know, most Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) preachers sporting doctorates either “earned” them at unaccredited schools or through online classes, or were given an honorary degree. (Please see IFB Doctorates: Doctor, Doctor, Doctor, Everyone’s a Doctor) Polly’s uncle had an honorary doctorate from Midwestern, a reward for supporting the college and Tom Malone. I have no idea if Tassell’s doctorate was earned at an accredited institution. My gut tells me no.

    Now, to Tassell’s comment. In classic passive-aggressive fashion, Tassell stated, “I had my problems, however I’m not trying to destroy anyone.” He, too, had “problems” while attending Midwestern, but unlike Bruce, the atheist, he’s not trying to destroy anyone. I find it interesting that, according to Tassell, by telling my story and sharing my experiences as a student at Midwestern, I am trying to destroy people. Tassell suggests that I not speak of the bad things that happened at Midwestern and only speak of the good that I saw and experienced. That I refuse to only tell half the story makes me, in Tassell’s eyes, a bad person. How dare I speak poorly of the college, Dr. Tom Malone, my professors, or my fellow students. Just tell GOOD stories, Bruce! Sorry, but I can’t do that. I decided twenty years ago to be an honest, open, transparent storyteller. If that meant casting a bad light of myself and others, so be it. How can readers ever understand my experiences at Midwestern if I only tell them the good stuff? Honesty demands telling the truth, as best I remember it.

    I have many fond memories of the three years I spent at Midwestern. Dorm life, even at an IFB college, was a blast!  I will never forget the fun, crazy times I shared with my fellow dorm students. Three weeks after moving into the dorm, I asked a preacher’s daughter named Polly if she wanted to go out on a date with me. She said yes, and fifty years later, we are still going on dates, loving one another’s company, and roundly irritating the Hell out of each other. Ah, marital bliss.

    I could spend hours sharing stories about the good times I experienced at Midwestern. Doing so, of course, would make Tassell happy. Just focus on the positive. Unfortunately, the bad experiences left an indelible impression on my life and that of my partner. For the first time, we saw the ugly, nasty, judgmental underbelly of the IFB church movement. Should I ignore the gay teacher who groomed younger male dorm students? Should I ignore the affair between the wife of the dean of men and a teacher? Should I ignore the rampant illicit sexual activity by dorm students; people who are now pompous, arrogant moralizers? Should I ignore the oppressive rules and repressive disciplinary system? Should I ignore the weak academics and unqualified teachers? Should I ignore the teacher who taught an IFB form of eugenics? Should I ignore the racism of one of the church’s pastors? (All dorm students had to attend nearby Emmanuel Baptist Church, pastored by Tom Malone.) Should I ignore the fact that Tom’s Malone’s wife and children violated the rules the rest of us were expected to obey, under threat of expulsion? Should I ignore being forced to quit a well-paying job, all because the business owner and Tom Malone had a falling out? Should I ignore . . .  You see, it takes the good and the bad to tell a complete story. And as long as I continue to tell my story, I intend to look at the entire structure, and not just the facade that gives readers a false picture of my life, Midwestern Baptist College, and the IFB church movement. That’s the prerogative of the storyteller.

    (Please see other posts about Midwestern Baptist College)

    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.

    Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

    You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

  • I’m Sorry Someone in the Church “Hurt” You

    Apologist: Hi, sure is good to meet you.

    Bruce: It’s good to meet you too.

    Apologist: May I ask you a question?

    Bruce: Fire away!

    Apologist: Are you a Christian? Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior?

    Bruce: I’m an atheist.

    Apologist: Really? You don’t believe in God at ALL?

    Bruce: Nope. I’m a card-carrying godless heathen.

    Apologist: Did you ever go to church?

    Bruce: Yes, I was an Evangelical Christian for fifty years. I was saved, baptized, and called to preach at age fifteen. I pastored Evangelical churches in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan for twenty-five years.

    Apologist ponders what to say next.

    Apologist: What happened?

    Bruce: Nothing.

    Apologist: Surely, something had to happen! I can’t imagine any reason someone would walk away from Jesus after fifty years.

    Apologist: Did something happen in the church? Did someone “hurt” you?

    Bruce: No, I . . .

    Apologist: I apologize on behalf of whoever hurt you. I want you to know you are loved.

    Bruce: Sorry to burn your atheist straw man to the ground, but no one hurt me.

    Bruce: Any hurt from Christians came after I left Christianity. I quickly learned that Christian love and kindness only apply to people who believe the right things or go to the right church. Dare to speak out against Evangelical beliefs, and Evangelicals will rain judgment and violence upon your head — including death threats and never-ending threats of eternal punishment in Hell.

    Bruce: Why would I ever want to be a Christian after being treated like this?

    Apologist: Well, I doubt these people were “real” Christians.

    Bruce: Really? This has happened thousands of times over the past twenty years. I’ve been misused, abused, and attacked by pastors, I’ve had evangelists, missionaries, and youth pastors. I had sermons preached about me, along with blog posts written to show me the error of my ways. One preacher, Dr. David Tee, has made it his life’s mission to discredit me with lies, half-truths, and personal attacks. He’s failed, but his ill-bred behavior continues to reveal the ugly, vicious underbelly of Evangelical Christianity.

    Apologist: Well . . .

    Bruce: I deconverted because I no longer believe the central claims of Christianity are true.

    Apologist: Surely, there’s more to your story than this. What REALLY happened?

    Bruce: Sigh . . .

    Bruce: You got me. I’m a closet lesbian. I had an affair with the deacon’s wife, and one night, just for fun, I fucked the deacon too.

    Apologist: I KNEW it! You need to repent!

    Bruce: None of those things happened. I’m just jerking your chain. I suspect I was a better Christian than you before I deconverted. Shall we compare our lives?

    Apologist: True Christians don’t leave the church. The Bible says . . .

    Bruce: No need to quote the Bible. I know it better than you do.

    Apologist: I’m praying for you.

    Bruce: And I’m thinking for you.

    Apologist shakes dust off his feet, and walks away mumbling a prayer, “I tried to tell him, Jesus. I commit his soul to your hands.”

    I’ve had this conversation with countless apologists over the years. None of them has succeeded in leading me to saving faith in Christ.

    Apologists cannot accept or understand my story. In their minds, true Christians stay true to Christ until the end. Since I “quit,” this proves I never was a real Christian. Never mind the fifty years I spent in Evangelicalism. Never mind my love for Jesus and my devotion to the work of ministry. All that matters is that I didn’t renew my club membership; that I walked away from Jesus.

    I find this kind of discussion wearying. Apologists have an agenda, whereas I just want to tell my story and have a thoughtful conversation.

    When apologists reject my story, what they are saying is this: “Bruce, you are a liar.” Apologists will not call me a liar to my face, but their approach to me clearly shows they think I’m lying. And I don’t know about you, but I have no use for people who say I’m lying. Especially when they provide no evidence for their claim.

    Has a Christian apologist ever called you a liar or implied as much? How did you respond to them? Please leave your pithy thoughts in the comment section.

  • Bruce, Someday Soon, You WILL Stand Before Jesus!

    If I had a dollar for every time an Evangelical Christian told me I’m going to stand before Jesus someday, I’d have enough money to feed my entire family at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.

    Well, that time has come. 😜❤️

  • Short Stories: The Week the Church Found Out We Were Bad Christians

    We lived in Newark, Ohio, for ten months in 2004-2005. By this point, I was done with the ministry. We decided to look for a church we could call home; one that would embrace our family and give us opportunities to serve. We thought Jersey Reformed Baptist Church in Jersey, Ohio, was that church. Sadly, a few months later, we were out the door, looking for another church to attend.

    Jersey was a young, growing church. Lots of big families. Our family of eight was considered “normal” at Jersey, though we eventually learned that their definition of “normal” was different from ours.

    Most church families homeschooled their children, as did we. Jersey was a family- focused congregation. No Sunday school or children’s church. Families worshipped together. A good idea, even to this day.

    Jersey was Calvinistic in doctrine, Fundamentalist in practice, and Reformed Baptist in affiliation. We were quite conservative at the time, but we learned Jersey, as a congregation, was far more to the right than we were on many issues.

    Most of the women in the church were stay-at-home moms. Many of them had home businesses to supplement family income. Our family was different. I was disabled, unable to work a full-time job. We needed money — such a novel idea, right? — so Polly took a full- time job cleaning offices for Start Farm. The highlight of our time in Newark was Friday nights. We would splurge for two $5.00 pizzas from Little Caesar’s. Fine dining, at its best. 😜

    One Sunday, after church, we were having a friendly discussion with a handful of members, mostly women. The members were curious about us, so they asked us questions about our family. I told them I was disabled, and unable to work. Polly, with nary a thought, happily shared that she worked full-time at State Farm. Immediately, the climate changed, as did their looks. We knew then that we had broken one of the “rules.”

    Around the same time, I attended a men’s prayer meeting. Someone brought up praying for Terri Schiavo, a woman in an irreversible permanent vegetative state. Schiavo was in the news virtually every day.

    Wikipedia states:

    Schiavo’s husband and legal guardian argued that Schiavo would not have wanted prolonged artificial life support without the prospect of recovery, and, in 1998, he elected to remove her feeding tube. Schiavo’s parents disputed her husband’s assertions and challenged Schiavo’s medical diagnosis, arguing in favor of continuing artificial nutrition and hydration.The highly publicized and prolonged series of legal challenges presented by her parents, which ultimately involved state and federal politicians up to the level of George W. Bush (the then U.S. president), caused a seven-year delay (until 2005) before Schiavo’s feeding tube was ultimately removed.

    ….

    After appeals through the federal court system that upheld the original decision to remove the feeding tube, staff at the Pinellas Park hospice facility disconnected the feeding tube on March 18, 2005, and Schiavo died on March 31, 2005.

    The prayer meeting took place before Schiavo’s feeding tube was permanently removed. Every man, except one, was praying for Schiavo’s tube to be permanently put back in, “saving” her life. Saving what life? I thought at the time. The church men disagreed, believing that Schiavo should be artificially kept alive regardless if she regained consciousness and function. Schiavo was an idol worshiped by the pro-life movement. In their mind, she should be kept alive at all costs. To do otherwise was “murder.”

    As I mentioned above, there was one man who disagreed with the rest of the men, and that was me. I made clear my thoughts on the issue: Schiavo had a right to die, as we all do. Unfortunately, pro-life Christians oppose the right to die, even if someone is terminal or suffering.

    Eventually, prayers were offered to the Evangelical God on behalf of Schiavo, but I suspect only one prayer was for her to have a swift, painless death. A short time later, God answered my prayer.

    A few days later I had a discussion with the pastor. He was thoughtful and polite—I always enjoyed his preaching— but by the end, I knew it was time for us to look for a different church to attend.

    This would be the only time that we weren’t conservative enough for a church. Three years later, we left Christianity for good.

  • My Use of Internal Critique and Why I Befuddle So Many Evangelicals

    Typically, I use internal critiques when engaging Evangelicals on this site. If you are unfamiliar with the term “internal critique,” Google defines it like this:

    An internal critique evaluates an idea, theory, or system using its own rules, assumptions, and standards rather than applying outside values. It temporarily accepts a position to see if it is logical, self-consistent, and works by its own definitions.

    Simply put, I assume the Evangelical (or Independent Fundamentalist Baptist) position when critiquing Evangelicalism. This means that I accept their Bible-based theological beliefs at face value. My goal is to determine whether Evangelical beliefs and practices are logical and consistent. Are the beliefs of my interlocutors consistent with the stated theological beliefs of Evangelical Christianity? Are their beliefs consistent with their professed doctrine and interpretations of the Bible; a collection of religious texts Evangelicals believe are inspired, inerrant, and infallible?

    Thus, when Evangelicals say “God is Good,” an internal critique looks at whether this claim is logical and consistent with what Evangelicals say they believe and practice. This, of course, requires engaging what the Biblical text says. The Bible is the foundational text of Evangelical Christianity. My internal critiques always focus on the Bible, since it is, allegedly, the standard by which Evangelicals judge their beliefs and live their lives.

    While some — not many — Evangelicals might appeal to philosophy or external critiques, discussions are best served by focusing on the Biblical text itself, or, to a lesser degree, church history. The Christian church has a 2,000-year history, so there’s much to glean about Christianity itself. That said, most Evangelicals are not well-informed about church history, and even if they might know a bit of church history, their final court of appeal will be the Bible and the history contained therein.

    An internal critique of Evangelicalism requires a basic understanding of Christian/Evangelical beliefs and practices (orthodoxy and orthopraxy). Knowing how to use Hebrew and Greek language tools (dictionaries, interlinears) tools is helpful too. No need to purchase these things. They are readily available on the Internet.

    My use of internal critiques often confuses both Evangelicals and atheists alike, but for different reasons. This leads to them not understanding what it is I do on this site. More than a few atheist critics have told me that I’m still a Christian; a secret believer. They totally misunderstand what I am trying to accomplish with my writing. My primary goal is to help those who have deconverted or are thinking about leaving Christianity. Engaging critics helps with that goal.

    Many Evangelicals also think I’m still a Christian. They read my writing and find it “Biblical” and compelling. Sometimes, they will send me an email thanking me for my faith in Jesus and my stand on the Word of God. Ten minutes later, another email from them will arrive, stating that they are appalled by the fact that I’m an ex-Evangelical pastor, an atheist, and humanist. How could I possibly write such “powerful”words and be an atheist. I love it when Evangelicals send me a donation, only to find they are supporting a tool of Satan. Sorry, all donations are final.

    An internal critique will not work with some Evangelicals. Once they appeal to faith, claim Holy Spirit-given knowledge, or say that the ‘natural man” (all non-Christians) cannot understand the Bible, meaningful discussions end. An internal critique requires both parties in the discussion to play by the same rules. I generally try to focus discussions on the Biblical text itself. Faith claims and personal testimonies have no value when giving an internal critique. All that matters is the Biblical text and how Evangelical Christians interpret it.

    I try to keep doors open and bridges unburned when engaging Evangelicals, hoping we will have thoughtful discussions in the future. Sadly, this will not be the case when dealing some believers. When they find their beliefs twisted into a pretzel, they become filled with anger instead of grace. Instead of considering what has been presented, they display what they hilariously call “righteous anger”; which often is no different from impudently losing their temper. When this happens, I try not to return the same, choosing to remember that I was once a devout, Spirit-filled, passionate Evangelical Christian. I understand their anger, which often is actually fear. Fear that they can’t answer my questions and challenges. Often, such people will say, “We will just have to agree to disagree.” No, we don’t. There can’t be two correct answers. Both of us may be wrong, but both of us can’t be right. And I would think, for all of us, truth matters.

    Do you use internal critiques when engaging Evangelicals in discussions? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comment section. Disagree with what I’ve written? Fire away!

  • The “Why?” Question

    Many Americans never asked “why” after Muslims hijacked planes and flew them into buildings on 9-11.

    Many Americans never asked “why” after Hamas killed over 1,200 Israelis on 10-7 — most of them civilians— and kidnapped several hundred people.

    And now the United States is waging war against Iran, and few Americans bother to ask “why?”

    The U.S. government is currently controlled by fascists, oligarchs, theocrats, and technocrats. Donald Trump and his feckless, immoral administration only care about personal financial enrichment and political power. Trump, Vance, Rubio, Hegseth, and company show no care or regard for the American people. These fascists self-righteously say they are protecting the American people from nuclear weapons and Muslim terrorism. Never asked is “why?”

    Robert “I’ve Got a Brain Worm” Kennedy, Jr., has decimated Health & Human Services and is currently promoting distortions, conspiracy theories, and lies about vaccines, COVID, autism, and dietary guidelines. Why aren’t more Americans asking “why?”

    Donald Trump is doing away with federal support of wind and solar power, giving millions of dollars to oil, natural gas, and coal companies. Dare we ask, “why”?

    Americans tend not to be too big on answering the question “why?” Why? 😅 Cuz, we are AMERICANS! We are a people divinely chosen by the Christian God of the Bible. We are a shining light on a hill for all the world to see. Manifest destiny! Might makes right, right? Right? There’s no need to ask “why?” when God is on your side and you are always right.

    Name the last president who admitted to the American people he was wrong. Trump, for instance, has never been wrong. He’s an expert on e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g, including swimming pools, ballrooms, and grass. Trump doesn’t apologize to anyone. Instead, he blames others for his mistakes, failures, and errors in judgment. Trump is an impetuous man who cannot and will not tell the truth, even when a lie is not necessary. Does anyone doubt, then, that Trump NEVER asks “why?” (And the same can be said for MAGA in general.)

    Post-Jesus, answering the “why” question has been vital in helping me better understand the country and world I live in. And let me be clear, understanding both is essential to a well-rounded view of the world. If all we wear are Pro-American glasses we are going to have a false, truncated view of the world. This is why the majority of Americans are illiterate about countries, peoples, religions, and politics outside of the United States.

    Sadly, way too many Americans wrongly think the answer to the question, “Why do so many people hate us?” is “We’re America!!!!! And other countries hate the American Dream and our way of life!” Rarely do Americans step beyond the facade and wrestle with the hard questions about what our nation has become and why.

    As an Evangelical-pastor-turned-atheist, I am seldom asked “why?” by my critics, who ignore my attempts to answer the question without them asking. Their minds are made up, so there’s no reason to ask me “why” or read my biographical writing. In their minds, “The Bible says,” end of discussion. What they really mean, of course, is that their churches, pastors, and favorite podcast hosts interpret the Bible for them. Most Evangelicals do not daily read the Bible, and their go-to source for Bible knowledge is their pastors — who rarely preach exegetical sermons and are more focused on “felt needs.” The goal? Make people happy and their wallets lighter.

    If we are going to be skeptics, it is essential for us to ask “why?” even if the answers we receive are painful to hear. Part of the deconstruction process for me required asking “why” questions. I suspect that was or is the same for many of you. Evangelicalism taught us to trust and never doubt, especially in matters of faith. Want to be “happy in Jesus”? There’s only one way: “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus.” Of course, the “obey” part is conditioned on obedience to the theological edicts of pastors and churches. Never ask “why,” just obey.

    Over the years, attempting to answer “why” questions has taken me down many paths, forcing me to confront my ignorance, biases, and bullheadedness. When the “why” question arises, I try my best to answer it, regardless of what I might find.

    Motivations matter to me. Personally, anyway, it was not enough to rage against Islam when Muslims flew planes into buildings on 9-11. “Why” did they do this? Is the United States culpable in any way? What about the “war on terror” that followed, to this day? Dare we ask “why” the United States is waging war on multiple fronts, killing scores of innocents with our bombs and bullets? So much so that we are running out of munitions and Hegseth is asking for billions of dollars of additional war funding. Surely you aren’t so stupid as to believe all the violence, bloodshed, and war crimes are “protecting the American way of life.” Do you feel safe? Now that undocumented immigrants are literally running for their lives, are we better off as a nation? Asking “why” about these issues and others is essential if there’s any chance for the “land of the free, and the home of the brave” to survive.

    Please share your pithy thoughts in the comment section. And if you don’t, let me ask, “Why?”? 😜😜

  • Christians Say the Darnedest Things: Science MUST Agree with the Bible

    Excerpt from The Question Every Christian Must Answer, by Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen. The grantor of Thiessen’s alleged doctorate is unknown. Make of that what you will. Regardless, Thiessen views himself as an expert on the Bible, history, science, archeology, LGBTQ issues, and why I’m no longer a Christian. Doubt me? Just ask him.

    If science is pursued correctly and honestly, then science agrees with the Bible. What turns young minds away from biblical truths are the theories, opinions, and conclusions that are generated from unbelieving scientists.

    It is their assumptions, leaps to conclusions, conjectures, and hypotheses that say the Bible is wrong, not true scientific exploration or facts. Once believers understand this truth, then holding on to their faith in the face of the onslaught from secular science becomes much easier.

    It is their assumptions, leaps to conclusions, conjectures, and hypotheses that say the Bible is wrong, not true scientific exploration or facts.

    ….

    When Christians take unbelieving or secular science over God’s words, then they are not exercising faith.

    Instead, they are rejecting what God has said in favor of what unbelievers have claimed to be true. This is not just doubt but clear rejection of God’s words. Since God cannot lie, then we can take his word over what unbelieving scientists, archaeologists, anthropologists, and other unbelievers claim.

    ….

    These institutions need to get back to God and rein in their science teachers/professors and get them to teach the truth, not unbelieving science.

    ….

    The Bible is not wrong. It is the unbelieving scientists who are.

  • Christian Bling and Jesus Junk

    jesus loves me 2015

    Repost from 2015. Edited, rewritten, and corrected. 

    Several years ago, I spotted this t-shirt at my grandson’s tee ball game.  Most residents of rural northwest Ohio are Evangelicals or conservative Protestants or Catholics. Jesus is on display everywhere one looks. There’s at least one church for every three hundred Defiance County residents. Republicans hold every major office. Atheists and agnostics are endangered species. Declaring your godlessness is a sure way to be socially ostracized and marginalized. If there is place where Jesus is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, this is it. Why then are local Christians obsessed with wearing Christian bling and displaying Jesus junk?

    Take the woman wearing the Jesus Loves Me t-shirt. Does she wear it to remind herself that Jesus loves her? Or perhaps she wears it to let her fellow Christians know that she is on their team. I wonder if she has thought about who made the shirt, how old they were, how much they were paid? Like American flags made in China, most Christian bling and Jesus junk is made by impoverished people who are paid poor wages.

    My wife works for a manufacturing concern where Christian bling and Jesus junk is on display everywhere one looks. Christian slogans and Republican one-liners are prominently displayed on office walls and desks. I’ve often wondered what the response would be if someone put on their desk a sign that stated There is no God or There is no God but Allah. This will never happen, of course, because doing so would be career suicide. But, knowing how Evangelicals love to whine over having their feelings hurt, I wonder how Christians in the office might respond. Would they demand the offensive signs be taken down?

    Any cursory reading of the Bible reveals that Jesus preached a lifestyle of moderation and simplicity. I wonder if Evangelicals bother to consider what Jesus thinks about their bling and junk. Would the apostles have worn Jesus Loves Me t-shirts or adorned their wrists with WWJD bands? The apostle Paul went from community to community preaching the gospel and establishing new churches. I wonder what he would think of twenty-first-century entertainment Christianity? If Matthew 5-7 — the Sermon on the Mount — is the essence of what it means to be a follower of Jesus, where can one find such followers? Rare are Evangelicals who verbalize their faith in the hope of leading a person to Christ. Even in IFB churches — a sect that puts a premium on soulwinning — most church members never verbally share their faith even one time. If Jesus is the greatest story ever told, why is it most Christians never share it?

    Christian bling and Jesus junk are meant to identify one as part of the club. The purpose isn’t to evangelize, it’s to let everyone who gazes on their bling or junk know that they are part of Club Jesus®. When Christians put on their Jesus shirts and go to the mall, grocery, or restaurant, everyone will know what club they belong to. Granted, atheists can do the same, but most atheists I know are content to quietly live their lives. And Muslims? When’s the last time you’ve seen a Muslim wearing a shirt that says Allah Loves Me or Allah, the One True God?

    It is primarily Evangelicals who are obsessed with public displays of affection for Jesus. It is Evangelicals who co-opt culture and turn it into shirt-worn slogans such as This Bloods for You or Jesus died for MY SPACE in Heaven. Corporate slogans and logos are turned into cute clichés and plastered on t-shirts and bumper stickers. Why? Are Christian bling-wearing Evangelicals over-compensating for something they lack? What are they hiding behind the bling and junk?

    Remember the manufacturing concern I mentioned above? Why is that some of the most hateful, argumentative, and critical people are those who have the most Jesus junk on their desks? Why does the car of the asshole who cuts you off in traffic often sport a Christian bumper sticker? I love to stand back and observe the behavior of God’s chosen ones. While certainly there are many thoughtful, polite, helpful, and humble Christians, why are so many of them arrogant, rude, and unkind? Ponder for a moment the comments left on this blog by warriors for God, soldiers who likely have Bible verse screen savers on their computers and tablets. For every Evangelical who has left a thoughtful, respectful comment, there have been a hundred Evangelicals who’ve left hateful, argumentative, judgmental ones. Why is this?

    While I was still a Christian, I concluded that hundreds of millions of Americans might be Christian, but most of them have no interest in following after Christ. They are more interested in avoiding Hell and gaining political and social power than they are walking in the steps of Jesus. According to orthodox Christian doctrine, the Christian is indwelt by the Holy Spirit. Simply put, this means Christians have God living inside of them as their teacher and guide. If this is so, then please explain to me why few Christians behave in a way that evidences this? Galatians 5:22,23 says:

    But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

    Bruce, the fruit of the Spirit is the goal. God sanctifies the Christians and they grow and mature, evidencing the fruit of the Spirit later in life. Why is it then that so many people who have been Christian for decades behave as if they have never heard of the fruit of the Spirit? Besides, Galatians 5:22,23 says the fruit (singular) of the Spirit is (present tense). Not a future hope or desire, but a present reality. Can one be a Christian and not show any evidence that God lives inside of them? The same could be said of the Biblical qualifications for being a pastor. I Timothy 3:2-7 states:

    A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, vigilant, sober, of good behaviour, given to hospitality, apt to teach; not given to wine, no striker, not greedy of filthy lucre; but patient, not a brawler, not covetous; one that ruleth well his own house, having his children in subjection with all gravity; (for if a man know not how to rule his own house, how shall he take care of the church of God?) Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover he must have a good report of them which are without; lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

    A bishop then MUST BE. Not hope or aspire to be, but must be. I am sixty-nine years old, and I have yet to meet a pastor who meets the qualifications found in 1 Timothy 3. Why is this?

    By all means, exercise your first amendment right to wear Jesus bling and display Jesus junk. But, if you want to convince me that I should be a Christian, you better start living according to the teachings of the Bible you say you believe. Until then, you have nothing to offer the unwashed, uncircumcised Philistines of the world. As long as Evangelicals continue to publicly state that their religion is the one true faith and the Bible is THE moral standard by which Christian and non-believer alike must live, I plan to point out to Evangelicals how hypocritical they are. I’m just practicing what the Bible says . . . judging Evangelicals by their fruit (Matthew 7:16-20). So far, all I see are barren trees.

    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.

    Your comments are welcome and appreciated. All first-time comments are moderated. Please read the commenting rules before commenting.

    You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.