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Category: Evangelicalism

Understanding Our Evangelical Past Through the Lenses of Indoctrination and Conditioning

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religious indoctrination

Thousands of the readers of this blog are former Evangelicals; devout Christians who devoted their lives to God and the church; people who were saved, sanctified, Holy Ghost-filled followers of Jesus. While many of these people have left Christianity altogether, others have tried to find ways to hang onto their faith. Regardless of where they are presently, most of them struggle as they try to reconcile their Evangelical past, with its attendant beliefs, practices, and behaviors, with the people they have now become. I know for me personally, when I look at my past as an Evangelical pastor and a proponent of strict patriarchalism, I have a hard time reconciling my two very different lives. I struggle with guilt over my past life; the things I said and did. I was abusive, arrogant, and self-righteous. I psychologically, and, at times, physically harmed my wife, our six children, and the people who lovingly called me “preacher.” A decade of counseling hasn’t been able to rid me of the guilt I feel over the past. I suspect many of you know exactly what I am talking about.

The question I am focused on these days is why? Why did I become the man, husband, father, and preacher that I did? While the answers to this question are complex, I have concluded that my beliefs and behavior as an Evangelical husband, father, and preacher can be traced back to indoctrination and conditioning. I was raised in an Evangelical home, attended Evangelical churches for fifty years, trained for the ministry at an Evangelical college, married an Evangelical pastor’s daughter, and spent twenty-five years of my life pastoring Evangelical churches. How could I have not turned out exactly as I did? I was surrounded by family, preachers, and professors who reinforced my beliefs; beliefs that were rarely, if ever, challenged. The indoctrination and conditioning were such that I never doubted or questioned my beliefs. It is a miracle that my wife and I are atheists today. Everything militated against a loss of faith, yet somehow, some way, questions and doubts crept in. I know that it is rare for someone like me to deconvert. Am I special? Nope. If anything I’m lucky. By all accounts, I should still be preaching the gospel, winning souls, and pastoring an Evangelical church. Yet, here I am, a godless heathen. Go figure. 🙂

When I interact with devout Evangelicals on this site, I try to remember that I was once just like them. I know they have a hard time believing this to be true, but I can confidently say that had they known me in the 1980s or 1990s they would have considered me a man of God, a faithful preacher of the good news. They might even have joined my church.

I find myself in a somewhat unique position. I have been on both sides of aisle: devout Evangelical pastor, out-and-proud atheist. This allows me to have a perspective other people may not have. Many of you have similar unique perspectives. Hopefully, these experiences give us compassion for people who are still immersed in Evangelicalism. “Such were some of you,” the Bible says. It’s easy to become annoyed and irritated by Evangelical zealots. I know I have an increasingly short temper with God’s chosen ones. I have to remind myself, “Bruce you were once just like them. Be patient. Be kind. Be that still small voice in their heads.”

Religious indoctrination and conditioning cause untold heartache and harm. For those of us who have been delivered from Evangelicalism, we must give the Evangelicals we interact with the space to see the “light.” That’s not to say that some Evangelicals aren’t so deeply corrupted that it’s impossible to reach them. No amount of interaction with them will change their minds. The Revival Fires, Derrick Thiessens, and Kent Hovinds of the world are too far gone. They have committed the unpardonable sin. There’s no hope for them. We must be careful, however, to not treat other Evangelicals as we do Revival Fires, Thiessen, and Hovind. To quote the Apostle Paul, we must become all things to all men, so that by all means we might save some. If our goal is to reach Evangelicals who have been deeply indoctrinated and conditioned, we must be loving, patient, and kind. We must, even when they don’t, evidence the fruit of the Spirit in our godforsaken lives — love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

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.

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.

Dr. David Tee Continues to Rage-Blog at Ben Berwick and Bruce Gerencser

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dr david tee

Fake Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, is upset over Ben Berwick and me quoting his words. Somehow, some way, we are mispresenting him by quoting from his blog posts. Both Ben and I link to his posts so our readers can read our Tee quotes in context. We’ve yet to have anyone except Thiessen say that we have mispresented or distorted his words. Thiessen has yet to learn that when you say things in public, somebody is going to quote you or repeat what you said. I own every word I write. When I am not clear, I explain and clarify. But, when I say something that offends someone, I don’t run from my words. If Thiessen doesn’t want to be held accountable for what he says, I suggest that he stop saying nasty, hateful, inflammatory stuff.

Part of the problem is that Theissen has a god complex. He is not special in this regard. When a man thinks that he is supernaturally called by a supernatural God to preach supernatural sermons, is it any surprise that he thinks he is God, or at the very least, God-adjacent? I previously mentioned that Theissen feels Ben and I are persecuting him. He even said that he was just like Jesus standing silent before the Sanhedrin. When a person with intimate knowledge about Theissen’s past shares verifiable evidence for troubling past behavior, Theissen says nothing. Why? He’s above the fray, as God is. God doesn’t answer his critics and neither does Thiessen. Just today, Theissen said:

We never said we were the moral authority on this issue. We did say that GOD is and we write his words, not ours. Ours are not inspired but they are based on inspired words. So the problem BG and MM have is not with us but with God and his ways.

Need I say more?

Theissen continues to defend his belief that a ten-year-old (or even a five-year-old) rape victim should be FORCED to carry her fetus to term. Thiessen shows a callous disregard for the welfare of the girl. All that matters is his warped interpretation of the Bible. Theissen has written post after post defending his position. He’s done the same with his continued defense of rapists, child molesters, and abusers. It seems that his moral compass is broken. No amount of pushback from Ben or me has changed Thiessen’s mind. Why? We are atheists (though Ben has never claimed to be an atheist). Atheists have nothing to offer the human race. Our words should be ignored. Thus, he makes no attempt to engage our challenges. Instead, Theissen attacks us personally, disparaging our character and slandering our good names. Why does he behave this way? He’s “God,” so he can say and do whatever he wants.

Theissen provides a good example of this in his latest diatribe, No Rational, Logical or Evidence Filled Arguments:

We have 2 main detractors [Ben Berwick and Bruce Gerencser] that like reading our website. They can’t seem to get enough of our content. When we say something they do not like, their websites are filled with their ‘opposing’ points of view.

We know about them because they make sure they link to our articles in their content. What we have found is that despite their demands that Christians present rational, logical, and evidence-filled (their definitions, of course), content in rebuttal to their arguments, these detractors do not do the same thing.

They would rather use innuendo, lies, misleading comments, and false declarations as if they are an authority.

….

His words imply something we never said, implied, or hinted at. BG misleads his readers YET not one word is found in either article that presents a rational, logical, and evidence-filled opposing view.

He has to stoop to insults, inferences, and clever wording to get his readers to think negatively about us and our content. MM is just the same.

….

Nothing rational there or even logical. He resorts to name calling, abusive language, and lies and he continues to try to read our minds. Of course, he makes the excuse of not presenting anything rational, logical, or evidence-filled by insulting us and using that as justification for his failure to make his point.

Both MM and BG like to attack the messenger so they do not have to deal with the truth.

….

MM & BG just want negative fodder to continue to attack us in their own sinful ways. They won’t be rational. logical or even produce evidence to support their views. Everything they have written or alluded to points to the validity and truthfulness of our content.

We never said we were the moral authority on this issue. We did say that GOD is and we write his words, not ours. Ours are not inspired but they are based on inspired words. So the problem BG and MM have is not with us but with God and his ways.

….

They do not like those ways, so they advocate for everything sinful. Their denial of both God and sin just shows that their arguments are never rational,. logical or even evidenced-filled. They are not honest either.

Their arguments are personally based,  subjective and according to their own desires and thoughts. Unbelievers are never rational, logical, or evidence-based because they dismiss the truth in favor of their own deceived opinions.

They are not our enemy, but the evil in and behind them are. We do not wish them ill-will and are saddened that they hold onto evil in spite of hearing the truth. We also do not spread misinformation, or lies and do other things to them as they do to us.

Our actions prove we are more moral than they can ever hope to be.

dr david tee 2

Here’s my challenge to Derrick Thomas Thiessen. Want to debate the issues, Derrick? I will gladly debate you on YouTube. I will make the debate available on my YouTube channel. All that I ask is that you use your real name and visage. No hiding behind fake names and avatars. Want to defend your views on the Bible, abortion, and defending child molesters? I will gladly provide you with a forum to do so. I am not inclined to continue this back and forth via blog posts. I will respond if you personally attack me, but outside of that, I am content to leave you to your own devices.

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.

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.

True Christianity: David Tee, Kent Hovind, Revival Fires, and Others Like Them are not Outliers

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christians and hate

If I am going to write about Evangelicalism and the various players within the sect, I must read their blogs and news sites, watch their YouTube and Tiktok videos, and peruse their social media posts. I can’t accurately represent Evangelicalism in my writing if I don’t do these things. Believe me, I would rather not do so. Who wants to wade in a septic tank every day, right?

While there is a lot of diversity within the Evangelical tent, there are commonalities belief-wise and practice-wise across the Evangelical spectrum. It is not uncommon to hear “nice” Evangelicals say that people such as Fake Dr. David Tee (whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen), thrice divorced felon Fake Dr. Kent Hovind, and Revival Fires are outliers; that they are not representatives of Evangelicals as a whole. While these men are hateful, nasty, self-righteous bullies — certainly not followers of Jesus’ teachings in the Sermon on the Mount, are they really outliers? Are their beliefs atypical for Evangelicals? Sadly, the answer is no. Their beliefs are normative within Evangelicalism. Based on my years of experience and observation, I know that Evangelicals are generally hateful, bigoted, and narrow-minded. Oh, many of them have big smiles and will shower you with love, but when you carefully examine their beliefs you find hate, bigotry, and closed-mindedness — in Christian love, of course.

Derrick Thiessen, Kent Hovind, Revival Fires, and others like them lack impulse control. They tend to just say whatever is on their addled minds. They don’t care how their words are received or whether they might cause harm. These so-called men of God say they speak on the Christian God’s behalf; that they are his mouthpieces. Other Evangelicals have mastered controlling their speech — in public, at least. That’s why you need to carefully examine their beliefs, or better yet, listen to what they say to their congregations when they think no one is listening.

I have heard scores of Evangelical pastors, evangelists, and missionaries preach over the years. Before the advent of the Internet, these preachers were insulated from accountability for what they said during their sermons. I preached 4,000+ sermons over the course of twenty-five years. Roughly half of those sermons were recorded on cassette tapes. As far as I know, none of those tapes survive. I have asked former members if they have any of my sermon tapes, but so far none have been found. I operated a tape lending library called the CHARIS Tape Library. Hundreds and hundreds of tapes were sent to people. As far as I know, none of those tapes survive. I suspect the tapes were either discarded or turned into Metallica mix tapes. Thus, all the hateful, nasty things I said in my sermons are lost to antiquity. For a number of years, I published a newsletter titled The Sovereign Grace Reporter. This newsletter was sent out to hundreds of people throughout the United States. Much like the aforementioned tapes, no copies of the SGR survive. I used to have hundreds of my preaching tapes and other memorabilia from my ministerial career, but in a moment of deep depression in the early 2000s, I piled these things in our backyard, poured gasoline on them, and lit a match. In a moment, twenty+ years of memories went up in smoke. While it felt good at the time, I regret doing so. (Please see Short Stories: The Night I Set My Life on Fire.)

I am insulated from my past words. All readers have to go on is my recollections. Readers will just have to take my word for it: Pastor Bruce Gerencser was a winsome, kind preacher, but he also had hateful, bigoted beliefs; beliefs he wasn’t afraid to verbalize from the pulpit.

It’s harder for Evangelical preachers to hide these days. When two Independent Fundamentalist Baptists (IFB) mentioned me in their sermons, I found out about it. There just so happened to be people in their services who knew me. I have spies everywhere. 🙂 Everyone has a smartphone. Increasingly, Evangelical churches videotape their services. While preachers likely think that only like-minded people are listening, they can’t stop people like me from listening to their screeds, harangues, and attacks on people different from them. The ugliness is there for all to see if people are willing to pay attention.

Preachers such as Theissen, Hovind, and Revival Fires are quite happy to advertise their hate and bigotry for all to see. While many Evangelical preachers are more careful with their words, make no mistake, hatred and bigotry are common, regardless of the clothes they are dressed in. Yes, I know of kind, thoughtful Evangelicals, but all they are is the exception that proves the rule. They are the outliers, not Theissen, Hovind, and Revival Fires.

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.

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.

Christians Say the Darnedest Things: Why Have Sex with Unbelief When You Can Have Sex with Jesus

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sexy jesus

Unbelief is essentially your spiritual mistress. And like any mistress, she is untrustworthy and unfaithful. You are not her only lover; not by a long shot. Your mistress gives herself to anyone who will join her in rejecting the Messiah.

God commands you to break off your sinful relationship with your mistress of unbelief. Tell her the affair is over. Leave her once and for all. Turn to God in repentance and trust in the sacrifice that Jesus made on your behalf when he died for your sins on the cross. You owe him everything. You owe your mistress nothing. 

And besides, your mistress does not care about you in the slightest. She is not even a person. She is simply a perspective that you happen to find alluring. You have been seduced by her mind as you have bought into her enticing definition of personal freedom.

She whispers to you:

“Be your own person. Forget about God and all that mumbo jumbo about sin and the cross and salvation. You deserve to be free of any interference from God. Heaven and Hell are merely make-believe concepts used to control weak people. You, however, are strong, independent and enlightened.” 

One lie after the other, and so far, you have taken the bait as evidenced by your persistent unbelief and refusal to accept Jesus as your Savior. Your infatuation with your mistress will disappear once you end the affair. 

….

Do you realize that her tantalizing lies come with strings attached? These strings ultimately drag souls into far greater misery than you can even imagine. Affairs never end well, but the consequences of this particular affair take things to a whole other level. Hell is a real place in a different realm and is a deep dark pit of never-ending agony and despair. (Luke 16:19-31)

….

Why continue to lust after your mistress when the One who truly loves your soul is willing to forgive your unfaithfulness to him and give you peace and joy today and forever? Did your mistress suffer hours of agony on a cross to pay for your sins? Of course not. A real person suffered and died for your sins so that you can go to Heaven when you die. Christ loves you, but he will not force you to receive his love, forgiveness and salvation.

You get to make the choice. Faith in Jesus, or unbelief? Truth or spiritual lies? Heaven or Hell? No man can serve two masters, just like no man can love both his wife and his mistress.

You should be mad at your spiritual mistress because of how badly she has corrupted your soul. Unbelief is a dark and shady character. I suppose this is one reason you feel drawn to her. You find her seductive words of unbelief exhilarating in some twisted way. But one day she will leave you. And you will be left with nothing.

….

You would be smart to have the awkward discussion with your mistress immediately and break off that doomed relationship. After all, she doesn’t care about you, but Christ does. You are simply under her spell. Your affair has taken you far from God.

If this sounds ridiculous to you, it is only because your mistress is blinding you from the truth. You tell yourself you love her, but even that is a lie. If you end up in Hell, you will hate what your mistress did to your soul. And yet you will realize that you are fully responsible for your eternal sentence. You will finally come to see that it was never about love; it was always about lust. 

Unbelief is rooted in spiritual lust. This intense longing to be the captain of your soul resists submitting yourself to the rightful owner of your soul, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Christian faith, on the other hand, is rooted in God’s love in sending his only Son to be our Savior from sin. (John 3:16) True and lasting freedom can only be found in a loving and faithful relationship with Jesus Christ. 

I hope you will decide today to end your affair with unbelief.   

….

So be honest. What has unbelief ever done for you? And it only gets worse the longer you stay in that tawdry relationship. Sure it may be humiliating for you to say goodbye to your mistress, but in the words of Oliver Markus: “A horrible end is better than endless horror.”

— Dan Delzell, pastor of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Papillion, Nebraska, The Christian Post, Why you should end your affair with unbelief, July 29, 2022

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.

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.

Bruce, How Did You Deal with Your Emotions as You Deconverted?

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i have a question

Recently, a reader named Theresa asked:

Would you please discuss, or please point me to where you discuss, how you dealt/deal with your emotions and conflicts as you were deconverting? My life has been much tamer than yours, yet it’s revolved in a HUGE part around church and faith and belief, and so on.

I’ve been questioning for awhile, but 2019 was an especially bad year, including three huge shakeups in my life, greatly impacting my Christian relationships. It’s all a really long story, one I’m not comfortable sharing with strangers.

I feel sometimes like I’m walking a tightrope, trying to balance or wondering if I should do something now to prepare for the future. For example, I am expected to take over my Mom’s special needs adults class when she passes – not for years yet, hopefully. I love the members, we’re all family – but it will be my chance to cut ties with the church and run.

So much of life now is like this. I don’t have clarity or guidance; and everyone I know wants me to remain as I am. I’ve been a Christian for 45 years +, and taught in one capacity or another for most of that, up until 2019, one of the blindsiding betrayals I went through. I have felt pulls elsewhere as I was growing up, but squashed them, and sometimes I wonder …

I just don’t know how to handle things sometimes. I’ve been in limbo for quite awhile, spiritually and otherwise, and it doesn’t feel good or right to feel this way this much anymore.

Specifically, Theresa asked:

How [did] you dealt/deal with your emotions and conflicts as you were deconverting?

Theresa has been involved with Christianity for over forty-five years. She’s has a lifetime of church experiences and friendships. Based on her comment, Theresa is not a passive or cultural Christian. She’s actively involved in her church; a teacher for decades. It’s evident, at least to me, that she deeply cares about her church family, including her mother who attends the same church. Yet, she has serious doubts and questions about Christianity and is considering an exit from her church. Internally debating these issues has caused psychological angst, leading to emotional unrest.

For those of us who were lifelong followers of Jesus before we deconverted, Theresa’s story has a familiar feel. I was part of the Evangelical church for fifty years, and a pastor for twenty-five years. Much like Theresa, I was deeply immersed in the machinations of the church. I deeply loved God, the ministry, and the people I pastored. I fully expected to spend my entire life preaching the gospel, saving souls, and ministering to both the saved and the lost. My exit story was one where I would be preaching, and as I was emphasizing the certainty of death, drop dead in the pulpit. Talk about a powerful sermon illustration. 🙂 Alas, my faith died before I did. On the last Sunday in November 2008, I walked out of the doors of the Ney United Methodist Church, never to return. Several months later, I sent out my infamous letter, Dear Family, Friends, and Former Parishioners, declaring that I was no longer a Christian.

For the longest time, wanting to fend off people saying I left Christianity due to some sort of “hurt,” I focused on the intellectual reasons I deconverted. I left Christianity because I no longer believed its central claims about Jesus and the Bible. While I could have continued to play the game, I have never been willing to “fake it until you make it.” When I concluded that Christianity was built upon a foundation of untruths, I felt duty bound to share my story. This, of course, led to the birth of this blog.

Over the years, I have tried to share not only the intellectual reasons I deconverted, but also the psychological struggles I’ve experienced, even to this day. Think about being married for fifty years, having children and grandchildren, and building a life together with your significant other. Yet, you began to have doubts about your relationship and the prospect of your future together. You sat down and made a list of things you liked and disliked about your spouse and reasons why you should stay or go. You weighed all the intellectual reasons for staying or leaving, concluding that it was time for you to end your marriage. You spent countless hours wrestling with your emotions, weeping over what divorce would cause not only to yourself but also to your spouse. Despite your psychological travails, you knew intellectually that divorce was the right thing to do. And so you walked away. While you are now “free,” you still struggle with thoughts about the past. “Did I make the right decision?” “OMG, what have I done?” “Now what?”

So it is for people who were married to Jesus, the church, and the ministry for years. We rightly concluded that Christianity could not withstand rational, intellectual challenge, so we decided to divorce. What we are left with, then, is the psychological baggage that comes with making such a momentous decision. And don’t let anyone tell you differently. Walking away from Christianity is hard (and painful), at least it was for me. Deconverting was, by far, the hardest decision I have ever made in my sixty-five years of life. My whole life changed overnight, including my relationships with my wife and our six children. In short order, I lost everything that was foundational to my life, including lifelong friends. I was forced, at the age of fifty, to begin anew.

Through this process, I have faced a plethora of psychological struggles. So much so that I have been seeing a secular counselor for over a decade. Counseling has been an essential part of the healing process for me. Evangelicalism caused me harm, both physically and emotionally. Worse yet, I struggle with the fact that not only was I a victim, but I was also a victimizer. I materially caused harm to my wife, children, and the people who lovingly called me “preacher.”

Theresa’s journey is her own. I have always been careful to not set myself up as an example of the path to follow. Each of us must weigh our beliefs carefully and decide accordingly. Not every road leads to atheism. Some people find resting places where they are able to hang on to some sort of religious faith. Others cannot. I encourage people to meet truth in the middle of the road. Don’t back up or try to go around truth. Do your homework. Read lots of books. Make sure you intellectually know WHY you no longer believe.

Once the intellectual reasons for deconverting are resolved, there’s still psychological baggage to deal with. It’s much harder to reason away feelings. The question that must be asked and answered is this: why do I have these feelings? Typically, fear is the primary reason for emotional turmoil. “What if I am wrong?” Fear of offending God or going to Hell lurks in the shadows. Pressure from pastors, family members, and fellow church members — who cannot or will not understand and appreciate your journey — only add to your emotional unrest. How, then, should we handle the emotional aspects of deconversion?

First, seek out people who have walked a similar path. This blog primarily exists to help those who have doubts or questions about Christianity or who have walked away from the faith. I have found that telling my story is one of the best ways I can help others.

Second, find a vehicle by which you can express your struggles. Start journaling, or better yet, start blogging. I have found writing to be cathartic, a way for me to work through my questions, doubts, and feelings. I have long encouraged people to write guest posts for this site. Telling your story, even anonymously, can be liberating.

Third, find someone you can confide in. This is not easy, especially when everyone around you still believes. That’s why my inbox is always open. I am not a counselor, but I am a good listener. And there are other people on this site who are more than willing to help people along the way. The goal is not to convert people to atheism as much as it is to lend a helping hand to people as they walk their journey through life.

Fourth, I strongly encourage people to seek out help from a competent counselor. Not a religious counselor; not a pastor; a secular counselor trained in cognitive behavioral therapy. Talking to a disinterested third party can be quite helpful as you try to unpack your religious past. Religion can and does cause trauma and harm. People often grossly underestimate the harm caused by their past religious experiences and beliefs. I know I did. It was only recently, ten years in, that my counselor was able to get me to see how much trauma I’ve had in my life and how that trauma deeply marred and scarred my life and the relationships I have with my family. For the longest time, I believed that trauma was what happened to other people, not me. It wasn’t until I made a list of the traumatic experiences in my life that I finally understood some of my psychological struggles.

What advice would you give to Theresa? Please share your thoughtful advice in the comment section.

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.

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.

Unpacking a Meme: Who Represents True Christianity?

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This meme is often posted by progressive or liberal Christians. They want people to know that Evangelicals, conservative Catholics, and Mormons — the religious right — don’t represent Christians. They also want people to know that their brand/flavor/shade of Christianity is true Christianity or the religion of Jesus. Much like Evangelicals do today, progressive/liberal Christians appropriate the Jesus of the Bible for their own religious, political, economic, and social use.

Jesus was a practicing Jew, not a Christian. There’s no Biblical evidence for the claim that Jesus was the founder of Christianity. If anything, the Apostle Paul (and to a lesser degree, James and John) was the originator of Christianity. Jesus left no writings, nothing that gives us a record of what he actually said and taught. The red words in the gospels are the words of unknown authors writing thirty-five to seventy-five years after the death of Jesus, not the actual words of Christ. The earliest manuscripts of the gospels date back to the second and third centuries, 120-150 years after the death of Jesus. All we have, then, are the words of unknown authors written decades after Jesus was executed by the Roman government.

Whatever Jesus might have said (or done) is lost to antiquity. Any claims to the contrary are wishful thinking. While I understand why various sects of Christians want to claim Jesus as their own, the fact remains that Jesus was not a Christian; that he likely would not recognize the Christianity of today. Nor would the Apostle Paul, James, Peter, John, or a host of other early church leaders. Every sect wants to trace its lineage back to AD 33. I have even seen church buildings with cornerstones that arrogantly say, BUILT AD 33. This is nothing more than ahistorical nonsense.

Christianity has been evolving since the first century. Every generation is confronted by its own version of Christianity; a version shaped, molded, and influenced by culture, social beliefs, and politics. Any sect/church/pastor that says their denomination or church or pastor practices first-century Christianity, and follows the teachings of Jesus, lacks understanding and self-awareness.

I was part of the Evangelical church for fifty years, and a pastor for twenty-five years. I am now sixty-five years old. The Evangelical Christianity of my youth is very different from the Evangelicalism of today. Better? Worse? Who’s to say? The best response is “different.” Religions change and evolve with time, regardless of where they fall on the Christianity spectrum. When Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) Christians say that they are practicing “old-fashioned’ Christianity, what they really mean is that they are practicing white, American, 1950s, Fundamentalist Christianity. When Frank Viola and the house church proponents say they are practicing “first-century” Christianity, what they really mean is that they have extracted from church history a form of belief and practice that best fits their theological, social, political, and economic proclivities. In other words, they fashioned and crafted a religion in their own image. Liberal and progressive Christians do the same. Does anyone seriously believe Jesus, Paul, and the early church were pro-LGBTQ and egalitarian? Only by torturing the Biblical text can one conclude that First United Methodist Church of Jerusalem celebrated Pride Month or had female pastors.

Christianity would be better served if its adherents admit that their Christianities are human creations; that whatever Jesus said and practiced lies buried with his body somewhere outside of Jerusalem. Instead of countless internecine wars over who is the real Christian (the No True Scotsman fallacy), Christianity would be better served by focusing on practicing the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount or devoting oneself to evidencing the fruit of the Spirit. Or better yet, how about practicing the two great commandments: loving God and loving others (including self)?

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.

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.

Dr. David Tee Goes to a Gay Bar

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Fake Dr. David Tee, whose real name Derrick Thomas Thiessen, recently confessed that he went to at least one gay bar, watched men having sex with each other, and even went home with them to see what they did (what did they “do,” David?) behind closed doors.

Here’s what Thiessen had to say:

He [Ben Berwick] has never been to a homosexual bar or nightclub. We [I] have and we [I] have had many friends who were homosexual even though we [I] were and are not that type of person. We [I] know what goes on in those places as well as behind closed doors in private homes. 

If we [I] spoke about what we [I] witnessed you would be sick to your stomach. It is not natural, it is debauchery and it is sin.

Thiessen says that he is not that “type” of person, but I suspect he doth protest too much. What was he doing in a gay bar? What was he doing in a gay man’s bedroom? Doesn’t the Bible say that Derrick Thomas Thiessen should “abstain from the very appearance of evil; that he should not fellowship with unbelievers and their works of darkness?

Here’s a general rule you can use to properly judge Evangelical preachers. Pay attention to what “sins” they harp on all the time. Pay attention to what “sins” rile them up, causing them to use inflammatory, hateful language. Typically, Evangelical preachers live guilt-ridden lives. They rail against “sin,” promising love, grace, and forgiveness to all who will forsake their wicked ways, yet these so-called men of God often practice the very things they preach against. I know I did, and I know countless other on-fire, bought-by-the-blood, Holy Ghost-filled, sanctified pastors, evangelists, youth directors, and missionaries who did the same. I know IFB preachers I went to college with who chastise young adults in their churches for having sex (or even touching one another, for that matter), yet these preachers of righteousness seem to forget that they went to the shagging shack as dorm students with their girlfriends or routinely broke the college’s no personal contact rule. Talk about hypocrites.

What “sins” is Thiessen obsessed with? This tells us much about what kind of man he really is. Forget his unhealthy obsession with gay sex, for a moment. If Thiessen wants to have consensual sex with a man, two men, three women, or a transgender person, who am I to object? Of greater concern is his continued defense of rapists, child molesters, wife-beaters, child abusers, and other miscreants, including preachers who used their power to take sexual advantage of women.

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.

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.

Dr. David Tee Says Transgender People Should be Grateful They Don’t Live in Old Testament Times When it was Okay to Kill Them

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Fake Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, recently shared how much he despises and loathes transgender people. No commentary is necessary from me. I am sure readers might have a thing or two to say. 🙂

Thiessen writes:

They [transgender people] do not want to be seen as perverted or wrong or even abnormal, so they demanded special rights to help them seem normal. Going to the bathrooms is one prime example. Transgenders do not accept their birth gender but that denial of who they really are is not grounds to change the rules of normality to fit their denials.

This demand for new bathroom rules is a special right as the transgender had the right to use the bathroom of their birth gender. They did not want to follow the rules thus they demand special privileges. They are wrong not the people who oppose them.

….

The transgender people and their supporters are just operating under a delusion. They cannot change who they are as science has confirmed that the specific chromosomes that make up men and women cannot be changed.

The transgender is the person with the problem as they cannot accept who they are and demand that everyone else participates in their delusion. That is wrong as the LGBTQ and atheists, etc., have complained long and hard about Christians forcing their views on them.

Well, those groups are doing the exact same thing to those who disagree with them. They have no argument. Transgenders or people who think they are transgender can play dress-up all they want, but it doesn’t change the fact that they are wrong, in need of help, and disobeying God when he said men and women are not to wear the other gender’s clothing.

Delusion is not right nor is it from God. God wants his creation to be as he created them not some freak show.

….

The ‘oppressed’ has become the oppressor. They need to stop attacking Christians, making false legal claims, and stop bashing those who do not accept them. But they can’t live without prejudice because they flaunt their preferences in people’s faces (gay pride parades), in the classroom in front of children not their own (we have read different news stories where homosexual teachers who got in trouble say ‘we just want to share our personal lives with our students), those teachers are wrong and should not be discussing such topics with children not their own.

Most of the time, they bring the abuse upon themselves because they can’t keep their mouths shut. They are lucky they are living in the New Testament world as in the OT it was okay to kill LGBTQ people.”

I am sure Revival Fires will share his support for Thiessen as soon as this post is published. Transphobes of a feather, flock together. When Revival Fires agrees with you, you can rest assured you are wrong.

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.

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.

IFB Pastor John MacFarlane Threatens Liberal Politicians, Overturning Roe v. Wade was Just the Beginning

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Recently, John MacFarlane, pastor of First Baptist Church in Bryan, Ohio, warned liberal politicians that he and his fellow Bible thumpers are coming for them; that overturning Roe v. Wade is just the start. MacFarlane wrote:

Now, almost 50 years later, we can see where and how this country is divided.  It’s not about political parties and red v. blue.  We are a nation divided over the Bible and God, the One in whose image we are created.  And this division is getting deeper every day!  To call a ruling that supports life as cruel, outrageous, and heart-wrenching is egregious in and of itself.

Such statements from our national leaders ought to cause every blood-bought born-again believer to stand up and say, “This ruling isn’t the only change that’s happening.  There’s going to be more.  A LOT more!”

Is this devotional political?  Absolutely — and I make no apology for it.  The reason that it’s political is because the politicians have insisted on sticking their noses into issues of values, morality, and truth.  Rather than accepting what God says, they’ve chosen to go against it, forcing the Christians to rise up and to take some stands.  We MUST obey God rather than man.

Dear liberal politician, you have given the Christians no choice.  Edmund Burke’s famous statement is true.  “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”  It’s time for GOOD men and women – especially GOD’s men and women to arise and do the right thing!

MacFarlane is an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) preacher, a Trumpist who supports and defends every plank in the culture war agenda. Along with his fellow forced birthers, MacFarlane had the orgasm of a lifetime when the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, allowing states to effectively ban abortion. I suspect MacFarlane makes no exceptions for rape, incest, or the life of the mother; that, if he had his way, certain birth control methods and in-vitro fertilization would be outlawed too. MacFarlane’s goal is to facilitate returning the United States to the glory days of the 1950s; the days when abortion and birth control were illegal; the days when women were barefoot and pregnant; the days when blacks knew their place, Mexicans went back to where they belonged after picking our crops, and homosexuals never left their pitch-dark closets; the days when public school teachers led their students in prayer and read the Bible to them; the days when Joseph McCarthy spent his waking hours ferreting out commies; the days when IN GOD WE TRUST was added to the pledge and currency; the days when “Biblical” Christianity ruled supreme.

Based on what MacFarlane has written here, he either rejects or has a faulty understanding of the separation of church and state. The United States has a secular government. No amount of quotes from professional liar David Barton will change this fact. While it is likely MacFarlane opposes the Taliban and other extremist Islamic governments, he seems to be okay with Sharia law in America as long as it follows his interpretation of the Protestant Christian Bible.

MacFarlane says the Federal government should accept what God says in the Bible and govern accordingly. Of course, MacFarlane is quite selective about what laws, precepts, and commands he wants the government to follow. Not one Evangelical zealot wants the government to enforce all 613 Biblical laws. Does MacFarlane want the adulterers, fornicators, child molesters, and disobedient children among his congregation executed? Does he want atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, Catholics, and all other non-Evangelicals arrested, tried, convicted, and executed? Shall I go on?

The Bible is a dangerous book in the hands of theocrats such as John MacFarlane. They must NOT be trusted with the reins of government. If theocrats are allowed to gain control, freedoms will be lost and people will die. When the MacFarlanes of the world say that overturning Roe v. Wade is just the beginning, we should believe them. If the January 6th insurrection has taught anything, is that MacFarlane and his fellow theocrats are dangerous and will use violence to achieve their goal of a Christian nation.

What, exactly, have Evangelicals been forced to do? I can’t think of one thing. No, what’s going on here is that Evangelicalism is in numerical freefall. NONES are on the rise. Young adults are leaving Evangelical churches in droves. Evangelicals have lost their dominance and control, and they don’t like it. So, instead of loving God and loving their neighbors as themselves — you know, the two great commandments — Evangelicals have turned to raw, naked political power to advance their agenda. How else can we explain so many Evangelicals voting for Donald Trump — twice?

Sixty years ago, Barry Goldwater said:

Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the [Republican] party, and they’re sure trying to do so, it’s going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can’t and won’t compromise. I know, I’ve tried to deal with them.

An unattributed quote says:

When fascism comes to America it will be wrapped in the flag and carrying a cross.

Make no mistake about it, the Christian nationalist horde is at the gate, and Pastor John MacFarlane is standing there with them. John is a well-respected pastor. By all accounts, he is a friendly, winsome man. But that doesn’t change the fact that he is promoting beliefs and practices that are materially harmful not only to me and my family personally but also to hundreds of millions of non-Evangelical Americans.

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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You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Why Should I Care What the Bible Says?

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Imagine if I went to an Evangelical preacher’s blog and left comments quoting text from the Harry Potter books. Imagine me saying, Harry Potter says ____________ or the path to salvation and eternal life and happiness and peace is through the miracle-working power of Harry Potter. Imagine me telling this preacher that he needed to read and practice the teachings of Harry lest he die and face eternal damnation. I suspect he would rightly say to me, Why should I care what the Harry Potter books say? Why should I pay any attention to what Harry says? These books are just the words of one person, JK Rowling. They carry no weight or authority with me.

Yet, when this preacher and other Evangelicals do the same with the Protestant Christian Bible, they claim that the Bible is “different”; that there’s no book like the Bible; that the Bible is a supernatural book written or inspired by a supernatural God; that its words are magical and powerful. As presuppostionalists, Evangelicals expect nonbelievers to accept their claims about the Bible without providing any evidence and support for them. In their minds, the Bible is inspired, inerrant, and infallible, a divinely written book that is TRUTH. When atheists, agnostics, and other non-Evangelicals reject these claims due to a lack of evidence, they are accused of having hardened hearts; people who are deliberately blind to what is right in front of them. Yet, when I take the same approach with them concerning the Harry Potter books, Evangelicals demand evidence for my claims. Why the double standard? Shouldn’t all claims be judged by the same evidentiary standards? Just because you say something doesn’t mean it’s true.

While I am more than happy to discuss or debate the Bible with Evangelicals, when they start making supernatural claims, then I expect them to provide evidence and support for their claims. Of course, no evidence will be forthcoming. Why? There’s no evidence to be had. Evangelical claims for the Bible are based on faith, not facts. And I am fine with that as long as Evangelicals admit that their beliefs about the Bible rest on faith, not evidence. When it comes to faith, either you believe or you don’t. I don’t, and until you can provide empirical evidence for your claims, I cannot and will not believe.

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.

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.