By Dr. David Tee, Whose Name is RealDerrick Thomas Thiessen, We Already Know How, January 10, 2024
God has power that we do not have nor can comprehend. Yet we do understand that this power is greater than anything else in the universe. We do not need science to tell us what God did. God has already told us and our origins are not a mystery.
Why should we go to unbelieving, blind, deceived, and lost people to get our answers about our origins when God has already told us what he did in the Bible
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There is the truth and then there is false teaching. Biblical creation is the truth and you either accept it or you don’t. The other so-called option is a fantasy made up by those who rejected the truth yet needed something to fill the void left by that rejection.
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There is no need to debate this topic. You either preach the truth or you proclaim false teaching.
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The how is not only explained in Genesis 1 but it is also explained in other verses speaking on this topic throughout the Bible. God took only 6 days to create everything. If you cannot accept that, then you are left with false teaching.
There is no debate because there is only one truth and the Bible has the truth, not science. So there are no muddy waters to wade through and there are no old earth facts to worry about. That is because the facts support a young earth and the biblical account.
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We know how God created everything because he told us and God cannot lie.
A quick public service announcement from Science-Based Medicine, or at least from me: hitting children is fundamentally wrong. It’s also not effective when done in an attempt to improve their behavior. Back in 2014, I wrote about the use of corporal punishment to discipline children, mostly focusing on its use by caregivers in the home. Sadly, not much has changed since I wrote this opening paragraph:
One of the most commonly practiced strategies used by parents to alter the long-term behavior of their children is corporal punishment, commonly referred to as spanking. But the use of the term spanking is problematic in that how caregivers interpret it varies widely, and there is frequent overlap with what pediatricians consider to be abuse. Despite a great deal of evidence showing that spanking is ineffective, is a risk factor for greater forms of physical abuse, and can negatively impact the behavioral and cognitive development of children in a variety of ways, it remains a controversial issue in the United States. The American Academy of Pediatrics and numerous other professional organizations have come down firmly against the use of physical punishment by parents, but unlike 34 other developed nations, there are no federal laws banning spanking.
There are still no federal laws banning spanking, either in the home or in schools, which is what today’s post will focus on. Pediatricians, though not all of us, unfortunately, are generally united in their stance that this is a problem. The American Academy of Pediatrics is naturally opposed to the practice of physical violence against children in all forms and recently issued a policy statement to specifically address when it is used as a form of discipline in schools.
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Why is beating children in schools allowed? Great question. In 1977, the Supreme Court had an opportunity to protect children but failed. A 5-4 decision in Ingraham v Wright provided constitutional cover for school-based physical punishment, saying that 8th Amendment protections against cruel and unusual punishment don’t apply to students. They left it up to the states, many of which are seemingly incapable of thinking about the (born) children in any meaningful capacity.
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The majority of children being hit at school in the United States live in the South, with the majority (nearly 3 out of every 4) living in Alabama, Arkansas, Georgia, Mississippi, and Texas. Mississippi and Texas are the worst offenders, with a third of all kids being attacked by teachers or other school administrators living in those two states. It gets worse.
When a school allows faculty to hit students, which students tend to get hit? Another great question, and one that requires a thoughtful and nuance re..black kids. It’s black kids. Children with disabilities have it the worst, however, with national data showing that 16.5% of kids who are hit at school being served under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. The tragic reality is that the more marginalized a child is, for example, a black child with autism, the more likely they are to be physically attacked at school by someone charged with their education and safety.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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.
On the fictional cop show Blue Bloods, in the appropriately titled episode “Pain Killers,” detective Maria Baez picks up a tray containing drug paraphernalia and a white powder and is soon seen on a gurney, fighting for her life, as a healthcare worker proclaims, “Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid, 50 to 100 times stronger than morphine. The slightest exposure can trigger an overdose.” As reported by Lindsey Ellefson for BuzzFeed News, the night the episode premiered, over eight million people watched it.
The belief that simply coming into contact with fentanyl can kill you is widespread within law enforcement. But is it true?
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Given the clear hazard posed by potent opioids like fentanyl, it’s no wonder that many first responders are afraid to be anywhere near them. This fear, though, is misplaced and can have dire consequences for the people in need of medical attention.
It started in Montreal. In April 2013, police conducted seven raids around Montreal and seized drug-making equipment and synthetic drugs, including a fentanyl derivative called desmethyl fentanyl. The clandestine labs making these drugs contained many chemicals, and the Montreal Gazette reported at the time that four police officers became ill from handling some of these drugs. One was hospitalized with heart problems, while three other cops, who were wearing masks and gloves, developed rashes on their arms. The link between touching fentanyl and getting sick was born.
But what really cemented the fear that merely touching fentanyl or one of its analogs causes instant harm was a case in Ohio four years later. A man who had just been released from jail on bond was driving and was pulled over by a police officer, who was joined by Chris Green, a local off-duty cop who happened to be nearby. The two officers found drugs in the car and the man admitted that the powder in his vehicle might include fentanyl. Green noticed some powder on his shirt and brushed it off with his naked hand.
An hour or so later, Green was sweaty, barely coherent, and not feeling well. He was taken to the hospital, where he was treated for an overdose. The man he had arrested was charged with drug trafficking and possession, yes, but also with assault on a peace officer because he had exposed Green to fentanyl. The attorney general for Ohio released a statement to the press during sentencing which would echo for years to come: “Fentanyl is so dangerous,” he said, “that even the slightest exposure can be deadly.” The news media was quick to repeat this memorable quote.
The belief that simply touching fentanyl will cause physical harm is very common among law enforcement officers. It is reinforced by media coverage, which often repeats this presumption with no pushback. Cops who survive their encounter with unknown white powders will tell journalists that “something as simple as the wind could expose you” or “I almost died.”
So, are there any reported cases of harm caused by touching fentanyl?
“No.” The man who gave me this unambiguous answer is Dr. Ryan Marino. He is a medical toxicologist and an associate professor at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine in Cleveland, Ohio. He is also one of a handful of experts frequently pushing back against opioid myths through the website WTFentanyl. His stance on this issue is backed up by the American College of Medical Toxicology (ACMT), which deems the risk to emergency responders as “extremely low,” and is echoed in the Journal of Emergency Medical Services, in which rescue specialist Simon Taxel reminds us that this position is unanimously agreed upon by physicians and toxicologists. “If there was a real hazard,” Taxel writes, “it would stand to reason that the people who produce fentanyl, distribute it, or use it would suffer similar exposures. This is simply not happening.” Same with carfentanyl, the extremely potent synthetic opioid. “It’s more potent,” told Dr. Joshua Radke, an ER doctor, to Emergency Medicine News, “but it’s not magically more dangerous.”
ou may be skeptical if you know that fentanyl patches exist, in which the opioid is allowed to seep through the skin and provide relief to patients dealing with chronic pain. But these transdermal patches were the fruit of significant investments to devise a technology that would allow fentanyl to be absorbed through the skin. Even with this patented delivery system, a patient will start to benefit from the fentanyl only three to 13 hours later. The effect is far from instantaneous. In fact, you can witness Chad Sabora on Facebook showing that a heroin powder tests positive for fentanyl and then holding it in his left hand for an extended period of time. “I’m experiencing no signs of toxicity, no overdose symptoms, nothing whatsoever,” he calmly states. “I don’t know what else to do.”
But what about the danger of accidentally inhaling fentanyl while conducting a drug bust? Reassuringly, the drug and its analogs are not easily airborne, with the ACMT referring to this hypothetical situation as “exceptional circumstances.” There would need to be large quantities aerosolized and breathed in for hours to get a meaningful amount in the bloodstream. The closest thing might have been the Moscow theatre hostage crisis of 2022, in which Chechen terrorists occupied a theatre. The Russian Federation responded by pumping in a gas that killed 129 of the more than 800 hostages, as well as at least 33 terrorists. The Russian government did not initially reveal the composition of the gas. An analysis by a British laboratory of the clothing worn by two British survivors and the urine from a third revealed the presence of carfentanyl and remifentanil. Even if those were indeed the gases used to subdue the terrorists, it is clear that this situation bears little resemblance to first responders arriving at the scene of a fentanyl overdose, or even to police officers raiding a fentanyl laboratory.
First responders who believe they are overdosing on fentanyl from simply touching it in fact exhibit the exact opposite of the symptoms we would expect. While fentanyl makes you euphoric and slows down your breathing, cops start breathing faster, sweat a lot, and become anxious. “I don’t want to discredit anyone or say they’re faking,” says Dr. Marino. “I do think people are having a true medical emergency when this happens. The symptoms seem most consistent with a panic attack or anxiety or a fear reaction.”
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This panic over accidentally touching fentanyl is causing actual harm. “I have seen this play out,” Dr. Marino tells me, “People are scared to resuscitate an overdosing person, because they’re worried about getting close to them.” Police departments spend unnecessary money on hazmat suits and special “fentanyl-resistant gloves.” Regular disposable nitrile gloves have been tested and are more than suitable; in fact, the human skin is already a pretty good barrier. But because of this dread, people are being charged with imaginary crimes for exposing a cop’s bare skin to fentanyl, and a coalition of attorneys general urged President Joe Biden to classify fentanyl, one of the most frequently used drugs in medicine, as a “weapon of mass destruction.” Fear spreads while science crawls.
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Blue Bloods may have fueled the fear over accidental fentanyl poisoning, but another cop show took a different approach. On an episode of Will Trent, a law enforcement officer starts panicking after believing he’s touched fentanyl. The show’s protagonist, Will Trent, replies, unphased: “Pretty sure that’s laundry detergent. Just wash your hands. Either way, you’ll be fine.” We need more scientifically accurate representations like this one.
Jonathan Jarry Bio:
Jonathan Jarry is a science communicator with the McGill Office for Science and Society, dedicated to separating sense from nonsense on the scientific stage. He has a Master’s degree in molecular biology and he brings his experience in cancer research, human genetics, rehabilitation research, and forensic biology to the work he does for the public. He was the creator, writer, and host of the YouTube show Cracked Science, which used a late-night deep-dive format to debunk pseudoscience and denounce bad science. With cardiologist Dr. Christopher Labos, he co-hosts the award-winning medical podcast The Body of Evidence, which aims to contextualize findings in the realm of health research and answer the public’s most pressing questions about the biomedical sciences while also being funny and entertaining.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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.
As you can see, science is powerless to discover any alternative source for the origin of the universe. There is no evidence, no hope of replication or observation, in all of their theories. They are left with creating several fairy tales that they know they have no hope of proving true.
But the Bible knows all about our origins and provides the only answer.
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The universe’s and our origins are not a mystery as science claims. We have a source that tells us exactly what happened. The Bible also tells us the force that created everything and that knowing this information is not impossible.
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We know where energy and matter came from and we know that something was not made out of nothing. Our origin and the universe’s all came from God and to know this takes just a little step of faith.
Everything was made by the word of God so he would be worshipped and given the glory for what he did. This does not mean that we Christians cannot do science. It means that science cannot and should not be wasting time and money investigating our origins. It has been revealed and science needs to focus on more important things that are within its realm to investigate.
All it takes is a little faith in God and believing that he is capable and has the power to create exactly as he said. Many secular scientists will demand evidence to prove the Bible true. The biggest piece of evidence that can be shown to them is the fact that science cannot create any explanation for a natural cause or provide evidence that their alternative is true.
The unbelieving world has been shown physical pieces of evidence after physical pieces of evidence year in and year out for thousands of years. Yet they never accept that evidence because they do not want to do one thing– believe by faith.
It is a simple step to take yet so many people in the scientific communities refuse to do it.
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To those of us who believe the answers to our origins are very clear. The Bible knows and it is telling all those who listen to it when they read its pages. Even the problems science cannot solve, mentioned earlier, are solved by the Bible.
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Trying to go over answered ground is not science. It is an act of unbelief and sin. The Bible does what science cannot do- provide the right answers.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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.
Joe Biden knows more than he’s letting on about his son Hunter’s foreign business dealings.
If Joe Biden suddenly froze during a press conference, the right-wing media would scream about his fitness for office.
The left-wing media goes out of their way to minimize President Biden’s physical decline, much like Republicans did with Ronald Reagan 40 years ago.
Ozempic (semaglutide) is now causing gastroparesis (stomach paralysis) in some people. Welcome to my world. You will now lose weight without taking a drug. I call it the vomit, nausea, lack of appetite diet.
Most weight loss programs don’t work, yet Americans spend billions of dollars trying to be slimmer, trimmer people.
Ohio students now attend public school 182 days a year, yet baby boomers only needed 154 days a year to get a similar education. I suspect the reasons for this are nonessential classes and parental work schedules.
If Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow is hurt and can’t play, their season is over.
Ukraine (and NATO) is obfuscating and minimizing the carnage and death in its conflict with Russia.
Memo to MSNBC talking head Nicole Wallace: you need to rethink your use of the phrase “historic day of news” every day on your program. Someone associated with Donald Trump getting indicted is not “historic.” It’s just another say in the USA.
2,000 Americans under the age of 25 suffer cardiac arrest every year. This was happening long before COVID-19 vaccines.
Bonus: The only absolute right seems to be the freedom of religion.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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.
The greatest disease threat to humans is not wildlife; it’s our fellow homo sapiens.
If states such as Alabama and Texas can ignore Federal court orders without consequence,other states will do the same, upending the rule of law.
Many Christian nationalists and white supremacists are itching for a civil war.
Disgraced ex-president Donald Trump will be indicted in Georgia. If convicted, Governor Kemp will pardon him.
Following Governor Ron DeSantis’ explanation of slavery, I think I’ll kidnap a Haitian teenager, keep him locked up in my garage, and teach him to mow my lawn and trim my trees. One day, after he becomes the CEO of IBM, he will thank me for treating him like a slave.
At the root of capitalism is the exploitation of labor; getting the most work and productivity out of employees for the least possible money.
Polly heard cicadas last week. Fall is sneaking up in the upper Midwest. Soon a wooly worm will be seen crossing the road.
The Cincinnati Reds will make the playoffs this year if they trade for starting pitching before the August 1 trade deadline.
Bonus: Sex gets better after sixty, but those damn Charley horses sure are annoying.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., an anti-vaxxer and conspiracy theorist, is unfit to be president.
Most Americans have no idea where their food comes from.
Wendell Berry was right when he said, “Just because we can doesn’t mean we should.”
Marijuana should be legalized and regulated just like alcohol.
It’s time for National ID cards, putting an end to the voter registration war.
The Bible is the most owned, least read book in the world.
The five best TV series of all time: The Wire, The Sopranos, Justified, True Blood, and Game of Thrones.
The western US’s water crisis is caused by overpopulation and over-development.
It’s time for a multi-party political system with ranked voting.
Bonus: Michigan is the pothole capital of the United States.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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.
Twenty years ago, the U.S. government forced doctors to move from paper to electronic records. The result? Many doctors spend more time staring at a computer screen than they do interacting with their patients. The goal becomes inputting data, and not attempting to understand why the patient is there and what treatment plan is best for him.
This move to data-input medicine has led to doctors increasingly relying on numbers to measure patient health. I want to talk about some of these numbers, sharing my experiences and concerns.
Pain Chart
“On a scale of one to ten,” the nurse or doctor asks, “how bad is your pain?” Instead of talking to the patient about his pain, he is expected to diagnose his pain on a subjective scale. First, pain is subjective. My pain is very different from your pain. As a redhead, I have increased sensitivity to pain. All pain is relative. Remove a bandaid from my grandson’s leg and he will scream bloody murder, saying, “doctor, it’s a ten!” To my grandson, his pain is very real, but he has no real-world experience with actual pain. Grandpa has sixty-six years of experience with pain — horrible, debilitating pain. I have had tests that were painful; procedures that have left me in tears. Polly gave birth to six children. She understands pain. Three years ago, she had major abdominal surgery and spent twenty-one days in the hospital. Again, lots of pain.
I have had family and blog readers minimize my pain. They believe if I can walk or stand, I must not be in pain. Never mind the fact that walking and standing require psychological and physical contortions from me. One look at my face will tell you everything you need to know. But, people don’t make eye contact much these days. We no longer read body language. If they see me getting out of the car or walking in the store, they assume I must be fine. I’m not fine. And I am never, ever going to be “fine” again. Life for me is pain and endurance; of wondering whether I want to keep living,
Second, people with chronic pain quickly learn that if you tell a doctor nine or ten for your pain level, he will automatically think you are a drug addict looking to score some narcotics. Tell the doctor one, two, or three, he will wonder why you are there. So, I typically say five or six. Bullshit numbers; meaningless numbers, but there ya go doc, you have a number you can input in your digital records program.
Third, I can’t tell you the last time I had a doctor sit down with me and comprehensively talk to me about my pain. Where? How severe? What makes it worse? Do medications help? What physical activities are you able to do, not do? How does your pain affect your sleep; your sex life? Of course, doctors don’t have time to interact with patients this way, especially primary care physicians. They have patients scheduled every 15-20 minutes. No time for personal connection and investigation.
Weight and Body Mass Index (BMI)
I’m obese. The BMI number for me on the doctor’s digital screen is a blinking red number with an exclamation point. This tells the doctor that his patient is fat, as if his eyes couldn’t tell him that already. According to the BMI chart, my “healthy” weight is 140-170 pounds. I weighed 160 pounds at age eighteen; 180 pounds at age twenty-one; 225 pounds at age twenty-five. Was I obese at 225 pounds? Is that even a relevant question? At age twenty-five, I was physically fit. I played basketball and softball. I hunted, hiked, and fished. I cut wood in the fall. I was a physically strong man, yet according to the BMI chart, I was obese.
The BMI number says nothing about the fitness of a person. Most NFL players are obese. Are they unfit? Of course not. I have a big frame. I lost 100 pounds over the past three years, yet I look the “same.” Why? I don’t have a beer belly or ass. I’m built like a fireplug. Certainly, I knew I had lost weight. I dropped two shirt sizes and eight inches in my waist. Yet, to the casual observer or inattentive doctor, I look just like I always have — fat.
Squeeze My Hand
When doctors want to check my strength, they ask me to squeeze their hand. Without fail, they will tell me “Good. You are strong.” My complaints about weakness and debility are dismissed, all because I passed a subjective hand squeeze test.
How does this test tell doctors about the level of my strength? First, isn’t the doctor judging my strength based on his subjective measurement of strength? Second, shouldn’t the measurement of strength be based on how strong or weak I was in the past? Using that criterion, I have lost over half of my physical strength. Sure, I can still squeeze your hand, doc, but there was a day when I could have broken your fingers.
Temperature
“Normal” body temperature is 98.6 degrees, patients are told. That’s what mine was for the first thirty-four years of my life. And then, I contracted mononucleosis and almost died. Mono can be deadly for adults. Afterward, my “normal” body temperature dropped to 97.0 degrees. And thus began a never-ending fight with nurses and doctors about my body temperature. “Doc, I have a fever.” “Your temp is only 99.0. It’s normal.” But . . . he’s already stopped listening. I can’t have a fever, in his mind, because 98.6 is the standard. He doesn’t believe me when I explain mono changed my body temperature. Dare to object and his notes will say, “difficult patient.” And since every other doctor in the practice can see his note, soon the other doctors you see will deem you a “difficult patient.”
Blood Pressure and Glucose Levels
While these numbers can be helpful in diagnosing and treating a patient, they are only a snapshot of a moment in time. Typically, my blood pressure and glucose levels are normal, even exceptional. I get a star by my name for 120/80 and 90 blood sugar level. But, do these numbers tell the whole story about my health? Of course not. I have landed in the ER twice with sky-high blood pressure for no known reason. I have had several instances where I woke up in the night, only to find my blood sugar level was 48 and 50 respectively. Not good. Again, no explanation for the low numbers.
I stopped checking my BP and glucose levels every day. I found the varying numbers too stressful. Occasionally, I will check my numbers, but I typically leave it to my body to tell me what’s up or down, especially my blood sugar levels.
Advice to Doctors
Stop typing. Look your patient in the eye and let him know you care. Ask lots of questions. Pay attention to what his body language is telling you. Use your gifted hands to touch and probe, interacting with the patient all the while. See him as a fellow human being. Never forget, you will be in his shoes one day.
Of course, doing these things takes time, and therein is your problem. Corporate medicine demands efficiency, treating patients like they are line entries on a spreadsheet. The bottom line is more important than the welfare of your patients. Surely, this is not why you got into medicine.
Several years ago, I wrote about a doctor named Bill Fiorini. He’s the kind of doctor I’m talking about. You can read this post here.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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.
This is the latest installment in the Songs of Sacrilege series. This is a series that I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a song that is irreverent towards religion, makes fun of religion, pokes fun at sincerely held religious beliefs, or challenges the firmly held religious beliefs of others, please send me an email.
Today’s Song of Sacrilege is Supertheory of Supereverything by Gogol Bordello.
First time I had read the Bible It had stroke me as unwitty I think it may started rumor That the Lord ain’t got no humor
Put me inside SSC Let’s test superstring theory Oh, yo, yo, yoi, accelerate the protons I stir it twice and then just add me, ’cause
I don’t read the Bible (Bible) I don’t trust disciple (disciple) Even if they’re made of marble Or Canal Street bling
I don’t read the Bible (Bible) I don’t trust disciple (disciple) Even if they’re made of marble Or Canal Street bling
From the maelstrom of the knowledge Into labyrinth of doubt Froze underground ocean Melting, nuking on my mind
Give me Everything Theory Without Nazi uniformity My brothers are protons (protons) My sisters are neurons (neurons) I stir it twice, it’s instant family
I don’t read the Bible (Bible) I don’t trust disciple (disciple) Even if they’re made of marble Or Canal Street bling
My brothers are protons (protons) My sisters are neurons (neurons) I stir it twice, dlja prekrastnih dam
Do you have sex maniacs Or schizophrenics Or astrophysicists in your family? Was my grandma anti, anti? Was my grandpa bounty, bounty? Ah-ah, ah, ah, ah They ask in embassy, boom!
I don’t read the Bible (Bible) I don’t trust disciple (disciple) Even if they’re made of marble Or Canal Street bling
And my grandma, she was anti And my grandpa, he was bounty! I stir it twice and Canal Street Bling, go!
Party, party, party, party Party, party, party, party Party, party, party, party Party, party, afterparty
Oh, yo, yo, yoi, accelerate the protons I stir it twice and then just add me
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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.
Love the quick profit, the annual raise, vacation with pay. Want more of everything ready-made. Be afraid to know your neighbors and to die. And you will have a window in your head. Not even your future will be a mystery any more. Your mind will be punched in a card and shut away in a little drawer. When they want you to buy something they will call you. When they want you to die for profit they will let you know.
So, friends, every day do something that won’t compute. Love the Lord. Love the world. Work for nothing. Take all that you have and be poor. Love someone who does not deserve it. Denounce the government and embrace the flag. Hope to live in that free republic for which it stands. Give your approval to all you cannot understand. Praise ignorance, for what man has not encountered he has not destroyed.
Ask the questions that have no answers. Invest in the millennium. Plant sequoias. Say that your main crop is the forest that you did not plant, that you will not live to harvest. Say that the leaves are harvested when they have rotted into the mold. Call that profit. Prophesy such returns.
Put your faith in the two inches of humus that will build under the trees every thousand years. Listen to carrion — put your ear close, and hear the faint chattering of the songs that are to come. Expect the end of the world. Laugh. Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful though you have considered all the facts. So long as women do not go cheap for power, please women more than men. Ask yourself: Will this satisfy a woman satisfied to bear a child? Will this disturb the sleep of a woman near to giving birth?
Go with your love to the fields. Lie down in the shade. Rest your head in her lap. Swear allegiance to what is nighest your thoughts. As soon as the generals and the politicos can predict the motions of your mind, lose it. Leave it as a sign to mark the false trail, the way you didn’t go. Be like the fox who makes more tracks than necessary, some in the wrong direction. Practice resurrection.
Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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.
