My brother’s story, an indictment of the Evangelical church’s response to Covid vaccinations.
In early December 2021, I got a call from my mother. “Jason has Covid and is in the hospital. When he takes off the oxygen, he can’t breathe at all.” When my mother asked him why he wouldn’t get vaccinated, his response was “God will take care of me.” And while I thought his prognosis was good, two weeks later he died. He was in his late 40s, the baby of our family, the father of two adult children, and the father and provider of three young children.
Jason had a hard start in life. He was my stepbrother, a part of the joining of two families who had both lost parents in accidents; he lost his mother when he was a toddler. He had some issues with auditory processing, and I think he had trouble with conversational nuance and connecting the dots. He’d end up telling people what he thought they wanted to hear. Possibly this was his path to becoming a follower. High school was tough on him academically, college was out, so the army looked like his only option. Just before going to the army, Jason was arrested for drag racing. It’s laughable to me, he had a junker car, and I don’t know the details, but I can’t imagine he was out challenging people to race . . . but it all makes sense if it is yet another instance of following. The judge dismissed the charges since he was going into the army. But despite “following orders” being the army mainstay, following didn’t help him in the army. His testing limited him to infantry, and along with this his infantry comrades, he (nor they) wasn’t always the most upstanding of characters. The example I’ll cite is that he was with someone who looked into a car and saw a set of golf clubs, checked the door handle, found it unlocked, and took the clubs. Of course, most people would argue with someone stealing from a stranger’s car, but not a follower. Apparently, there were other missing things, and guilt by association ended Jason’s stint in the army with a less-than-honorable discharge.
After the army didn’t work out, he ended up working at McDonald’s. This is where he met his wife and also where he ended up joining her Evangelical church. (Parents of one of my friends wondered if their misguided marriage was because they both got mad cow disease by working at McDonald’s!) The follower had found his bliss. He didn’t have to try to guess what people wanted of him, no nuance or inferences, just obey the simple, easy-to-follow instructions. He also finally had a church family of people that would accept him; his disability didn’t really matter, he was “Brother Jason” and all that mattered was the remarkable zeal that is unique to the convert. While the extremes of his church were completely out of the mainstream, my mother confided in me that she was glad, because he was a follower, that he had landed there. As the army experience demonstrated, there are worse people he could be following. There are always nefarious people who will take advantage of followers.
Things turned around for Jason when our dad got him a temp job at his union shop. Dad impressed upon him what he needed to do: work hard, always be on time, and you will become a fully contracted employee. He now had a high income to lavish upon his beloved church. He was living for the LORD, and while we were on opposite sides of the religious spectrum, I certainly was happy that he finally had success in life. That said, the church truly taxed him financially. He gave 20% of his income to the church, and ended up living hand to mouth, and had his house foreclosed upon. While he listened to Dad to get and keep the job, Dad couldn’t impress upon him the abstraction of good credit.
Sadly Jason’s wife passed away 15 years ago, which led him to the Philippines, where he remarried. He ended up getting hepatitis during a return trip to the Philippines. While he recovered enough to go back to work, there were lingering health effects that no doubt made him very susceptible to Covid.
Before I proceed with my indictment, I want to reminisce back to when we were kids. It’s the late 1970s and our family is off to church. If it were Sunday, we were packing six boys into the Suburban and we were in the pews, never early unless we forgot to change our clocks back to standard time, but we were there. We pull into the parking lot and I recognize some of the teens who were active in the youth group. They wave us over, “Good morning,” “Are you guys wearing seat belts?” The answer was a big NO; for one thing, absolutely nobody wore seat belts, and if we tried, we weren’t going to squeeze everyone comfortably into even a large vehicle like a Suburban. “Oh, okay, well, we’re going to have to give you a ticket! My dad grumpily reaches for his wallet and pays the few dollars for the “offense.” “We care about you, and we want you back next Sunday.” Believe me, next Sunday we all had our seat belts on.
Now let me contrast this with the Evangelical church. While some on the religious right (in particular Franklin Graham) advocate for the Covid vaccines, most are either neutral or actively — and sometimes vehemently — hostile to the vaccines. Currently, around 500 people die every DAY from Covid — about three times the number of people who die in traffic accidents. My indictment is as follows: The Evangelical church has failed its followers. By not encouraging their “flocks” to get vaccines, they have failed them. My brother isn’t the only one; earlier in the pandemic I’d routinely see go-fund-me campaigns for large families who had lost one of their (Evangelical) unvaccinated parents. I do know that some people at my brother’s church did get vaccinated. But was it actively encouraged? Did it make the sermon every week as alcohol did? What, then, is their excuse for this failure? Ignorance? I have a lot of problems with religion. But I have zero problems with “We care about you, and we want you back next Sunday.”
One of Jason’s adult sons wistfully wondered (on Facebook) if he was off to the Paradise he had always told them about. But if Evangelicals don’t know the here and now, I have zero confidence they know the hereafter.
Evangelical pastors, redeem yourselves; I implore you to encourage your followers to get vaccinated. Heaven will wait.
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.
Recently, I received the following email from Pastor Simiyu:
Praise the Lord, I am pastor Simiyu in Kenya and I thank God to meet you here, I love your ministry so much and I welcome you to reach in Kenya.
I have seven Churches here in Kenya and I ask to join your ministry to work under your ministry.
I sent him the following reply:
Dear Brother in the Lord,
Thank you for taking the time to contact me. My team of prayer warriors and I prayed over your request today, and we came to one mind that God is directing us to come to Kenya and minister to the seven churches you mentioned in your email.
My ministry has been blessed materially by God. We will cover all of our travel expenses. All we ask is that you provide us with housing and one meal a day. If this is agreeable to you, please let me know what dates you have in mind.
Brother Simiyu, I believe God has great things in store for you and your churches. I hope I can play a small part in his blessing of your work.
All Praise to the Wonderful Name of Jesus,
Dr. Bruce Gerencser
Since I originally published this post, the good pastor and I have had a back-and-forth conversation. Enjoy! (All spelling and grammar in the original.)
Simiyu:
I love your ministry so much, and I will be working under your ministry, with oll of my seven Churches, I will be representing your ministry in Kenya.
Yes I will try to get a House for you, though our houses is not good and beautiful, but God will help us.
Welcome in Kenya, God has given you KENYA.
Simiyu:
Praise the Lord Pastor, how are you going on there?
Here in Kenya, I will my Pastors and churches are praying for you.
Simiyu:
Praise the Lord Pastor, How are you going on there?
Simiyu:
Hello pastor, praise the Lord, how are you going on there?
You are so silent?
Dr. Bruce Gerencser:
Bro. Joshua,
Thank you for contacting me.
My team and I have been fasting and praying about our upcoming meetings. We have felt the sweet presence of the Holy Ghost, believing that God is going to do great things — souls saved, reclaimed backsliders, and healings — during our meetings with you.
We plan to fly to your country on my Lear Jet. God put it on the heart of a wealthy supporter to purchase this jet. We have flown all over the world to preach the gospel. May Jesus’ name be praised.
I talked to him about ministering to your churches. He seemed genuinely excited about our plans. He later called me and said he would like to send you $5,000 US to help with your expenses. Isn’t God good?
Please send me your mailing address or bank account/routing number so I can get the money to you. We could also use PayPal.
I also need the address of your church and where we will be staying so I can put together the flight plan (I am the pilot).
Do the April dates still work for you?
I look forward to hearing from you soon.
All praise be Jesus, our wonderful Lord and Savior.
Simiyu:
Praise the Lord, yes God is good, I am happy to hear from you, welcome in Kenya, this year on April, yes April is good and we are ready to have you in our Churches.
The Hotels where you will be staying is at BUNGOMA Town, and at SIRISIA Town.
Thank you also for your help and support, that God has touched your heart to help.
HERE IS MY BANK ACCOUNT.
1,MY full names are,
JOSHUA SIMIYU WEKESA.
2, Name of my Bank is,
DIAMOND TRUST BANK.
3, My Account Number is,
02155860XXXXX.
4, Bank Swift code is,
DTKEKENA.
5, Address is, 107 BUNGOMA.
jwekesaXXXX@gmail.com
6, Our Currency is, KENYA SHILLINGS.
7, My City is, NAIROBI.
Simiyu:
Praise the Lord Pastor, How are you going on there?
Dr. Bruce Gerencser:
Bro. Joshua,
Greetings in the matchless name of Jesus.
What is the name of your church? Does the church have a website?
Thanks.
Simiyu:
The name of my Church is PENTECOSTAL.
My Church have no website.
Dr. Bruce Gerencser:
Bro Joshua,
Thank You!
One more thing you need to know before I come to your church. I am gay. My husband, Duane, travels with me everywhere I go. I just want to make sure you or your church won’t have a problem with this.
Blessings on you and yours.
Simiyu:
Yes, we have no problem with that, I welcome you, so much in my Churches, also I with my Churches will be working under your ministry, will be part of your ministry, I will be representing your ministry in Kenya.
God Bless you and your family and Church.
Bruce Gerencser:
Dear Joshua,
A month ago, you, an operative from your “church,” or a bot came to my blog https://brucegerencser.net. You used my site’s comment form to send me the following email:
“Praise the Lord, I am pastor Simiyu in Kenya and I thank God to meet you here, I love your ministry so much and I welcome you to reach in Kenya.”
I have seven Churches here in Kenya and I ask to join your ministry to work under your ministry.”
Was your intent to try to scam me? How could you not know that I am an atheist; that I oppose Christianity, especially Evangelical Christianity? The evidence was there for you to see. You gave yourself away when you said you were okay with me being a married gay man. NO Evangelical would be okay with me being gay. (For the record, I am not gay. I have been married to the same woman for forty-five years.)
I suggest going forward that you try to scam your fellow Christians. Atheists are not likely to support” your ministry.
Be well.
Bruce Gerencser
Simiyu:
No, I was not trying to scam you, I told you the truth, that I was evangelical before, but it that message I was asking to join your ministry, because as you know your ministry have never reached in Kenya, so I was evangelical before.
But now I am asking to join your ministry, remember I said that I ask to join your ministry, so I am new in your ministry, and I want to join your ministry, so I was not to scam you, but I was now becoming the part of your ministry.
So I still ask, and welcome you to reach in Kenya, so that all my Churches will be working under your ministry, and I will be representing your ministry in Kenya.
Bruce Gerencser:
I AM AN ATHEIST! There is no God.
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.
Recently, Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, took the Protestia site to task for their hateful, un-Christian behavior. Protestia, the one-time love child of disgraced Fundamentalist Baptist preacher J.D. Hall, is currently operated by David Morrill, Paul Brown, Brad Schoolfield, and Seth Dunn. Protestia is known for three things: their anti-abortion, forced birth views, their obsession with consenting LGBTQ people’s sex lives, and ferreting out perceived heresy within Evangelicalism and Christendom at large. In other words, Thiessen’s kind of “Christians.”
We have no problem with that, if they actually did do some honest refuting and challenging doctrinal errors. What our one line under our quote above was referring to was HOW they were going about this ministry. It had nothing to do with their ministry or purpose.
We think they misunderstood what we wrote and instead of asking for clarification, they go and jump to conclusions and make assumptions about what we said. Of course, right now it is very difficult to get a hold of us due to some unfortunate actions by certain people.
So here is the clarification. Our words were referring to the name calling, the insults, and other derogatory terms used by Protestia in their identification, challenges, and refuting of those people they have found to be false teachers.
We find their terminology and its use to be very unbiblical and unChristian. In the different ministries that Protestia participates in, they are not excluded from any biblical rules of conduct towards believers or unbelievers.
We will not bring anyone back to the church or to the faith by insulting them. On occasion, we have done the very same type of ministry throughout the years. Yet, we refer to people as Mr., Mrs., Miss, Dr., and so on except for those gender identity-confused people who are referred to by their birth pronouns.
We do not hurl names, insults, or even write them as that sets a bad example for our readers and disobeys the biblical instruction ‘ soft answer turneth away wrath’. We do not care how nasty those people we identify get as we are to return good for evil.
….
There are a lot of false teachers running about saying things that are not biblical and just plain wrong. If you are going to challenge them, then challenge what they are saying instead of insulting them or ignoring what they have said because you have identified them as false teachers.
….
Give credible and legitimate information not personal attacks or ad hoc statements that put a black mark against your claims of being Christian. Jesus may have insulted the Pharisees, etc., but that does not give us permission to ignore the rules of behavior Christ laid out for us.
None of us are on his level and we should be very careful not to copy him without fully understanding more of why he said what he said. We are not free to insult but we are free to identify and refute, as well as challenge those who pretend to be Christian, yet say and do unChristian things.
Thiessen lacks any sense of self-awareness. He seemingly has forgotten the countless articles he has written about me and Ben Berwick. He evidently has forgotten about his comments and emails too.
A year ago, Thiessen sent me the following mail:
Our assessment of BG. We are not going to post this publicly so do not worry about being humiliated or embarrassed.
We have analyzed BG’s behavior and words for some time now and we see a developing identity. He is a person who was a low-level obscure independent Baptist preacher who certainly gets jealous and envious of others.
His Christian work seems to have been motivated by these desires as he used his own will and not Jesus’ in his ministry as well as his being critical of those more successful, popular, and less obscure counterparts.
Instead of humbling himself and correctly following Jesus, he followed his character trait and quit. That is not a sign of a good servant of God. He likes to stand in judgment of others grading their level of spirituality with a subjective ruler judging that those observed were not practicing the faith properly.
What exact standard he used is not known, but it was his own making and not God’s. Then instead of being the example, he walks away and condemns every Christin and God for failing to meet his ideals.
Now he is just a narcissist who hopes he gains the fame and popularity that escaped him when he was a Christian. he wants to leave a negative legacy behind so that people will think he was a great preacher and now a great blogger.
In reality, he remains obscure, uninfluential, and wants to be the center of attention like he has found something new and wonderful for the world, when he is just another unbeliever in a line filled with billions of unbelievers saying the exact same thing as every other unbeliever has said or is saying.
He is a sad and pathetic figure who needs to broadcast his failure to follow Christ to the end of the world and instead of being great, he makes himself a laughingstock. Someone who could not cut it.
And yes we are still sad that you walked away from your faith.
DR. [capitalizing it doesn’t make it so] David Tee
Evidently, Thiessen’s “insults” are different from those uttered by the “fine” Christians at Protestia. Thiessen also states “that does not give us permission to ignore the rules of behavior Christ laid out for us.” I fell on the floor and laughed for twenty minutes after I read this line. Go to Theissen’s TheologyArcheology: A Site for the Glory of God blog and read the plethora of posts he has written about me. You will search in vain for any evidence of Thiessen following the commands of Christ or demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22,23). This so-called man of God shows no regard for the teachings of Christ on how you should treat your enemies:
Ye [Derrick Thiessen] have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.But I say unto you [Derrick Thiessen], Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48)
The Message translation renders Matthew 5:48 this way: Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”
Grow up, indeed.
Thiessen continues to refuse to mention me or Ben Berwick by our names. He also refuses to properly link to the content he uses from our sites. Thiessen lies about us and routinely distorts and misuses our words, so I find it unbelievable that he can say, with a straight face that he always treats people with respect. He doesn’t, and the readers of this blog know he doesn’t. But, what do we know, right? He and God, the royal “we,” know the truth.
For the record, Theissen has written at least twelve posts about me since December 31, 2022 — one post every two days.
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.
Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away . . . And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie. (2 Thessalonians 2:3,11)
Millions and millions of MAGA Republicans have come under a strong delusion, believing that the twice impeached ex-president Donald Trump actually won the 2020 election. Many residents of MAGA (Make America Great Again) World think Trump is actually still the president; that he is actually controlling the military.
Recently, Daily Show correspondent Jordan Klepper went to a “Trump Rally, Not a Rally” to interview Trump’s most avid supporters. Listen, laugh, and weep.
We are at a dangerous point in American history. Millions and millions and millions of Americans believe things that are not true. From Trumpism to QAnon to Creationism, large swaths of our country have bought into lies. And don’t think for a moment that if Trump isn’t the 2024 Republican presidential candidate, we are out of the proverbial woods. Candidates such as Ron Desanctimonous DeSantis, Mike Pompeo, and Nikki Haley are hardly any better. If anything, these candidates are even more dangerous. They don’t have the temperamental problems that Trump does, yet they are every bit as racist and bigoted as the ex-president. One need only watch what is going on in Washington D.C. with Republicans to see Christian nationalism and white supremacy on full display. My God, congressmen are espousing racist, bigoted, homophobic beliefs and conspiracy theories right on the floor of the House of Representatives. It is hard, at least for me, to see a better tomorrow in the short term. I fear our Republic is hanging by a fraying thread.
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.
Over the weekend, I received the following email from an Evangelical man named Nathan Tucker. My response is indented and italicized. Tucker read two posts, Another Evangelical Con Job, This Time by 7 Hills Church in Cincinnati, Ohio and Dear Evangelical before contacting me. According to the server logs, he also looked at the front page, which contains ten full-text posts. I do not know what posts he actually read. Tucker read none of my autobiographical material (please see the WHY? page), yet, as you shall see below, he felt qualified to deconstruct my life. Perhaps Tucker missed this verse in his Bible: Answering before listening is both stupid and rude (Proverbs 18:13).
Now to Tucker’s verbose email:
Every single human being has ulterior motives behind all human behaviors. It has been said, and I believe it is true that, the greatest and most basic drive on earth is the human belly. Everything mankind does in the material world, he does so that he can eat and drink, so that he can continue eating and drinking; so he can continue living. Jesus recognizes this in a passage I am sure you are quite familiar with. In Matthew 4:4, Jesus indicates that, “man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (The New King James Version, 1979). Jesus, Who was acutely aware of the need to eat after having not eaten in forty days, implicitly states man must have bread to live. That is, man must live on the material things of this world. Yet man cannot live on those material things alone—there must be more to this life than eating and drinking. God tells us that to truly understand what it means to live, one must be “born again” (John 3:3-8).
Tucker claims that “every single human being has ulterior motives behind all human behaviors,” yet provides no evidence for his claim. It is never wise to claim to know something about every human being. Of course, this is a common Evangelical behavior. Everyone is a sinner. Everyone needs to be saved. Everyone will go to Heaven or Hell after they die. The problem with this sort of linear, black-and-white thinking is that billions of people reject it. I am an atheist. I don’t believe in the existence of deities, including the countless Gods Christians worship. I don’t believe the Bible is inspired, inerrant, and infallible. I reject the central claims of Christianity; that Jesus was divine, born of a virgin, lived a sinless life, performed miracles, resurrected from the dead, and ascended into Heaven. Simply put, these things don’t make sense to me. (Please see The Michael Mock Rule: It Just Doesn’t Make Sense.)
Tucker claims, without evidence, that there is more to life than eating and drinking; that what everyone needs is Jesus, the bread of life. What I want to know is this: is Jesus white bread, cracked wheat, rye, or whole grain? If Tucker has evidence for there being anything other than the material world we live in, I would love to see it. So far, all Tucker has done is quote Bible verses and make unsubstantiated claims. If someone claims that there is a spiritual dimension, then they are going to have to cough up evidence to support their claim. Countless Evangelicals have emailed me and left comments on this blog that emphatically said that God/Jesus/Holy Spirit is real. When pressed for evidence for their claims they typically do three things: quote Bible verses, give some sort of subjective, anecdotal testimony of having a saving/personal relationship with Jesus, or flee to safety of the house of faith. Neither of these things can, nor ever will, be sufficient evidence for their claims.
Bruce: I am a wizard! I have the power to do all sorts of supernatural things!
Tucker: No, you are not.
Bruce: Yes, I am!
Tucker: Prove it.
Bruce: I have read all the Harry Potter books. I watched all the movies too. I believe Harry is the one true Grand Wizard. When I embraced Harry as the Grand Wizard, he came into my heart, giving me power to do mighty works in his name. I know, I know, there’s no doubt about it, Harry lives in my heart.
Tucker: I don’t believe you. Until you provide evidence for your claims, I refuse to believe you are a miracle-working wizard.
Until the Tuckers of the world can provide empirical evidence for their claims, I have no reason to believe what they say.
The problem is simply this: many professing American Christians and pastors are not truly born again. Well, how can I say this? Isn’t this a terribly judgmental statement? It is a judgmental statement, but it is a statement based upon the perfect Law of Liberty—Christ says, “You will know them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15-16, 20). Many times people hear this statement, and they immediately think of the fruits of the Spirit, and I guess that is acceptable. Yet, there is a more basic understanding regarding what it means to be born again, what it means to be a true Christian. Primarily, a true Christian is one who sincerely loves and fears the Triune God and is one who strives to keep God’s Law in thought, word, and deed (Isaiah 66:2; John 14:21; Matthew 22:36-40). Being a Christian means one loves God and loves his neighbor—love is the fulfillment of the Law of God (Romans 13:10).
I would have, as a pastor, agreed with everything Tucker wrote above. I loved and feared God. I strove to keep the law of God in thought, word, and deed. I kept the two great commandments: love God and love my neighbor. Tucker will search in vain for anyone who knew me who would say that I was not a committed Christian. So, I am not sure what point Tucker is trying to make.
Hypocrisy is real. Every single human being is a hypocrite; we only differ in degrees. I am a hypocrite. I know what is right and many times, I find myself doing what I know to be wrong, sometimes uncontrollably so. Many times, I feel like a failure as a Christian. Yet, I know that I am not alone because Paul had this same experience, and he describes it quite succinctly in Romans 7:13:25. Paul is describing the spiritual warfare that goes on within the heart of one who is born again. This warfare or struggle with sin is what characterizes and marks the life of a true Christian—the true Christian seeks to execute or put to death the rebellion towards God in his own heart and life (Colossians 3:5; Romans 8:13), and he seeks to aid others in that pursuit through loving admonition, encouragement, and sincerity of heart, by the power of the Holy Spirit, with the full knowledge that none of this striving can be accredited to man, but all to the grace of God in the sacrifice of Christ.
Hypocrisy is ugly, especially within the church. I hate it in myself, and I hate it in the church. I simply want to vomit when I hear a Baptist or Pentecostal preacher condemn one to hell for partaking in beer or alcoholic beverages, all the while knowing that same preacher is going to have fifteen plates of food from the buffet after the sermon. Equally, that same pastor will no doubt condemn adultery, but adultery and gluttony have at their core the same sin—lust.
Hypocrisy is real, hypocrisy is ugly, but hypocrisy is present everywhere, not just in the evangelical community. For instance, we want freedom of speech to exist in a culture fixated on cancelling the politically incorrect. We want to conserve energy and planetary resources, but we burn countless units of energy for sporting events, entertainment venues, and sometimes, for no purpose at all other than to make something pretty. We want to put an extreme and almost obsessive focus on health, but not help the truly sick and suffering because of the “evil of opioids” and potential drug addiction.
Okay? So what . . . I am an atheist, so all this verbiage has no relevant meaning to me, outside of the fact that we all can be, at times, hypocrites. I don’t need a relationship with Jesus to know I am a hypocrite, nor do I need the Holy Spirit to convict me of my hypocrisy. I am quite self-aware. Even my counselor agrees with this assessment. (In fact, she thinks I am too self-aware.) Thus, I am cognizant of when I am being hypocritical. The difference between myself and Evangelicals is that I am not morally hypocritical. I don’t get up in a pulpit on Sundays and preach about all sorts of “sins” and then go home and commit the very sins I preached against. I don’t wage war against society’s vices and sexual proclivities all the while practicing these very same sins in the privacy of my home or a motel room.
Additionally, Atheists and Humanists are not spared from hypocrisy. They lament the evils of the world such as hypocrisy, justifiably so, but due to the nature of their worldview, one that hinges on the idea that there are no moral absolutes, they cannot sincerely call hypocrisy evil. Hypocrisy is distasteful to be sure, but hypocrisy, murder, sexual impurity, and deceit cannot be called evil, not if the atheistic humanist is to remain true to his worldview, that is.
I love it when an Evangelical zealot tells me what it is I believe or what other atheists believe. Personally, I think morality is inherently subjective. Christians believe the same thing. If that weren’t so, then the followers of Jesus would all have the same moral beliefs. Since no two Christian believe the same things about morality, it is clear, at least to me, that morality is subjective for Christians too.
I am a humanist. It is humanism, not atheism, that provides a moral framework by which I live my life. Please read the Humanist Manifesto to learn more about how humanists view morality. As far as “evil” is concerned, evil is not a thing or an entity separate from human behavior. Evil does not exist apart from humans. Humans do evil things. I have no problem saying that certain behaviors are evil.
That is where this discussion comes full circle, Bruce. You claim to be an atheist and a humanist, yet you reject the evangelical community because of their failure to adhere to a standard of sincerity that your worldview cannot legitimately define and account for unless moral absolutes exist. If morality is relative and merely rooted in human consensus, societal convention, as the Humanist Manifestos claim, then why shouldn’t the evangelical community be hypocritical if that is what gives them fulfilment, meaning, and happiness? You might say it defies logic to believe one thing and act contrary to that belief, all the while seeking to bring in new acolytes to use and abuse. Again, by what standard is anything “logical” or “illogical” if there is not some absolute standard by which these human abstractions are to be measured?
I do not reject the Evangelical community. I am surrounded by Evangelicals. What I reject are Evangelical beliefs and practices. What I object to is the psychological, and, at times, physical harm caused by Evangelical preachers and churches. (Please see the Black Collar Crime Series — one thousand stories and counting.)
Instead of spending an inordinate amount of time and energy rebutting Tucker’s claims about atheists and morality, I will leave the task to atheist firebrand and expert debater Matt Dillahunty.
The truth of the matter, Bruce, is you, like me, have been injured by either a wolf in sheep’s clothing inside of the evangelical community, or you may have been injured by a sincere Christian caught up in sin, but the actions of others cannot give us an excuse to reject our Creator and Sustainer. You know God exists and you have spent the last two decades pointing at the hypocrisy of others so that you can explain away His existence.
This is the point in his screed where Tucker shifts into Christian Asshole® mode. Without bothering to read any of my autobiographical material, he is going to tell me why I am not a Christian and what it is I really believe.
Tucker tells me that I was either hurt by a preacher or the sinful actions of Christians. Over the past sixteen years, I have written over 6,000 posts. Not one time have I said that I left Christianity because of someone “hurt” me. Not once. Did Evangelical Christian behavior play a part in my deconversion? Sure, a small part, as did numerous other things. However, I have made it clear over, and over, and over again to the Nathan Tuckers who contact me that I left Christianity for intellectual reasons. Not because I am angry, hurt, or jaded, but because the central claims of Christianity are false. It is really that simple. I am more than happy to discuss these reasons with Evangelicals, but they typically choose to attack my character and motivations instead of meaningfully engaging me on the real reasons I no longer believe. The reason for this is simple. If they say that I divorced Jesus for emotional reasons, they can dismiss my story out of hand. “Oh, Bruce just got his feelings hurt and couldn’t cut it” (as Dr. David Tee frequently says). Evangelical zealots know that if they engage me on the intellectual reasons for my deconversion they are likely to end up looking bad. I know the Bible inside and out. I am an expert on Evangelical Christianity. I am quite fluent in what Evangelicals believe and how they think. How could I not be? I was born into, raised, and educated in Evangelicalism. I spent the first thirty years of my marriage swimming in the deep end of the Evangelical pool. Even today, I continue to stay connected to the Evangelical sect. If Tucker wants to engage me on Evangelical beliefs and practices, I am game. I am ALWAYS game. Sadly, no one wants to play. 🙂
All the while, your actions beg the following question: why does it matter whether people believe in God or are used and abused by the evangelical community or not? If this life is all that matters, why not let people enjoy it how they see fit? Because they are being lied to? By what standard is something a lie or the truth? What are you trying to save them from? What is your motivation?
Evidently, Tucker thinks I should be okay with preachers, churches, and parachurch organizations misusing and abusing people; that I should be okay with preachers raping and sexually molesting children; that I should be okay with Evangelical theocrats trying to take over our government; that I should be okay with Evangelicals trying to ban books and history in public schools; that I should be okay with Evangelical racism, bigotry, and homophobia.
It is because we only have one life that these things matter. I have a wife I have been married to for almost forty-five years. I have six adult children. I have thirteen grandchildren. I have at least twenty reasons to work as hard as I can to make this world a better place to live. Jesus, I am starting to think that Tucker hasn’t ever talked to an actual atheist. Most atheists seek meaning and purpose in their lives. We want a better tomorrow, not only for ourselves, but also for everyone.
As you can see, Tucker repeatedly claims that atheists aren’t moral; that they have no moral foundation. He’s convinced that we are immoral, godless heathens. No amount of challenge is going to change his mind. He knows what he knows. Unfortunately, he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know.
Tucker is only moral because of Jesus. If that is the only reason he doesn’t rape, murder, steal, or eat too much at Thanksgiving, by all means, Tucker, for the sake of all of us, stay saved. We don’t want you going on a crime rampage, all because you don’t have the Holy Spirit living in your mythical heart.
Now, you may ask, what is my motivation behind writing you? Sincerely, I do not know what my motivation is at this point. I was looking into this band called 7 Hills Worship and your website popped up. I know that I am not trying to save you; God alone can deal with the heart and conscience of human beings, and salvation is up to God, not man (Romans 9:10-24). I am not trying to fight because of some sense of pride. I am not trying get money or fame (I am convinced I will never have either; that is okay). Heck, I am not even trying to befriend you. I think what struck my conscience is your pain. I have experienced similar pain and I wanted to set my faith aside too.
No, Tucker hasn’t. He doesn’t personally know me, nor does he know anything about me. He was too lazy to invest any time in reading my autobiographical writing. Yet, he knows my “pain.” Fuck off with that nonsense. Yes, I have experienced a lot of trauma in my life, more than most people experience. Yes, I battle serious, unrelenting physical pain every day of my life. Tucker could have known these things had he shown a bit of curiosity, but unfortunately, curiosity is not a common Evangelical trait. (Please see Curiosity, A Missing Evangelical Trait.)
Tucker is being less than honest when he says he doesn’t know what his motivations are for writing me. I have heard from thousands of zealots over the years. Typically, they respond to me because they think God want them to do so or they “feel” the need to set me straight or they delusionally think that they will be the one who brings me back to the faith. Tucker read the Dear Evangelical post. In this post was all the information necessary to know who and what I am. I even give Evangelicals a Reason for Contact Check List they can use when emailing me:
Reason for Contacting Bruce Gerencser (Check all that apply)
_____To tell him he is wrong
_____To preach at him
_____To quote Bible verses to him
_____To evangelize him
_____To tell him he doesn’t know anything about the Bible
_____To let him know God still loves him
_____To let him know I am praying for him
_____To tell him he never was a Christian
_____To tell him he is going to Hell
_____To tell him he is still saved and can never be un-saved
_____To tell him he was/is a false prophet
_____To tell him he was/is a wolf in sheep’s clothing
_____To tell him he is angry
_____To tell him he is bitter
_____To tell him his writing shows he has been hurt
_____To tell him he is fat
_____To tell him I hope he burns in Hell
_____To tell him that I am praying God will kill him
_____To tell him that he has a meaningless, empty life
_____To tell him he is going to die soon and then he will find out THE TRUTH!
_____To tell him that I know THE TRUTH about him!
Once you have completed the form, cut and paste it into your email or comment.
Tucker could have saved himself a lot of time by using this checklist. Instead, he sent me a sermon. I will leave it readers to “discern” his motivations.
Yet, the hypocritical behavior of others cannot change the truth that nothing in this world makes sense apart from the Christian worldview, the Christian faith—not the Christians who hold that view, but the objective truth of Christianity itself. Biblical Christianity is true, despite the shortcomings of its practitioners. In fact, Jesus even warned us about these people, which brings even more veracity to His claims. The fact is that Christ is the only perfect man to ever live—He is the only human being that cannot be charged with hypocrisy; that is why He was murdered and that is why our trust must solely rest in Him, not His followers. Take care.
My worldview makes perfect sense, all without God, Jesus, Christianity, and the Protestant Christian Bible. Most people in the world believe the same thing. Yet, Tucker is convinced that his little band of true believers has cornered the market on truth; that their worldview is the only one that makes sense. We see similar thinking among Trumpists, QAnon supporters, anti-vaxxers, and conspiracy theorists. It is not surprising that many of these people are also Evangelicals. The dominant religion of those who tried to overthrow the U.S. Government on January 6, 2021? Evangelical Christianity.
Christianity does not equal objective truth. I am more than happy to school Tucker on the falsity of his claim. While we are at it, we can discuss why the Evangelical deity is immoral and why the Bible shouldn’t be used for anything other than a paperweight.
What is “Bible Christianity”? No two Evangelicals agree on its definition. The Bible isn’t inerrant or infallible, nor is it internally consistent. Contradictions abound. That said, if Evangelicals want to believe that the Bible is true, fine. Just keep your nose out of my business. I don’t care what the Bible says, nor do care what Evangelicals think about how I live my life. You do you and I will do me. And if my wife consents, we can do each other. 🙂
Jesus was a man. He lived and died, end of story. Just because a religious text says Jesus was _________ doesn’t make it so. I have no reason to believe that Jesus was anything other than a Jewish apocalyptic preacher who ran afoul of Jewish leadership and Roman law and got himself killed.
Tucker really needs to rethink why Jesus was executed. That’s some bad theology. Maybe if he decides to engage me we can talk about his claims about Jesus.
Saved by Reason and Polly’s Awesome Cooking,
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.
An Evangelical woman named Candida left the following comment on the post titled Wasted Years, Oh How Foolish . . . (all spelling and grammar in the original):
It’s a pity you went through this Bruce. Quite sad. Abd you’re quite right about lots of people in church whose lives are as ‘wasted’ as that of those outside church. That’s a reality.
I must say though there are also countless people whose lives have been changed, transformed, made meaningful by their encounter with Jesus.
There’s a big difference between encountering Jesus and being in church. You can be in church singing about, hearing about, maybe also preaching about Jesus without really encountering or knowing Him. If you know Jesus, you have a relationship with him, like the one you have with a wife whom you love and cherish. It’s real.
Many confuse activities in church with relationship with Jesus. There’s no love like His. I pray you, and all others who have abandoned the faith experience this relationship and this love first hand.
The Lord bless you. And everyone. And us all too.
Candida read all of one post and concluded that I never had a relationship with Jesus. Boy, I’ve never heard that before! 🙂 How could Candida possibly know the depth and quality of my relationship with Jesus? She doesn’t know me. She was not a member of one of the churches I pastored. How could she possibly know that I had “churchianity,” and not Christianity? I could spend days telling Candida how deeply I loved Jesus; how I devoted my life to serving and following him; that I taught my children to do the same. Would it make a difference in how she views me? Of course not. All she sees is Bruce, the Evangelical pastor turned atheist. Since I am an atheist today, that means I never was a Real Christian®. The fifty years I spent in the Evangelical church and the twenty-five years I spent pastoring churches are dismissed with a wave of the hand. What Candida is saying, then, is that I am a liar; that what I say about myself and give testimony to is a lie. Why do Evangelicals find it so hard to take former Christians at face value? When Candida says, “I am a Christian,” I believe her. It’s her story to tell. I wish Evangelicals would grant me the same respect.
I have experienced the love of Jesus firsthand, as have thousands of readers of this blog. Much like marriages where couples fall out of love and divorce, we fell out of love with Jesus, finding that he was not the person we thought he was. And so we divorced him, seeking love in people and places we had long denied (because Jesus told us to do so): spouses, families, and self. We reconnected with humanity and nature, and in doing so we found love. Why would any of us want to return to a jealous, demanding lover?
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.
Today, I received a comment from a Christian man named Keith that stated, in part:
Thus, since so much crock comes out of the pulpit (and always has), you have to read the Bible for yourself. And, pray for yourself and your family. I do both.
….
My hope is that one day you’ll be able to separate the religious crap you were taught (and taught yourself), from the core truth of Jesus (you might have to vomit some, my guess), and find your way back to Jesus Himself.
What is the core truth of Jesus? Where can we find this truth? The Bible, right? All we have is the Bible, a collection of sixty-six books written thousands of years ago primarily by unknown men. All we know, then, about Jesus comes from a fallible, internally contradictory, religious text written by fallible men. Why should I give this text any weight or authority? What value is the Bible and its teachings to me or my family? If I never read the Bible will my life be less in any way?
In his comment, Keith mentioned his blog, The Myth Machines: Truth Unshackled. I perused his blog, reading a dozen or so posts, hoping to understand him better. The best I can tell is that Keith is a disaffected Evangelical, a Black man who is disgusted by much of what he sees in churches today. I suspect he thinks that as a pastor I was just like the clerics he has problems with. It’s too bad Keith didn’t bother to read my autobiographical writing. (Please see Why?) He would have quickly learned that I am not the straw man he has constructed in his head.
Keith says I need to read the Bible for myself. Uh, that is exactly what I did for most of my adult life. As a pastor, I spent over 20,000 hours reading and studying the Bible. What does Keith think I missed? He doesn’t say. My core beliefs were Evangelical and orthodox in every way.
There is no Jesus for me to come back to. I deconverted because the central claims of Christianity no longer made sense to me (please see The Michael Mock Rule: It Just Doesn’t Make Sense). First, I believe the Christian deity is a myth. Second, I don’t think Jesus was divine, born of a virgin, did any of the miracles attributed to him, or resurrected from the dead. Jesus lived and died, end of story. Third, I reject the notion that there is life after death. Just like Jesus, we live and die, end of story.
Jesus is a ship that has sailed on a one-way trip, never to return. No amount of Bible reading is going to change my mind. I know what I know. No one can say that I didn’t do due diligence when it came to the claims of Christianity. I have weighed them in the balances and found them wanting.
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.
Millions of Americans believe the Bible is the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God. This belief is the foundation of much of the nonsense spouted by Evangelical culture warriors and Republican politicians. In their minds, the Bible is written by God and is perfect in every way, including matters of science and history. Blinded by lifetimes of Fundamentalist indoctrination, they believe that no one has ever proved the Bible has mistakes, contradictions, or errors. The B-i-b-l-e, yes that’s the book for me. I stand alone on the Word of God, The B-i-b-l-e. BIBLE! Or so the popular Evangelical song goes anyway. No matter what other books say, if their words contradict the Bible, then they are wrong. God can never, ever be wrong, so that means the only book he ever wrote can’t be wrong either.
Those of us who are ex-Evangelicals turned atheists/agnostics/humanists/pagans/liberal Christians know how the belief that the Bible is inerrant negatively affects the ability to reason and think critically. What belief underpins creationism, flat-eartherism, hatred of LGBTQ people, and opposition to abortion, same-sex marriage, homosexuality, premarital sex, birth control, family planning, socialism, gambling, drug use, alcohol drinking, women working outside of the home, women wearing pants, long hair on men, rock music, and Game of Thrones — shall I go on? Without people believing the Bible is some sort of infallible religious text, most of these “beliefs” turn into personal opinions. It is only when the Bible is vested with inerrant divine authority that it becomes a dangerous weapon in the hands of preachers and congregants alike.
Of course, the Bible is not inerrant, nor is it infallible. Whether one believes the Bible is inspired is a matter of faith, not fact, so this aspect of belief is beyond empirical inquiry. Several years ago Dr. Bart Ehrman, a New Testament scholar at the University of North Carolina, posted an article on whether the Bible has contradictions (behind paywall). Here are three of the four of contradictions Ehrman listed:
I start with one that may seem completely unimportant, but is, to me, a clear contradiction. In Mark 5:21-24 a man named Jairus approaches Jesus in distress. His daughter is “very ill.” He wants Jesus to come heal her so she doesn’t die. Jesus agrees to go, but before he can get to Jairus’s home, he is delayed by a woman who herself desperately needs to be healed (5:25-34). While Jesus is dealing with her – it takes a while – someone comes from Jairus’s house to tell him that it is too late, the girl has now died (5:35). Jesus comforts Jairus, goes, and raises her from the dead. Matthew also tells the story (Matthew 9:18-26). But in this case …Matthew also tells the story (Matthew 9:18-26). But in this case Jairus comes to Jesus to tell him that “My daughter has just now died” (9:18). He wants him to raise her from the dead. Jesus goes and do so.
So the contradiction: when Jairus comes to Jesus: does he want him to heal his sick daughter, who unfortunately dies before Jesus can get there? Or does Jairus come only after the girl is dead, wanting Jesus to raise her from the dead?
Of more importance, but a famous one. Matthew and Luke both give a genealogy of Jesus that is strictly patrilineal: father to son, going back for generations (Matthew 1:1-16 starting with Abraham and bringing the family line down to Joseph, Jesus’ alleged father; Luke 3:23-38 starting with Joseph and taking the family line the other direction, all the way past Abraham to Adam).
Question: Who was Joseph’s father, grandfather, and great-grandfather, and so on –all the way back to King David? Was it Jacob, Mathan, and Eleazar … (Matthew 1:15-16)? Or was it Heli, Matthat, and Levi… (Luke 3:23-24).
In considering the question, note: both genealogies are *explicit* that this is the line of Joseph (not, for example, Mary; or the brother of Joseph; or someone else. Joseph). And note, these are not simply alternative names for the same people: most of the names are *completely* different from one another, all the way back to David. That’s because in Matthew Joseph is the descendant of David’s son Solomon; in Luke he is the descendant of a different son, Nathan. Moreover, the genealogies are patrilineal – not traced through mothers but explicitly through fathers to sons.
More complicated. In Matthew’s account of Jesus’ birth (Matthew 2:1-23), he is born in Bethlehem. Nothing indicates that his parents came from anywhere else to get there: there is no story here of a trip from Nazareth to register for a census only to find there was “no room in the inn.” They simply are in Bethlehem. When the wise men come to worship the child, the King of the Jews, Herod, learns of Jesus’ existence, and he sends the troops to kill him (2:16-18). Joseph is warned in a dream, and he takes Jesus and Mary and they travel, on foot, to Egypt, where they remain until Herod dies (2:13-15, 19-23). When they return home, though, they cannot return to Bethlehem (presumably their home, since there would be no other reason to ponder coming back there), and so relocate in Nazareth. In Luke’s account (Luke 2:1-39) Joseph and Mary are from Nazareth and they end up in Bethlehem because of a census in which “the entire world should be enrolled” (Luke 2:1). Mary is pregnant, full term, and happens to give birth while they are there. After Jesus is circumcised (2:21), and brought to the temple (2:22), they perform the sacrifice required for women who have given birth in order to return to ritual purity (2:24). This is to follow the law laid out in Leviticus 12:2-8; the sacrifice was to happen 33 days after the circumcision (so 40 days after birth). As soon as that is completed, they return straight to Nazareth (2:39).
There is no word in Luke about King Herod’s decision to have the child killed or of the flight of the holy family to Egypt. And so, the contradiction: if Luke is right that 40 days after Jesus’ birth, the family returned directly to Nazareth, how can Matthew be right that they instead went and stayed in Egypt until the death of Herod?
If you want to learn more about the text of the Bible and Christian church history, I encourage you to join Dr. Ehrman’s blog. The annual membership fee is $29.95, with all proceeds going to charity.
Remember, it only takes one error, contradiction, or mistake to bring the inerrancy house tumbling down. Most educated Evangelical pastors know that the Bible isn’t what they claim it is, yet Sunday after Sunday they stand before their congregations and say, THUS SAITH THE LORD! These liars for Jesus know they would be unemployed and the pews would be empty if congregants ever learned the truth about the Biblical text.
I have had a number of Evangelical preachers and laypeople come to this site, certain that their Bibles (and beliefs) were infallibly true. As I always do, I asked them to read several of Bart Ehrman’s books. There is no value is trying to engage zealots if they won’t, at least, look at the evidence for the claim that the Bible is NOT an inerrant, infallible text. Over the past fifteen years, I have only had one person read Dr. Ehrman’s books and still believe the Bible is inerrant. Everyone else was forced to admit that the Bible was not what Evangelicals claim it is. Sometimes, this resulted in loss of faith. Other times, people held on to their faith, but moved on to religious environments that valued intellectual inquiry and facts. Want to destroy the hold Christian Fundamentalism has on our country? Disabuse Evangelicals of the notion that the Bible is some sort of perfect text, different from all other books. Once Evangelicals see that the Bible is not what their preachers and teachers say it is, they will be forced to determine whether they can trust anything their leaders say.
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.
To me, there’s nothing that trumps my faith in Christ — not even an NFL career. Everything I have on this earth is borrowed. All that really matters is eternity. God has blessed me with a platform and with an opportunity to do something that I love to do. Out of my gratefulness, I give all that I have as if He’s the only One watching.
Evangelicals often tell atheists that the lives of unbelievers lack purpose, meaning, and direction. However, based on the quote above by Evangelical Christian James Laurinaitis, it is Christians who live empty lives. According to Laurinaitis, nothing in this life really matters. Everything we have on earth is borrowed (from God). Only eternity matters.
Of course, Laurinaitis doesn’t really believe this. He was a three-time All-American football player at Ohio State University. Laurinaitis went on to play for eight years in the NFL. Just today, Laurinaitis was hired as a graduate assistant for the Ohio State football program. Now thirty-five, Laurinaitis has had a full life. The sum of his experiences suggests his life BEFORE eternity matters. If it didn’t; if living in light of eternity is all that matters, then why did Laurinaitis play football? Why get married and have children? Should not the single focus of Laurinaitis be evangelizing the lost? Hell is hot. Death is certain. There are souls to save.
If Evangelicals really believe that eternity is all that really matters, they sure don’t live like it. By all accounts, apart from what they do on Sundays, Evangelicals live lives indistinguishable from the lives of atheists, agnostics, Muslims, Buddhists, and other people labeled Hell-bound sinners by Evangelicals. How about we agree that all humans have meaningful, purposeful lives — however each of us defines these terms? If Laurinaitis wants to spend his days on earth worshipping Jesus and slavishly devoting his life to him, that’s fine. However, just because atheists don’t want to do the same doesn’t mean their lives are lacking in any way.
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.
The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.
Trent Holbert, pastor of The Ridge Church in Black Mountain, North Carolina, was charged in October 2021 with one count of indecent liberties with a child and two counts of statutory sex offense. The Ridge Church is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention.
Kentucky Today reported at the time:
Trent Holbert, 41, former pastor of The Ridge Church, was arrested last month and has been charged with one count of indecent liberties with a child and two counts of statutory sex offense, the Biblical Recorder reported. He was previously the pastor of Epoch Fellowship Church in Owenton, Ky., as late as 2017.
….
Both The Ridge Church and the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina have released statements condemning Holbert’s alleged actions.
“Trent Holbert has resigned from his position as the head pastor of the Ridge Church,” said a statement released Friday from church elder Drew Wheeler. “Our hearts and prayers go out to the family of our former head pastor and the families of all of those involved. The care and protection of children and minors is a biblical and moral mandate that is taken seriously by the Ridge Church. We do not condone such actions as the alleged, and our prayers are with the victims of any such abuse.”
The North Carolina convention’s statement, released Thursday, said leaders were “deeply grieved” by the charges.
“As a pastor, Trent has been a speaker at convention-related events for adults in the recent past,” the statement said. “He underwent background and reference checks prior to his participation in those events. We are not aware that he had any contact or dealings with minors as part of those events. The care and protection of children and minors is both a biblical and moral mandate that we take very seriously. We are praying for everyone who has been impacted by these alleged heinous crimes. N.C. Baptists are offering support to the local association and the church as they face these challenging times, as well. We stand with any and all victims of abuse and are committed to cooperating with authorities during their investigation. We encourage you to contact the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office if you have any relevant information.”
According to WLOS news, on May 18, detectives with the Special Victims Unit of the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at Holbert’s residence. During the execution of the warrant, Holbert was arrested and charged with contributing to the delinquency of a juvenile, and electronic devices were seized from the home.
Holbert’s church bio page (which has been scrubbed from the church’s website) states:
Pastor Trent is a gifted communicator and a relational junkie. He loves people and gets his fix from being a positive part of their lives. His ministry mindset is holistic. He believes that God’s plan and design for humans doesn’t stop at spiritual needs. He holds a degree in theology, but as a certified personal trainer and holistic health coach, Trent teaches us how to know our Creator better through optimal physical, emotional, and spiritual health. You can hear him weekly on the Fit For the Kingdom Podcast.
Newly returned warrants allege Trent Holbert groomed the teen by first befriending her parents who joined The Ridge Church.
Investigators said, because the parents had limited means, Holbert offered their daughter a bedroom in his home and began buying her undergarments as the two started a relationship.
Warrants also allege Holbert asked the teen’s parents to sign a parental waiver so that he would be able to take care of her in case they died. Investigators said Holbert called DSS on the teen’s parents as well, accusing them of neglect. Warrants show a DSS worker found this claim to be unsubstantial.
On May 18, 2021, detectives with the Special Victims Unit of the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office executed a search warrant at a residence on Tucker Road in Black Mountain. During the execution of the search warrant, Holbert was arrested. He resigned from the church in June.
This week, Holbert pleaded guilty and will spend a minimum of seven years in prison.
A former Black Mountain pastor has pleaded guilty to attempted statutory sexual offense, ensuring that he will spend at least the next seven years behind bars.
Judge Sharon Tracey sentenced Trent Brandon Holbert, 43, to serve between 94 and 173 months imprisoned, according to Buncombe County District Attorney Todd Williams’ office. The victim approved of the plea, according to Williams. Williams announced the plea in a Jan. 25 tweet.
In search warrants reported on by the Citizen Times in 2021, the Buncombe County Sheriff’s Office said that Holbert – former pastor at The Ridge Church – schemed against the victim’s parents.
The Sheriff’s Office began investigating after the parents contacted deputies about their child “engaging in a secret and sexual relationship with their former pastor,” one search warrant said.
Holbert bought the victim gifts, including clothes, underwear and feminine hygiene products. A search warrant said that he also gave the child one of his T-shirts after she told him that she had a bad dream so “his smell would help (the child) sleep.”
When Holbert reported the child’s parents to the N.C. Division of Social Services with allegations of neglect, the claims were found to be unsubstantiated.
According to one of the search warrants, Holbert asked the parents to sign a waiver giving him parental rights if they died. They declined and said the request bothered them.
According to a Google search, The Ridge Church has closed its doors.
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.
