Lori Alexander recently released a “sex” tape. Alexander is a Fundamentalist Christian, a promoter of patriarchal beliefs and monogamous-heterosexual-married-missionary-position-for-the-purpose-of -procreation sexual intercourse. You can find her writing on The Transformed Wife blog. Alexander loves to dispense Godly “advice” to married women, including what she calls “teaching” on sex.
The following video is eight minutes long. As you shall see, Alexander says a mouthful about oral sex, anal sex, and porn. Halfway through her “teaching,” Alexander changes her mind about oral sex, deciding blow jobs are okay as long as your husband doesn’t want them more frequently than vaginal sex. She gives no advice on swallowing. 🙂
Anal sex? Don’t even think about it ladies. Evil, evil, evil. According to Alexander, oral and anal sex were unheard of before Internet porn. Granted, porn has expanded our sexual horizons, but when it comes to sex, there’s nothing new under the sheets.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
Regular readers of this blog likely remember that VICE News came to my home in August to film a story on the intersection of Evangelical Christianity and QAnon (which should be released soon). Earlier today, David Gilbert, a journalist for VICE News published a print story titled Meet the Pastors Fighting Back Against QAnon. I was one of the pastors interviewed for this article:
Bruce Gerencser was raised in an evangelical household, was educated in an evangelical school, married the daughter of an evangelical Baptist minister, and soon became a fundamentalist Baptist preacher himself.
He freely admits that the gospel he preached, at times, was extreme.
“Our beliefs were quite fundamentalist. We were young Earth creationists—you know, the Earth was 6,000 years old,” Gerencser told VICE News. “We had a long list of rules and standards that govern human behavior, everything from premarital sex and adultery. We were certainly homophobic, or at least I was personally homophobic. Everything was strictly controlled.”
But in 2005, after 25 years as a pastor, Gerencser gave it all up. Three years later, he renounced Christianity and became an atheist and a humanist, after becoming disillusioned with the church’s lurch to the right.
Now in his mid-70s [actually, I’m 64], Bruce lives with his wife of 43 years just outside the small town of Bryan, Ohio, and he spends his time fighting back against the ills he sees within the church. Most recently that fight has seen him highlight and take on those spreading the gospel of QAnon.
What he didn’t expect was that one of the people he’d be up against was his own son.
Gerencser describes his adult son, whom he didn’t want to name, as a “good kid, polite kid” and an “awesome son,” but he recalls that in January 2020 something changed, and soon he was having discussions about apocalyptic forces of evil and a coming storm.
“Next thing I know, he’s buying a large number of firearms and ammunition and a bulletproof vest and warning that he’s preparing for what’s coming next,” Gerencser said. “And, you know, and I would say that what’s coming next, what we’re going to have open warfare in the middle of Bryan, Ohio.”
Like many who’ve fallen into QAnon conspiracy theories, Gerencser’s son has also embraced even more violent extremist groups, joining the Three Percenters militia group and espousing support for the leader of the Proud Boys.
But aside from the guns and militias, what shocked Gerencser the most was when his son one day turned around and said he’d returned to the church, joining a local Southern Baptist congregation.
When Gerencser asked his son why he’d rejoined the church, his son told him: “Because that pastor believes the same things I do.”
Gerencser is part of a small but dedicated group of current and former pastors attempting to counter the threat posed by the spread of QAnon within the evangelical community, something that’s happening from the pulpit and in congregations. While the number of pastors and churches openly embracing QAnon is limited, the conspiracy is spreading silently and quickly within the community, taking hold at a time when the church is hemorrhaging parishioners. Despite the dangers posed by QAnon within the church, very few are speaking up about the threat, preferring to bury their heads in the sand and hope the danger passes.
You can read the entire article here. Please do so, and then let me know what you think.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
Do you think about what you get in return for the money and time you spend on your church? Here’s the answer: “You receive intangible spiritual benefits.” That sentence was printed on the quarterly donation statements sent from my last church. Well, at least my church was somewhat honest. What I truly got was nothing — especially nothing spiritual. But perhaps there were some details which the church didn’t include. For example, maybe I helped finance the Second Coming, thereby earning some Divine brownie points? Don’t laugh. A nineteenth-century Christian millennialist group, the Harmony Society, actually opened up a bank account for Jesus to use when he returned to earth. I’ve seen the entry in their accounting book, which is on display in a museum. Jesus never showed up to use the money, though.
I gave the churches with which I was involved a reasonable amount of money. But churches push you to give more all the time. Here’s an example of guilting you might see in a church newsletter: “In the Old Testament, the Israelites gave the Lord 10% of their harvest, which is called a tithe. The church staff is tithing on their income for our church, as a spiritual discipline. God rewards the cheerful giver and will bless you for your donation.” So, reading between the lines, what this means is, “And why don’t YOU do the same, you undisciplined, unspiritual parishioner? Smile and open up your damn wallet for GOD!”
Even now, my old church’s website has not one, but two donate buttons on their homepage. Every church newsletter had the Treasurer’s report and articles about church repairs to be financed and charitable needs to be met. And then there was that dreaded “Time and Treasure” season when you had to say how much you would pledge for the following year. I dreaded it because then the pressure to give the church money went up to a fever pitch from clergy and the Vestry (church board.) Sluggards got a call from the Vestry if they hadn’t yet pledged.
One Christmas, we had a big snowstorm and couldn’t hold Christmas Eve services. Our rector grumbled to the Vestry later that we lost a lot of income due to that. However, he wasn’t upset that the congregation missed out on Christmas.
When I served on the Vestry of my last church, I created a Fundraising Committee, since it seemed from all this hoopla that the church needed more money. I worked hard with my committee members to raise money by organizing events and selling cookbooks, among other things. I never got much recognition for my efforts. But because of my fundraising prowess, the rector wanted me to start talking to parishioners about leaving money to the church in their wills. That was the sort of glad-handing I avoided doing.
At least the churches I attended were open and public about their finances. Other churches aren’t. A 501(c)(3) tax status is a great thing for religious organizations to have. This means that the church meets the IRS’ definition of what constitutes a church, and once the organization gets this status it will have an automatic tax exemption. A religious organization with a 501(c)(3) status also doesn’t have to file a non-profit tax return or a financial statement. It’s a religious shyster’s wet dream. Beware of a church that isn’t transparent about where your money goes — it could be paying the mortgage on its sleazy minister’s palatial digs (Joel Osteen’s palatial digs come readily to mind.)
Volunteering is another way churches take advantage of their gullible flocks. A believer’s fervor powered my volunteering. I had to do my part for God’s house, my church, and if I didn’t, I was an ungrateful Christian, and God would scold me on Judgement Day. So, along with serving on the Vestry and the Fundraising Committee, I was a choir member, a Chalice bearer, a helper with Sunday School, and I participated in all kinds of projects. My church also got a lot of free labor from retired parishioners, a source of envy for the rectors of other Episcopal churches, who didn’t have nearly as many devoted volunteers as we did.
All this fundraising and volunteering — mine and others’ — must have helped burnish our rector’s reputation in the diocese. He left after only five years with us, for a better gig in the big city. And when he returned for a visit after he left, the first thing he asked me about was not my health or my spiritual walk. He wanted to know . . . if I had started talking to the parishioners about leaving money in their wills to the church. I hemmed and hawed and did not answer.
The church got a lot of mileage out of me before I finally realized that I had been used. All I gained out of my church experience was regret. I wasted so much time and energy in all the churches I belonged to. (But luckily I wasn’t out of too much money. I wasn’t that starry-eyed.) It would have been much better for me to focus on getting my own house in order instead of taking care of God’s house.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
Many Evangelical pastors preach a gospel of mental assent to a set of theological propositions — believe THIS and thou shalt be saved and go to Heaven when you die. Don’t believe THIS and thou shalt go to Hell when you die. Repentance is changing one’s beliefs, which may or may not result in changed conduct. Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) pastor and editor of the Sword of the Lord Curtis Hutson told me in the mid-1980s (after I exposed Hutson’s distortion of John R. Rice’s view on repentance) that Biblical repentance was a “change of mind.” He explained repentance like this: a person was against Jesus and now he’s for him. This change of mind is all that is necessary to become a Christian; and once a person is a Christian, he can never, ever lose his salvation.
The meteoric growth of the IFB church movement in the 1960s-1980s was largely driven by people praying the sinner’s prayer and asking Jesus into their hearts. While new Christians were expected to live according to the Bible’s teachings (as interpreted by their pastors), this was not a requirement for salvation. Hutson told me that I was preaching “works salvation.” Expecting or demanding people to obey the Bible and its teachings was, in his mind, a false gospel.
According to the many IFB preachers, Christians can and do “sin,” but this in no way affects their standing with God. Christians may be backslidden, out of fellowship with God, or living carnal/worldly lives, but they are eternally and forever saved no matter what they say or do. These sinning Christians might be punished by God for their disobedience (I say “might” since is evident, at least to me, that sinning Christians are rarely, if ever, punished/chastised by God) or lose rewards in Heaven after they die (receiving a log cabin next door to Donald Trump instead of a mansion next door to the Apostle Paul), but their eternal destiny is never at risk.
Key to this soteriological system is the belief that any sin committed by a Christian can be forgiven and expunged simply by praying, confessing your sins, and asking Jesus to forgive you. And I mean ANY! No sin is beyond the grace and forgiveness of Jesus. (If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9) And once forgiven, the slate is wiped clean and the sin is remembered no more. If God forgave a person’s sin, then their fellow Christians should do the same. Forgive, forget, and move on. And most of all pretend the “sin” never happened.
“Dr.” David Tee (David Thiessen) is a good example of how this corrupt, bankrupt “gospel” leads to the defense of all sorts of abhorrent (often criminal) behavior. While Tee claims he is not IFB, his soteriology is indistinguishable from that preached by Jack Hyles, Bob Gray, Sr, David Hyles, Jack Schaap, Tom Malone, Bob Gray of Jacksonville, Curtis Hutson, Steven Anderson, evangelist Dennis Corle, Jack Treiber, Paul Chappel, John Wilkerson, and countess other IFB preachers. It is the gospel taught at colleges such as Hyles-Anderson College, Midwestern Baptist College, Pensacola Christian College, Crown College of the Bible, Tennessee Temple (now defunct), Massillon Baptist College, and other IFB institutions. Aspiring preachers are taught that their number one goal is to wins souls to Christ; to entice people into saying the sinner’s prayer. While newly minted Christians are encouraged to get baptized, join a Bible-believing church, read the Bible, pray, and follow the teachings of the Bible, none of these things is required for one to be a Christian. To suggest otherwise is to be accused of preaching “works salvation.” Thus IFB churches often have hundreds and thousands of reported conversions, yet their church attendances grow nominally. Years ago, I added up all the salvation decisions reported by Bob Gray, Sr, and the Longview Baptist Temple. According to their reported numbers, everyone in Longview, Texas is a born-again Christian twice over. First Baptist Church in Hammond, Indiana saw hundreds of thousands of salvation decisions under the ministries of the late Jack Hyles, convicted felon Jack Schaap, and John Wilkerson. Yet, First Baptist is a shell of the church it once was. I saw this same methodology used while a student at Midwestern Baptist College in Pontiac, Michigan, and a member of nearby megachurch, Emmanuel Baptist Church, pastored by Tom Malone. Today, Emmanuel is shuttered and Midwestern is on life support (and may even be closed).
“Dr.” David Tee has never met a Christian sinner he couldn’t defend. In the past, Tee has defended the actions of serial sex abusers Ravi Zacharias and Bill Cosby. Today, Tee took his defenses of Christian rapists and sexual predators one step further by defending ALL Christians who commit such heinous crimes, including Jack Hyles, David Hyles, and Jack Schaap.
Tee stated (my response is indented and italicized):
[No one is perfect]That is a fact that the unbeliever takes delight in repeating to the believer. Over the years we have come across many websites run and owned by unbelievers that take pride in ‘exposing’ the sins of Christians.
One such site is BG’s as the owner there delights in his series that publishes stories about the failings of those who say they believe and follow God. What makes it so tiring and frustrating to read those websites is the lack of forgiveness on the part of those unbelievers.
Tee is, of course, talking about the Black Collar Crime Series — a series detailing criminal behavior by Evangelical preachers and other church leaders. I do not take “delight” in publishing such stories. I do so because these stories are frequently unreported or covered up. I do so because Christians like Tee want these stories buried in the deepest sea never to be remembered again. Tee is the keeper of rug under which the crimes of so-called men of God are swept: rape, murder, sexual assault, robbery, sexual harassment, spousal abuse, all are welcome under “Dr.” Dave’s rug of many sins.
Keep in mind that Tee’s post is in response to my article detailing the immoral behavior and crimes of Jack Hyles, David Hyles, and Jack Schaap; men who committed all sorts of sexual crimes and harmed countless people.
The Christian life is very hard to live even in its basic forms. There is so much temptation to deal with that staying pure and holy is very difficult. But what doesn’t help is having a bunch of unrepentant sinners keep throwing our sins in our faces and acting like they have done some great deed in exposing the sins of Christians.
Tee is fond of saying that it’s hard to “live” the Christian life. This statement portrays a faulty understanding of the Bible. According to the Bible, Christians have no power in and of themselves to “live” the Christian life. When sinners are saved, God, the Holy Spirit, comes inside them to live. The Spirit is their teacher and guide, giving them all they need for life and godliness. Further, Christians have the Bible, the inspired, inerrant, and infallible Word of God. Not only that, Christians have the church, the fellowship of the saints. Yet, according to Tee, having the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Bible, and the church aren’t enough to keep Christians from sinning in thought, word, and deed.
I find it interesting that Tee thinks I am not a Christian — an unrepentant sinner. I prayed the sinner’s prayer and faithfully followed and served Jesus most of my life. If salvation can’t be lost, then why does Tee say I am not a Christian? If it is a momentary prayer and acceptance of propositional facts that gains one forgiveness of sins and life eternal, why does Tee refuse to accept me (and many of the readers of this blog) as his brother in Christ? I have never committed any of the crimes Tee defends, yet because I no longer “believe” I am not a Christian, undeserving of a place in Heaven after I die.
We do not need these people to do that as the Christian world has its own people who do the very same thing. What are they gaining by exposing these failings?
Most likely, they are trying to find justification for their decision to reject Christ as their savior. or they want to feel better about themselves so they point out the fact that Christians are not better than they are.
Victims deserve to have their stories heard. Thanks to the David Tees of the world, victims are often marginalized and dismissed out of hand. I have yet to see Tee defend and support a victim of sexual abuse. Instead, he defends predators and abusers. And even when he grudgingly admits these criminals “might” have committed crimes, he thinks their crimes should go unreported or covered up.
Further, Tee thinks the reason I publicize criminal behavior by Evangelical preachers is that I want to justify my unbelief. Again, instead of accepting my story at face value, Tee, as he is fond of doing, smears my character and impugns my motives.
The unbeliever misses two key details in their rush to expose the sins of believers and try to knock them down to size. One of these is the fact that Christians never claim to be better than the unbeliever.
The biggest difference between the two people groups is that the believer admits they are sinners and in need of help to live life as they should or as Christ wants. They do not brag that they are better, they just have a tougher, lifestyle to follow.
Christians don’t brag that they are “better” than unbelievers? Jesus, what world is Tee living in? Evangelical Christianity, in particular, breeds certainty, arrogance, and self-righteousness. Evangelical preachers tell sinners that if they get saved they will receive a new life in Christ, all things become new — new thoughts, words, and deeds. Yet, according to Tee, Christians aren’t any better than unsaved people. Dare I ask, then, why anyone would want (or need) to be a Christian.?
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Also, those websites [such as this one] documenting these failings are not helping to solve this problem. The believer is already aware of the reasons why other Christians fail. Whether those reasons are accepted by the unbelieving world does not matter.
They do not hold the standard to living the Christian life nor do they design the criteria. What they accept or do not accept is immaterial. The Christian has to live the Christian life according to God’s rules and grace.
Most of the “unbelievers” I know live exemplary moral and ethical lives. Tee believes there is an objective standard — the Bible — by which Christians are to live, yet he makes no attempt to live by these “rules.” Would Jesus defend rapists and child abusers? Would Jesus tell lies about people? Would Jesus misrepresent the beliefs of others? Yet, Tee does all of these things, saying that living the Christian life is “hard.” No, really it’s not. I am an atheist. I generally don’t lie, nor do I knowingly misrepresent the beliefs of others. And I most certainly don’t defend (and forgive and forget) the behavior of sexual predators and child molesters.
The Christian did not become a Christian to follow the secular world and Jesus did not call his followers to follow the unbeliever. he called them to follow him.
Then, please do so, David. Follow in the steps of Jesus, keeping his commands. Practice his teachings in the Sermon on the Mount. Show the world that the Holy Spirit lives inside of you by demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit. So far, your behavior on this site (and yours) shows you are no Christian at all. If you had been a member of one of the churches I pastored, you would have been excommunicated. And for the record, I stopped preaching the bankrupt IFB gospel in the late 1980s. I came to believe that true repentance required turning from sin and committing one’s life to Christ. No repentance, no salvation.
This is important as Jesus faced the same issues as every believer does. his world was filled with homosexuals, etc., false teachers, people who quit on their faith, a host of unbelievers, and more.
Yet, the failings of those around him, including his disciples, did not stop Jesus from setting the right example. Since we are to be like Christ, we cannot let the same groups of people keep us from setting the right example.
Yes, that is tough to do especially when people in your own church are living very sinful lives. But it must be done. The bible says to make our own calling and election sure and the way to do that is by following Jesus not those who fail.
Then, instead of knocking the failures down and exposing them to public ridicule, we seek to restore them to the right way to live. Jesus gave us the bible so we would know how to do that.
Ah yes, Christian rapists, sexual predators, and child molesters should be restored. They should be shown the “right” way to live. Instead of purging these people from the church, Tee thinks they just need to repent and be “restored.” Pray tell, how do you “restore” a rapist, child molester, or a man who beats his wife? Imagine a “restored” child abuser teaching your son’s Sunday school class or working in the nursery. Imagine a preacher who was kicked out of his church for sleeping with numerous female church members being hired to be the pastor of your church. All is forgiven, right? David Hyles was repeatedly forgiven. Church after church embraced him as their pastor or church leader, all the while he was taking advantage of vulnerable congregants. Jack Schaap was sentenced to 12 years in prison for having sexual relations with a church teen he was counseling. And when Schapp gets out of prison, Tee will be waiting for him with open arms. Welcome home, Brother. What’s your sermon on this Sunday?
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We know that we sin all the time and are in no position to stand in judgment of anyone. The unbeliever thinks there is no such thing as sin and evil but they are mistaken. That thought provides them with the excuse they need to list the sins of Christians who have made mistakes.
The unbeliever is in no position to judge anyone, even a sinful Christian. They have rejected the only salvation they have available and are worse sinners than they claim Christians are.
Listen carefully to what Tee is saying: rape, sexual assault, child abuse, spousal abuse are “mistakes.” Not crimes, “mistakes.”
I challenge Tee to a metaphorical dick measuring contest. Let’s compare lives, David. I would love to hear what evidence you have for your claim that atheists, agnostics, and unbelievers are worse “sinners” than Christians; that unbelief leads to “sin.” In fact, Tee can prove his claim by starting a series on his blog titled the Atheist Crime Series, detailing all the crimes committed by atheists and other unbelievers. Sure, it happens, but Christians are no “better” people than non-Christians. In fact, didn’t Tee admit this very point earlier? Now he suggests Christians ARE morally and ethically better than the unwashed, uncircumcised Philistines of the World. Which is it?
While they may get a little fun at poking their finger at Christians who slip up, that fun is temporary and not fulfilling. it also won’t put any healing salve on their minds as they are still unbelievers faced with going to hell.
That must be torment to them as they cannot escape the message of the gospel no matter how hard they make fun of the believer or point out the latter’s sins.
David, repeat after me, there is no Hell, there is no Hell, there is no Hell. Atheists and agnostics don’t fear mythical beings or places. Just because you say something doesn’t make it true.
[sermon on how hard the Christian life is deleted]
Help those believers who fail, do not follow their example, and lead them back to the right way to live. Do not publish their mistakes so the world hears about them. Instead, show the world the right example so that they have no excuse to publish those sins Christians commit.
Tee thinks crimes [mistakes] committed by Evangelical clergy should be covered up. Their crimes shouldn’t be reported in newspapers or publicized on blogs such as this one. I have yet to read a post by Tee showing support for victims of sexual assault or child abuse. Instead, he defends and supports predators and abusers. Forgive them, God does. And then restore them. To the “world” he says, “move on, there’s nothing to see here.”
Sorry, David, as long as I have breath, I intend to keep exposing predator preachers, men of God who use their authority and positions of power to abuse, assault, and take advantage of children and vulnerable church members.
This post will undoubtedly elicit a flurry of responses from Tee. No matter what I say or do, Tee will continue to defend the dregs of Evangelical Christianity, leaving me to wonder why he does so? As a Christian, I was a defender of weak, vulnerable, powerless people. I would never have defended men such as Jack Hyles, David Hyles, or Jack Schaap. I took a vocal stand against the Hyles mafia. Why is Tee unwilling to defend and protect the “least of these”? What, David, would Jesus do if he were alive today? Would he say to you, “good job covering up crimes committed by notable Evangelical preachers?” I doubt it. I suspect, according to Matthew 25, Jesus would cast you into everlasting darkness. Come to the light, David. Stand with vulnerable men, women, and children. They deserve your support, not your condemnation.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
John MacFarlane is the pastor of First Baptist Church, an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) congregation in nearby Bryan, Ohio — the place of my birth. I attended First Baptist Church in the 1960s and 1970s. I was attending First Baptist when I left in August 1976 to study for the ministry at Midwestern Baptist College in Pontiac, Michigan.
MacFarlane writes a public daily devotional on First Baptist’s website. I have featured his prose on this site several times. Last July, MacFarlane posted a devotional titled “Racism.” As you shall see, MacFarlane thinks race and ethnicity are one the same:
I am writing today’s devotional on June 10 while sitting in a Hampton Inn & Suites hotel room in Louisville, KY
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The culture of Kentucky is definitely different than the culture of Ohio. I didn’t say wrong and I didn’t say worse. I said different and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. But I want to share with you a very politically incorrect observation. Bear with me as I set this up.
In the little dining area of the hotel, the television has the morning news running to provide those enjoying their breakfast with some indigestion. News is never good, it seems. The news today featured: the millions of ransom dollars paid by a company to someone who had taken their computer systems hostage; issues on the border and a Vice-President who has yet to act as the border czar; Presidential missteps and mistakes; millions of COVID vaccines rapidly reaching their expiration dates; race riots, BLM, protests, white privilege, and apologizing for our race. That’s where my observations come in.How much of this is made up, contrived by those who aren’t content unless they are fighting?!?
How much of this is stirred up by people whose nickname should be Maytag – always agitating?
Oh, please don’t misunderstand. I believe racism is out there. There are places where it is practiced in some despicable ways. But deal with it there. Don’t bring it where I’m at and introduce it like another strain of the Wuhan plague. I have yet to be in a place where I’ve felt that tension and I don’t want to be in that place. Get rid of it THERE…deal with it THERE…and certainly don’t bring it around me!
Let me introduce you to Betty, Earl, Millie, and Carl. Every one of them had a much darker tan than I have! In fact, this was true throughout the facility. The Hampton Inn & Suites of Louisville, KY was an ethnic melting pot. So what?They were the kindest people.
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The Asian housekeepers were courteous and polite, smiling and accommodating if you asked a question.
There were mutual niceties and respect. I didn’t feel treated or looked at differently because of the color of my skin and I certainly didn’t treat or look at them differently because of the color of their skin. Isn’t that the way it is supposed to be?
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I never once felt uncomfortable or threatened. I saw blacks treating whites respectfully, openly talking with each other. I saw whites treating blacks the same way. Never did I see anything that made me think that I needed to hide in fear. Doors were opened for one another. Common courtesies and manners were demonstrated between ethnicities
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We cannot deny our history and pretend that there are not some very shameful events from the past. But I’m not living there. If the past continues to shade our present – if we allow it to do that – we will never move on and achieve the equity that is allegedly sought. Yes, atrocities were done. However, the people that deserve the strongest apology and acts of restitution have been in graves for many years.
Is it possible that some people aren’t happy unless they are stirring a pot, creating a fight, and spreading animosity and hatred? Once again, please hear what I’m saying. I know racism exists. But creating a national narrative that teaches racism is everywhere and that if you’re white, you’re automatically a racist is nothing more than a vicious, vulgar lie and I personally resent and am angered by the accusation.
Genesis 1:27 tells us, “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” From this original couple sprang every ethnicity there is. There are not multiple races. We are all of one race and that race is humanity. Ethnicities are just the spices of life that the Lord has added to keep us from becoming dull and boring.
Celebrate the ethnicities. Respect them. Refuse to place one above another. Make the playing field level. That’s the way God does it.
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The cure to the violence, hatred, and fighting in the world is NOT to give any ethnicity advantage over another. We definitely don’t need sensitivity training. It’s for EVERY ethnicity to be brought before the cross of Jesus and together, we humbly kneel in gratitude for the blood that covers our sins and the power of the resurrection that makes us alive.If it’s a fight people want, take them to the cross where the greatest fight ever was fought and won – by a JEW, nonetheless! Praise the Lord!
You would think that MacFarlane would recant his previous post and make amends for his overtly racist language. Alas, he is an IFB preacher, so no honest reflection is forthcoming.
Today, MacFarlane doubled down on his (deliberate) misunderstanding of race and ethnicity:
Where do I begin with Biblical application?!? Let’s start by addressing the obvious – racism. I know. We are sick to death of hearing about this because of the media hype and the cancel culture. But we have to acknowledge and admit that racism does exist. There is a rapidly growing Antisemitic spirit in America. Jews in large cities like NYC are targeted for violence. There is racism against blacks. And there is a reverse-racism against whites.
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Let’s add to this by talking about miscegenation. The vast majority of you reading this are the product of miscegenation. I am a product of miscegenation. From what I understand, my grandmother was a full-blooded German. She married a Scotsman who was part Irish. They had my dad. He married a woman who was part Irish, British Anglo-Saxon, and hillbilly! That combination had me.
What is my “cultural identity?” What is my heritage. I really don’t have one. I’m Heinz 57. I’m a mutt. I’m a mixed breed. And my culture/heritage is mine. It’s new. Better yet, I’m saved! That’s an entirely different culture/heritage that doesn’t fit with any that are in this world.
As I read Scripture, one heritage and cultural identity was to be protected and that was the Jew. Amazingly, it has been preserved through the centuries so that during the Tribulation, 12,000 from each tribe will still have their heritage intact and will make up the 144,000.
As I noted in my previous post about MacFarlane’s views of race and ethnicity, the good pastor doesn’t believe racism exists in rural Northwest Ohio (please see Does Racism Exist in Rural Northwest Ohio?). Oh racism exists “somewhere,” just not here in white/Republican/Evangelical Northwest Ohio. Today, MacFarlane mentions for the first time “reverse racism” against whites. I thought, yet again, OMG, John, did you really say this out loud?” MacFarlane is an avid Trump supporter — the man who has done more to advance the intellectual bankrupt idea of “reverse racism” than David Duke.
MacFarlane defines “miscegenation” as people of different ethnicities marrying each other. I am beginning to wonder if MacFarlane has access to a dictionary. Had he bothered to look up the word miscegenation, he would have learned:
Miscegenation is the interbreeding of people who are considered to be members of different races.The word is derived from a combination of the Latin terms miscere (to mix) and genus (race) from the Hellenic “γένος”. The word first appeared in “Miscegenation: The Theory of the Blending of the Races, Applied to the American White Man and Negro,” a pretended anti-Abolitionist pamphlet David Goodman Croly and others published anonymously in advance of the 1864 U.S. presidential election. The term came to be associated with laws that banned interracial marriage and sex, which were known as anti-miscegenation laws.
Interbreeding of different races John, not whites marrying whites. Surely MacFarlane knows this, so I assume his fundamental misunderstanding of the difference between race and ethnicity (and I understand “race” is a complex issue) is driven by his right-wing theological and political beliefs; that and the fact that he has spent most of his life living in white-as-a-KKK-sheet rural northwest Ohio.
Unfortunately, I will likely be the only local person to call into question MacFarlane’s harmful misunderstanding of race and miscegenation — along with many other political and social issues.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie . . . (2 Thessalonians 2:11)
This verse best describes the current state of affairs politically and socially in the United States. Thanks to Trumpists (including Christian Nationalists, White Supremacists, and Fundamentalist Christians) and their irrational anti-science, anti-vax, anti-mask beliefs, our nation is on the verge of civil war. Over what? Vaccines, masks, and fear of losing personal FREEDOM are driving otherwise decent, hardworking Americans to fall under the spell of false prophets. Believing the lies peddled by these charlatans, our friends, neighbors, and family members are embracing all sorts of nonsense. There was a time when we could ignore such people, pushing them to the fringes of our society. Unfortunately, the election of Donald Trump changed everything. Democrats thought that kicking Trump out of office would be the cure for what ails us. Uncle Joe will save us from ourselves, right? How is that working out for us?
Let me conclude this post with a quote from an article written by Alex Ruiz (aka Spaniard VIII):
A great deception is happening today, all over the world. The jab does a devastating thing to the human body. After a person takes the two jabs, it wipes out one’s antibodies—the immune system—and won’t be able to fight against other diseases.
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The jab is satanic, and its purpose is to kill off one’s immune system to become compromised for future diseases. It makes a lot of sense to me why they are so hammered in getting everyone jabbed. In the future, after everyone’s antibody is gone, they can release another plague to wipe out many people. That is what the elites, who are into the occult, have in mind. Why do you think we have abortion facilities to lower the human population.
Everyone who got deceived in taking the jab has put their lives in danger. Fear was the tool that Satan used to make people take the needle and kill their antibodies.
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When a new virus is introduced to the population, all those who got jabbed will be defenseless. Many people will die from a plague, as stated in Revelation 6:8. The stage is being set for that day. Are we not to trust in the Lord, or should we put our trust in men?
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The people in New York City are under assault. Below is a speech that the Governor of NY gave to believers that will shed light on Satan’s strategy.
NY Governor, Kathy Hochul said:
“We are not through this pandemic I wished we were, but I prayed a lot to God during this time and you know what God did, answer our prayers. He made the smartest men and women, the scientists, the doctors, the researchers, He made them come up with a vac**** that is from God to us, and we must say thank you, God. Thank you, and I wear my vac***** necklace all the time to say I’m vac****ted. All of you, yes, I know you’re vac****ted. You’re the smart ones, but you know there’s people out there, who aren’t listening to God, and what God wants, you know this, you know who they are. I need you to be my apostles. I need you to go out and talk about it, and say we owe this to each other, we love each other. Jesus taught us to love one another, and how do you show that love? But to care about each other enough to say, please get vac****ted because I love you.”
She wears a necklace that says vaxed instead of the cross. She said that she prays to God. My question would be, which God? Not the God of the Bible. A Democrat, who supports the murders of infants, lawlessness, godlessness through socialism, sexual immorality— which is homosexuality, and making Americans take a deadly jab against their will or they will get punished. This lady is demonic, and she is making this vac**** her religion by saying it is from God, and she is sending out her apostles. Her gospel to Christians is, Jesus loves you and wants you to take the death shot. Would Jesus want you to take a jab that will destroy your immune system, which He put into your body to protect it from viruses? This woman tries to look like a lamb but speaks like a dragon.
Is Ruiz alone in his beliefs? Of course not. We live in a country where lunacy is now mainstream. Millions of Americans believe COVID-19/vaccines are tools used by Democrats, liberals, socialists, evolutionists, and atheists to destroy Christian America and usher in the Antichrist’s one-world government. No amount of science or rational argumentation will change their minds.
The Apostle Paul had this to say to a young preacher named Timothy in 2 Timothy 3:1: This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. Perilous times have indeed come, but no Jesus is coming as a thief in the night to rapture us away. We are on our own.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
Over the years, I have responded to thousands of emails and comments from Evangelical Christians, including those who are part of the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) church movement. After thirteen years of swimming in the Evangelical swamp, I have learned a few things:
No matter what I write, Evangelical zealots are going to reject what I say
No matter what I say, Evangelical zealots are going to dismiss my story out of hand
No matter how I treat Evangelical zealots, they will continue to smear my name, attack my character, and shit on my doorstep
I have also learned that Evangelical zealots have little regard or respect for me as a person. I ask commenters to follow the comment guidelines, and many people do. However, Evangelical zealots seem to think that the rules don’t apply to them; that they have a right to say whatever they want; that they have a message to deliver to me straight from the mouth of God. Thus, zealots believe they can verbally assault me and those I love, and I should just roll over and be nice to them. And if I don’t, I am accused of being just like the IFB preachers I oppose.
Here’s what I know: I respond directly and honestly with commenters on this blog, people who send me emails, or message me on social media. Don’t believe me? Ask Carolyn, my editor. She reads my email responses and comments. She will tell you I am kind and thoughful in my responses as long as people treat me in kind. However, if someone starts with condemning me to Hell, attacking my character, or verbally assaulting me, I am likely to give them what regular readers call the “Bruce Gerencser Treatment.” Ask honest questions or make comments worthy of a response, and I will do my best to patiently and kindly respond to you.
The sad truth is this: many Evangelicals cannot (or refuse to) play well with others — especially people associated with the IFB church movement. I am at a place in life where I am no longer willing to invest any emotional capital in trying to “reach” them. My goal has always been to help people who have doubts and questions about Christianity or who are no longer believers. While my writing has been instrumental in more than a few Evangelicals leaving the faith, that’s never been my objective.
I will continue to help people in any way I can. Piss in my corn flakes? You reap what you sow.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
I have long argued that Evangelicals are inherently Fundamentalist. Several years ago, I wrote a post titled Are Evangelicals Fundamentalists?:
Many people think that Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism are two different species of conservative Christianity. However, I plan to show in this post that Evangelicals are inherently Fundamentalist, and that the only issue is to what degree they are Fundamentalist.
Some of the confusion comes from the fact that there are Evangelicals, such as the Independent Fundamentalist (IFB) church movement, who proudly wear the Fundamentalist label. Thus, an Evangelical — say, someone who is a pastor in the Evangelical Free Church of America – rightly says, I am NOT like those crazy Fundamentalist Baptists. They see the extremism of the IFB church movement, condemn it, and by doing so think that they are not Fundamentalist.
The word Fundamentalist was originally used to describe a group of sects, churches, and pastors who took a stand against perceived theological liberalism in the denominations of which they were a part. From 1910 to 1915, the Bible Institute of Los Angeles (BIOLA), published 90 essays that were published in a 12-volume set of books titled, The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth. (You can see a complete listing of the essays on Wikipedia.) These essays provided the theological foundation for the modern Fundamentalist movement.
The words “fundamentalist” and “fundamentalism” can also be used in a generic sense. While almost always used when describing the beliefs of religious sects, fundamentalist beliefs can also be found in politics, science, economics, and even atheism. The focus of this post is Christian Fundamentalism, particularly Protestant Fundamentalism.
There are two components to the Fundamentalism found in Evangelicalism:
◉Theological Fundamentalism
◉Social Fundamentalism
Theological Fundamentalism
All Evangelicals are theological Fundamentalists. What do Evangelicals believe?
◉The Bible is the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of the triune God.
◉Salvation is through the merit and work of Jesus Christ.
◉Jesus is the eternal, virgin-born, sinless, miracle-working Son of God who came to earth 2,000 years ago to die on the cross for the sins of humankind.
◉Jesus resurrected from the dead three days after being crucified. He later ascended back to Heaven and now sits at the right hand of God the Father.
◉Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and salvation is gained only by putting one’s faith in Jesus Christ.
◉All non-Christian religions are false and many Christian sects have heretical beliefs.
◉There is a literal Heaven, a Hell, and Devil.
◉Saved people go to Heaven when they die and non-saved people go to Hell when they die.
◉Someday, Jesus Christ will return to earth to judge the living and the dead. The heavens and earth will be destroyed and God will make a new heaven and a new earth.
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Evangelicals may quibble with one another over the finer points of this or that doctrine, but EVERY Evangelical believes what I have listed above. And it is these beliefs that make them theological Fundamentalists.
While it is true that liberal and progressive theology are making inroads within Evangelicalism, this does not mean that Evangelicalism is becoming less Fundamentalist. Liberal/progressive Evangelicals are outliers, and, in time, due to the inflexibility of Evangelical theology, they will either leave Evangelicalism and join liberal/Progressive Christian sects or they will become a bastard child subset within Evangelicalism.
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Social Fundamentalism
Social Fundamentalism focuses on the conduct, lifestyle, and social engagement of the Christian. An Evangelical looks at the rules, standards, and negativity of an IFB church that proudly claims its Fundamentalist moniker and says, SEE I am NOT a Fundamentalist. I don’t believe in legalism. I believe in grace, and I leave it to God to change how a person lives.
This sounds good, doesn’t it? However, when you start to poke around a bit, you will find that almost every Evangelical is a social Fundamentalist — the only difference between Evangelicals being the degree of Fundamentalism. This can be quickly demonstrated by asking those who think they are non-fundamentalist Evangelicals a few questions. Questions like:
◉Can a practicing homosexual be a Christian?
◉Can a homosexual man be a deacon or pastor in your church?
◉Can a same-sex couple work in the nursery together?
◉Do think it is okay for unmarried heterosexuals to engage in sexual activity?
◉Can a cohabiting heterosexual couple be a member of your church?
◉Do you think it is morally right for a woman to wear a skimpy outfit to church?
◉Is it ever right to have an abortion?
◉Do you think smoking marijuana is okay?
◉Do you think it okay for your pastor to smoke cigars and drink alcohol at the local bar?
◉Is it okay for someone, in the privacy of their home, to become inebriated?
By asking these questions, and a number of similar ones, you will quickly discover that the non-Fundamentalist Evangelical is a social Fundamentalist after all. While these Evangelicals may jeer and laugh at the crazy, extreme rules and standards of the IFB church movement, they too have their own set of non-negotiable social standards. They, like their IFB brethren, are social Fundamentalists.
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I am sure some Evangelicals will argue that their social Fundamentalism, like their theological Fundamentalism, comes straight from the B-i-b-l-e. Of course they do. ALL Evangelicals think their beliefs come straight from the Bible. The IFB pastor has a proof-text for everything he preaches against, as does the I am NOT a Fundamentalist Evangelical pastor. Both believe the Bible is truth, an inspired, inerrant, supernatural text. The only difference between them is their interpretation of the Bible.
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Remember, if it walks, acts, and talks like a Fundamentalist, it is a Fundamentalist. Evangelicals can protest all they want that I am unfairly tarring them with the Fundamentalist brush, but as I have shown in this post, their theological and social beliefs clearly show they are Fundamentalist. If they don’t like the label, I suggest they change their beliefs and distance themselves from Evangelicalism. They need not become atheists/agnostics if they leave Evangelicalism. Even though I was not able to do so, many former Evangelicals find great value and peace in liberal/progressive Christianity. Others find the same in non-Christian religions or universalism. If it is God you want, there are plenty of places to find him/her/it.
Today, an Ex-IFB Fundamentalist named John Fanortney left several comments on an interview I did on the Preachers Boy podcast, hosted by Eric Skwarczynski.
Bravery has nothing to do with Bruce’s decisions. Possibly honesty, but honesty proves the conscience given by God. There are many abusers and bullies within the IBF movement as there are at CNN, MSNBC, ABC, socialistic schools, politics, leftists, BLM, Fauci, Biden, etc. Bruce has chosen to believe the impossible: accidental evolution with the survival of the fittest. Bruce and his groupies BLINDLY follow the mask mandates and Covid lies as many fundamentalists BLINDLY follow their pastor.
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Bruce paints a pretty picture of his blog. One will experience same vitriol from him as one may have experienced from an IBF fundamentalist. Bruce can spew unkindness just as IBF pastors can. I agree with Bruce about the child molester that he mentioned. The people who voted him for pastor need their head examined; in fact, the man should be punished by drowning according to the Lord Jesus. I served under David Hyles and Jack Hyles and when I discovered their wickedness, it didn’t shake my faith. It actually enhanced my faith because the Bible warns of this behavior. Many pastors of the IBF are wretched, but so are many atheists like Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, etc. Both systems have good and evil people.
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@Bruce Gerencser you are right; it’s IFB [I pointed out his incorrect use of the acronym]. You don’t need to make an apology. I was just letting people know. I left fundamentalism, but I didn’t leave the Bible. As one can read that I was not unkind to you in my comment. I was simply stating an observation. Jordan Peterson is an amazing example of dealing with hostile opposition.
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Bruce definitely can be a Christian and I think he is, but he is an offended Christian. His offenses allows [sic] him to justify his position.
It’s clear from Fanortney’s comments that he is still a Fundamentalist, despite him suggesting otherwise. Scores of IFB pastors and church members have fled this sect’s narrow confines, only to land in places that are still Fundamentalist — just less so. They have just traded one flavor of Fundamentalism for another.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
I came of age in the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) church movement, made a public profession of faith at an IFB church at age fifteen, attended an IFB college in the 1970s, married an IFB preacher’s daughter, and pastored several IFB churches. For much of my life, I attended church every time the doors were open. At the height of my involvement with IFB churches, I attended church services and programs a minimum of four days a week. Throw in revivals, youth rallies, and Bible conferences, I spent over 225 days a year at the church building. Factor in studying for sermons and work projects, and I pretty much lived at the church.
For much of my life, I lived and breathed “church.” No, the “church” wasn’t my Lord and Savior; Jesus was. My love for Jesus and his church motivated me to give my life to the work of the ministry. My goal as a pastor was to teach the saints (church members) and evangelize the lost (unsaved). Tuesdays were the night I met with a handful of church members so we could go on “visitation.” This was the night we went two by two (either same sex or married couples) to the homes of people who recently visited the church or had stopped attending services. I believed it was important to contact every first-time visitor as soon as possible, showing them that we “cared.” When people started missing church services, I wanted to make sure someone from the congregation touched base with them. I never wanted someone to leave the church without giving a reason why. If there was a problem, I wanted the opportunity to fix it.
Most church members skipped Tuesday night visitation. The same went for Saturday bus visitation. The people who showed up on Tuesdays were the same people who showed up on Saturdays. Every church has a core group of members who do most of the work. Most congregants were passive church members. One church I pastored reached 200 in attendance. Yet, it was a group of 20 or so people who were the glue that held the church together. Attendance on Sunday evenings dropped to 90, and on Thursdays, less than 50 people showed up for prayer meetings (and at the churches I pastored, we actually PRAYED).
Visitation was a tool I used to entice new people to attend the church and keep sheep from wandering away. Like a door-to-door salesman, my goal was to convert prospective customers (visitors) into product users. My preaching and personality, along with the friendliness of the congregation, were likely the primary selling points. People who loved me and my sermons and felt “loved” tended to join the church. Those who didn’t went elsewhere.
Did your church have a visitation night? Did you go on visitation? Please share your experiences in the comment section.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
A guest post by Neil Robinson. Neil blogs at Rejecting Jesus.
One of the most liberating aspects of jettisoning Christianity was the realisation that nothing I did had cosmic significance. Nothing anybody does has cosmic significance. Yet to hear the cult’s leaders and spokesmen talk, now as then, everything matters.
First and foremost, what you believe determines whether you lived forever in Heaven or not. Can you credit that: what you believe! So better get that doctrine sorted out! Right thought makes all the difference. Believe something only minimally unorthodox and your eternal life is in jeopardy. Not only that, but what you think in the privacy of your own head, about issues like abortion, homosexuality, politics and society, is subject to the Lord’s scrutiny. Better get it right – ‘right’ being the operative term. It means recognising that the Almighty is really only interested in the USA; with the exception of Israel, he hasn’t much interest in other nations, so better get your thinking straight on that score too, buddy.
God is, or so his self-appointed mouthpieces like to tell you, obsessively interested in how you, as an individual, spend your time, the language you use, and whether you’re a faithful steward of the money he supplies (a.k.a. the money you earn for yourself). He lays it on your heart about how you should spend your time, the only valuable way of doing so being in the service of his Kingdom-that-never-comes.
You’re made to feel that if your marriage isn’t close to perfection then you’re not really working at it (though god knows the ‘Biblical view’ of marriage is nothing like the one promoted by today’s Christian leaders). You’re made to feel you must share the gospel with everyone else you have relationships with: children, friends, colleagues, acquaintances, complete strangers. Don’t they too deserve to have a chance at eternal life? You don’t want them denied it because you failed to speak up, do you? Well, do you?
And then there’s the guilt when you can’t do all of this. You’re not sure you believe all the right stuff. You think you do but then you’re told about some point of doctrine you hadn’t considered and it is, apparently, really essential you believe that too. So you consult the Holy Spirit who you think lives in your heart and you wonder why he hasn’t spoken up before now. Maybe you have liberal views about abortion. And really, you can’t find it in yourself to condemn all those ‘sodomites’ you’re told about; what difference does it make if you do or don’t? And your marriage is less than perfect. In fact, it’s a little bit messy, like human relationships tend to be, and sometimes you want just to relax, maybe laze a little bit. Not everything you do has to contribute to the Kingdom, after all.
But the guilt won’t let you. What kind of Christian are you, anyway? And as for witnessing at every opportunity, you wonder why you feel like a dog that’s compelled to pee at every lamp-post. Can’t friends just be friends? Can’t you just appreciate others for who they are, not as sinners who need saving? Apparently not.
What a wonderful release it is then, when you finally realise that none of this crap matters. Nothing you do, say or think makes the slightest bit of difference to whether you or others live forever (Spoiler: you won’t, they won’t). How you act may help others feel a bit better about themselves or provide you with a sense of fulfilment but that’s the extent of it. Outside your immediate context, you’re insignificant, and there’s great significance to that. The pressure is off; God is not watching you to see whether you’re a good and faithful servant. Your time, money, and thoughts are yours and yours alone. It’s entirely up to you how you use them, free from the tyranny of religion.
Bruce Gerencser, 66, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 45 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.
