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It Will Be a Cold Day in Hell: Dr. David Tee Demands That I Apologize to Him

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dr david tee's library
Dr. David Tee’s Massive Library

Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, is a Fundamentalist Christian blogger who has spent the past few years using my writing without credit or attribution for what he calls “teachings.” He takes a similar approach with my friend Ben Berwick. Thiessen has written more posts about the two of us that I can count. Sometimes, I just ignore the man. He’s little more than a gnat flying around my head on a warm summer day. These days, I selectively ignore Thiessen, choosing to only respond to posts I consider so egregious that they demand a response or are personal attacks on my character, family, or the readers of this blog.

Twice this week, Thiessen has demanded that both Ben and me apologize to him, for what I am not sure. I assume he’s demanding an apology because we dared to challenge his assertions about science. Thiessen sees himself as a defender of young earth creationism, a Bible literalist who will resolutely defend all sorts of nonsense because it appears in the Bible or is a personal belief of his. No amount of argumentation will change his mind. (And his defense of clerics who commit sex crimes is beyond disgusting.)

Thiessen claims to have a doctorate, including four science degrees — a claim he recently made for the first time. Geoff, a long-time reader of this blog, had this to say about Thiessen’s education claims and his understanding of science:

I don’t really care what educational achievements Tee claims, the proof of the pudding is in the eating or, in Tee’s case, the writing. There’s almost not a single sentence he writes that I can’t take issue with. Grammatically he’s dreadful, a clear indicator of his lack of proper education. Writing style not withstanding, his reasoning is impossible to understand by anyone with the slightest grasp of logic. He just doesn’t understand the scientific method. He seems to think it’s some isolated part of human existence, standing on its own, when in reality it’s the foundation on which everything we know about the world is based. Science essentially is observation and testing, reaching provisional conclusions, and incorporating them as needs be. Science and the scientific method is actually the only way we have of determining reality.

I agree.

In a post titled, It is Lazy to Simply Say God Did It!, Thiessen wrote (all grammar, spelling, punctuation, and irrationality in the original):

How is exploring the natural physical world going to provide the correct answers to our origins if science is not looking in the right direction or looking in the correct places? Providing the best explanation is not sufficient enough as the best explanation is not the truth.

The best explanation is the lazy man’s way to avoid the problems that arise with scientific research, when that research leads them away from natural solutions and into the supernatural. The scientists are too lazy and dishonest to say that the supernatural method is the only method possible.

Hence, God did it is the correct answer when science has no solutions. Here are some examples of science/evolution cannot answer why something exists.

…

How can anyone trust science when it fails to provide the answers to these and a myriad of other mysteries? It is not lazy to say God did it because that is the answer to all the mysteries science cannot answer.

Science is incapable of digging for and finding the truth because it does not want the truth. it wants something that misleads, misinforms, and hides the truth. In other words, they want something they and their biases can live with, and that is not science, nor is it objective.

True science would recognize the weakness of the natural-driven science and recognize God as the creator, as there is no alternative answer. It would also recognize God’s creativity, power, and glory in all of these and other examples science cannot find a natural solution.

It is just idiotic to dismiss the phrase ‘God did it’ because science cannot accept the supernatural. That dismissal is arrogance and ignorance on display at the same time. It is also a demonstration that science is incapable of studying the past as well as deriving the correct answer.

Saying science is the only way to get to the answers is showing a great bias against reality and the truth. Science is no longer objective but a tool to promote one bias or preconceived conclusion over the truth.

Instead of providing the correct answer, science becomes a place for unbelievers to hide from both reality and the truth. No one can trust a research field that takes great pains and many steps to avoid coming to the right answer.

When one expounds the truth, God did it, they are not being lazy, but illuminating the correct answer for everyone so that they are not misled by the lies that come from the deceived and blind secular world.\Yes, God did it all and science is a tool used by evil to lead people away from God and giving him the proper credit and glory.

Only a fool would say or repeat the words in the title in the exact same sentence structure. God created everything supernaturally and without the aid of science. Science is in over its head and outside of its scope when it investigates origins.

The Bible has the correct answer every time.

This is a good summary of the way Thiessen thinks about science.

After responses from both Ben and I, Thiessen wrote a post titled, Even More Proof. What “more proof” of his assertions did Thiessen provide? An eighteen-minute video by Dr. Sabine Hossenfelder titled Scientific Research has Big Problems, and It is Getting Worse.

Thiessen confuses “science research” with “science.” They are not one and the same. Further, Thiessen might want to study what Dr. Sabine Hossenfelder’s critics think of her work.

Professor Dave responded to Hossenfelder’s video:

Video Link

Professor Dave later released this video:

Video Link

This brings me to Thiessen’s demand that I apologize. After posting Hossenfelder’s video, Thiessen wrote:

With the above video, we expect a very honest, public, humble, and personal apology for the attacks and off-the-wall comments from both MM & BG.

We know what we are talking about; they do not.

I still haven’t stopped laughing about Thiessen’s demand. There’s nothing I’ve said that deserves an apology. Thiessen is butthurt over our coverage of his bogus “four science degrees” claim. Until Thiessen actually provides evidence for his degrees, there’s no reason for anyone to believe he has them. All we know for sure is that Thiessen attended an unaccredited Bible college in Canada as a young man. And we didn’t even know that until I outed him. Thiessen claims “God knows, and that’s all that matters.” This is a common ploy of Thiessen’s. Don’t want to answer a question? Deflect or make some sort of God claim. End of discussion.

Today, Thiessen published a post titled, Not to Beat a Dead Horse, But. Here’s what he had to say:

MM [Meerkat Musings] continues to make false accusations against us [me], so we [I] are [am] ignoring his latest response. Yet, neither he nor BG [Bruce Gerencser] has [have] apologized for their false accusations and their lies about us [me]. They like to make things personal, which we [I] do not, thus they have no credibility or an honest character.

We [I] have proven our [my] point quite well and guess what. We [I] opened up YouTube a few minutes ago and at the top of the suggestion list was the following video:

….

We [I] do not make fraudulent or misleading statements about anything. As you may have noticed, we [I] use legitimate websites and books to support our [my] points, so our [my] readers know they are getting accurate information.

That video is 20 minutes long, and it is well worth listening to as it provides not only information to defend one’s views on science but also provides eye-opening information on what is going on behind the scenes in science.

Maybe MM [Meerkat Musings] is upset as his rose colored view of science is destroyed, and it is not as glorious as he thought it was. Do not be fooled. Christians cannot trust scientists, and they do need to be fact-checked, etc., to get to the truth.

The Bible warns Christians about unbelievers and what they say. Those warnings include scientists and science, whether done by unbelievers or believers. We [I] are [am] not saying Christian scientists are all pure and do not commit fraud.

Those ‘Christian’ scientists who accept and promote evolution cannot be listened to either.

So once again, we [I] are [am] expecting a public, honest, humble, and sincere public apology from both BG [Bruce Gerencser] and MM [Meerkat Musings] because they are falsely accusing us [me] and have done nothing but lie about us [me] through their personal attacks.

Make sure to listen to the entire video to get all the right information on science.

Once again, Thiessen demands an apology from me.

Thiessen believes that Hossenfelder’s eighteen-minute video PROVES that Ben and I are lying about him and his science prowess. This claim has no merit. Besides, does Thiessen really believe that an eighteen-minute video by a controversial theoretical physicist justifies his criticisms of modern science? As I mentioned above, Thiessen confuses “science research” with “science” itself. He stupidly thinks that because a small minority of researchers lie or manipulate data that science itself can be disregarded anytime it disagrees with young-earth creationism and his wooden, literalist interpretations of the Bible.

Speaking only for myself, no apology will be forthcoming. I stand by every word I have written about Thiessen and his errant views of science and the Bible. I do kinda, a little bit, — I mean a teeny, tiny microscopic bit, regret saying a few years ago that Thiessen wants a picture of me naked to hang on his bedroom ceiling, but outside of that bit of risque humor, I stand by what I have written about him.

And Derrick? The offer of a picture still stands, but my nude photos are no longer available. 🙂

Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Short Stories: The Day the Preacher Almost Killed a Drug Dealer

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somerset baptist church 1983-1994 2
Our hillbilly mansion. We lived in this 720-square-foot mobile home for five years, all eight of us.

I was the pastor of Somerset Baptist Church in southeast Ohio for eleven years. The church had grown rapidly in the mid-1980s, but by 1988, attendance had declined, we stopped our bus ministry, and started a tuition-free Christian school for church children. To save the church money, I bought a 12’x60′ trailer for our family to live in, and parked it fifty feet from the church building. This was the first home that was ours.

somerset baptist church 1983-1994
Our son Jaime, and our two girls, Bethany and Laura.

One day, we found out that a stray female dog had gotten underneath the church building and given birth to a bunch of puppies. The dog warden picked the mother and her pups. We kept one of the puppies and named it Bear. This was long before my view on animal care changed. Bear was primarily an outside dog. He loved to run free, and since we lived in the country, Bear was free to roam the countryside. One day, Bear came home bleeding profusely from his head. I found out that the drug dealer up the road from us had shot Bear with a .22 caliber rifle. (His children tattled on him.) Fortunately, thanks to the small caliber of the bullet, Bear survived. If I remember correctly, the veterinarian bill was $120. Cheap, compared to today. Our vet charges $90 for an office visit. One of our cats recently had an eye infection. Cost? $194.

gerencser boys 1989
Nathan, Jaime, and Jason Gerencser, Somerset Baptist Church, 1989

My young children witnessed all of this, including what happened next. Down the dirt road came the drug dealer in his car. In a fit of homicidal rage, I stopped him in the middle of the road, intending to beat the shit out of him. He was bigger than me, but that didn’t matter. He started to get out of his car as I was screaming at him. I was sure we were going to duke it out. However, because my wife and children were standing nearby, I stopped myself and walked away. At the time, I credited the Holy Spirit for keeping me from murdering my neighbor. Today, I know that reason overcame my irrationality; that the future beckoned me from the present. If I had acted on my rage, I would have either ended up in jail or left my children fatherless. If I learned nothing on that day, it is this: Walk away. Never let anger overcome me and determine what I do next. I have had to learn this lesson over and over and over again.

Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Who is Really Running the Federal Government?

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trump im not a racist

Not Donald Trump, that’s for sure.

Trump has issued a record number of executive orders since becoming president. But, there’s a dirty little secret behind Trump’s orders; he doesn’t write them. It’s clear, at least to me, that he doesn’t even know what the orders say. That’s why he has a staff member read and explain the executive orders to reporters. Trump couldn’t explain these orders if he had to. Trump is being “managed” behind the scenes by people determined to put as much of Project 2025 into effect as possible.

Does anyone seriously think that Trump has the intellectual capacity to write his executive orders? This is a man who doesn’t know the difference between Alaska and Russia; a man who, in any other setting, would be considered mentally unfit to be president. If Joe Biden showed early signs of cognitive decline, what shall we say about Trump spouting all sorts of craziness and nonsense every time he has a press conference or delivers a speech?

Trump is a pawn in a war against the American people, one being waged by oligarchs, billionaires, libertarians, right-wing preachers, and ideologues who see Trump as a means to an end. Privately, they know he is a stupid man, a buffoon who can be manipulated to advance their respective agendas. These workers of darkness and evil use Trump’s pettiness, vindictiveness, and jealousy to tear down our democracy and replace it with a Christian theocracy.

It’s shocking how quickly they have gained their objective, and unless Congress and the Supreme Court stop these enemies of democracy, political and social collapse is sure to follow. November 2026 will be our first opportunity to neuter Trump. Whether we succeed depends on whether voters finally see Trump and MAGA as an existential threat to our republic, and vote accordingly. If Republicans hold on to their control of Congress, it is doubtful our country will survive. Cynical? Pessimistic? You bet. I have no time for people who can’t see Trump for who and what he is. It’s been ten years since Trump came down the escalator. We may not have known who and what he was back then, but we sure as Hell do now. No excuses. You can’t hide behind your ignorance. You have had ten years to size up Trump. And what troubles me the most is that millions of Americans would STILL vote for the man if he were running for office today.

Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Christians Say the Darnedest Things: World Renowned Young Earth Creationist Rages Against Science

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dr david tee's library
Dr. David Tee’s Massive Library

Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, recently wrote:

Unbelievers are very short-sighted when it comes to the topic of science. They think that science is the authority that provides all the answers, or will do so with enough research.

….

But we and most Christians know better.  Just a little research shows how bad science and scientists can be. Of course, unbelievers only give lip service to the destructive and harmful inventions that science, in general, has discovered and developed over the millennia.

….

We cannot forget that ‘science’ brought the world Covid. The ironic aspect of this disease was that the inventor, science, could not create an antidote. The so-called vaccines were worse than the disease and never could stop the disease or reinfection.

….

There is good reason for that. Scientists are not immune to sin, deceit, and are not omnipresent or omniscient. They are fallible human beings who have limited knowledge, and most of them are under the influence of evil.

….

What unbelievers want believers to do is not what they will do. But that is a side point. The real issue is the so-called blind trust in science, even though much of scientific research is unethical or does not follow any rules of morality.

….

Other examples is where ‘science’ developed heroin as cough medicine, radium for use in everyday items like toothpaste, forever chemicals which is a problem that has not been solved, thalidomide given to pregnant women to ease morning sickness, and even asbestos which took decades to clear up and even then it is not a job that has been completed (Ibid).

All of these examples and many more provide legitimate reasons to question and distrust science. No one knows the motivations behind the scientists’ work or why they included certain ingredients in medicines and everyday use items.

No one should be trusting scientists given their track. The original article [written by my friend Ben Berwick] we quoted provides another example of why believers should not trust scientists or even consider the words of unbelievers. They dismiss the experience, education, and other qualifications of believers simply because they hold to the religious views they disagree with.

….

Rather, it is the reverse, as Christian believers have God helping them get to the truth. Unbelieving scientists do not want the truth; they want a natural answer, and that is their fatal flaw. 

They are not looking for the right answer but one they can accept and live with. Unfortunately, too many scientists claiming to be Christian follow that ideology over what God has said in the Bible.

God has not said we cannot do science, but if we do participate in any form of that research field, Christians must follow God’s instructions over their unbelieving secular counterparts. We are not to lie, be unethical, but do science according to his will and for God’s glory.

That means we remove any element of sin in the process so that God can bring Christian scientists to the truth and the solutions. We do not follow the blind and deceived, for that takes us away from God and the truth, as well as solutions for the problems of this world.

No, we do not trust science as science is not an authority on anything, and that research field and its participants are not greater than God. God has the answers and the power to solve life’s problems. We do not put our trust in those who are mere humans who do not have the answer or the power to do the same thing.

— end of quote —

Thiessen says he has four science degrees, yet he refuses to name the the colleges he attended or how and where he “earned” his doctorate:

We find those quoted statements hypocritical because the author of those words does not believe one word we say, even though we have 4 scientific degrees behind our names.

Does anyone really believe Thiessen has four science (not scientific) degrees behind his name? When pressed on where he studied and got his degrees, Thiessen says “God knows and that’s all that matters.” This allows him to present himself as some sort of expert, when, in fact, he is anything but. Thiessen knows that if he ever posts his CV, it will likely reveal that he is a fraud or his “degrees” came from unaccredited institutions or diploma mills. Scientist, he is not.

Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Bruce’s Ten Hot Takes for August 12, 2025

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hot takes

Donald Trump thinks Alaska is Russia. Either that, or Trump plans to trade Alaska for a golden shower (pee) tape.

Karoline Leavitt is a liar. Every day, she stands before the American people and paints turds with faux gold paint. I’ve yet to hear her give a press conference without lying. But, she loves Jesus, right?

Congress can put an end to Donald Trump’s use of emergency orders to advance his fascist agenda, but they won’t. Congress fears what Trump might do to them if they oppose his policies, so they silently sit by while he burns our democracy to the ground.

Trump has no idea what his executive orders say. He’s has an “explainer” who explains to reporters what his executive orders mean. He’s cannot do this himself. A man of letters, he is not.

U.S. citizens and legal immigrants are being arrested without warrants by masked agents of the federal government. This is patently illegal and unconstitutional. Congress has the power to end these arrests, but they won’t.

Dean “Superman” Cain is now an ICE agent. Border problems solved, right?

Sherrod Brown plans to run for the Senate again. This is a perfect example of what we don’t need in Ohio. Brown, along with fellow Democrat Marcy Kaptur, ran centrist campaigns in 2024, alienating liberal and progressive voters. I found their Republican-lite political ads infuriating. I will vote for neither of them the next time around.

Marci Kaptur will be eighty and Sherrod Brown seventy-six when they are on the ballot again. Term/age limits, anyone?

We will never be able to trust labor statistics from the government again.

Am I the only one who wonders who is really running the government? Trump’s not. He seems clueless most days. I suspect the white Christian nationalists of the Heritage Foundation (Project 2025) are in charge of the federal government.

Bonus: Pete Hegseth’s favorite preacher is megachurch pastor Doug Wilson — a racist Christian nationalist. This should scare the shit out of all of us.

Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Short Stories: The Midwestern Baptist College Dorm Snack Room

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bruce polly gerencser midwestern baptist college 1977
Bruce Gerencser, Polly Shope 1977

It was late September 1975. I had driven to Phoenix to spend the weekend with my twenty-year-old girlfriend Anita at the Southwestern Conservative Baptist Bible College. We had started dating six months prior, a relationship that quickly turned serious. Both of us had volatile personalities. Years later, I concluded that had we married, one of us would likely have ended up in prison for murdering the other. 

Our weekend together turned sour, and by the time Sunday night arrived, I had broken up with Anita and angrily driven back to the home of my dad and his wife in the southeast Arizona community of Sierra Vista. I vividly remember driving my 1960s Chevrolet station wagon at excessive speeds for the three hours home, culminating in a speeding ticket near Huachuca City. The same state trooper had ticketed me the previous week for assured clear distance. He warned me that my next ticket could result in the loss of driving privileges. I was eighteen.

By the next weekend, I had packed my meager belongings in two suitcases, hopped a Greyhound Bus, and traveled to my mom’s home in the northwest Ohio community of Bryan. I left my car with my father to sell, which he soon did. I am still waiting for the money, fifty years later.

After returning to the place of my birth, I immersed myself in the life of First Baptist Church in Bryan, reconnected with friends such as Randy Rupp and Dave Echler, and became the dairy manager at Foodland, a local grocery store. I planned to wait a year and then enroll in classes at Briercrest Bible Institute in Caronport, Saskatchewan, Canada.

In early 1976, I turned my focus towards preparing for college. At the time, Canada had strict financial requirements for non-residents attending Canadian colleges. It became clear to me that I wouldn’t be able to meet this requirement, so I began looking at other Fundamentalist colleges to attend. I asked my pastor, Jack Bennett, for recommendations. He provided none. I came away from our discussion angry. I suspect Pastor Bennett thought that I was not qualified or well-suited to become a pastor, due to my family background and general orneriness. 

polly shope bruce gerencser 1977
Polly Shope and Bruce Gerencser, February 1977, Midwestern Baptist College Sweetheart Banquet, the only time we were allowed to be closer than six inches apart.

My mom’s dad and stepmother lived in Pontiac, Michigan. They attended Sunnyvale Chapel, a Fundamentalist church. Upon hearing that I was not going to Briarcrest, the Tiekens suggested that I check out Midwestern Baptist College in Pontiac. In June of 1976, I drove up to Pontiac to check out the college. I quickly decided that Midwestern was where “God” wanted me to study for the ministry. In truth, Midwestern was much cheaper than other Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) colleges. Jobs were also plentiful. My grandparents, ever-helpful — until you crossed them — found a job for me working at the Rochester Hills Kroger. (Please see John and Dear Ann.)

I arrived at the Midwestern dormitory in late August 1976. A few weeks later, I started dating a beautiful seventeen-year-old dark-haired preacher’s daughter who would later become my wife. 

Men lived in the basement and on the first floor of the dorm. Women were housed on the second floor. As one walked into the dorm, one entered a common meeting room. At certain times, dating couples could sit there six inches away from each other (please see Thou Shalt Not Touch: The Six-Inch Rule), and “fellowship.” To the right, down the hallway toward the section of the men’s dormitory called the “Spiritual Wing,” was the snack room. (I lived on the “Party Wing.” Of course, I did.) 

While Midwestern had a school cafeteria that provided rudimentary breakfasts and lunches for students, most dorm students did not use the cafeteria. In my case, I was too busy taking a full load of classes and working a full-time job to fit going to the cafeteria into my schedule. Thus, for the two years I lived in the dorm, the snack room became my “kitchen.” I say “kitchen,” but that would imply it had basic appliances such as a stove, refrigerator, and cooking utensils. It didn’t. The snack room had a handful of tables and a microwave. 

Most students either ate at nearby fast-food restaurants, ate out of a can, or warmed up meals in the microwave. Imagine the eating habits I developed from eating this way for two years. The highlight of each week was going out on a double date on the weekend to a real restaurant that served food that didn’t require a can opener. I will never understand why Midwestern didn’t care enough about dorm students to require that they eat at least two meals a day in the school cafeteria. Surely they had to know that students needed proper nutrition and sufficient nourishment; especially since students were spending virtually every waking hour attending classes, doing homework, working full-time jobs — often at local factories — attending church three times a week, working bus routes, teaching Sunday school, preaching, and going soulwinning. Whatever the reasons, dorm students were left on their own to scavenge for food. This led to numerous hilarious stories. 

One evening, Polly decided to cook a special meal for me. She knew that I loved liver and onions. I had eaten it on one of our early dates at Jerry’s Restaurant. Polly bought one of those ribbed microwave “browning” plates and cooked liver and onions. Needless to say, an awful smell emanated from the snack room as Polly lovingly cooked for me. The taste was not much better. 

One student worked at a nearby McDonald’s. Each night at close, the manager instructed him to throw away the unsold hamburgers. Not wanting to miss out on a free meal opportunity, the student brought the hamburgers home. Remember, there was no refrigerator — students were not permitted to have appliances or electric cooking implements in their rooms — so this student took to storing the hamburgers outside in a snowbank. More than a few of us afforded ourselves to one or more of Tom’s free hamburgers. It’s a wonder we didn’t get food poisoning. 

bruce midwestern baptist college pontiac michigan 1978
Bruce Gerencser, Midwestern Baptist College, 1978

Most students had a food box. I had a long cardboard box that I kept under my bed. It was not uncommon for students to trade foodstuffs. It was also not uncommon for food (and money) to come up missing. We may have been at Midwestern to serve God and train for the ministry, but hunger and an empty gas tank will turn the best of people into petty thieves. I put the blame for this not on a lack of character, but on the blindness and indifference of Tom Malone, the college president, and dorm supervisors to the financial and material plight of many single students. All the focus was on winning the lost. What’s a bit of hunger when souls need saving, right? I suspect some with the college administration believed that deprivation was good for students; that suffering hardship would make for better Christians, and for better pastors and missionaries. Midwestern advertised itself as a “character-building factory.” By the time I arrived at Midwestern, I had already lived through nineteen years of doing without. I knew how to adapt and survive, even if it meant swiping Hostess cupcakes and soft drinks from the grocery where I worked. 

Polly, on the other hand, came from a solidly middle-class family — a new car every two years, annual vacations. Polly’s dad entered the ministry late in life, graduating from Midwestern in May 1976. Polly was grossly unprepared for the life that awaited her at Midwestern. Her parents gave her little, if any, financial support, expecting her to “survive” on the part-time wages she earned at places such as Burger King, Sveden House, and cleaning houses. Her means of transportation was a worn-out early-1970s AMC Hornet. After the car broke down, her parents told her to junk the car, with no new car forthcoming. Fortunately, her mechanically inclined boyfriend was able to fix the car. When it finally gave up the ghost, Polly drove my car. If it hadn’t been for me providing financial support and allowing her to drive my car, I doubt she would have made it through her dormitory years. Of course, I have a vested interest in making sure that didn’t happen.

While I have many fond memories from the two years I spent living in the Midwestern dorm, I do wish that the college had invested more money in the welfare of its students. Sadly, all too often, it seemed that students were just fuel for the machinery of the college and nearby Emmanuel Baptist Church — the megachurch all dorm students were required to attend. As a pastor, I had the opportunity to counsel church teens about their post-high school plans. While I suggested checking out schools such as Bob Jones University, Tennessee Temple, and Pensacola Christian College, I never recommended Midwestern. Had Midwestern cared better for its students, I may have sent students their way. It’s not that I am bitter about my experiences at Midwestern, I’m not. But the college could have been so much more had it not been so focused on soulwinning. The number of dorm students who didn’t return for their sophomore year was staggering. Midwestern prided itself on this winnowing process, sending home those who were “affectionately” called Momma-called, Daddy-sent preachers. By the time students reached their senior year, the majority of the students in their freshman class had dropped out. I wonder if this attrition could have been lessened had college officials truly cared about dorm student living conditions.

Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Short Stories: When the Baptists Bought the Methodist Cemetery

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somerset baptist church 1989

In July 1983, I started a new Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) church in Somerset, Ohio. Our first service was held in a storefront building we rented for $100. A few months later, we rented the second floor of what was called the Landmark Building. Attendance growth was slow. By the summer of 1985, our average attendance was 50. To facilitate our expansion, we bought an abandoned United Methodist Church for $5,000. Built in 1831, the building was typical of Methodist churches built in the nineteenth century.

somerset baptist church 1983

Over the next few years, Somerset Baptist grew to over 200 in attendance. Some of the members who attended the Methodist church when it was open were worried about our growth. Why? When we bought the Methodist building, it came with a cemetery, one that contained some of the early settlers of the area. The cemetery was a wreck, littered with toppled tombstones or stones that didn’t belong to any particular grave. We cleaned everything up, mowing the grass as needed. We were, in every way, good citizens.

Some of the people who formerly attended the Methodist church became worried that we were going to pull up the tombstones and turn the cemetery into a parking lot. They demanded we turn the cemetery over to the township, threatening us with a lawsuit if we didn’t submit. I remember being perplexed at the time. We hadn’t done anything with the cemetery other than maintain it (at our own cost).

somerset baptist church 1985

Eventually, the township agreed to take over the cemetery. I told township commissioners that they would have to fence the cemetery and pay us for mowing the grass, which they agreed to do. And with that, the Methodists avoided the Baptists paving over the graves of former members and community residents. I never understood their paranoia over something we never would have done. Yes, we needed more parking, but turning the cemetery into a parking lot was never an option. Instead, we expanded the parking near the church building and encouraged healthy members to park along the road in front of the church and cemetery. Problem solved. 🙂

Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Clearing Up Misunderstandings About My Deconversion From Christianity

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this is why

I have been blogging for seventeen years. I have had several blogs over the years. This one has been live since 2014. Titled The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser, this blog focuses on my journey from Evangelicalism to atheism, with a lesser focus on sex crimes committed by Evangelical preachers and critiques of Christianity in general.

While this blog has a biographical bent, it is not, strictly speaking, a biography. Over the years, I evolved theologically and changed my beliefs on all sorts of social issues. For example, I entered the ministry as a hardcore, King James-only, Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB). Over time, my beliefs have evolved, so much so that the Bruce Gerencser of 1983 would not recognize the Bruce Gerencser of today.

When new readers frequent this site, they rarely read all of my biographical writing. Brought by a search engine to this site, they might read one, two, four, or even fifty posts, thinking that is sufficient to understand by story and beliefs. It’s not, and this leads readers to reach wrong conclusions about me. For example, countless Christian readers have told me that my problem is that I was raised and schooled in the IFB church movement. Is this claim true? No. I left the IFB church movement in the mid-80s, twenty years before I deconverted. Sadly, pigeon-holing me this way allows critics to dismiss my story out of hand. “No wonder he’s an atheist. He was an IFB preacher.” Lost on my critics is the fact that I only pastored three IFB churches; that I also pastored Sovereign Grace, Christian Union, Southern Baptist, and non-Denominational churches. The last church I pastored was a Southern Baptist congregation in Michigan. One Sunday, a young man who was a member of a church I pastored for eleven years in southeast Ohio came to hear me preach at this Southern Baptist church. Afterward, he told me that my preaching had changed; that I was now preaching a “social gospel.” And to some degree, He was right. My beliefs had changed, a reflection of my deep immersion in Mennonite and progressive Christian theology.

Many readers pick a point on my timeline and judge me accordingly. What they fail to see and understand is that I was no longer at that point, belief-wise; that my theology had changed, as had my understanding of social issues. Today, I am an atheist, secular humanist, liberal, progressive, socialist, and pacifist. Twenty-five-year-old Bruce would have despised sixty-eight-year-old Bruce.

With these thoughts in mind, let me address several false judgments Evangelicals and other Christians make about my life.

First, some critics say that I left the ministry (2005) and Christianity (2008) because I was unhappy as a pastor. This idea is not anywhere in my writing, but taking disparate stories and putting them together, critics often conclude that I was unhappy was a pastor. This claim is patently untrue. I was generally happy as a pastor. I loved preaching and teaching the Bible and helping those in need. Did I battle with depression as a pastor? Sure, but that doesn’t mean I was unhappy. My depression — as it is today — was driven by perfectionist tendencies, obsessive-compulsive personality disorder (OCPD), and a Type A personality. When I couldn’t meet impossible expectations put on me by church members and myself, depression ensued. This is true to this day, though years of therapy have helped me see myself in a different light. I still find myself “driven” to perform, but one thing serious health problems have done is make it impossible for me to meet my lofty self-imposed standard.

Second, some critics think I deconverted because of how poorly churches paid me over the years. This assertion reveals that they really haven’t read much of my biographical writing. Had they done their homework, they would have learned that I would have pastored churches for free; that I was bivocational on and off during the twenty-five years I spent in the ministry. I was never a part-time pastor. Instead, I often pastored full-time while working outside the church. As a result, I worked long hours, often six or seven days a week. If there is one thing I would never do again, it is giving the ministry priority in my life. Both Polly and I devoted ourselves to every church I pastored, regardless of the time and effort it took. We felt, at the time, that this was God’s calling for us. In college, Polly was reminded by professors that she would have to accept playing second fiddle in Bruce’s ministerial orchestra. The same went for our children. The church always came first. It took me twenty years to change my ways.

Third, some critics claim that I deconverted because the “church” hurt me. When asked for evidence for their claim, none is provided. How, then, do they know the church hurt me? Supposedly, they can read the “hurt” in my writing or by looking into the eyes of a photograph of me. I have not once suggested that “hurt” was a reason I deconverted. This claim is an assumption made without evidence for the truth of it.

Have I ever been “hurt” by church members? Sure, but never to the degree that I wanted to leave Christianity. Most of the hurt came after I deconverted; when lifelong friends and colleagues in the ministry turned on me after I left Christianity. From nasty emails and letters to sermons especially about me, I quickly learned that fidelity to certain theological beliefs was the glue that held our relationships together. Once this fidelity evaporated, I was branded an apostate; a tool of Satan; a false prophet; an enemy of the one true faith.

Okay, Bruce, why DID you leave Christianity? I deconverted because Christianity no longer made sense to me. I came to believe that the central claims of Christianity were false — especially its supernatural claims. I no longer believe the Bible is inerrant and infallible. I no longer believe that Jesus was in any way supernatural. Jesus was an apocalyptic Jewish preacher who lived and died — end of discussion. I concluded that I couldn’t believe these things and still be a Christian. Unlike many Christians, I was unwilling to close my eyes to errors and contradictions in the Bible and the harm caused by its teachings. Once I started treating the Bible as I did other books, everything changed. Sure, I could have faked it as many Christians do, but I’m not one to lie about what I believe.

I hope this clears up the misunderstandings readers have about my story. If you still have questions, please ask them in the comment section. If you have not read the posts on the Why? page, I encourage you to do so. Still have questions? Email me and I will try to answer them.

Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Did You Know It’s the Teachings of Hess and GHod That Make Christianity Different

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noah's flood

“It is the teaching of Jess and GHod that makes Christianity vastly different from all other religions.”

— World Renowned Theologian Dr. David Tee

Thiessen also said:

The biggest difference is in the teaching of each faith. When was the last time you heard or saw gangs of Christians invading villages, killing their members, setting their buildings on fire, and then celebrating the deaths of those who do not believe?

Unbelievers get upset and call Christians and God many different names, accusing them of crimes they did not commit, all because they do not like the teaching found in the Bible. Yet, that teaching has not ordered anyone killed, nor villages burned, nor for celebrations of the death of the wicked.

Talk about a sanitized version of Christianity, from the teaching of the Bible to present day Christian beliefs and practices. Talk about living in denial over what the Bible actually says.

Sure, some expressions of Islam are violent. However, if we go back a thousand years or so, we find Christians acting just as violently as some Muslims do today. And when we turn to the Bible? We find account after account of God’s violence against those who dared to disagree with him or worship another deity. And when we get to the book of Revelation? Boy, oh boy, God drops all pretense and shows that he is, indeed, a violent, murderous, genocidal deity.

Did God ever command his chosen ones to commit violent acts? Of course he did.

Consider:

Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim.  Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some men for us and go out; fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”  So Joshua did as Moses told him and fought with Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.  Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.  But Moses’s hands grew heavy, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on either side, so his hands were steady until the sun set.  And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the sword. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a remembrance in a book and recite it in the hearing of Joshua: I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”  And Moses built an altar and called it, The Lord is my banner.  He said, “A hand upon the banner of the Lord!The Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.” (Deuteronomy 17:8-14)

Hundreds of years later, GOD said:

Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey out of Egypt, how he attacked you on the way, when you were faint and weary, and struck down all who lagged behind you; he did not fear God.  Therefore when the Lord your God has given you rest from all your enemies on every hand, in the land that the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance to possess, you shall blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; do not forget. (Deuteronomy 25: 17-19)

And this brings us to 1 Samuel 15:1-8:

Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts: I will punish the Amalekites for what they did in opposing the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and attack Amalek and utterly destroy all that they have; do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.”

So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand foot soldiers and ten thousand soldiers of Judah. Saul came to the city of the Amalekites and lay in wait in the valley.  Saul said to the Kenites, “Go! Leave! Withdraw from among the Amalekites, or I will destroy you with them, for you showed kindness to all the Israelites when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites withdrew from the Amalekites. Saul defeated the Amalekites, from Havilah as far as Shur, which is east of Egypt. He took King Agag of the Amalekites alive but utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword. (1 Samuel 15:1-8)

Virtually every Bible scholar — except Evangelicals — says that God commanded Saul to commit genocide against the Amalekites for what their great, great, great, great, great grandparents did hundreds of years before.

The Bible contains numerous accounts of God’s violent acts, either directly or by his followers.

Richard Dawkins was right when he said:

The God of the Old Testament is arguably the most unpleasant character in all fiction: jealous and proud of it; a petty, unjust, unforgiving control-freak; a vindictive, bloodthirsty ethnic cleanser; a misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.

From Genesis through Revelation, we find a violent God who often maims and kills people out of jealousy or because they pissed him off. Shit, he killed a man just for keeping the Ark of the Covenant from toppling over. Talk about pettiness.

And since Jesus was God — the second member of the Trinity — another absurd, irrational belief — he, too, is responsible for the God ordained violence recorded in the Bible.

God of love, mercy, and kindness? Maybe, but honest readers of the Bible can’t ignore the fact that God was, at times, anything but. Oh, Evangelicals have all sorts of explanations for God’s immoral, sinful behavior, but the fact remains God commanded Saul to slaughter the Amalekites, including children, infants, and fetuses. A pro-life God he is not.

Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Why It Upsets Me When Evangelicals Say “I’m Praying for You”

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prayer

Why do I get upset when Evangelicals (and other Christians) say, “I’m praying for you?”

First, Evangelicals who say this to me deliberately violate the clear teaching of the Bible. Did Jesus not say:

Beware of practicing your righteousness before others in order to be seen by them, for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven.

So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.  But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. (Matthew 6:6 NRSV)

These verses seem clear, without ambiguity. Jesus commanded his followers to give and pray in secret. Why, then, do so many Evangelicals think it important for them to tell me that they are praying for me?

Second, I ask Evangelical readers in the comment guidelines to not leave “I’m praying for you” comments. Unlike some readers of this blog, I find no value or purpose in telling people you are praying for them. God is a myth, and so is “answered” prayer. I view prayer in the same light as I do God — a waste of time. It’s fine if Christians think differently, but understand that telling me that you are beseeching the God of the Bible on my behalf does little more than irritate me. Why do something that you KNOW will irritate the hell out of me? Especially since my knowing that someone is praying for me plays no part in whether God answers said prayer.

Third, praying for me is literally the least you can do for me, no different than politicians who offer up “thoughts and prayers” when there is another mass casualty shooting. Countless Christian prayers will be offered up for the dead. Why? They are dead. Instead of prayers, how about actually doing something that will make a meaningful difference?

Thousands of people have allegedly prayed for me. I say allegedly because I know Evangelicals are famous for lying about praying for others, or they briefly pray one time and move on. Instead of doing something that will tangibly improve my life, Evangelicals choose the one thing — prayer — that does nothing for me.

I have been blogging for seventeen years. I can count on two fingers the number of Evangelicals who have done something material for me; something that would make a difference in my life. The two people I have in mind sent me money to help with my needs. Is this not the essence of loving your neighbor as yourself? I am known for being a big tipper when we go out to eat. During the holidays, it is not uncommon for me to leave a tip equal to the bill total. I do this for one reason; to be a blessing and help to others — no strings attached. I should add that these two people — both preachers — have left Christianity. Beware of giving money to Bruce Gerencser. It could cause you to lose your faith. 🙂

One of my biggest beefs with Evangelical churches is that they rarely, of ever, do anything just to be a help to others. Years ago, an Evangelical preacher named Iggy left a comment detailing all the things he and his church did to be a blessing to others. I dared to question the motivations behind these acts of love. Boy, did we have a digital fight. 🙂 I concluded that the goal was not helping others as much as it was advertising the church’s and pastor’s name.

Will this post keep Evangelicals from saying they are praying for me? Silly boy, of course not. Evangelicals gonna do what Evangelicals do.

Bruce Gerencser, 68, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 47 years. He and his wife have six grown children and sixteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.