The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser

Welcome

  • Evangelical Preachers Love Their Titles

    god called preacher

    Interesting that I asked the AI program to put poor people in the pews. Notice the skin color of most of the congregants. Evidently, poor people=Black people.

    The Bible teaches Evangelicals that Jesus is to have preeminence in every aspect of their lives. You would think that this foundational truth would be readily evident in Evangelical churches, but it’s not. Instead, we see a church culture focused on celebrity and consumer culture. Larger Evangelical congregations have turned into religious entertainment centers — complete with bands, smoke machines, and cool, hip worship leaders. While Jesus is still mentioned, the focus is on spiritually energizing the crowd and meeting their felt needs. And people love it, as they flock to Evangelical churches to watch the “best show in town.”

    Have you noticed all the titles Evangelical preachers have these days? Not content to be called pastor or preacher, many preachers sport fancy titles such as senior pastor, executive pastor, apostle, bishop, or teaching pastor, to name a few. Most ordained preachers start their careers as a Reverend (Rev) — a person to be revered. Should preachers be revered more than anyone else in the church? Are preachers special in God’s eyes? Should they be honored and respected because of their title? Does God punish people who refuse to give preachers their due? The answer to these questions, straight from the inerrant, infallible Bible, is Yes (as interpreted by Evangelicals, anyway)! I am an ordained Baptist preacher. I am also ordained with the Universal Life church. I hated the Reverend title. When people called me Rev., I typically told them that it was okay to call me by my first name or Preacher. I saw preacher after preacher get puffed up with importance, thinking that they were somehow being uniquely used by God to advance his kingdom.

    Evangelicals come by this thinking honestly. Young men are taught that being a God-called preacher is superior to being president of the United States. I was told countless times as a young preacher that my calling was superior to any other career and it was irrevocable. Church members had careers, but Bruce Gerencser had been divinely called by the triune God to preach the unsearchable riches of Christ. This thinking, of course, leads to pride, arrogance, and false superiority.

    Evangelicals also love academic titles, especially Doctor. Ten years ago, I wrote a post titled IFB Doctorates: Doctor, Doctor, Doctor, Everyone’s a Doctor. Here’s an excerpt from this post:

    I know a lot of Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) preachers who love being called “Doctor.” They expect church members to call them Doctor and their undoctored colleagues to bow in reverence to them. In the IFB church movement, to have a doctorate means you have arrived, that your metaphorical dick is bigger than that of your fellow pastors. Having a doctorate gives one an air of importance and respectability. Go to any of the big IFB conferences, and you’ll find the scheduled speakers list littered with the names of men who have doctorates. But, here’s the thing: the overwhelming majority of preachers sporting a doctorate didn’t earn the moniker. Most likely, one of their preacher buddies, who just so happens to run an unaccredited Bible college, gave them their doctorate. Or, they did minimal coursework at one of many IFB diploma mills. Either way, their doctorate is nothing more than the plume of a peacock. Look, look, look at me, I am special, I am important, I am a Doctor.

    Even at the IFB college, university, and seminary level, many of the professors have doctorates that were granted to them by the institution at which they are teaching or some other unaccredited college. I spent twenty-five years in the ministry, and I came in contact with a lot of Doctors. In every case but one, the doctorates were either honorary or “earned” through minimal work done at diploma mills. The only person I knew who had an earned doctorate was Tom Malone — the founder and chancellor of Midwestern Baptist College. Dr. Malone had a Ph.D. in education from Wayne State University.

    ….

    I suspect that most IFB church members don’t have a clue about how their pastor got his doctorate. They naïvely assume their pastor is just like their medical doctor or a professor at the local college. They likely think their pastor went through the rigors of a Ph.D. program and is eminently qualified to teach them the Bible. Little do they know that their pastor’s doctorate is nothing more than a high-five from a friend who operates a college, or a piece of paper given to him after paying a fee and doing minimal course work.

    On one level, who cares, right? But, many of these “Doctors” are counseling people with serious mental health problems. A troubled church member goes to their pastor thinking he is qualified to help them. After all, he has a doctorate in counseling, right? He is just as qualified as the psychologist at the local mental health clinic, right? Unbeknownst to the church member, their pastor’s doctorate is little more than words scrawled on used toilet paper.

    As Paul Harvey used to say: now you know the rest of the story.

    Doctorate-sporting IFB preachers are like Diotrephes in III John: they love to have the preeminence. Go to an IFB church or conference and watch how Dr. Bob or Dr. Jack or Dr. Paul are fawned over and treated like gods. I wonder when these Doctors last preached on James 2:

    My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons.For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool: are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

    Several years ago, I wrote a post titled The Evangelical Cult of Personality. Here’s an excerpt from the post:

    For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am of Paul; and I of Apollos; and I of Cephas; and I of Christ. (1 Corinthians 1:11,12)

    According to the Bible, the church at Corinth had become factional, with various groups saying that they were a follower of Apollos, Cephas, Paul, or Christ. In First Corinthians 1:13, Paul asked:

    Is Christ divided?

    Two thousand years later, we can answer Paul’s question with an emphatic YES! The followers of Jesus Christ have spent the past 2,000 years fighting amongst themselves. Their internecine warfare has caused schisms, splits, and divisions, leading to the establishment of thousands of Christian denominations throughout the world (Wikipedia list of major Christian denominations).

    Every Christian Bible has the following verses:

    Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity! (Psalm 133:1)

    By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. (John 13:35)

    For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. (I Corinthians 12:13)

    There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. (Ephesians 4:4-6)

    These four verses alone stand as an indictment of modern Christianity. The various Christian sects can’t even agree on basic beliefs such as salvation, baptism, and communion. Jesus said, I am the way, truth, and life, and almost every Christian sect thinks it has the way, truth, and life market cornered. Pick the wrong sect and, according to many sects, you will miss Heaven and spend eternity in Hell being tortured by God.

    Evangelicalism, an inherently Fundamentalist religious belief, (please see Are Evangelicals Fundamentalists?) has a unique problem in that its churches are generally a blend of sectarian divisiveness, Madison Avenue advertising techniques, and movie-star devotion to pastors, evangelists, and other “successful” Evangelical leaders. This has led to a cult of personality, similar to that which Paul addressed in the church at Corinth 2,000 years ago.

    Drive by many Evangelical churches these days and what do you see on the church sign? Sign after sign will have the pastor’s name prominently displayed. Why is this important? Why is it necessary to advertise the name of the pastor? If the church is one body worshiping the one Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, why call attention to the identity of the pastor? Why don’t churches put the names of the poorest church members on their signs as James suggests in James 2:1-4:

    My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons. For if there come unto your assembly a man with a gold ring, in goodly apparel, and there come in also a poor man in vile raiment; and ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool:are ye not then partial in yourselves, and are become judges of evil thoughts?

    Isn’t giving the pastor top billing on the church sign showing the pastor undue respect? After all, the Apostle Peter said in Acts 10:34 that God is no respecter of persons. God may not be a respecter of persons, but his Evangelical followers sure are. Ask Evangelicals where they go to church, and they are just as likely to say, I go to Pastor So-and-So’s church as they are, I go to First Baptist Church.

    In the average Evangelical church, the center of attention is not Jesus, the Word, or the sacraments. The focus is on the man standing behind the pulpit. He is the man of God, God’s messenger, the pastor. In some Evangelical churches, he is also the bishop, prophet, or apostle.  He is the main cog in the machine, without which the machine won’t run. If you doubt this, watch what happens when one of these superstar Evangelicals leaves his church. The membership inevitably declines, often because church members don’t like the new guy. Evangelicals then feel “led” to join a different church so they can be “fed.” Rarely will they admit that the reason they changed churches was that they were spiritually and emotionally infatuated with the previous pastor.

    Megachurch pastors, in particular, are getting rich off the ministry. It is scandalous how these “profits” of God rake in millions of dollars from the churches they pastor, the books they sell, and outside speaking engagements. Even an atheist can see that these kinds of pastors are not following in the steps of Jesus. Instead of following the WWJD mantra, they are following what would a Wall Street profiteer do?

    Whenever I write about one of the Evangelical superstar pastors, people will surely come along and defend him. I have attacked their god, and it doesn’t matter what the Bible or common decency says, they are not going to stand for it. Little do they realize that their defense illustrates my contention that Evangelicalism is a cult of personality.

    I would love to be able to say to readers of this blog that I was different when I was a pastor, but I wasn’t. My name was prominently displayed on the church sign. I was the center of attention, the hub around which everything turned. People came to the churches I pastored because they loved my preaching and liked me as a person. When I pastored a fast-growing church in southeast Ohio, people would drive 30-45 minutes to hear me preach. Our church was exciting and growing, and I — uh, I mean God — was the reason.

    What drives the cult of personality? Here in the United States, we are enamored with success. We tend to give respect to people who appear to be winners. Even in the blogosphere, we often judge the value of writers by the number of people who read their blogs and follow them on Facebook, X, Pinterest, and Instagram. We forget that these numbers say NOTHING about the person. I have to constantly guard against this. I know my blog readership numbers, page views, and mailing list subscriber numbers are growing. Does this mean that I am “more” successful than I was years ago when a hundred people a day read my blog? Should people respect me more now that thousands of people read my writing? Of course not. Numerical success proves nothing.

    Within Evangelicalism, numerical success is everything. Success for a pastor is measured by the size of his penis — uh, I mean the size of his church. The criteria for calling a pastor/church a success is not much different from the criteria used to judge a successful CEO in the corporate world: growing the business and maximizing profits.

    The sure sign that a pastor has arrived is when he writes a book telling everyone how he achieved his success. When I was an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) pastor, almost every big-name pastor wrote a book detailing how he achieved numerical success. The subtle message was this: God is blessing me and this is why. Do you want God’s blessing? Do what I am doing!  Why is it that these successful pastors never write a book years later detailing the fact that “God’s blessing” didn’t last and their penis size shrank dramatically?

    American Evangelicals love their conferences. Hundreds of Evangelical conferences are held each year. Who are the speakers? Those who have achieved “success.” These conferences always feature big-name pastors who pastor large, successful churches. When was the last time Evangelical conference promoters had a Bro. Joe, who pastors 20 people on the backside of some hill in West Virginia, come and speak at their conference? It never happens.

    One of the reasons people leave Evangelicalism is that they become tired of everything being about the pastor or of the focus being on the methods of the latest hotshot, knows-everything, successful pastor. They sincerely thought that Christianity was all about Jesus. They found out that Jesus was just the window dressing for their pastor’s ambition. Most Evangelical churches, thanks to their leaders, have lost all sight of what it means to be Christian. They proclaim that the Bible is their standard of faith and practice and then ignore its teachings and examples. Christianity should be about Jesus and his kingdom. From my seat in the atheist pew, it seems to me that Evangelicalism is all about the pastor’s kingdom and not the kingdom of Jesus they say they follow.

    Your thoughts and experiences are appreciated. Please share them in the comment section.

    Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 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.

    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.

  • The One Thing Necessary for Deconstruction

    deconstruction chopping a tree

    The word “deconstruction” is hotly debated these days, especially among Evangelical Christians. Rather than spend energy debating the meaning of the term, Let me explain how I colloquially use the word. Deconstruction is the process of stripping your beliefs bare and reinvestigating the claims that gave rise to these beliefs. The process is a lot like stripping the inside of a house and rebuilding it. This is exactly what I did two decades ago. Long before I embraced atheism, I decided to carefully, thoughtfully, and painfully reexamine my religious beliefs. The early seeds of this process were sown in the late 90s when my politics began to change, as did my beliefs about capitalism and war. I later embraced socialism and pacifism. In 2000, I voted for a Democrat the first time, and I have primarily voted Democrat ever since. As it happens for many former Evangelicals, my deconstruction found its impetus in evolving political beliefs.

    I pastored my last church in 2003 and preached my last sermon in 2005. For several years I deconstructed my beliefs, stripping bare the central claims of Christianity. Starting with the inerrancy and infallibility of the Bible, I worked through the major doctrines of the Christian faith, concluding they could not be honestly and rationally sustained.

    And that’s the word I want to focus on: honesty. There is only one thing required in the deconstruction process, and that is honesty. As you deconstruct your beliefs, be honest with your observations. I have counseled people countless times over the years about deconstruction. I typically yell them that honesty is key to the process. Meet truth in the middle of the road and do business with it. Don’t try to go around truth, jump over it, or return to where you came from. It’s okay to park in the middle of the road until you have thoroughly examined a particular belief (or practice). You don’t owe it to anyone to “move on.” When, and only when, your questions have been answered, then you can move on to examining another belief. This is what I did until I, with a broken heart — having invested fifty years in worshipping Jesus — admitted I no longer believe.

    Deconstruction never leaves you as you are. Rarely do people honestly return to their old beliefs. Sadly, people often return to their old beliefs and practices out of fear or judgment or being ostracized. And I get it. When I deconverted, I lost a lifelong career, most of my friends, and all of my colleagues in the ministry. I didn’t lose everything — but almost. I paid a high price for truth, a price I would pay again today if called on to do so.

    Most people who deconstruct end up in churches and religions that put a kinder, gentler face on faith. I don’t know of anyone who deconverted from Evangelicalism after deconstruction who then returned to Evangelical beliefs and practices afterward. I am sure they exist, I just don’t know of any. Some people end up embracing humanism, agnosticism, atheism, and other -isms. The common denominator is that they freely (I know, I know, free will doesn’t exist) chose to embrace different beliefs without conditioning and indoctrination. One of the hardest things for me to admit about my past Evangelical life is that I belonged to a blood cult, and after years of indoctrination and conditioning, I wholly embraced the cult’s deity and became a high priest.

    Contrary to what Evangelicals will tell you, life is not all about the destination. The Evangelical house of cards is built on a foundation of a divine payoff after death for believing the right things. All that matters is making it to Heaven after death. I contend that life is all about the journey. Who knows where your journey will take you, but if you are honest throughout your journey, you will end up exactly where you need to be.

    Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 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.

    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.

  • AI Policy for This Site

    ai the antichrist

    AI (artificial intelligence) is all the rage these days, and its supporters and opposition are increasingly vocal, and, at times, hostile towards anyone who thinks differently. Unbeknownst to most people is that AI has been used to some degree or another for years. I am a former professional photographer, retiring after I could no longer hold a pro camera with a heavy lens level and straight. It was one of the saddest days in my life when I had sell thousands of dollars of camera/studio equipment that had given be so much joy over the years. I used AI-based software to edit photos. Adobe introduced basic AI in its content aware function in 2010. In September 2023, Adobe integrated AI into Photoshop. What’s different now is that non-technical Joe has access to tools that used to require extensive training to master.

    This site does not use AI to write text. It never has and never will. AI is used to check grammar before a post is sent on to Carolyn, my editor. All text written on this site — unless it is a guest post — belongs to me. I alone own all blame or praise for anything written on this site.

    I do, however, use AI to make graphics for this site. I make no apologies for doing so. Most comments and emails about the AI graphics have been positive. The graphics provide keen insight into the warped mind of Evangelical-turned-atheist Bruce Gerencser. More “warpness” forthcoming. 🙂

    Calling me lazy or a destroyer of jobs is not helpful. Neither claim is true.

    Thank you for your understanding.

    signature

    Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 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.

    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.

  • Just Remember, God Made You Sick So You Would Have a Testimony of Faith, Someday

    please help me

    Recently, I heard an Evangelical woman say on a podcast that God makes people sick so they will one day have a testimony of faith. Surely, you don’t want to miss out, in the midst of your suffering and affliction, on an opportunity to testify of your great faith in the triune God, right? What a disgusting way to look at suffering.

    Worse, God is known for killing innocent people to get a believer’s attention. Who hasn’t heard an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) preacher warn that, if necessary, God will maim or kill our loved ones to make sure Christians stay on the straight and narrow way? Imagine God giving your wife uterine cancer to get your attention. She dies a year later, and you are left with three children to raise. Does unnecessary suffering drive you closer to or farther away from God? Did you praise Jesus for your wife’s cancer? You better or God won’t be happy.

    The longer I deal with in my own life chronic pain, suffering, and debility, the more often I come into contact with fellow sufferers. These are women and men who have been suffering for years, often praying and pleading for deliverance — without success. Why is God so silent towards pain and suffering? We are told he’s the Great Physician, but he never opens his black bag. Here we have an all-powerful God who could immediately cure ALL cancer, yet eight million people die worldwide of cancer every year — 625,000 deaths in the United States alone. I suspect that many of these cancer sufferers earnestly prayed for healing, or, at the very least, enough relief to sleep and enjoy life in their last days on Earth. Most cancer sufferers die painful deaths, often alone and without adequate pain relief. They find themselves tossing and turning while their pain-wracked bodies try to find a respite from never-ending suffering. It would be surprising if people didn’t cry out to God, the universe, a dead loved one, or the void. If I polled readers who have chronic pain, I suspect most of them, atheist and Christian alike, would admit that in the midst of Top Five pain day, they pleaded, “Please, help me.”

    I have said this very thing in recent years as my health declines and I no longer find adequate pain control from narcotics and other medications. I’m confident there is no God. I know the Christian God doesn’t exist, so my plea is not to God as much as it is a psychological practice I use to keep from stabbing an ice pick through my left temple — I’m a liberal. 🙂 Other times, I will indeed get an answer. Not from God, but from a very real person named Polly. Long term sickies know how much their suffering affects their partner, children, and grandchildren. You don’t want it to be this way, but your body determines your path, not your personal wants and desires. Suffer long enough and you learn, despite TV advertisements that suggest otherwise, that your disease(s) dominate your life. And if it dominates your life, it can’t help but play an outsized influence on the lives of your family.

    Have you ever been in pain and “prayed” please help me? If you are an atheist, how do you reconcile that with your unbelief? Is this just a carryover from your religious past, or is this a tool you use to control your suffering? Please share your experiences in the comment section.

    Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 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.

    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.

  • My Prayer for Healing

    jesus heal me

    Gallows humor ahead . . .

    In a prolonged fit of pain and agony, I cried into the void, “Please help me.”

    Jesus replied, after 3,666,669 prayers, “I’m here my son . . .”

    Loki chimes in, “Silly boy. No one is available to take your call. At the sound of the tone die.”

    Loki turns to his younger brother Jesus and says, “Another one healed in your glorious wonderful name, Jesus. Just remember death cures everything. Why heal Bruce when we just can wait for him to die?”

    What an awesome God, right?

    Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 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.

    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.

  • Sounds of Fundamentalism: IFB Pastor Mike Keller Explains Why Blacks in the South Had it Good

    pastor mike keller 2

    The Sounds of Fundamentalism is a series that I would like readers to help me with. If you know of a video clip that shows the crazy, cantankerous, or contradictory side of Evangelical Christianity, please send me an email with the name or link to the video. Please do not leave suggestions in the comment section.  Let’s have some fun!

    Today’s Sound of Fundamentalism is a video clip of Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) preacher Mike Keller letting his racism hang out at Fairpark Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. Keller is the father of Anna Duggar.

    @deconstruction.zone

    Pastor Mike Keller says the dumbest thing imaginable. #slavery #whitesaviorcomplex

    ♬ original sound – deconstruction.zone

    Video Link

    Yahoo reports:

    Mike guest preached at Fairpark Baptist Church on June 25, 2023. His sermon was recorded and shared in a since-deleted YouTube video that went viral because of Mike’s shocking comments comparing slavery to the January 6, 2021, attack on the United States Capitol, according to Daily Beast.

    ….

    “A hundred-fifty years ago, or 200 years ago when the Blacks were slaves, did they ever go to Washington, D.C., and have a rally 200 years ago to protest against slavery? No. What did they do?” he asked. 

    Mike proceeded to offer a baseless account of the way enslaved Black people were treated, claiming that “good people on the plantations” — possibly slave owners — built churches where they could “love” enslaved Black people and “[teach] them how to read so they can read the Bible.”

    “Here’s what the Blacks did about 150 years ago,” Mike added. “They humbled themselves, they prayed. They sought God’s face and they turned from their wicked ways and God made slavery illegal through several white presidents. It worked, didn’t it? They didn’t protest.”

    Though Fairpark Baptist Church has removed the video from their YouTube page, clips of the sermon circulated around TikTok and Twitter as viewers shared their disgust over the indirect racism in Mike’s comments.

    “Indirect racism”? Give me a break. This preacher is a racist. He is not saying anything I haven’t heard in IFB churches and conferences over the years.

    Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 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.

    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.

  • Was it Just to Stone a Man for Picking Up Sticks on the Sabbath?

    ice arrests man picking up sticks

    Imagine you lived in an arid climate where you had to daily gather sticks to cook and provide heat. Every day you dutifully collected sticks for your fire needs. There was a law that prohibited picking up sticks on Saturdays, but you ignored it. One Saturday, you were arrested for picking up sticks on Saturdays. On your court date, the judge, based on consultation with God, decided to sentence you to death. And with that you were dragged outside the city and stoned.

    Is this a just sentence? Most of us would say no; that the punishment doesn’t fit the crime. An infinite punishment for a finite crime.

    A similar story appears in Numbers 15:

    When the Israelites were in the wilderness, they found a man gathering sticks on the Sabbath day. Those who found him gathering sticks brought him to Moses, Aaron, and the whole congregation. They put him in custody because it was not clear what should be done to him. Then the Lord said to Moses, “The man shall be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him outside the camp.” The whole congregation brought him outside the camp and stoned him to death, just as the Lord had commanded Moses.

    Again, is this a just sentence?

    Most atheists, agnostics, humanists, and liberal Christians would say NO! However, many Evangelicals will call the first story unjust, but the second story — because God commanded Moses to execute the man — is just. When God does something, it is always right. His actions are always just. One nearby Evangelical church has emblazoned on the outside of their building, “God is Good All the Time.” This cheap, poorly thought-out cliche informs the thinking of most Evangelicals. Of course, God is good all the time. He is the sum of, the essence of goodness. Is this not what they have heard from the pulpit their entire lives? Even when tragedy strikes, Evangelicals refuse to move away from their indoctrination and conditioning. A tornado levels their town? “God is good all the time. Look Preacher Bob’s Bible survived the tornado unscathed. Ain’t God good?”

    When we turn to the Bible, we find not only a good God, but an evil one. It is impossible to read the Bible and not conclude that God can be, at times, an evil son of a bitch. Admitting this, of course, is fatal to the Evangelical claim that God is good all the time. Enter apologetics, a tool used by Evangelicals to explain away clear readings of Scripture. The goal of apologetics is not to teach and instruct as much as it is to defend and protect. And when their defenses come up short, as they always do, what do they say? “God is good all the time.” And now the circle jerk is complete. When arguments for the goodness of God fail, Evangelicals typically offer up faith claims to justify their refusal to actually believe what the Bible says. “God’s ways are not our ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts.” No shit, Sherlock. Most of us wouldn’t execute a man for picking up sticks on the wrong day.” We would have given him a slap in the wrist, a fine, and maybe some community service. Not God. He demands the man be killed. Talk about overkill.

    No, God is not just, neither in this story nor countless others in the Bible. Evangelicals are forced to call evil good because of their adherence to divine command theory — moral values and duties are solely grounded in the commands of God. In other words, the goodness of an action is determined by whether it was commanded by God. This leads to all sorts of crazy thinking. I listen to a number of atheist call-in shows: Allegedly Ian, Dr. Blitz, The Deconstruction Zone, and various programs produced by The Line and the Atheist Community of Austin. It is not uncommon to have Evangelicals (and Muslims and Catholics) call in to defend God’s character, especially his goodness. It is quite easy to prove from the Bible that God is NOT good all the time. Yet, when confronted with overwhelming evidence for a not-good God, Evangelicals recoil, retreat, and scream, No! No! No! GOD IS GOOD ALL THE TIME! This forces Evangelicals to justify slaughter, murder, rape, and genocide. If God did or commanded an act, then it is, by default, good. These apologists call the killing of the unborn murder, yet when God kills fetuses, it is good.

    Is it ever just to execute someone for picking up sticks? No. But, for Evangelicals, they must hang their heads in shame and say, Yes. God is good all the time. and because he is, whatever God does is just. It is impossible to combat such thinking until they are willing to admit that God is not as good as they were taught he was. The evidence is overwhelming, that is if Evangelicals are willing to accept a clear, unambiguous reading of the Bible — even if if means making God look bad.

    Did you believe God was good all the time; that his actions were always just? How did you explain Bible stories that reveal that God is neither of these things? Please share your erudite thoughts in the comment section.

    Note: This post should help you understand why some of your Evangelical family, friends, and neighbors justify the violent, murderous actions of ICE and other federal agencies in Minnesota. The Bible commands us to obey the laws of the land, and when you don’t this is what happens, the thinking goes, Of course, such people rarely use their shriveled brains to ask, what laws were broken? Isn’t protest and civil disobedience part of our civic DNA — a duty? If Evangelicals cannot honestly look at the evidence and conclude that the federal government murdered two non-violent, non-threatening protestors, they have lost their moral compass. This is disgusting thinking, to say the least.

    Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 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.

    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.

  • Is the Christian God Everywhere?

    god is everywhere

    According to Christian orthodoxy, God is omnipresent. This means “God is everywhere.” Psalm 139:7-12 states:

    Where can I go from your spirit? Or where can I flee from your presence?  If I ascend to heaven, you are there; if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and settle at the farthest limits of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me, and night wraps itself around me,”even the darkness is not dark to you; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light to you.

    The heading for Psalm 139 says “The Inescapable God.” This Psalm of David lets readers know that God is everywhere. From the heights of Heaven to the depths of the sea, God is there. It is impossible to escape his presence. This God see, hears, and knows everything. Almost eight billion people on our planet, yet according to Christianity, God hears, sees, and knows everything we do. God is never not present.

    God is a personal deity; one intimately involved in his creation, even though he leaves no signs of this involvement. God has countless moments every day where he could meaningfully help us and make the world a better place to live. Instead we see heartache, sickness, pain, disease, violence, starvation, and war everywhere.

    This alleged good God knows everything about us, yet he acts as if we don’t exist. He’s an absentee father who is long on promises and short on delivery. Christians tell us there is coming a day when God will make all things right. Fine and dandy. Why can’t God start making things right now? Look around. There’s plenty for God to do.

    I’ve concluded that God is a Peeping Tom; a voyeur who gets off on watching us go through the machinations while doing nothing to help us. God knows our thoughts, needs, and desires. What does the Almighty do with this information? Nothing, outside of filing a report that will be used to judge us on judgment day.

    The next time you are doing your daily business in the bathroom, just remember God is there. Next time you have sex, he is there. He is with you for every meal, and joins you when you take a shower. As I write this post, supposedly God is right here with me. When I go to bed later tonight, God will join me. He loves to snuggle, though I’m starting to think God is gay. “Keep your hands above the covers, God.”

    As a child, I heard countless sermons about the God who is everywhere. The omnipresence of God was used to scare people into obedience. “Just remember, the next time you look at a porn magazine, God will see you.” This sort of thinking was used any time preachers wanted obedience to a certain standard or Bible verse.

    Were you taught that God is everywhere? Was this used to demand and force obedience? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comment section.

    Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 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.

    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.

  • Trump Dump: Trump Has no Idea About the Founding of the United States

    donald trump trash truck

    Dear Ambassador, 

    “President Trump has asked that the following message, shared with Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre, be forwarded to your [named head of government/state]”

    Dear Jonas: Considering your Country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped 8 Wars PLUS, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of Peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America.

    Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China, and why do they have a “right of ownership” anyway? There are no written documents, it’s only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago, but we had boats landing there, also.

    I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now, NATO should do something for the United States. The World is not secure unless we have Complete and Total Control of Greenland. Thank you! President DJT

    — President Donald Trump as reported by Anne Applebaum

    Bruce Gerencser, 69, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 48 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.

    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.