Who created evolution? [This has to be the dumbest question ever asked by a young earth creationist.] This is a fair question as many people ask, including children, ‘Who created God?’ When you type that question into a browser’s search box, you get a myriad of websites providing the right answer.
No one created God as he always existed. That may blow some people’s minds but that is how it is. It is hard to imagine since we are finite beings and trying to grasp the eternal is a bit out of our scope and ability.
However, you do not get the same results when you type in the words who created evolution. What you get is website after website either giving the scientific explanation of how science works or explanations of how evolution works.
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Yet, when you scour their works, not one person who promotes the evolutionary theory ever speaks about where evolution came from. They do not even bother to make it a separate entity and said that as soon as life began on this planet, evolution took over.
But where did evolution come from? Many unbelieving scientists want to put God in a test tube and study him but that is mere arrogance talking. No one talks about putting evolution in a test tube and studying it.
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They are content with studying the supposed results of this process. They have no desire to do to evolution what they have stated they want to do with God. They are content to believe in a non-existent theory and process whether they know where it came from or not.
It is no surprise that evolutionists do not know where the process came from or if it is a created process or not. They do not even know where life came from.
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Many people put their faith in science, yet, science is failing them as the members of that research field have no clue about the origin of life. They still do not know the original environment that supposedly spawned life.
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How can unbelieving scientists know the origin of evolution when they do not know anything about our beginnings? This is the difference between Christians and unbelievers. We do not need science to tell us our origins, we already know.
God has told us about it in the Bible. The reason the unbeliever doesn’t know is that they reject the truth of the Bible. We get answers and peace of mind, and the unbelievers get questions with no answers and a myriad of ‘mysteries’. They do not get peace of mind.
The evolutionist or evolution supporter may mock Christians and call them all sorts of names, etc., but all they are left with is a void that they struggle to fill with absurd theories they cannot come close to verifying.
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We Christians have a God that has spared us this trouble and effort. He has told us exactly what took place and how he did it so we do not have o waste any time or money seeking out the answer to our origins.
We can focus on our lives and go about God’s business knowing our heritage, and having no distractions because the mystery of our origins was solved a long time ago. Evolution has no creator because it has never existed, even in micro form.
It is better to know that we were wanted than to have to go through life thinking we are the spawn of something that does not care about us. God knows us as the Psalmist has said but evolution doesn’t even have a mind so it can never care or get to know us.
Why go with science when it can never produce an answer to the question who created evolution? Or why did it ‘evolve’ us?
— Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, TheologyArcheology: A Site for the Glory of God, Who Created Evolution?, March 8, 2023
The Black Collar Crime series is in its seventh year, having published over one thousand reports of clergy and church leader criminal misconduct. Most of the reports are about Evangelical pastors, evangelists, youth directors, and other church leaders who committed sex crimes. Using Google Alerts, I receive an immediate notice any time a news story about clerical malfeasance is posted on the Internet. It is important that these stories receive wide circulation. Victims need to know that there are people standing with them as they bring to light what God’s servants have done in secret.
I realize that these reports are often dark and depressing, but the only way to dispel darkness is to turn on the lights. Clergy who prey on congregants — especially children — must be exposed, prosecuted, convicted, and sent to prison. By leveraging this blog’s readership numbers and publishing these reports, I am serving notice to law enforcement, prosecutors, and judges: we are paying attention, and if you fail to provide justice for victims, we will hold you accountable.
Sometimes, these seemingly untouchable predators are brought to justice, but not before the public puts pressure on law enforcement and prosecutors, forcing them to act. The sordid story of abuse at Restoration Youth Academy is case in point. Decades of abuse reports were filed with local law enforcement, yet nothing was done. Yes, they finally acted and the perpetrators are now in prison, but what do we say to the hundreds of children and teenagers who were ritually abused before prosecutors got around to doing their job?
I am sure that this series will bring criticism from Evangelical zealots, reminding me that accused/charged clerics are innocent until proven guilty. While they are correct, all I am doing is sharing that which is widely reported in the news. In the sixteen years I’ve been writing about clergy misconduct, I can count on one hand the number of pastors/priests/religious leaders who were falsely accused — less than five, out of hundreds and hundreds of cases. The reason for so few false accusations is that no person in his or her right mind would mendaciously accuse a pastor of sexual misconduct. The social and personal cost is simply too high for someone to falsely accuse a religious leader of criminal conduct.
Secondary reasons for this series have to do with exposing the lie that Evangelicalism is immune to scandal and criminal behavior. I remember when the Catholic sex scandal came to light. With great glee and satisfaction, Evangelical preachers railed against predator priests and the Catholic Church who covered up their crimes. Now, of course, we know — with the recent Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) and Southern Baptist sex scandals — that Evangelicalism is just as rotten, having its own problems with sexual abuse and subsequent cover-ups. Evangelicals love to take the high moral ground, giving the perception that their shit doesn’t stink. Well, now we know better. Not only does Evangelicalism have a sexual abuse problem, it also has a big problem with pastors who can’t keep their pants zipped up. (Please see Is Clergy Sexual Infidelity Rare?)
I receive threats from people defending their religious heroes. Threats of legal action are common, even though all I am doing is republishing stories publicly reported by news agencies. A pastor featured in one of my reports contacted me and said that reporters had it all wrong. As I do with everyone who asserts they are being falsely accused, I told this preacher that he could give his version of the facts, sign his name to it, and I would gladly add it to the post. Usually, this puts an end to any further protestations. Most often, the accused want to bully me into taking down my post. In this preacher’s case, he provided me his version of events and I gladly added it to my post. After adding the information, I decided to investigate this pastor further. I found more information about his past indiscretions and crimes. I dutifully added them to the post. I have not heard anything further from the good pastor.
I am not immune from making mistakes, so if you spot a factual error in one of the stories, please let me know and I will gladly correct it. If you come across a story that you would like me to add to this series, please use the contact form to email me. Please keep in mind that I need links to actual news reports in order to add them to this series.
I primarily use Google Alerts for Black Collar Crime reports. I also rely on readers to alert me to new stories or updates of previous reports. I am one man with a limited amount of time each day to slog through the brackish Evangelical swamp, so I don’t see every report or know the outcome of every case I’ve featured in the Black Collar Crime Series. Keep in mind that I require EVIDENCE for me to update a story. Not gossip or personal opinion. Actual evidence such as reputable news stories (with links). Just because a reader or drive-by commenter says something doesn’t make it so. I appreciate your understanding.
I realize that nothing I say in this post will change the minds of preachers such as Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen. Thiessen has a sketchy background. He has been accused of abandoning his family, including an infant child, failing to pay child support, and fleeing to South Korea/Philippines to avoid being held accountable for his behavior.
Thiessen has been a vocal critic of me personally and of the Black Collar Crimes Series. Thiessen is known for defending clerics who commit sex crimes. Just this week he wrote two more posts defending Ravi Zacharias. He has also defended men such as Bill Cosby and Bill Gothard. Thiessen goes to great lengths to defend his support of offending preachers, but I find his defenses lacking in every way. Thiessen repeatedly rejects the substantial work done by law enforcement in investigating, prosecuting, and convicting pastors who commit sex crimes. Why? This is the judgment of the “world,” not God. Of course, God is unavailable for comment. All we have are our legal processes, albeit imperfect, they are the best we have to hold clergy and churches accountable.
Thiessen frequently blames victims for what happened to them. Thiessen is not alone in this approach to women (sometimes men) and children who have been sexually violated and taken advantage of by so-called men of God. Again, Thiessen claims that victims are following the ways of the “world” instead of God. Of course, God’s ways in Thiessen’s mind are his peculiar interpretation of the Protestant Christian Bible.
He [Bruce Gerencser] is right in one thing, we do not like his black collar series but not for the reasons he thinks. We [Derrick Thiessen] do not like it for many reasons and two of them are, it is not being fair or just. That owner [Bruce Gerencser] ignores all the unbelievers and atheists who are caught, tried, and convicted for the same crimes.
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[Speaking of being fair and just] Christians have to do both to be able to make an impact for Christ. But this is not the end of the hypocrisy and injustice carried out by the owners of the BG [The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser] and MM [Meerkat Musings] websites, as well as other unbelieving websites.
There have been other similar stories about drag shows in schools, and so on. Yet not one peep from either owner about how bad, immoral, or wrong these actions are. Instead, they would rather target Christians as that is the group of people, as well as Christ, that they hate.
This is another reason God told us to never follow in the counsel of the ungodly. They do not have fairness or just behavior in their thinking. Look at all the CRT, equity, BLM re-education going on today. None of those and anything similar is of God nor are they just and fair.
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Another reason we do not like the black collar series over at that website [The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser] is that it is unneeded. It does nothing constructive for society nor does it help redeem those men who failed in their Christian lives, if they were Christians at all.
All it does, as we said earlier, is influence others to hate Christ, pastors, and the church, and turning people to hate is wrong. It is not fair to those men highlighted and the series does not have people being just or fair towards them. In fact, it helps stoke the misguided guilty-until-proven-innocent mentality that many unbelievers endorse.
It is also redundant as the local papers will carry the same stories and his series is just wasting everyone’s time. When the Christian sees those stories they need to ask God how to reach those men so that Christ can redeem them.
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{we would link to the article we talked about but it is so filled with lies and eisegetical comments that it is nothing but trash [which I can’t rebut] }
I have explained my motivations for writing the Black Collar Crime Series several times. He knows exactly why I do what I do, so I can only conclude that Thiessen is a liar and his goal is to impugn my character and impair my coverage of clergy sex crimes.
Let’s suppose I operated a site whose mission was to cover the Cincinnati Reds. Every day I published news stories about the Reds and individual players on the team. One day, a man named Deirere TeeDee sent me an email, complaining about me not writing any posts about the NHL, particularly me not covering the Detroit Red Wings. Duh, I replied, I write about the Reds, and Major League Baseball, not the National Hockey League and the Detroit Red Wings. Your complaint has no merit.
Yet, this is exactly what Thiessen has done with his complaint about me not covering atheists and other unbelievers who commit sex crimes. He knows that this site focuses on four things:
Helping people who have questions and doubts about Christianity
Helping people who have left Christianity
Telling the story about my journey from Evangelical Christian to atheist
Critiquing Evangelical Christianity
I have been blogging since 2007 — sixteen years. I have stayed true to these four focus points, rarely veering off the path to talk about politics, sports, food, and travel. Why Thiessen cannot understand why I write the Black Collar Crime Series is beyond me. I know that all sorts of people commit sex crimes, but my focus is on Evangelical preachers who commit such crimes. This is NOT a sex crime blog. If it was, I would cover unbelievers and believers alike. And even if I did, it would still be true that the vast majority of people who commit sex crimes are Christian or religious. Why? Because most Americans are Christians.
I have repeatedly explained to Thiessen why the Black Collar Crime Series is needed. I assume, at this point, he is being obtuse. Most of the stories I write require numerous news stories to tell the complete story. They also require research on my part to find out what sect the offender was a part of and their background and beliefs. Sometimes, these reports take a lot of time to put together. Other times, a Google search quickly gives me everything I need to write the story.
These reports are based on news reports, court records, social media, and other verifiable sources. I rarely interject my personal opinion. My goal is to provide a one-stop website for people looking for information about a particular preacher/church and their crimes. Blog traffic numbers suggest that this is exactly what is happening.
It is not uncommon for news sites to either delete stories about clergy sex crimes or put them behind paywalls. That’s why it is important for me to make these stories available to the public free of charge. The public has a right to know what is going on in Evangelical churches. Surely it is important to cover criminal behavior by clerics. Surely it is important to say to victims that I hear you and I will make your story known far and wide. The bigger question, then, is this: why do Derrick Thiessen and other Christians of his ilk want to muzzle me and keep these stories from being known?
One answer to the questions above is that the Thiessens of the world don’t care about the victims of clergy sex crimes. I suspect many of them believe that the victimized women (and men) and children and not victims at all. Thus, they view sexual predators as the real victims; that the “world” is out to get them. Thiessen admits as much when he says “When the Christian sees those stories [about rape, sexual assault, child molestation, along with theft, fraud, and murder] they need to ask God how to reach those men so that Christ can redeem them.” Remember, Thiessen has called sex crimes “mistakes.” He has yet to write one positive post about the victims of clergy sexual misconduct. All that Thiessen cares about are the poor preachers who rape, assault, misuse, and abuse vulnerable people. In his mind, these preachers just made “mistakes.” If they will just shoot a 1 John 1:9 (If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness) to Heaven, Jesus will forgive them and cleanse them from all unrighteousness. With that, the offending preachers are forgiven and should get right back on the ministry horse. Thiessen seems oblivious to the fact that most pedophiles are incurable; that Jesus himself can’t fix them. He seems to be oblivious to the fact that preachers caught committing sex crimes, particularly child pornography, have likely been doing so for years. When a 60-something-year-old preacher is arrested for sexually assaulting a child, it is likely that he has committed this crime before. Most clergy sex crimes go unreported/unprosecuted (as is the case in the general population). What I cover with the Black Collar Crime Series is but a fraction of the crimes committed by Christian clergy. I read sites such as Ministry Watch, The Roys Report, Bishop Accountability, Baptist Accountability, and the Black Collar Crime listings published monthly for members by the Freedom From Religion Foundation. I am astounded by how many stories about clergy sex crimes I actually miss.
It’s clear to all who are willing to see that Evangelicalism has a clergy sex crime problem of epic proportions. These reports are not a few bad apples. The sex scandal roiling through the Southern Baptist Convention certainly proves that the proverbial barrel is littered with rotten, stinking apples.
Bruce Gerencser, 65, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 44 years. He and his wife have six grown children and thirteen grandchildren. Bruce pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan. Bruce left the ministry in 2005, and in 2008 he left Christianity. Bruce is now a humanist and an atheist.
I haven’t mentioned Dr. David Tee (whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen) lately. He continues to write about me and steal my content, but I have chosen to ignore him. Thiessen is a defender of Christian rapists, child molesters, and clergy who misuse and abuse their positions of authority and power. I have yet to see him write a post like the ones I write for the Black Collar Crime Series. Instead, he has publicly attacked my work to publicize clergy sexual misconduct. He continues to defend men such as Bill Gothard, Ravi Zacharias, and Bill Cosby. According to Thiessen, all of these men are falsely accused; innocent of the accusations leveled against them. Thiessen, a Fundamentalist Christian, believes that any crime, no matter how vile, will be forgiven by God if the offender shoots up a 1 John 1:9 prayer to Heaven. And if God has forgiven them — how could Thiessen possibly know that he has done so? — so should everyone else.
Yesterday, Thiessen sent me a link to a news story about an elderly Florida man named Paul Zittel who had over 220,000 child porn images stored in his home. You can read the story here. Without providing any evidence for his claim, Thiessen said that Zittel’s crimes are an example of “atheist black collar crime.” There’s no mention in the news story that Zittel is an atheist. In fact, based on where Zittel lives and his age, it is actually more likely that he is a Christian. Of course, if I was covering this story, I would never say Zittel is an atheist or a Christian. I report facts, not opinions.
Thiessen’s email suggests that he thinks that anyone who is not a Christian is an atheist. This, of course, is absurd. Most people have some sort of religious belief. Atheists are a distinct minority in the world. Surely, Thiessen knows this, right?
Suppose Zittel really is an atheist, and while incarcerated he gets saved. According to Thiessen’s bankrupt theology, God has forgiven Zittel and so should everyone else, including his victims. Thiessen would expect and demand that the public and his victims move on. How dare they speak negatively about this new child of the living God. He’s a new creature in Christ, right?
Thiessen hates the Black Collar Crime Series. He has repeatedly impugned my motives for writing the series. He thinks that I shouldn’t write ANY of the Black Collar Crime posts. He prefers that the evil actions of preachers fade into the background noise of life. Nothing to see here, Thiessen says. Ain’t Hay-Zeus wonderful!
I have no intention of stopping my writing about clergy sexual misconduct. Evangelicalism is rife with scandal, every bit as bad, if not worse, than the sexual scandals that continue to plague the Roman Catholic Church. People deserve to know about these crimes and the great lengths churches go to cover them up.
I do appreciate Thiessen emailing me. He exposed his IP address when he did, and I blocked it. He will find new ways to read and steal my writing, but I don’t want to make it easy for him.
Bruce Gerencser, 65, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 44 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.
Recently, Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, took the Protestia site to task for their hateful, un-Christian behavior. Protestia, the one-time love child of disgraced Fundamentalist Baptist preacher J.D. Hall, is currently operated by David Morrill, Paul Brown, Brad Schoolfield, and Seth Dunn. Protestia is known for three things: their anti-abortion, forced birth views, their obsession with consenting LGBTQ people’s sex lives, and ferreting out perceived heresy within Evangelicalism and Christendom at large. In other words, Thiessen’s kind of “Christians.”
We have no problem with that, if they actually did do some honest refuting and challenging doctrinal errors. What our one line under our quote above was referring to was HOW they were going about this ministry. It had nothing to do with their ministry or purpose.
We think they misunderstood what we wrote and instead of asking for clarification, they go and jump to conclusions and make assumptions about what we said. Of course, right now it is very difficult to get a hold of us due to some unfortunate actions by certain people.
So here is the clarification. Our words were referring to the name calling, the insults, and other derogatory terms used by Protestia in their identification, challenges, and refuting of those people they have found to be false teachers.
We find their terminology and its use to be very unbiblical and unChristian. In the different ministries that Protestia participates in, they are not excluded from any biblical rules of conduct towards believers or unbelievers.
We will not bring anyone back to the church or to the faith by insulting them. On occasion, we have done the very same type of ministry throughout the years. Yet, we refer to people as Mr., Mrs., Miss, Dr., and so on except for those gender identity-confused people who are referred to by their birth pronouns.
We do not hurl names, insults, or even write them as that sets a bad example for our readers and disobeys the biblical instruction ‘ soft answer turneth away wrath’. We do not care how nasty those people we identify get as we are to return good for evil.
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There are a lot of false teachers running about saying things that are not biblical and just plain wrong. If you are going to challenge them, then challenge what they are saying instead of insulting them or ignoring what they have said because you have identified them as false teachers.
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Give credible and legitimate information not personal attacks or ad hoc statements that put a black mark against your claims of being Christian. Jesus may have insulted the Pharisees, etc., but that does not give us permission to ignore the rules of behavior Christ laid out for us.
None of us are on his level and we should be very careful not to copy him without fully understanding more of why he said what he said. We are not free to insult but we are free to identify and refute, as well as challenge those who pretend to be Christian, yet say and do unChristian things.
Thiessen lacks any sense of self-awareness. He seemingly has forgotten the countless articles he has written about me and Ben Berwick. He evidently has forgotten about his comments and emails too.
A year ago, Thiessen sent me the following mail:
Our assessment of BG. We are not going to post this publicly so do not worry about being humiliated or embarrassed.
We have analyzed BG’s behavior and words for some time now and we see a developing identity. He is a person who was a low-level obscure independent Baptist preacher who certainly gets jealous and envious of others.
His Christian work seems to have been motivated by these desires as he used his own will and not Jesus’ in his ministry as well as his being critical of those more successful, popular, and less obscure counterparts.
Instead of humbling himself and correctly following Jesus, he followed his character trait and quit. That is not a sign of a good servant of God. He likes to stand in judgment of others grading their level of spirituality with a subjective ruler judging that those observed were not practicing the faith properly.
What exact standard he used is not known, but it was his own making and not God’s. Then instead of being the example, he walks away and condemns every Christin and God for failing to meet his ideals.
Now he is just a narcissist who hopes he gains the fame and popularity that escaped him when he was a Christian. he wants to leave a negative legacy behind so that people will think he was a great preacher and now a great blogger.
In reality, he remains obscure, uninfluential, and wants to be the center of attention like he has found something new and wonderful for the world, when he is just another unbeliever in a line filled with billions of unbelievers saying the exact same thing as every other unbeliever has said or is saying.
He is a sad and pathetic figure who needs to broadcast his failure to follow Christ to the end of the world and instead of being great, he makes himself a laughingstock. Someone who could not cut it.
And yes we are still sad that you walked away from your faith.
DR. [capitalizing it doesn’t make it so] David Tee
Evidently, Thiessen’s “insults” are different from those uttered by the “fine” Christians at Protestia. Thiessen also states “that does not give us permission to ignore the rules of behavior Christ laid out for us.” I fell on the floor and laughed for twenty minutes after I read this line. Go to Theissen’s TheologyArcheology: A Site for the Glory of God blog and read the plethora of posts he has written about me. You will search in vain for any evidence of Thiessen following the commands of Christ or demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22,23). This so-called man of God shows no regard for the teachings of Christ on how you should treat your enemies:
Ye [Derrick Thiessen] have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.But I say unto you [Derrick Thiessen], Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-48)
The Message translation renders Matthew 5:48 this way: Grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created identity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”
Grow up, indeed.
Thiessen continues to refuse to mention me or Ben Berwick by our names. He also refuses to properly link to the content he uses from our sites. Thiessen lies about us and routinely distorts and misuses our words, so I find it unbelievable that he can say, with a straight face that he always treats people with respect. He doesn’t, and the readers of this blog know he doesn’t. But, what do we know, right? He and God, the royal “we,” know the truth.
For the record, Theissen has written at least twelve posts about me since December 31, 2022 — one post every two days.
Bruce Gerencser, 65, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 44 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.
Evangelicals believe that the Protestant Christian Bible is their God’s inspired, inerrant, and infallible words. “Inspired” is a faith claim for which there is no evidence. Either you believe the Bible is inspired by God or you don’t. “Inerrant” and “infallible” are claims, however, that can be investigated by Christians and non-Christians alike. Is the Bible actually without error? Is the Bible really infallible (incapable of error)?
As a student at Midwestern Baptist College in Pontiac, Michigan in the 1970s, I was taught the transcription theory. Holy men of old, as they were moved by the Holy Spirit, wrote down, word for word in Hebrew, Greek, and Aramaic, the words of God. Some professors believed that the inspired writers of the Bible fell into a trance as they put pen to paper, writing down the exact words of God. Other professors and chapel speakers were uncertain as to the actual transmission process. They just knew that the end product was the very words of God.
I was also taught at Midwestern that inspiration, inerrancy, and infallibility applied to translations too. Well, actually one translation: the King James Version (either the 1611 edition or the 1769 revision). While there was some behind-the-scenes debate over whether the KJV was “inspired,” there was no debate over whether the KJV was inerrant and infallible.
Peruse the websites of churches pastored by Midwestern grads and you will typically find a sentence that says “_______ Baptist Church only uses the King James Version.” Some churches proudly advertise in their printed materials and on their signs their fealty to the KJV.
Some Midwestern pastors take a different approach. Take First Baptist Church in Milford, Ohio (pastored for many years by my best man, Bill Duttry). Their doctrinal statement states:
We believe in the authority of Scripture. We believe that the Bible is the plenarily and verbally inspired, inerrant, living Word of God. We believe that God has divinely and faithfully preserved His Word for all people today in the Hebrew Masoretic text and the Greek Textus Receptus. We use only the Authorized King James Bible for faith and practice in English.
According to this statement, what is inspired, inerrant, and infallible is the Masoretic text (Old Testament) and the Greek Textus Receptus (New Testament), not the King James Bible. Does that mean that First Baptist of Milford believes the KJV is errant and fallible? No. Note carefully the words “God has divinely and faithfully preserved his Word.” Many Evangelicals believe that God has somehow, some way, over the past 2,000 years preserved his Words in the thousands of Hebrew and Greek manuscripts and subsequent translations. Not all translations, of course, just those that were translated from certain manuscripts. Typically, such churches and pastors accept translations based on what is called the Received Text — a family of Greek manuscripts that were used to translate the King James Bible. They reject the Alexandrian (Wescott and Hort) line of manuscripts, believing translations that were translated from these manuscripts are inferior or even Satanic.
We believe in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testament as verbally inspired of God, inerrant in the original writing and of supreme and final authority in faith and life. II Timothy 3:16-17.
We accept only the King James version for public instruction in the church.
First Baptist has an article on its site written by Pastor Michael Bates titled Why Do We Use the KJV?
The English translation issue has caused no small stir among conservatives and evangelicals today. It is not our desire to be contentious about this issue, but we do desire to preach and teach with clarity.
It is our conviction that the whole translation debate hinges on three basic questions that must be answered in the following order:
1. Has God preserved His inspired Word? In fact, has He even promised to do so? If God has not promised to preserve His words—and all of them, then all discussions regarding which Hebrew & Aramaic or Greek Text is superior and which translation is best is all academic, at best.
To this question we answer in the strongest affirmative possible.
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2. If it is preserved, where is it preserved? Is it preserved in any specific Text or in all the texts or in only the so-called “oldest and best manuscripts?” One should expect to locate God’s words if they are preserved.
We believe that those texts often referred to as the Traditional Text, known more commonly as the Ben Chayyim Masoretic text of the Old Testament and the Textus Receptusof the New Testament, hold those preserved words.
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3. Do the Lord’s churches in the English-speaking world have a faithful, accurate translationof that preserved Word that they can call reliable?
The last English translation of the Hebrew and Greek texts listed above was done in the seventeenth century by the translators of what has come to be called the King James Version of the Bible (known also as the Authorized Version), first published in 1611. Most, if not all, of the modern versions have been translated out of a different Greek text in the New Testament called the Eclectic Text or the Critical Text. We reject these texts as only containing the Word of God. Furthermore, the Hebrew text underlying these modern versions is different from that used by the KJV.
Therefore, a local church must make a decision guided by the Scripture as to which translation is in fact God’s words in their language based upon its underlying text. We recognize that God did not breathe out English words, but the inspired words He did breathe out have been accurately and correctly translated into our language in the King James Version.
Once you move beyond King James-only churches, you find Evangelical congregations and pastors who believe certain English translations are faithful and reliable, not inerrant and infallible. These churches and pastors believe that it was the original manuscripts that were inspired, inerrant, and infallible. Of course, the glaring problem with this position is the fact that these manuscripts do not exist. All we have are copies of copies of copies, some of which dates centuries after their recorded events.
The New Testament that we read today in many different translations is not based on one single manuscript of the original Greek text. Why? There simply is no such thing as a complete text of the New Testament that we could date to the apostolic times, or even two or three centuries after the last of the apostles. Extant manuscripts containing the entire Christian Bible are the work of medieval monks. The modern scholarly editions of the original Greek text draw on readings from many different ancient manuscripts. As a result, the New Testament presented in any of our Bibles does not correspond to a single, authoritative ancient manuscript.
The oldest surviving examples of the New Testament come to us, instead, as fragments and scraps of papyrus excavated (mostly) in Egypt. How old are the oldest of these biblical fragments, and why does it matter whether they were written in the first or the fourth century?
At best, the extant manuscripts are errant, fallible approximations of the original manuscripts. If the manuscripts are errant and fallible, then the translations made from them are too.
Evangelicals preachers and professors who say the Bible is inerrant and infallible are either uneducated or deliberately misleading people. In my case, I was uneducated. I was thirty years old before I learned that the King James Bible was not inerrant. It would take many more years of study before I concluded that the Bible — both at the translation and manuscript level — contained errors, mistakes, and contradictions. While I still believed the Bible was the Word of God, I came to see and understand its human nature and fallibility.
Most educated Evangelical preachers know the Bible is not inerrant or infallible. Anyone who carefully studies the Bible, both in its original languages and in English — knows that there are textual problems that cannot be explained away. They also know that there are internal conflicts and contradictions that cannot be harmonized. Why, then, do Evangelical preachers not share these things with their flocks? Why do they hide the fallible human nature of the Bible?
Most Evangelical laypeople believe that the Bible they carry to church on Sundays and read during the week is without error. No one has ever told them the truth about the nature and history of the Biblical text. Evangelical preachers pride themselves on being truth-tellers. Why don’t they tell church members the truth about the Bible? One word: fear. They fear that if they did people would lose faith in God, the church, and the Bible. Imagine being called on to account for hiding the truth from their churches. People would leave, offerings would drop, and many preachers would end up looking for new employment. Not wanting turmoil and controversy, pastors, instead, try to maintain the status quo. This, of course, is getting harder to do thanks to the Internet. Evangelicals can easily find articles and books that challenge their beliefs about the Bible. Dr. Bart Ehrman’s books, in particular, have forced countless Evangelicals to rethink what they believe about the history and nature of the Bible. If you have not read any of Ehrman’s books, I encourage you to do so:
I am confident that if Evangelicals will openly and honestly read Ehrman’s books, they will be disabused of the notion that the Bible is inerrant and infallible. Of course, there will always be Evangelicals who are so closed-minded that there is no hope of reaching them. Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, is a case in point. Thiessen recently wrote a blog post titled The Bible is Inerrant and Infallible:
If one wants to question the Bible, then they are questioning its author. There is no way to separate the two. Many unbelievers will say that science has disproven the Bible many times over. That has never been done.
What the people ignore or miss when making that statement is that there is no one or no thing in history that has appointed science to be an authority over the Bible and its content. Neither God nor Jesus has made that appointment or taught anywhere that the Bible is submissive to science, or any research field.
There are no other supernatural beings that can make that appointment either. Science is subject to the Bible and not its lord. No matter what scientific method you use, especially bible criticism, historical-critical thinking, and so on, these methods do not get to the truth nor are they superior to God and his word.
God does not make mistakes, he does not lie, he does not perform magic, he does not play games, and he does not mislead. What he has written in the Bible is without error and it is accurate and true.
In the book, Dr. Lindsell mentions that some of those who hold to the errancy and fallibility of the bible will also clarify their comments by adding that the Bible is inerrant and infallible when it comes to salvation but it is not when it comes to history and science.
But those people are trying to have their cake and eat it too. of course, they will say the parts about salvation are infallible, etc., because they want to go to heaven and not end up in hell. The Bible is either infallible and inerrant in all of its content or it is not.
There is no middle ground and all Christians have to make a choice here. That argument claiming only salvation is inerrant, etc., is like saying your wife is a little bit pregnant. Either she is or she isn’t. There is no middle ground.
You either believe God or you don’t.
Thiessen is a hardcore Fundamentalist — proudly so. He is certain that his beliefs are 100 percent right. His beliefs are every bit as inspired (by the Holy Spirit), inerrant, and infallible as the Bible itself. I have been reading Thiessen’s writing for several years now. I have yet to see him admit that he was wrong; that he made a mistake. Instead, he spends his time pointing out how wrong other people are — atheists and Christians alike.
There are lots of Thiessen-like preachers in the world; men who are either uneducated or who believe that it is more important to protect sectarian dogma than it is to tell people the truth. Thiessen began his post by mentioning Harold Lindsell’s 1976 book, The Battle for the Bible. Lindsell was an Evangelical author and scholar, one of the founders of Fuller Theological Seminary. Lindsell’s seminal book played an instrumental part in the battle for the soul of the Southern Baptist Convention. I read and re-read The Battle for the Bible several times in the late 1970s and 1980s, not because I doubted the Bible, but because I wanted to know how “liberals” viewed the Bible. At the time, I believed liberals were apostates or false Christians; tools of Satan who were destroying the faith of Evangelicals. I viewed these scholars as enemies of God. What I didn’t do is read their books. I had lots of books in my library that promoted and reinforced the Evangelical view on the inspiration, inerrancy, and infallibility of the Bible. It would take decades of study — including reading the books of authors I had previously deemed false prophets — before I finally saw the light. The only way to reach Derrick Thiessen and countless other inerrantists is to get them to read books that challenge their sincerely held beliefs. I remember asking Thiessen if he had ever read any of Bart Ehrman’s books. Thiessen tried to intimate that he had “read” Ehrman, but when pressed on the issue, I found out he had read articles and blog posts about Ehrman’s books, not the actual books themselves. Thiessen is hardly alone in this matter. Evangelical preachers are notorious for their opposition to all sorts of things without ever actually doing their homework. They just regurgitate what one of their preacher friends or favorite authors have said in their books or on their blogs.
Nothing in this life is without error, and that includes the Bible. One can still believe in God and be a Christian without an inerrant Bible. Sixteen centuries of followers of Jesus didn’t have an inerrant, infallible Bible. Were they True Christians? Of course, they were. I double-dog dare you to argue that salvation requires the right beliefs about the Bible. Oh, please, make my day by claiming that someone can’t be born again unless they hold to a certain viewpoint about the Bible. 🙂
Bruce Gerencser, 65, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 44 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.
Transgender and other LGBT preferences are the result of spiritual problems. Not from God but from evil. But since most of the unbelieving world does not believe in or accept evil exists, they continue to harm people who could have been healed.
Instead, they attack God and blame him, which is wrong since it is not God who brought corruption and mental illness into this world. Point the accusatory finger in the right direction and you can see where the source lies and know how to deal with these problems.
Transgenderism, homosexuality, bisexual behavior, and other perversions are not from God nor accepted by him. The problems the LGBTQ people face are not because of the Evangelical Christian.
Instead, they have problems because the unbelievers on their side of sin are, one, stopping them from getting the right help, and two, encouraging the LGBTQ people to pursue sinful behavior.
The Evangelical Christian is trying to help them solve their problems by bringing the truth to this community and helping them find a way out. Blame evil and unbelievers, not God or Christians for the troubles the LGBTQ face.
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The church has to keep telling the truth to all who will listen. There is no one else to do this task. God will use your work if you do it right and in obedience to his commands and word.
Bruce Gerencser, 65, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 44 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.
Excerpt from the introduction of Dr. David Tee’s book, God, Korea, and Me
Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, is an Evangelical pastor who resides with his wife in the Philippines. Long-time readers of this blog know Thiessen well. His obsession with me can be seen on his blog, TheologyArcheology: A Site for the Glory of God. In 2023, Thiessen has already written two posts referencing me, adding to dozens of posts he wrote about me in 2022. Why he is so obsessed with me is unknown. All I know to do to is either ignore him (which I often do) or respond to him, answering and rebuffing his allegations, accusations, and lies.
Thiessen is also an author. He has several books for sale on Amazon, including God, Korea, and Me. The book should be titled, “Me and the Voice in My Head.” People who read Theissen’s books and blogs are perplexed by his frequent use of third-person pronouns. He never refers to himself as “I” or ‘me.” His refusal to use proper grammar often renders his writing painfully difficult to read, similar to trying to read comments and emails from people who refuse to use capitalization, punctuation, or paragraphs. Why does Thiessen write in this manner? Thanks to Troy, a long-time reader and friend, we finally know why.
In the introduction for God, Korea, and Me, Thiessen writes:
We take no credit for the work as we prayed that God would help us get it right when we put our content on those public forums and media outlets . . . Then we use the word we, ours, theirs, etc., simply because we do not like the words ‘I’, “My’, “Mine’, and other first person pronouns. Since we asked God to be with us and help us those first person pronouns are not really acceptable here or in any of our works.
Troy stated:
Sounds like he’s a bit like Gollum in the Lord of the Rings books/movies. Gollum has two distinct personalities, Dr. T does as well. He has anointed his own internal voice to be the almighty.
Yes, it does sound similar to Gollum, my favorite LOTR character. As most Evangelicals do, Thiessen thinks God, the Holy Spirit, lives inside of him, leading, guiding, and directing his life, speaking to him in his “heart” and through the pages of the inspired, inerrant, infallible Bible. Most Evangelicals know that there is a difference between them and God. They don’t confuse the created for the Creator. In Thiessen’s case, he believes he and God are one — the royal We. Knowing this explains why he writes the way he does. When Thiessen says the things he says, it is God speaking in and through him. That’s why Thiessen never admits he is wrong or never apologizes for his distortions and lies. To do so would be to admit God was wrong or a liar.
So, what are we to make of this?
The armchair psychologists among us will say that Thiessen is mentally ill. However, none of us is qualified to make such a diagnosis. We should leave that to the professionals, and I hope that Thiessen will seek out competent psychological help. What we do know is that Thiessen is a prime example of what happens when Evangelical dogma and practice permeate every aspect of a person’s life. From this perspective, I understand Theissen quite well, as I am sure many of you do too. I understand being all in, believing that my entire purpose in life was to serve God and follow the teachings of the Bible. I was in every way a True Believer® who followed the Lamb whithersoever he goeth (as the Bible says). In doing so, I lost all sense of self. My life was swallowed up by God, the church, and the ministry. Unlike Thiessen, however, I reached a place in my life where I realized I was wrong. Of course, Theissen will say, “yeah, and you became an atheist.” Sure, and maybe that’s what scares him. Thiessen wants or desperately “needs” God. He fears that a life without God isn’t worth living. Many Christians do. Much like drug addicts who need a “fix,” many Christians need a Jesus fix to keep going. Told their lives are hopeless, purposeless, and meaningless without Jesus, Evangelicals seek out hope, purpose, and meaning through their experiential relationship with a voice in their heads.
In Thiessen’s case, the voice in his head has overtaken his life to the degree that he thinks the voice and he are one and the same. To some degree, he lives in an alternate reality. How else do we explain his lies about his past, his fake names, and his hiding out in a foreign country? Thiessen moved to South Korea and later the Philippines so he could start over. Safe from his past, Theissen has reinvented himself. He could have gotten by with this had he not decided to write books and blog posts; had he not decided to publicly accuse and disparage atheists and Christians with whom he disagrees. Such behavior brings scrutiny, and that’s why we are where we are today.
I don’t have any ill-will toward Thiessen. His frequent lies about me and attacks on my character annoy me, but more often than not, I feel sorry for the man. He is not hurting me. People see his writing for what it is. But, I do genuinely worry that the path he is on will have a bad outcome. Again, I understand, as I once was on a similar path. The difference between us is, of course, that I realized the error of my way. This doesn’t mean I am special — I was lucky. Thiessen has much to overcome before he ever regains a sense of self. If or when that day comes, he will once again be an “I” and a “me.” This doesn’t mean he will be an unbeliever. It is possible to maintain some sort of faith in Christ and still have a healthy sense of self. As I have learned, the path to “I” is long, arduous, and painful. The onion of my life had to be peeled back one layer at a time. I hope Thiessen will seek out a secular counselor who can help him peel back the onion of his life so he can find the Derrick that was swallowed up by God, the church, and the Bible decades ago.
Bruce Gerencser, 65, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 44 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.
What follows are Thiessen’s unedited comments about the content of the aforementioned posts. Enjoy. 🙂
Start of Thiessen’s words
We do not condemn the owner of the BG website as we know he was tricked and deceived into giving up his faith and salvation. But he continues to put mis-information about life, God and the Christian life & faith.
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Their ‘worldview’ may be stripped of heaven and salvation but it is not based in reality. So far, the only thing the atheist can provide to support their statements and claims is mere denial. That is all they have, as they have no evidence to prove their claims true.
We have been waiting for years for them to pony up but the can’t. They can appeal to science but so far what science has only accomplished is to prove the scriptures correct.Any alternative claim science makes is unverifiable.
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We will use the term ‘normal’ in a broader sense. Most people who do abnormal things, believe abnormal things and try to live alternative lifestyles want to feel accepted. They also feel that they are normal.
However, they are not as God has set the standard for normal and it is up to people to make sure they know what that is and ask God to help them get there. LGBTQ preferences are NOT normal. Being any type of fanatic is not normal thinking.
Normal is not just a setting on a washing machine. It is a standard that helps everyone see who needs help and who does not.
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This is the problem with many unbelievers. They want to see everything black and white so they do not have to do any work to understand what God is saying to them. One way to determine when a child can have sex is if they are old enough to marry.
No one can have sex outside of marriage. But since God gave us intelligence and let us explore his creation, we can turn to science who tells us that the child’s body is not ready for sex until puberty has passed.
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Sex with children is wrong and sex outside of marriage is wrong. All the passages of the Bible that speak on these issues will let a person know that Pedophilia is wrong.
God will say what people want to hear, they just have to be ready to understand what God is saying when he does not use the words people expect or want to see. It is sin that drives men and women to have sex with children and outside of marriage.is wrong.
One needs to check their lusts and have Jesus cleanse them from that sin for them to see clearly what the Bible says about sexual relationships.
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To answer the question in that article’s title- NO, it is never okay to lie. Jesus never lied and we, according to Paul, need to be like Jesus. The Bible also tells us that ‘we are not to lie one to another’ & ‘not to bear false witness’.
If you look at those verses and in their context, you will not find any escape routes that allow lying. Sorry women, if you are going to add hidden meanings to your questions, then we have no sympathy if your feelings are hurt.
Men and women are not to lead their husbands or wives, or children, to sin against God. it is wrong to ask those loaded questions as it leads to having people sin. We would rather have your feelings hurt than disobey God.
When women ask if a hat looks good or not, or if their jeans make them look fat, men are responding to the topic in the question. They are NOT making remarks about the women in those hats, jeans, and other clothing. They are answering the question you posed.
Men will still accept you as you are, but they also want you to know how you look in those clothing items. It is not a rejection of you but letting you know how you look and it may or may not be appealing.
We have seen a lot of women out in public, who have not asked our opinion about their hairstyle, lip color, clothing, fashion look etc., who make us wonder how they could consider themselves pretty with what they have on.
To let someone go out like that in public is worse than hurting their feelings as more people will be laughing behind their backs at them because they were not stopped. When answering these types of questions, make sure to tell the truth with love and not brutal honesty. Use a little tact as long as it is honest and not disobeying God.
The Nazi Germany and hiding the Jews is a difficult question but if we remain true to God’s word, then we would not be able to lie even if it meant people losing their lives if we told the truth.
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We are to obey God and lying is not obeying God, and this includes those little white lies people tell.
End of Thiessen’s words
I want to comment on one thing Thiessen said:
It is never okay to lie. Jesus never lied and we, according to Paul, need to be like Jesus. The Bible also tells us that ‘we are not to lie one to another’ & ‘not to bear false witness’.
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We are to obey God and lying is not obeying God, and this includes those little white lies people tell.
Lacking any sense of self-awareness, Thiessen doesn’t see the fingers pointing at him as he condemns ALL lying. Here’s a guy who has routinely borne false witness about me and Ben Berwick, and continues to lie about his name and his past — a past that includes abandoning his family. What I “see” is a hypocrite.
Happy New Year, David. May the Force Be With You. All praise to Loki in 2023.
Bruce Gerencser, 65, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 44 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.
Is sending minors sexually suggestive texts a crime?
Is using your position of power and authority to take sexual advantage of a person a crime?
Is sexually molesting children and teenagers a crime?
Is domestic violence a crime?
Is sex trafficking a crime?
Is transporting minors across a state line for the purpose of having sex with them a crime?
Is furnishing children with illicit drugs, alcohol, or pornography a crime?
Is stealing from your employer a crime?
Is using your employer’s money for personal use a crime?
Is filing fraudulent tax returns a crime?
If selling fake securities or bonds a crime?
Is stealing money from elderly people a crime?
Is murdering your spouse or your spouse’s lover a crime?
I suspect readers will say YES to every one of these questions. These are the stories that I cover in the Black Collar Crime Series — crimes by clerics, primarily Evangelicals. So far, I have published over 1,000 stories, with another thousand reported crimes sitting in a draft folder awaiting investigation. I have repeatedly explained WHY I write the Black Collar Crime Series, yet some Evangelicals refuse to see what is right in front of their faces: Evangelicalism has a sexual abuse problem that rivals that of the Roman Catholic Church.
The owner of the BG website has had a series on Pastors and other church leaders committing crimes, making mistakes, and calling it Black Collar Crime. We have called that website out on this problem but that website won’t stop.
In fact, it is said that that website has about 1000+ more stories to post on preachers who either made a mistake, gave in to temptation, or purposefully committed some offense worthy of being arrested.
It is obvious that we do not like that list because it is redundant and really not that website’s business. We would like to know who appointed that owner to be the judge, jury, and executioner of those Christians who fail in their Christian lives.
Thiessen refuses to mention me by name or link to this site. His lack of ethics in this regard speaks volumes about the man.
Note how Thiessen describes the type of posts that are in the Black Collar Crime Series:
Preachers who make “mistakes”
Preachers who give into “temptation”
Preachers who commit some “offense” worthy of arrest
Note that Thiessen refuses to use the word “crime” or “sin.” Thiessen thinks the crimes mentioned above are “mistakes” or “failures”; that I am kicking these fine men of God while they are down. How dare I catalog and publicize their stories. What Thiessen never mentions is the victims. His only concern is the poor, “fallen” preachers. This is why Thiessen has repeatedly defended men such as Bill Gothard, Ravi Zacharias, and Bill Cosby. Worse, he even goes after the victims of these men’s crimes for not playing by his rules and adhering to his perverted form of “justice.
BG makes many mistakes here. First off, if it is in the Bible, it is not a corrupt biblical message. The corruptness comes in when people try to use their own interpretation to understand what God is saying.
If God said he will forgive and forget, then there is no one on this earth who can say otherwise. But remember, God does not just forgive, he punishes the wrongdoer as well. A fact that BG has forgotten. David & Bathsheba lost their first child because of their sins.
No, we do not defend any corrupt sin. Our article yesterday was merely saying that the Church is already aware of what is going on and we do not need unbelievers broadcasting the news to the 4 corners of the world.
Their action distorts justice, not aid it. While many people in the church do cover up sins by their fellow members, we never said that was the correct response to take.
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Another distortion of what we do. First off, Ravi Zacharias is innocent. We and his son have proven that quite well. Secondly, Bill Cosby was railroaded and not given justice. All the allegations against him carried no physical evidence to support the false accusations.
We will speak up against injustice and not blindly accept hearsay evidence made by certain women and their supporters. To do so would be to pervert justice and violate the rules of law, evidence, and legal proceedings.
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That is the name of the series we were alluding to. However, what good will it do to publish them on the internet? If he has these stories and he has the evidence, why doesn’t he report them to the police himself?
No one is stopping him from doing that but knowing his cowardly nature, BG just hides behind a keyboard thinking he is doing something good. The only thing we ask when he reports these crimes is that he has verifiable evidence, and the people get true justice.
If there is real evidence, not the made-up kind against Mr. Zacharias or Mr. Cosby, then we would support the criminal investigation. We would use the information to warn other pastors, etc., to get their sexual desires under control–we have done that on this website in years past.
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We do not sweep anything under the rug but we are not rats either. We write what God wants us to write and then let him do the convicting. Any guilty pastor, etc., should be going to the police and confessing if they are guilty of such crimes.
We are not going to point fingers at anyone nor will we pile on someone who is down. These pastors, etc., are adults and they know God’s word so we know that they know what they should be doing. They do not need us humiliating them to get them to act. We are not their judge or executioner.
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Victims need to follow the rules. Their word is not good enough. Too many innocent people have been convicted of crimes they did not commit and convicted on someone’s word alone.
The justice system is not perfect either and it makes a lot of mistakes but there are rules to follow and victims need to learn those rules if they want justice.
We do not change the rules because some victim feels dismissed or marginalized. Why have rules if they are not going to be followed? God has rules for justice that everyone, including many Christians, ignores, yet, God does not change his rules.
They are to be obeyed or people suffer, especially the innocent or the victim.
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We support true justice and we support the rules. if people making the accusations are not following the rules, then they are just as guilty as the person or persons they accuse.
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Probably not [supporting victims] as we often talk about sin in general. But we won’t support anyone who violates the rules of God and the justice system. Just because you are a victim does not mean you are telling the truth.
But then there is a myriad of people supporting those victims. We are supporting God’s way, trying to get justice done which means getting to the truth. Sometimes the truth is the victim is wrong, lying, or part of a conspiracy.
We have to get through the crap to make sure the right justice is done to the right person.
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We are to defend the innocent but the innocent is not just on the victim’s side of the issue. BG fails to see this fact and it distorts his reaction to such crimes. We do not defend the dregs of Christian society, we are trying to make sure that Christians and others do not sin in their haste to blame, convict and punish anyone they can get their hands on.
We said that in our many posts concerning Mr. Zacharias. Sin in the pursuit of justice does not beget justice. It begets more crimes and more sin and that is wrong.
Thiessen’s thinking is not a deviation within Evangelicalism. Crimes by clergymen are routinely covered up and swept under the rug. Victims are routinely discredited, marginalized, and shamed. Even when preachers are arrested, convicted, and sentenced to prison, they often find forgiveness and restoration after release. Throw in the sheer number of preachers who sexually take advantage of adult church members, and when found out say “I’m sorry” so three, six, or twelve months later they can be “restored,” and it is evident that Evangelicalism is a scandal-ridden enterprise. This should disgust Christians, but sadly way too many of them are like David Thiessen: quick to overlook, forgive, and move on. Left in the wake are countless victims harmed by so-called men of God they trusted and respected.
Bruce Gerencser, 65, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 44 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.
Dr. David Tee is the tall white man in the back row
Another day, more drama emanating from a dark, musty basement somewhere in the Philippines. Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, is upset that yours truly and Ben Berwick called him out on his unethical behavior. It is troubling that Thiessen refuses to use our legal names when writing about us. There’s no reason for him not to do so.
But one thing that has bothered us is that both MM and BG make everything we write personal to them. They continue to use our wrong name as if to get a rise out of us. But their disrespect undermines their points of view.
If they had stopped to think about it, our use of initials was not personal. MM stands for Meerkat Musings which indicates that we are not addressing the person writing the content. Instead, we are addressing the content only and have left all personal aspects out of our own content.
The same for BG. His website is titled ‘The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser’ So our use of initials again only refer to the website content, not the man behind it. But they do not think about these details in their haste to try and do everything they accuse us of doing to them.
But expecting rational and polite behavior from unbelievers is an unrealistic hope. As we read their content and responses, they are the ones making it personal, not us. But we will try to ignore their badly written responses and focus on the content we can use here.
Unbelievers have nothing to offer the believer except destruction. The believer needs to be warned about them and their views.
Does any of that ring true to you? Of course not. Instead of admitting his childish behavior and amending his ways, Thiessen concocts a ludicrous justification for his refusal to use proper form by typing out our names.
Of greater concern is Thiessen’s refusal to link to our articles when he mentions them, even when he is excerpting large amounts of text. Thiessen’s behavior not only goes against proper blogging conventions, but it is also unethical. Both Ben and I have called him out on his unethical behavior.
Leave it to the unbelievers to make false accusations and ignore the reality of what took place. We are not techno experts and sometimes when we use technology, things mess up. But leave it to MM to make false accusations because he can:
“has written a couple of posts that relate to my material, but has decided against providing direct links, and even giving credit where it’s due. So, he’s gone from not even being capable of using my name, to not even linking to my site when he quotes me, to not even acknowledging that he’s quoting me!”
It turns out after checking, that we can’t link to his website using the technological aid we have been using. It is a simple mistake but leave it to MM to make a mountain out of a molehill.
Instead of telling us, there was a problem with the links, he leaps to a faulty conclusion and points a finger where a finger should not be pointed. We read his post and we checked so that is how we found out. Having people make such false accusations makes us go slowly to repair the links.
Maybe MM should learn how to give the benefit of the doubt until he hears the truth.
According to Thiessen, Ben and I are acting uncharitably towards him; that the missing links are just a technological snafu. Why, then, if that is the case, has Thiessen not fixed the posts that are missing attribution? How hard can it be, right? Thiessen uses the WordPress platform. He has been blogging since 2012. Does anyone believe that he suddenly doesn’t know how to make an HTML link or that there is some sort of bug in WordPress keeping him from hyperlinking? Not a chance. Thiessen has a minimalist blog and uses the latest WordPress install. I use WordPress, as does Ben. We have been using the software for years. I started using WordPress back in the wild, wild blogging days of 2007. I have never had a problem making a hyperlink, and I doubt Ben has either.
Two years ago, I called out Thiessen on his refusal to give proper attribution and provide proper HTML links. For a time, he was trying to obscure the links by making them the same color as the body text. Cute, right? On both occasions, he said problems with WordPress were to blame. I didn’t believe him then, and I don’t believe him now.
MM replied to our comment above and like a true unbeliever, he condemns without knowing any or all of the facts. The owner of MM should know better than to do that as he demands that Christians do better when he makes mistakes.
At best both MM and BG website owners are hypcorites [sic].
Sorry, Derrick, all the “facts” are in. You are behaving unethically. We can’t — well, we could file takedown requests if we had the time — stop you from continuing to do what you do. All we can do is continue to point out your unethical behavior. Thoughtful readers will see your behavior for what it is.
Recently, Derrick Thiessen (aka David Thiessen, aka David Tee) has written a couple of posts that relate to my material, but has decided against providing direct links, and even giving credit where it’s due. So, he’s gone from not even being capable of using my name, to not even linking to my site when he quotes me, to not even acknowledging that he’s quoting me! Derrick, that’s pretty poor form.
Can I be bothered with his lengthy diatribe? No. Suffice to say, he is misconstruing Biblical references and occasional references from external sources, with the idea that the Bible is to be taken 100% literally, which isn’t logical and isn’t an observation-based form of reasoning. I will however reference one particular line from his latest post, which is hilarious!
[Thiessen wrote] The words in the title are found on a website we have visited from time to time.
From time to time? Derrick has routinely tracked my site, posted comments (often unpleasant and unreasonable ones), and made numerous posts out of what I’ve had to say, even when I haven’t referenced him in any way. I have no doubt he will spin something out of this too, and I have no doubt he will continue to make posts about me, and Bruce too, as he won’t be able to help himself.
All quotations were properly linked. See, Derrick? You can do it (think the movie The Waterboy)! If you truly need help figuring your “technical” problems out, please email me and I will be glad to help you “fix” your WordPress software. I’ve been building my own sites for years. Using the scientific method, I am sure I can help you figure out why you can’t properly hyperlink. Maybe I can even show you that evolution is true. Or, you can admit your “malfunctioning” software excuse is Grade-A bovine excrement. May the Holy Spirit lead you to do what is right.
Update
Thiessen used more content from this site today without attribution.
1. BG’s website- we are not linking to the BG or MM websites anymore. We will just acknowledge their words as they have shown they can do nothing but insult., attack, and cause harm to those they disagree with.
We have nothing more to say to them but we will keep looking at their websites to find material we can use here
Bruce Gerencser, 65, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 44 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.
