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Tag: Dr David Tee

According to Dr. David Tee, Sexually Abusing Children is a “Mistake,” Not a Crime

Bruce Gerencser 10 Comments
david thiessen
Derrick Thiessen is the tall man in the back row

Is sexually abusing children a crime?

Is raping children a crime?

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.

One such Evangelical is Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen. Here’s what Thiessen had to say about the Black Collar Crime Series:

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.

In October 2021, I wrote a post titled David Tee Defends Christian Rapists and Sexual Predators, calling out Thiessen for his defense of criminal preachers. Thiessen responded:

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.

….

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.

….

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.

….

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.

….

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.

….

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.

….

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.

….

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, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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.

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Dr. David Tee Refuses to Own His Unethical (Sinful) Behavior

Bruce Gerencser 4 Comments
david thiessen
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.

Thiessen explained his boorish behavior this way:

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.

Thiessen, of course, responded:

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.

Thiessen later added an addendum to his post:

This just in

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.

Ben had this to say:

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.

Here is his justification for doing so:

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, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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.

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You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Christians Say the Darnedest Things: The Miracles Performed by Jesus are Still Happening Today

Bruce Gerencser 47 Comments
dr david tee

The Biblical miracles that Jesus and his disciples did in the first century are repeated by true believers throughout history. Every century has had observable evidence proving the Bible true. The evolutionary experiments do not have that track record.

They are lucky to have 150+ years of experiments and they still have people who disagree with how the mechanisms of evolution operate. There is no such division with the observable evidence that has taken place in support of the Bible.

Every true Christian knows exactly how those miracles were done and they were witnessed by both unbelievers and believers. We are not talking about the fake faith healers. We are talking about the true miracle workers who do not make a show of it or use it to get rich.

They do it all the time and it is witnessed by whoever wants to see it. The Christian has observable evidence for the existence of God, Jesus, and creation. The question is will they believe it or not?

You see, it is not really about observable evidence but about the unbeliever hiding from the truth. There is more than enough observable evidence to show the Bible is true. It boils down to the fact that unbelievers do not want to humble themselves and be servants of God.

They like their lives as they are and do not want to change. That is the power of deception in their lives. Ex-Christians can whine and moan all they want about Christ not being real but they are just trying to convince themselves that they did not throw their lives away for nothing.

The Bible should be enough evidence for everyone as it fits the dictionary definition of the term ‘evidence’ it furnishes proof of creation, why we are here, and more. Then the true followers of Jesus furnish even more proof through their changed lives, their healing of others, and more.

— Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, TheologyArcheology, Observable Evidence, November 7, 2022

My Response to Dr. David Tee’s Latest Tantrum

Bruce Gerencser 5 Comments
dr david tee

Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, continues to rage blog against me and my British friend, Ben Berwick. What follows is my response to several things Thiessen has written over the past couple of days. These excerpts are from the posts Empirical Evidence-2 and Church Survival. Give them a read if you dare, but you won’t be able to comment on Thiessen’s blog. He has eliminated commenting on his site. He has also taken down his contact page, thus further walling himself off from any accountability for his words.

Most of our material has nothing to do with MM, BG, and other unbelievers yet they feel free to do unprovoked attacks on us. We only use material God leads us to and wants us to write about, whether it includes us or not. When it is in the public square, people have the right to respond to the information or talk about its erroneous points.

Once again, Thiessen refuses to call us by our names. He recently decided to also stop linking back to our sites when he quotes us. He is, in effect, stealing our content, not giving proper attribution. (Please contact me Derrick if you would like me to teach you the proper use of names and source attribution in your writing.)

If you peruse Thiessen’s blog you will find that MOST of his content references BG or MM. Thiessen rarely writes original content. He writes that which could charitably be called response posts. If you look at my posts over the past year that mention Thiessen, you will see that almost all of them are responses to something he has written about me. If Thiessen wants me to stop responding to him then all he needs to do is stop mentioning me on his blog. He won’t do this, of course. Without me and Ben, Thiessen would have nothing to write about.

Thiessen is certainly free to respond to my writing in any way he chooses. I have resigned myself to the fact that Thiessen will do what he does, even if the voice in his head tells him to stop. For some unknown reason, he is obsessed with me, much like a stalker or a scorned lover. I offered to send Thiessen a picture of me nude. He refused, of course, to provide me with his mail address so I could do so. I thought that maybe seeing me naked would calm his passions a bit. 🙂

Oh, and we are not linking to his response as he will just trash this answer and its content. All quotes came from MM’s website and were not edited by us. We just quoted them in pieces to facilitate a response to each point.

MM could not wait to pen his reply last night to part two of our Empirical Evidence post. As usual, it was filled with denial and the usual making science the authority over od [sic], etc. it was a waste of time to read so we did not read it nor are we answering it directly.

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.

I will leave it to Ben to defend himself, if he chooses to do so.

Yes, Derrick, when you mention us by name; when you attack our character; when you lie about us; when you distort our beliefs, we are going to take it personally.

I use Thiessen’s legal name because, well, that’s his real name. David Thiessen, John Ford, David Tee are all fake names used by Thiessen to escape accountability to family and law enforcement. That’s why he lives in the Philippines, safe from U.S. legal service. Using his legal name makes it easier for people, including a child he abandoned, to find him.

As far as Dr. David Tee is concerned, Dr. Tee is a nickname given to Thiessen when he was in Bible college. Thiessen has provided no evidence for his claim that he has an earned doctorate. He could easily settle this issue by providing the name of the school where he EARNED his degree. As it now stands now, only God has seen Thiessen’s degree, and he ain’t talking.

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.

Bullshit. One hundred percent grade-A bovine shit. This blog is all about me. It is a first-person account of my journey from Evangelical to atheism. Thiessen knows this, and readers will quickly see through his justifications and nonsense.

Unbelievers have nothing to offer the believer except destruction. The believer needs to be warned about them and their views.

Thiessen is free to warn unbelievers about Ben Berwick and Bruce Gerencser and their “evil” views. Please note that Thiessen previously said his writing wasn’t “personal,” yet he says he is obligated to warn the believing world about us. That seems pretty personal to me.

Only a handful of Christians read Thiessen’s blog. Most of his site’s traffic is from this blog and Meerkat Musing. So to Derrick’s fans (Victor Justice and Revival Fires, to name two) I say: consider yourself warned. Bruce Gerencser and Ben Berwick are the False Prophet and the Beast:

And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. (Revelation 19:20)

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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.

Connect with me on social media:

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.

Dr. David Tee Says Atheists Can NEVER Be Reasoned With!

Bruce Gerencser 20 Comments
david thiessen
Derrick Thiessen is the tall man in the green shirt

Recently, Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, decided to take yet another swipe at me and Ben Berwick. Here’s what Thiessen had to say about me and my family and my response. All spelling and grammar are in the original.

#2. Atheists can never be reasoned with

While atheists claim to be the champions of reason, rational thought, and logical thinking. However, when you go to their websites you will find them to be the exact opposite especially when Christianity or people they do not like are discussed.

There is no point in trying to reason with atheists as they will ‘interpret’ everything you say and twist it to fit the way they want the content to sound. We get a lot of this at BG’s website as he ‘responds’ to our articles here with a lot of false accusations and comments designed to make him feel like a victim.

Once again, Thiessen lazily refuses to call me by my name. This is his way of showing disrespect. I have come to expect this from him, as has Ben.

Several years ago, I mentioned Thiessen two or three times for my Christians Say the Darnedest Things series. Since then, my posts about him have ALWAYS been responses to articles he has written about me. Thiessen writes very little original content. Instead, he takes the content of others — especially Ben and me — and “responds” to what they wrote. I say “respond,” but what he really does is call names and attack their character. I have no problem with anyone responding to my writing. I am not above critique or criticism. This is not, however, what Thiessen does.

He is not a victim of anything. He just wants the attention. He is unreasonable as he chastises us for making a spelling error and then draws a conclusion that we know nothing about Gandhi. He is wrong of course, but he doesn’t care. As long as he unreasonably puts us or our website in a bad light, he is happy.

Thiessen, of course, like many Fundamentalists, has no sense of snark or humor. That was the point of my mention of his misspelling of Gandhi. I still don’t think he knows much about the man. He wasn’t, after all, an Evangelical missionary.

According to Thiessen, I am not a victim; I want attention; I am unreasonable. Again, he attacks my character, instead of actually writing about my writing. Thiessen wrongly thinks that my goal is to put him and his website in a bad light. His blog is read by ten or so people a day. Why would I bother with a boutique blog like his? As far as putting Thiessen himself in a bad light, he does that all by himself. All one has to do is read his words to see the measure of the man. And once I publish my post “Who is Dr. David Tee?” then everyone will know who Derrick Thiessen really is.

Long before Thiessen started attacking me, he frequented other atheist and Evangelical blogs. In every instance, he wore out his welcome and was banned. When this happens over and over and over again, dude, YOU are the problem.

His treatment of Christian content is very unreasonable:

If Jesus is calling, his flip phone must not be working. I have not received one call from the Big Kahuna. Thiessen says he is a Christian. Fine. What in his behavior commends Jesus to unbelievers? I see nothing in the life of Thiessen that is remotely attractive. He is a hateful man, a liar. He repeatedly attacks people he disagrees with. If he is a Christian, why would I want to be one?

He draws this unreasonable conclusion based on what we have written. We have not lied, or been hateful but because his mind is so twisted with sin and deception, he only sees what he wants to see. That is not being honest or reasonable.

I will leave it to others to determine whether I am being honest and reasonable. I am confident that I have accurately represented Thiessen in my writing.

His conclusions come from the fact that we do not agree with him or his acceptance of sinners and sinful behavior. Our articles have constantly pointed out that paradise would not be paradise if unrepentant sinners were allowed in.

Yet he ignores that fact and calls us hateful because we won’t contaminant paradise. The last line is unreasonable as well as dishonest as we have explained time and again, we analyze content and do not attack anyone.

I call Thiessen hateful because, well, he IS hateful. He will reveal this predilection of his again in a minute. If Thiessen doesn’t like being called “hateful,” then I suggest he change his behavior. Unfortunately, Thiessen’s religion taught him that hate is a virtue. That’s what Fundamentalists do.

But the atheist always twists everything into an attack and cannot discuss anything rationally nor will they accept any viewpoint other than their own. As one of the people on his website commented, BG has no story to tell anyone.

Yet he has to say it in every article he writes. Why do we bring this up, because he won’t listen to reason.

I will ALWAYS listen to sound reason. I will not listen, however, to Fundamentalist blowhards like Thiessen who cannot and will not see any other view but their own. Thiessen is certain he is right and everyone else is wrong — especially atheists and other unbelievers.

He keeps repeating it to reinforce in his mind that everyone else is wrong and did him wrong. Yet, he takes no responsibility for ruining his wife’s faith.

No wonder her relatives did not like him. He ruined their daughter, granddaughter, cousin, niece and on it goes. But he won’t accept the truth and apologize to them. He just writes more negative stories about them without giving them a chance to say their side of the story. He is not the only atheist who does this.

All I know to do is tell my story. I try to be open and honest. My family can either accept, reject, or ignore what I write. Outside of Polly, I rarely mention family members by name. They are not public figures, so I protect their privacy. They are, however, part of my story. Just tonight I tried to explain this to an extended family member who belongs to an Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) church. This person dumped twenty years of stored-up hostility and anger on my head. Boy, was it ugly. Of course, this person freely chooses to read my blog. Don’t like what I write? Don’t read it. It is unfair to expect me to not tell my story. I am a writer. I have a story to tell. I get it, Polly’s IFB family doesn’t like the fact that I write about the IFB church movement and the harm it has caused over the years not only to me personally, but to Polly and our family. They could respond to me. Start a blog called “The TRUTH About Atheist Bruce Gerencser.” Call me to account. Or, better yet, talk to me directly. I will gladly explain anything I have written on this site. Yet, here Polly and I are, fifteen years removed from Christianity, and not one Christian family member has had a meaningful discussion with us about why we deconverted. I repeat, not one.

Polly and our children and our grandchildren are free to make their own choices in life. I don’t control their lives. Thiessen demeans Polly (and our children) by suggesting that I had some sort of power or control over them. This is his patriarchal Fundamentalism talking. Polly is free to be whatever she wants to be, as are our children. Regardless, I am going to love them as they are. I do the same for our extended IFB family, but as was made clear to me tonight, love is not a two-way street. Our atheism, for them, is a bridge too far.

We feel sorry for BG as he threw everything away and then blames everyone else for his decision.

Do you know what pisses Thiessen off? I don’t need his God; his Jesus; his Bible; or his religion. He cannot wrap his mind around someone not being like him.

Doesn’t bother us in the least except to bring up feelings of sadness that BG had it all and then left it all for nothing. The above quote is obviously a lie as we have never said that and it is something that BG has made up on his own. Even after telling him the opposite.

We have accepted his claim that he was a true Christian and then walked away but that doesn’t help us feel any better. Atheists are unreasonable as they cannot be honest about what Christians say and feel. Or even what they believe.

I didn’t throw anything away except pain and harm. My life post-Jesus is better in every respect, and I suspect Polly would say the same. Thiessen, of course, cannot wrap his mind around how this is possible. This is a problem most Evangelicals have with my story. Will Robinson. This Does Not Compute!

Saved by Reason,

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Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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.

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My Answers to Dr. David Tee’s “Questions”

Bruce Gerencser 30 Comments
dr david tee

In January 2021, my friend Ben Berwick wrote:

Returning for a moment to something put forward on Blogging Theology, we have this sweeping notion that atheists believe murder can be ok, due to subjective morality. I’m not aware of anyone who has suggested murder is ok, but I am aware of several Biblical passages where victimless crimes are punished by death. There are quotes in both the Bible and Quran that speak of the destruction of entire civilisations for not believing in God. We are led to believe such wholesale slaughter is justified and morally right, yet when asked if they would carry out such acts if commanded to, the devout often refuse to answer. I wonder if any of my usual sparring partners will explain how the numerous violent acts of God in holy texts can be considered beyond redoubt, but not believing in God can automatically qualify someone has a supporter of murder?

Twenty-two months later, Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, responded to Ben’s post in an article titled If God Asked You to Kill Me:

Would you do it? That is the question MM asked us some time back. He was not thrilled with our answer as he was looking for a strict yes or no response. Our answer was that God would not ask us to kill him.

The reasoning is simple, God is not in the murder business. Anyone in the NT era who says they were told by God to kill someone, was not hearing the voice of God. In the OT when he told the Israelites to kill certain people groups, it was not a request but a command.

God has his perfect reasons for issuing those commands. One of them was that the people were so far gone that they probably could not be redeemed. We see that situation in the pre-flood world as all they thought of was evil.

We are getting to that attitude in today’s world. Many people only think of doing evil and they are not in a position where they will be open to redemption. But even in this new situation, God will not ask his followers to kill unrepentant sinners.

He still wants all men to be saved and he will exhaust all avenues to achieve that goal. When they are exhausted, he will not ask his followers to kill anyone. he will end this world as we know it and bring the final judgment upon everyone.

God does not need us to kill anyone. The time when unrepentant sinners are sent to hell is coming close. also, God is not going to tell his followers to do any sin. He will not ask or command anyone to murder someone else.

….

When the question was posed to us by MM, it was merely an attempt to create a strawman argument against God and sinners and to provide him with justification for his refusal to accept Christ as his Savior.

There was no legitimate reason to ask that question since it is the Muslim who claims their god commands or asks them to kill those non-Muslims he does not like. Christians are not commanded to kill and the Crusades were not of God but of man’s desires fueled by evil influences.

Note that Thiessen didn’t answer Ben’s question: if God told you to kill me (as God commanded Abraham to kill Isaac) would you do it? Having read Thiessen’s writing for years, I can tell you that if he believed God was telling him to do something, he would do it. I have no reason to believe he wouldn’t murder Ben — as God’s hand of judgment — if he were certain his peculiar God was telling him to do it. This is a man, after all, who testified under oath that he hears voices.

Ben has written several posts on his interaction with Thiessen and another apologist: Disturbing Silence and If God Asked . . . . Thiessen quickly responded with a post titled Here is the Question, revealing he does not pray or contemplate before responding to his critics. In his rambling, at times, incoherent, post, Thiessen asks two questions. While he primarily directed these questions to Ben, he also directed them to me (unbelievers). What follows are my responses to his questions.

#1. Is MM so bad that God needs to send someone to kill him?

As far as we can tell, MM has not gone over the edge or past the point of no return so why would he be concerned that God would send someone to kill him? This fascination with the topic has us wondering what MM is doing in his private life.

I have no doubt that if I suddenly died, Thiessen would claim that my death was his peculiar God’s judgment on my life. I am certain he would think the same if Ben suddenly died.

Thiessen subtly wonders out loud if Ben is doing something in secret that would warrant God sending someone to kill him. Thus, he believes that there may be times when God will send someone to kill unbelievers; and if he is honest, he will admit that if he is the one chosen by God to do the killing, he will gladly do so.

But in the NT age who would be bad enough for God to send someone to kill him? After all, God has let Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, and other evil people live long enough to do their dirty deeds,

We do not think that MM is a serial killer on the level of the Green River Killer, Jeffrey Dahmer, and or John Wayne Gacy nor is he a criminal like Whitey Bulger or members of the Mob in any era, so why is he so worried about God sending someone to kill him?

God is very patient and wants MM to be saved just like he wants everyone else to be saved. 

Ben, of course, is not worried about God sending someone to kill him. He may, however, be worried that someone thinking God is whispering in his ear might cause him harm. I too have similar concerns. Religious fanaticism — and make no mistake about it, Thiessen is a fanatic — can and does lead people to do all sorts of bad things.

This leads us to God’s next question: #2. Since MM thinks he is so bad and he knows the gospel message, why hasn’t he done something about his sinful spiritual condition?

I don’t think Ben has ever said he is “bad.” The best I can tell, Ben is a decent bloke. I wished he lived closer. I’m sure we would hit it off and down a few beers on Fridays at the local pub.

Yes, Ben knows the “gospel.” So what? Ben has read and understands the gospel, but he rejects its claims, as do I. Ben hasn’t done anything about his “sinful spiritual condition” because he isn’t a sinner in the Evangelical sense of the word. Thiessen wrongly thinks that if he believes something to be true, everyone should believe the same thing. As a Fundamentalist, he has a narrow worldview; one that has no place for any other viewpoint but his own.

We know he and others have heard the gospel so he knows there is a way out of his sinful situation why has he not acted on it properly and asked Jesus to redeem him? One reason he hasn’t is that he is too focused on us and other believers and will use us and other believers as his excuse for not accepting Christ.

Both Ben and I are unbelievers (agnostic and atheist, respectfully). We don’t believe because we have found the central claims of Christianity to be false, or lacking evidence for their justification. Personally, I reject the notion of “sin,” thus there is no “sinful situation” for me to get out of. I haven’t asked Jesus to forgive me because I reject the Christian concepts of redemption and forgiveness. When I cause harm to someone, I ask for their forgiveness. God doesn’t exist, so I have no need of his “forgiveness.” Again, Thiessen wants to force everyone to conform to his peculiar theology, and when they don’t conform, he attacks them personally, impugning their character.

Is he trying to be like Ghandi refusing salvation because the Christians he sees do not act the way he wants them to? But he should realize that Jesus is not calling him or any other unbeliever to follow other Christians.

Ignore anyone who can’t spell Gandhi’s name correctly. It is evident that Thiessen knows very little about Gandhi’s life; his religious, political, and social beliefs and motivations.

Jesus is calling MM and other unbelievers to FOLLOW HIM. Then if MM is so upset at other believers, why does he not protect himself, change his eternal destination, accept Christ as his personal savior then follow Jesus correctly showing every other believer how it is done?

If Jesus is calling, his flip phone must not be working. I have not received one call from the Big Kahuna. Thiessen says he is a Christian. Fine. What in his behavior commends Jesus to unbelievers? I see nothing in the life of Derrick Thiessen that is remotely attractive. He is a hateful man, a liar. He repeatedly attacks people he disagrees with. If he is a Christian, why would I want to be one? No thanks. I have pointed this out to Thiessen numerous times, complete with Bible verses. He ignores me, saying that unbelievers have nothing of value to say to him. But, what about what God said? — crickets —

This is the way it is with unbelievers. They do not understand the faith or how it is lived, yet feel they can critique the lives of those who believe as well as criticize the faith etc., yet do nothing to change their lives.

I can’t speak for Ben, but I most certainly do understand “the faith” and “how it is lived,” and Thiessen knows this. I was part of the Evangelical church for fifty years. I was born again at age 15. I pastored churches in Ohio, Texas, and Michigan for twenty-five years. I know “the faith” and “how it is lived” inside and out. Thiessen has no evidence to the contrary. I am more than qualified educationally and experientially to critique Christianity, including critiquing the lives of those who claim to follow Christ. “By their fruits, ye shall know them,” the Bible says. Unlike Thiessen, I don’t hide in a foreign country under an assumed name, leaving behind a track record of immoral and criminal behavior. My life is an open book. If someone has a question, all he or she has to do is ask.

My life is fine just the way it is. Do you know what pisses Thiessen off? I don’t need his God; his Jesus; his Bible; or his religion. He cannot wrap his mind around someone not being like him.

MM and unbelievers are not in a position to criticize Christians as they refuse to live life following Christ. Their lives are not better than the Christians and they have nothing to offer anyone so they really cannot complain about God, his plan of salvation, or how Christians live their lives.

Well, we can do whatever we want. FREEDOM!

Thiessen is the one who has nothing to offer to anyone. Just the other day he said he was thinking about shuttering his blog. Why? Nobody reads it except God (and God never comments). If visitor, pageview, comments, and email numbers mean anything. a lot of people think I have something to offer. In 2022, this site will once again pass one million page views. My presence on social media is growing and I continue to receive speaking engagement requests. Even to Thiessen, I have something to offer: blog fodder. He would have nothing to write about without me or Ben.

Especially when they do not recognize the adversary that hinders the Christian’s spiritual growth. With that refusal, they are criticizing Christians based on 1/4 to 1/2 of the story. That is not right nor is it fair.

So we challenge MM and other unbelievers to honestly answer those questions. We do not expect MM to be honest as he never is and will find some way to deflect the true content and distort it into something he can criticize.

Consider Thiessen’s two questions answered. 🙂

Saved by Reason,

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Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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.

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You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Dr. David Tee Says It is Wrong for Me to Write the Black Collar Crime Series

Bruce Gerencser 10 Comments
david thiessen
Derrick Thiessen, back row, tall man in the green shirt

It has been a while since I’ve responded to something written by Dr. David Tee — whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen. Thiessen continues to rage-blog about me and Ben Berwick (Meerkat Musings). For the most part, I have ignored Thiessen’s bloviating, but his latest post about me deserves a response.

I am still working on a post titled “Who is Dr. David Tee”? One thing I know for sure is this: Thiessen is a staunch defender of Christian rapists, child molesters, predators, and abusers. This fact is shown once again in his latest post about me.

Here’s what Thiessen had to say (all spelling and grammar in the original):

BG has a series called Black Collar Crime.

BG is short for Bruce Gerencser. Thiessen is too lazy to type out my name, so he uses BG instead. He does the same with Meerkat Musings (Ben Berwick).

He is soooo brave ‘outing people’ who have already been arrested and saying how bad they were. it doesn’t take much to read a newspaper or two to get these stories. These men have already been outed so there is no need for him to write this series.

Actually, the Black Collar Crime series takes a significant amount of time for me to write. For each story, I typically read several news sources, check out the alleged offender’s social media accounts, and read the offender’s church website. I also view and listen to their videos and podcasts. I always want to make sure I accurately report these stories. Sometimes, thanks to churches quickly wiping all mention of offenders from their websites, I have to use the Wayback Machine to find older iterations of church websites. All of this takes time.

I do not, at any time, say how “bad” offenders are. I use headlines that are factual, not sensational. These headlines are typically built from the news stories themselves.

I have explained to Thiessen numerous times why I publish the Black Collar Crime Series. Sometimes, you have to tell toddlers things numerous times before they “get it,” so I will try one time to ‘splain to Thiessen why I write this series.

I use Google Alerts to notify me when there are new stories about clergy criminal misconduct — especially sex crimes. I receive several hundred alerts a day. I sift through these alerts to find stories best suited for the Black Collar Crime Series. So far, I have published over 1,000 articles, with hundreds more waiting to be reviewed and posted to this site. Many of these stories come from one or two news sources. All too often, these reports quickly disappear or are placed behind paywalls. By publishing them on this site, I am providing a public record of these clerics and their crimes.

Plus, he is not helping law enforcement as the people he records have already been arrested. All he is doing is showing that he can jump on the beat-down bandwagon instead of showing the pastor love, forgiveness, mercy, and so on.

Preachers claim to speak for God. They claim to believe and practice the Bible. Many of them preach one thing and do another. Preachers are viewed as moral authorities, so when they don’t practice what they preach, their hypocrisy needs to be pointed out.

Evangelical churches are known for hiding and covering up criminal behavior (especially sex crimes) by clergymen, deacons, evangelists, missionaries, Sunday school teachers, bus workers, and other church/ministry leaders. Just as it is important to expose offending preachers, it is also important to expose offending churches.

There’s no bandwagon for me to jump on. Only a handful of people and groups are writing about clergy criminal behavior. It’s not easy to daily wade through the Evangelical sewer, but doing so is important. We must not let preachers and churches continue to criminally harm people without being called to account. The best way to do this — for me, anyway — is to write the Black Collar Crime Series.

Thiessen seems to think I should feel sorry for the offenders: the rapists, child molesters, sexual predators, and abusers; that I should show them love, mercy, and forgiveness (and so on, whatever the hell that is). He’s joking, right? Forgiveness is up to the victim, not me. Mercy is up to the courts, not me. And love? That’s up to their families, not me. My responsibility is to write this series and shine light on their wicked behavior.

But enough about that series, we have noticed that he only publicly attack those who said they are Christian. That is kind of biased and very dishonest. We challenge him to do a black-collar crime series on atheists.

Yes, it is the Black COLLAR Crime series, a riff on the white collar many clergymen wear. This blog is primarily about Evangelicalism, not atheism. The Black Collar Crime Series, Red Collar Crime Series, and other series fulfill that mission.

We know there are plenty of atheists who make the police blotters and have been arrested for numerous crimes. Let’s see him be honest for a change and do both sides of the street instead of hating on only those he was once a part of.

There is a connection between religion and the crimes committed by preachers. I will gladly write articles about crimes committed by atheists in the name of atheism, so I am calling Thiessen’s bluff. Please send me any news stories of crimes committed by atheists; crimes where atheism played a part. Remember, offending preachers often use religion, theology, and the church to prey on people. Can this happen with atheists? Sure, but I currently don’t know of any stories about predator atheists.

I am sure readers of Thiessen’s words will see that he continues to besmirch my character. I expect this of him. He claims I am dishonest, a liar, yet he provides no evidence for his claims. I get it. Theissen doesn’t like the Black Collar Crime Series. I suspect the series gets too close to home for him, so, unable to refute the message, he rails against the messenger.

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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.

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You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Why Victor Justice, Derrick Thiessen, Daniel Kluver, and Revival Fires Don’t Really Believe and Practice the Bible

Bruce Gerencser 5 Comments
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God says (according to Evangelicals):

Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. (Matthew 17:16-20)

But the fruit of the Spirit is [present tense] love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. (Ephesians 4:29)

Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. (Colossians 3:12)

Based on these Scriptures and others I can easily provide, Victor Justice, Revival Fires, Derrick Thiessen (also known as Dr. David Tee), and Daniel Kluver don’t really believe and practice the Bible. In fact, it can be argued that they are not Christians, at all.

Remember, God said it, I didn’t. 🙂

Bruce Gerencser, 67, lives in rural Northwest Ohio with his wife of 46 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.

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