Menu Close

Tag: Evangelicalism

The One Evangelical Behavior that Annoys the Hell Out of Me

6 Comments
annoy me

I am sure some of you are saying, “Just one?” There are more than a few Evangelical behaviors that annoy the hell (and heaven) out of me, but there is one that really irritates me, and that behavior will be the focus of this post.

I interact with Evangelical Christians every day; day in and day out, seven days a week. Emails, blog comments, social media comments, social media messages, and even letters sent via snail mail. Every day I am told I am a false prophet, a reprobate, a tool of Satan, and a deceiver. These loving, kind, thoughtful followers of Jesus attack, criticize, and judge, rarely trying to thoughtfully engage me in meaningful discussion. Sadly, their assaults have hardened me a bit, making me much more likely to tell them to “go fuck yourself” than I was years ago. When I first started seeing a counselor a decade ago, I expressed to him my naive frustration over how Evangelicals responded to me telling my story. I thought, at the time, if I just shared my story, people would understand. My counselor chuckled a bit and said, “Bruce, you think they give a shit about what you think? They don’t.” He was, of course, right.

Over the past two weeks, I have engaged in discussions with Evangelicals on my Facebook page. Whether out of boredom or wanting to reach them, I responded to comments they left on my page. Other readers did the same. They commented, and I responded. I thought, at least they will understand my viewpoint. The latest discussion was over gun control in light of the latest mass shooting. The Evangelical man, of course, was anti-gun control; a man who has a blow-up doll called Sexy Second Amendment he sleeps with every night. God knows what they do under the sheets. 🙂 Another man also weighed in on the matter. Minds weren’t being changed, but we were making the case for the regulation of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines; reasonable opinions in light of the continued slaughter of school children by murderers using weapons of war. And suddenly, the discussion was over, and all the comments disappeared. The Evangelical gun nut deleted his comments, and since our comments were in response to his, our comments were deleted too. The man also blocked me.

I have a limited amount of physical capital I can spend every day. If I take the time to respond to an Evangelical, the least they can do is not delete their comments. I realize that some Evangelicals quickly find themselves in over their heads when interacting with me. I am a former Evangelical. I know the Bible inside and out. Many Evangelicals think I am just an ignorant atheist. I am not. When such people finally realize they stepped in it, they are embarrassed, and what better way to cover up bad arguments and poorly thought-out beliefs than to delete them and pretend they were never uttered?

I think I have reached a point where when Evangelicals come in hot on social media, I am inclined to just delete their comments and ban them. Then they can whine about persecution or some other complaint butt-hurt Evangelicals are known for. I simply don’t care.

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

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Evangelical Pastor Tyree Coleman Accused of Promoting Sex Trafficking and Rape

1 Comment
tyree-coleman

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

Tyree Coleman, founder and operator of Refuge Place in Indianapolis, Indiana, has been charged with the promotion of child sex trafficking, rape, promotion of human sex trafficking and two counts of intimidation. Another news report stated Coleman is an elder at Seven Pillars Faith Ministry.

Fox-59 reports:

An Indianapolis pastor who ran a non-profit to feed homeless people is now accused of rape and offering a 17-year-old $1000 to have sex with him.

Tyree Coleman, 43, is charged with the promotion of child sex trafficking, rape, promotion of human sex trafficking and two counts of intimidation.

According to court documents, a 17-year-old came forward in June 2022 and told police that Coleman offered to pay him to have sex with him.

The 17-year-old told police Coleman initially sent him $50 to buy new shoes. The teen told police that Coleman said he was bisexual and offered the teen $1,000 to either have sex with him or show him his genitals, according to court records.

Court documents reveal that after the teen came forward to police, they got a search warrant for Coleman’s cell phone and located several messages that showed Coleman was paying for sex along with nude photos of “young-looking males.”

The detective estimated the photos were of males ranging in age from 15 to their late 30s.

Police discovered that Coleman was the founder of Refuge Place Indy, which feeds homeless people in Indianapolis.

According to court documents, investigators believe Coleman was using donations to his non-profit to pay for sex acts.

During that investigation, police received a new complaint from a Logansport man who accused Coleman of raping him.

The man told officers he missed his bus in Indianapolis and was left stranded in the city. He later saw Coleman handing out clothing and food in Indianapolis and said Coleman offered him a room at his home, according to court records.

The victim told investigators that Coleman would pay him to perform oral sex and later agreed to have sex with Coleman. According to court documents, while the two were having sex the victim told Coleman to stop several times but Coleman refused.

The victim also told police that Coleman threatened to kill him if he had a sexually transmitted disease.

“My faith says this is what I’m supposed to do. I’m supposed to serve,” Coleman said during an interview with FOX59/CBS4 in 2019.

Coleman repeatedly made pleas on television and online for donations to Refuge Place Indy to support the homeless feeding. Court documents do not reveal how much of that money was used to pay for sex. 

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

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

The Voices of Atheism: Why New Testament Scholar Bart Ehrman Became an Agnostic Atheist

0 Comments
bart ehrman

This is the latest installment in The Voices of Atheism series. This is a series that I would like readers to help me with. Know of a good video that espouses atheism/agnosticism or challenges the claims of the Abrahamic religions? Please email me the name of the video or a link to it. I believe this series will be an excellent addition to The Life and Times of Bruce Gerencser.

Thank you in advance for your help.

What follows is an interview of Dr. Bart Ehrman on why he is an agnostic atheist. Ehrman shares his journey from Evangelicalism to atheism. You will have to watch the video on YouTube. Playback on other websites has been disabled.

Video Link

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

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Yes, A Trans Person Shot Up an Evangelical Christian School. But Why?

9 Comments
audrey elizabeth hale

Guest post by MJ Lisbeth

Yesterday, the 27th of March, was the 86th day of the year. It included the 89th school shooting in the United States of America.

I could write a screed against the “gun culture” of this country, where there are five guns for every four people. I could also rail against the inefficacy and indifference of public officials and, most importantly, the people who elected them. And the same people would sigh and nod; others would go on a rant about “the price of freedom—as if there were some sort of equivalence between the right to own as many guns as one wants and the right of another person to lose his or her life because said gun owner “lost it” after having a bad day.

But, as with every other mass shooting—or mass murder of any kind—the pundits, politicos, and too many ordinary citizens miss another important point. Yes, gun regulations need to be stricter. Even more to the point, though, we need more and better mental health screening and treatment—supported by an actual system that truly supports its practitioners as well as its patients.

Oh, and we need ways to keep schools and other institutions from barring such services, or parents from keeping their kids away from them—or, worse yet, enabling conditions deleterious to kids’ mental health–on “religious” grounds. 

I don’t know all of the particulars of Audrey Elizabeth Hale’s experience as a pupil of The Covenant School, a conservative Christian institution in Nashville, Tennessee. (The Covent School is a ministry of Covenant Presbyterian Church, an Evangelical institution.) But I can make a very educated guess about at least one thing because, well, it probably paralleled something I experienced.

At the time Hale stormed the school, he was referring to himself with male pronouns, on his LinkedIn page and in personal interactions. Nashville Police Chief John Drake, on the other hand, referred to Audrey with female pronouns in discussing the incident.

Now, Chief Drake may have made an honest mistake: If I had seen “Audrey Elizabeth Hale” on a piece of paper or screen, with no corroborating information, I would have assumed it to be the name of a girl or woman. And, I am sure that Mr. Hale has been misgendered more than once—what trans person isn’t?

But I can only imagine how many times he had been deliberately misidentified. Worse yet, I know all too well what he must have experienced in a school that, I imagine, some parents send their kids to in order to keep them away from “influences” that include people like me—and him—who knew that we aren’t the gender to which we are assigned at birth.

Even if Mr. Hale didn’t experience the bullying too many kids endure—from adults as well as other kids—for not conforming to the gender he was assigned at birth, he almost surely bore the emotional and, at times, physical burdens of moving through the hallways, the playground, the day and life itself in a body that didn’t align with the ways in which he understood himself—and, worse, having to make that body, and his very being, conform to the expectations his teachers and other adults placed on him in the name of the God they claimed as their guide.

Please understand that I am not trying to excuse or condone a mass shooting by Audrey Elizabeth Hale or anyone else. Nor am I trying to imply that the children or even, for that matter, the staff members he killed “had it coming to them” or were collateral damage. Rather, I want to point out that being bullied for what one is—whether that bullying comes from one’s peers or authority figures—leaves indelible scars.  The bullying itself is just part of the emotional violence inflicted on someone like him, or me. Another and, perhaps more pernicious, “prong” of what impales us is the fact that the tormentors justify their actions with a higher authority. Folks who run schools like Covenant believe that their faith—or, more precisely, their interpretation of it—authorizes them to “fix” someone who doesn’t conform, if not to beat the non-conformity out of them. And, even if they can’t articulate it, kids who bully other kids who aren’t like them do so when they know the adults who are supposed to be in charge won’t hold them to account or will even enable them.

Chief Drake said investigators believe the shooting may have stemmed from “some resentment” Hale harbored over having to attend that school as a young person. Anyone who plans such an attack, even if the victims are random, and writes a manifesto as to why he is doing it, is dealing with more than just “resentment.” To me, it’s more like the residue of dried blood from a thousand cuts authorized, in the minds of the cutters, by their belief in a God who doesn’t create trans people or anyone else who doesn’t conform to their ideas about masculinity, femininity or, more importantly, humanity—and who let the peers of the victim inflict still other wounds.

Oh, and it was just too damn easy for someone in Hale’s state of mind to get, not just one weapon, but a mini-arsenal—and too fucking hard to get the support he so desperately needed, not to change who he is, but to move away from a life he couldn’t live into one he could have.

Now I have to wonder how many little versions of Audrey Elizabeth Hale (or the author of this piece)  were among the young victims or other kids in that school—or could have grown up to be people who love and accept themselves, and others, as they are. If an educational system, a religious institution or a culture can’t or won’t help young people in that way, it fails them and leaves them vulnerable, not only in an attack on the schools or churches they attend, but to harm they inflict on themselves without understanding why. In short, such institutions, guided by interpretations of mythology and outright fiction, inevitably turn out people like Mr. Hale and his victims.

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

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Christian College Professor Charles Wadlington Accused of Sexually Abusing Adopted Children

4 Comments
charles wadlington

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

Dr. Charles Wadlington, a licensed psychologist and a psychology professor at Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas, stands accused of sexually abusing his adopted children.

Homepage.com reports:

An Abilene Christian University professor has been accused of sexually abusing his adoptive children, including at least one incident that happened on campus.

Charles Wadlington was arrested on a warrant for Sexual Abuse of Child and now remains held in jail on a $75,000 bond. (Wadlington was released on March 23 according to the Taylor County Jail records.)

Court documents state that in March 2023, a child came forward to police and said she and her sister were sexually assaulted by Wadlington, their adoptive father, and their brother may have been harmed as well.

The brother was interviewed first. The documents state he described an instance where Wadlington touched him painfully in an inappropriate area after he got in trouble for play fighting with his sister. He also told detectives Wadlington “raped his sisters”, and that’s why one had moved out.

During a Child Protective Services investigation, the documents state one of the sisters reported Wadlington had engaged her in sexual activity multiple times, “and that one of those times was in his office at ACU”.

Investigators also spoke to the 2nd sister, who reported Wadlington sexually assaulted her multiple times beginning when she was 13-years-old and that she ran away from home when she was 15 because of the abuse, according to the documents.

She was able to detail multiple acts of sexual abuse he exposed her to and also stated she knew of at least one time he sexually abused her sister as well, and the documents state the abuse of her sister is what made her finally come forward and make a report.

This sister also told police she made an outcry to their mother, Mrs. Wadlington. The documents state she told the girl that, “if she spoke, to think about what would happen to all of the kids.”

Wadlington would also, according to the documents, bribe this sister with cash, driving lessons, and shopping to keep her from reporting the abuse.

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

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Has the Old Testament Law Been Fulfilled?

6 Comments
pick and choose bible

Evangelicals are all over the place regarding the “law of God.” No two Christians agree on what Biblical laws are in force and binding. Evangelicals agree, for the most part, on the validity of New Testament commands, laws, and precepts. However, when it comes to Old Testament law, opinions diverge, often wildly so.

Some Evangelicals believe the Old Testament law was fulfilled when Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected from the dead. The 613 laws found in the Old Testament are not binding on believers. Other Evangelicals divide Old Testament laws into three categories: moral, ceremonial, and judicial. Only Old Testament laws “deemed” moral are valid and in force today. These Evangelicals typically hang on to the Ten Commandments, laws governing sexual behavior, and laws that are prooftexts for their peculiar codes of conduct.

I grew up in the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) church movement. I was taught that we were New Testament (New Covenant) Christians; that we were obligated to follow the teachings of the New Testament alone. Well, except when pastors wanted to preach against this or that sexual sin, women wearing pants, tithing, or any other hot-button issue stuck in their craws (or up their asses) that week. Then Old Testament proof texts were trotted out to justify their pulpit pronouncements. Sometimes, preachers would preach up the Ten Commandments — well, actually the Nine Commandments since IFB adherents are not sabbath keepers — ignoring the fact that the previous week they preached about being New Testament Christians. Quite frankly, such preaching could be quite schizophrenic, leading congregants to quietly say to themselves, “preacher, make up your mind!”

Some Evangelicals — mainly Calvinists — believe there is continuity between the Old Testament and New Testament; that all the laws of God, rightly interpreted, are binding and in force. As an Evangelical Calvinist, my favorite Bible verses on the law of God were found in Matthew 5:17-19:

Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.  For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus said that he did not come to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfill them. What “law” was Jesus talking about? The Old Testament.

Jesus went on to say that not one jot or tittle (the minutest of parts) of Old Testament law will pass until ALL be fulfilled. Not just his death and resurrection; until ALL be fulfilled. Jesus said exactly what he meant by ALL. Til Heaven and earth pass away, the law of God is in force and binding. Has Heaven and earth passed away? Has Jesus created a new Heaven and new earth, as promised in the book of Revelation? No, so this means the law of God is still in force. Based on this interpretation of the Bible, most Evangelicals are lawless. Not only do most Evangelicals ignore the Old Testament’s laws, but they also show no regard for some of the Ten Commandments — especially the Sabbath command.

How did the churches you grew up in talk about the law of God? Please share your experiences in the comment section.

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

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Do Evangelicals Interpret the Bible?

18 Comments
the bible rock of gibraltar

The Bible is certainly more than 3 words. What that word ‘every’ is telling you is that from Genesis to Revelation every word of the Bible came from the mouth of God. It did not come from the human writers God used but from God himself.

That means that the believer is to live by Genesis 1 all the way to Revelation 22. Those are the words that God has spoken to us. Those are the words we are to live by not what unbelieving science or scientists say but by what God told us in his divine book.

This also removes the option of living by interpretation. As Peter has told us, the word of God is not by private interpretation. We are to find the truth of what God is saying and live by that truth.

….

Private interpretation is not allowed with scriptures. That is one of the reasons why we have over 40,000 ‘Christian’ denominations.

They do not live by every word that comes from God’s mouth. Instead, they live by their own private interpretation or the words of unbelievers. It is time to change and get back to the truth of the Bible and get rid of all alternatives to what God has told us in the Bible.

We are to live by the words of God while we can still do science, archaeology, and study other fields of interest, those are mere tools and have no authority over God or his words. if you want to live for eternity with God, then live correctly by his words.

— Dr. David Tee, whose real name is Derrick Thomas Thiessen, TheologyArcheology: A Site for the Glory God, We Will Follow the Science, March 24, 2023

Thiessen believes that Christians should just believe the Bible as written, and never interpret its words and teachings. This is a common Evangelical belief. The Bible is considered different from all other written works. Its words are written by God, not men or women. While Evangelicals have a variety of explanations for how the Bible came to be, all of them believe the Biblical text is the words of God — inspired, inerrant, and infallible.

From 1995-2002, I pastored Our Father’s House in West Unity, Ohio. One Sunday night, several new families came to visit the church. After the service, I struck up a conversation with one of the men. He asked me what I believed about a theological issue (I can’t remember the exact subject). We chatted back and forth for a bit, and then I told him that I had a book that I would be glad to loan him on the subject. He replied, “No thanks. The Bible is all I need.” These families didn’t visit again. I suspect I was too liberal for them; you know, I read books.

Any time we read something, we are interpreting the words of the text. Words have meanings, and we must make interpretations to determine what written texts mean. Individual interpretations will vary, sometimes wildly so. I have been writing for sixteen years — millions of words. While I do my best to write in a way so people will clearly understand what I am trying to say, it is not uncommon for people to “interpret” my words differently from the way I intended. Since I am a living author, these misunderstandings can be easily corrected by just asking me, “Bruce, what did you mean when you said ___________?” On occasion, I will write something, send it off to Carolyn to be edited, and she will return it with a note that says “is this what you meant to say?” Sometimes, I reply, “yes, that’s what I meant to say.” Other times, I correct the text so it means what I intended to say. Carolyn has been my editor for years. She has a good handle on how I think and how I use certain words.

We, of course, don’t have access to the authors of the sixty-six books of the Protestant Christian Bible. Even if I were to believe that “God” wrote the Bible, he’s inaccessible. Ask him what he meant to say in this or that verse and his reply is silence. For the past 2,000 years, believers and unbelievers alike have been interpreting the Bible. The moment we read a word, verse, text, or book, we are interpreting it.

Thiessen decries the fact that there are thousands of Christian sects, each with their own interpretations of the Bible, yet is this not what he does in his own life? I question whether Thiessen is a member of a local Christian congregation. If he is, he is part of a church/sect that interprets the Bible a certain way. Theissen demands that people accept that the Bible says this or that. Is he not saying that everyone must interpret the Bible as he does?

Of course, Theissen denies that he interprets the Bible; he just believes it. Such thinking is absurd. To believe is to interpret. Otherwise, one ends up believing that one’s beliefs perfectly align with what God (the Bible) says. This kind of teaching is dangerous, leading to all sorts of dangerous cultic beliefs. Evangelical misogyny, bigotry, racism, and hate rest on the notion that the words of God and the beliefs of God’s chosen ones are one and the same. This is why interpretation is essential to understanding what the Bible possibly says.

The Bible is a collection of ancient religious texts written thousands of years ago. The authors are dead, so we can’t quiz them about what they meant to say. All we can do is interpret their writings. We are blessed to have books, software, language tools, and commentaries to guide our understanding of the Bible. Thiessen uses these tools, so it is disingenuous for him to say he doesn’t interpret the Bible. All of us are influenced by the authors we read. None of us is a blank slate free from external influence. Every book we read, every video we watch, and every podcast we listen to influences our thinking and understanding. (Even if someone says he is following the direction of the Spirit, he is interpreting what he perceives to be the Spirit’s leadership.) All any of us can do is rationally and skeptically read and study the Bible, coming to reasoned, thoughtful conclusions about what the text says. Most important is humility. I may come to a conclusion about what a particular text says, but I am humble enough to know that I could be wrong.

“God said it, I believe it, that settles it,” thinking has called untold harm. The Bible can be a source of blessing, encouragement, and help, but far too often it is a tool of hurt and destruction.

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

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Quenching the Holy Spirit, A Stick in the Hands of Authoritarian IFB Preachers

4 Comments
indwelling of the holy spirit

If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus: That ye put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: Neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. 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. And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:21-32)

The Apostle Paul told the church at Ephesus not to grieve (quench) the Holy Spirit by participating in sinful behaviors. According to verses 22-24, Christians are those who have put off their old lives and embraced the new life they have in Christ Jesus. Christians are new creations, created in righteousness and holiness.

Specifically, Paul said followers of Jesus were to:

  • Stop lying, and always speak the truth
  • Never let the sun go down on their wrath
  • Never give place to the Devil
  • Never steal, making an honest living by their own hands so that they can meet the needs of others
  • Never let corrupt communication come out of their mouths
  • Put away bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, evil speaking, and malice
  • Not be wrathful
  • Not be angry
  • Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving

Failing to diligently keep these commands leads to Christians quenching the Holy Spirit — the third person in the Trinity who lives inside of every believer. To quench the Spirit, then, means suppressing (reducing to an ember) the power, influence, direction, and control of the Holy Ghost in believers’ lives. In other words, finite, sinful beings can hinder the work of an infinite God in their lives by behaving certain ways.

Here’s what Got Questions? has to say on the matter:

The Holy Spirit is a fire dwelling in each believer. He wants to express Himself in our actions and attitudes. When believers do not allow the Spirit to be seen in our actions or we do what we know is wrong, we suppress or quench the Spirit. We do not allow the Spirit to reveal Himself the way that He wants to.

….

To grieve the Spirit is to act out in a sinful manner, whether it is in thought only or in both thought and deed.

Both quenching and grieving the Spirit are similar in their effects. Both hinder a godly lifestyle. Both happen when a believer sins against God and follows his or her own worldly desires. The only correct road to follow is the road that leads the believer closer to God and purity, and farther away from the world and sin. Just as we do not like to be grieved, and just as we do not seek to quench what is good—so we should not grieve or quench the Holy Spirit by refusing to follow His leading.

I was raised in the Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) church movement, attended an IFB Bible college in the 1970s, and pastored Evangelical churches for twenty-five years. I heard numerous sermons about quenching the Holy Spirit, and preached a few myself. Far too often, “quenching the Spirit” was used as a stick to beat church members into submission.

Take Tony Hutson, pastor of Middle Tennessee Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee:

Video Link

Hutson is known for telling fanciful stories (AKA lies), so take his illustration with a grain of salt. He wants his congregants to know that if God (the preacher) tells them to do something, they better do it lest they quench the Holy Spirit, and God has to discipline (abuse them with a leather belt) or kill them.

IFB pastors are known for their authoritarian tendencies. Hutson, and others like him, are control freaks. Believing they are supernaturally “called by God” to preach the words of a supernatural book to frail, sinful followers of Jesus Christ, IFB preachers expect church members to obey and practice what they say. If believers refuse to do so, they are quenching the Spirit.

When people think for themselves and voice their differences of opinion, IFB preachers often tell them that they are getting in the way of what God is trying to do; that they are standing in the way of the Holy Ghost doing something great. Often, IFB preachers will subtly threaten those who are quenching the Spirit with judgment, suffering, loss, and death. All because someone disagrees with them.

The goal of preaching on “quenching the Spirit” is to whip congregants into conformity so preachers can advance their agendas. What is really going on, of course, is that no matter how hard IFB preachers try to quash uniqueness and freedom of thought, congregants refuse to comply. You would think, if the Holy Spirit is what Evangelicals say he is, everyone would interpret the Bible the same way; think the same way; live the same way. That they don’t suggests that the Holy Spirit is a myth; that churches are groups of individuals working towards common objectives. There will always be differences of opinion. Healthy churches allow for freedom of thought and belief, even when congregants disagree with their pastors.

Pastors are not always right. The “Holy Spirit” led me to make bad decisions. I wish people had spoken up or questioned the path down which I was leading the church. Instead, when we had business meetings, people just sat there, nodded their heads, and acquiesced to my will. Conditioned and indoctrinated by years of IFB preaching, church members thought they should follow my leadership at all times; that if I, as the man of God, was led by the Holy Spirit, who were they to stand in the way of what “God” wanted to do? The last thing they want to do was “quench the Spirit,” and risk punishment from God and estrangement from their fellow Christians.

Did your pastor preach on “quenching the Spirit?” Was this teaching on prominent display in the churches you attended? Please share your experiences in the comment section.

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

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Sounds of Fundamentalism: IFB Evangelist John R. Rice Says He Would Violently Beat His Grown Daughters if They Disobeyed Him

9 Comments
john r rice and jack hyles
John R Rice of Sword of the Lord Fame and Jack Hyles

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

Today’s Sound of Fundamentalism is a video clip of Independent Fundamentalist Baptist (IFB) evangelist and editor of the Sword of the Lord John R. Rice saying he would beat his adult daughters if they didn’t obey him.

Video Link

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

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.

Black Collar Crime: Man Pulls Out Hunting Knife During Bible Study, Repeatedly Stabs His Wife, Killing Her

2 Comments
robert castillo

The Black Collar Crime Series relies on public news stories and publicly available information for its content. If any incorrect information is found, please contact Bruce Gerencser. Nothing in this post should be construed as an accusation of guilt. Those accused of crimes are innocent until proven guilty.

Robert Castillo and Corrina Woodhull came to Cartillo’s sister’s home for a Bible study on Tuesdays. During this week’s Bible study, Castillo pulled out a hunting knife, and repeatedly stabbed Woodhull, killing her.

The Pioneer Press reports:

A man fatally stabbed his wife during Bible study at a St. Paul residence, according to a murder charge filed Thursday.

Robert Castillo, 40, and Corrina Woodhull, 41, were sitting on a couch in the Payne-Phalen home when Castillo whispered something in Woodhull’s ear. After she shook her head “no,” Castillo pulled out a knife and stabbed her multiple times, a criminal complaint said.

Witnesses didn’t hear what Castillo said to Woodhull. The couple was no longer together because they were having marital problems, Castillo’s brother told police.

Woodhull had been trying to get away from Castillo, but he kept asking her for another chance, said Erin Honken, a friend of Woodhull’s for about 14 years who’d been her current roommate.

Family members of Castillo got him to stop stabbing Woodhull and wrestled him to the floor. Woodhull said, “Don’t let me die” to another person in the home who provided aid to her, the complaint said.

Police were called to the 1000 block of East Maryland Avenue about 9 p.m. Tuesday and arrested Castillo.

Officers provided medical aid to Woodhull, who said she couldn’t breathe. Paramedics took Woodhull to Regions Hospital, where she was pronounced dead about 9:40 p.m. Tuesday.

Woodhull leaves behind five children — three are minors and two are young adults, Honken said.

….

Castillo’s sister, who lives at the residence, told police they host Bible study at the home every Tuesday night and Woodhull and Castillo came over for it. They “were acting normally” and Castillo held Woodhull’s hand and kissed her, the complaint said.

They’d been at the home for about 90 minutes before the stabbing and Castillo’s brother also said he hadn’t seen “signs of hostility.” When he returned from the bathroom, he saw Castillo standing over Woodhull with a knife in his hand.

Castillo’s sister said she saw Castillo stab Woodhull with a hunting knife with a 6-inch blade. She grabbed Castillo’s hair and tried to pull him off Woodhull. Other family members also intervened and disarmed him.

Two witnesses estimated Castillo stabbed Woodhull 20 times and another said it was about 10 times. An autopsy found she had a stab wound to her chest that penetrated her breast and heart, and additional sharp force injuries to her face, chest and upper extremities.

Castillo’s sister told police that he “had a thing about carrying a knife all the time to protect himself.”

She previously saw Castillo hit a different woman, the mother of his child, with a hammer. It also happened at her home. She said it “was a long time ago and she thought Castillo was getting better,” according to the complaint.

Castillo received a 10-year sentence for the assault with a hammer, which happened in 2014, and he was on intensive supervised release. At the time of Tuesday’s stabbing, he had an active Department of Corrections warrant for alleged violations of conditions of his release.

….

The Ramsey County attorney’s office charged Castillo with intentional second-degree murder, not premeditated, and he could face an increased sentence because of his past convictions for violent crimes.

An attorney for Castillo declined comment. Castillo is being held in the Ramsey County jail and his bail was set at $5 million.

Castillo has eight prior felony convictions.

In addition to the DOC warrant, he had a warrant for failing to appear in court on a charge that he assaulted a correctional employee while he was in the Stillwater prison in 2020 for the 2014 assault.

In 2001, Castillo was charged with first-degree assault for stabbing a 22-year-old man in his back, head and neck in Vadnais Heights. Castillo accused the man of telling his girlfriend he’d brought another woman to their apartment complex, according to a criminal complaint.

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

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

You can email Bruce via the Contact Form.