tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post5194875839903575943..comments2024-03-25T17:35:02.238-04:00Comments on Debunking Christianity: "My Testimony" by Former Pastor Bruce GerencserUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-39552215184101183432010-09-17T14:59:58.633-04:002010-09-17T14:59:58.633-04:00Well Cathy....
Looking at your blog I see links t...Well Cathy....<br /><br />Looking at your blog I see links to people who were part of Community Baptist Church in Elmendorf, Texas. <br /><br />I was excommunicated from this Church in 1994. I am sure my apostasy "proves" to them that their actions were right. I wrote about this http://nwohioskeptics.com/2010/03/i-am-a-publican-and-heathen/<br /><br />I will leave you to your delusion, Cathy.<br /><br />BruceAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-6961063933743829432010-09-17T13:16:56.307-04:002010-09-17T13:16:56.307-04:00So the wolf has finally taken off his sheep's ...So the wolf has finally taken off his sheep's clothes. Took a while.Granny Katehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01447538780411617539noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-73899938562754512112010-07-12T18:17:33.665-04:002010-07-12T18:17:33.665-04:00I want to thank everyone for their kind response t...I want to thank everyone for their kind response to my post. I appreciate it very much.<br /><br />BruceAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-15848994609456972662010-07-11T01:13:48.828-04:002010-07-11T01:13:48.828-04:00Inspiring story, it gives me hope for the future.
...Inspiring story, it gives me hope for the future.<br /><br />I also don't know if god exists or not. He is remarkably silent on the issue. Yet I call myself an atheist.<br /><br />This might be a bit pedantic, but atheism just means a lack of belief. If you don't believe in a god or specific supernatural dogma, you are an atheist. If you don't claim knowledge, then you are an agnostic. A person can be a Christian who doesn't claim knowledge, just belief. That Christian would also be an agnostic. You can also be an agnostic and an atheist at the same time.<br /><br />Both titles have function in society. If you want to challenge someone who is bashing on your door at 9am on Sunday to share the 'good news', then pull out the atheist title! It's a great shocker, and puts them back a step. At work, if you want to keep things civil, the title agnostic works great. You can also call yourself secular, or just simply a non-believer.<br /><br />Titles are just a way of presenting yourself to others. Philosophically, there is no difference between a non-believing atheist, and a non-believing agnostic.Barthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11052061841793700062noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-22492443677288726162010-07-09T10:26:32.722-04:002010-07-09T10:26:32.722-04:00Wesley, the reason I brought up cosmology is that ...Wesley, the reason I brought up cosmology is that this is the best argument so far that Christians have for the existance of a God. This has nothing to do with militant atheism.Clarehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17836679819711814306noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-80699165355037842262010-07-08T22:08:10.510-04:002010-07-08T22:08:10.510-04:00Clare, I'm not speaking for Bruce, but having ...Clare, I'm not speaking for Bruce, but having followed his website/blog and exchanged emails with him, and having come from several decades in christian ministry to agnosticism, I can honestly say that the origin of the universe is not relevant to my daily life.<br /><br />Sometimes I feel that hard-core atheists would like me to go "all the way" and embrace militant atheism. But having sent the Christian God packing is enough for me. There is no real God revealed in any human religion, and that's all I need. Whether there is a supernatural force or not is a question I feel no compulsion to answer, nor do I think one can answer that with certainty. I think Bruce feels similarly, but I'm sure he'll correct me if I'm wrong! (G'day Bruce, great to see your story here!)Thin-icehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10395122483673080901noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-84519791524181862992010-07-08T12:33:57.486-04:002010-07-08T12:33:57.486-04:00Bruce, your idea of God as having made the univers...Bruce, your idea of God as having made the universe and then having nothing more to do with it is sometimes called the "absentee landlord" view of God.<br />Now you need to look at possible explanations for the origins of the universe- Dr Lawrence Krauss or Steven Hawking can help. If the universe is flat, then gravity is zero and there can indeed be something created out of nothing.Clarehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17836679819711814306noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-55592138916453337992010-07-07T23:15:22.173-04:002010-07-07T23:15:22.173-04:00Thanks for sharing your experience with us Bruce. ...Thanks for sharing your experience with us Bruce. You sound like someone who has raised his consiousness and intellect. <br />Welcome back to reality.<br />You can still live a loving and generous life and leave this world a better place for you having visited.Shawnhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11706399970776390486noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-64453846928490140802010-07-07T20:01:41.936-04:002010-07-07T20:01:41.936-04:00Yes, I am much more at peace with myself and the p...Yes, I am much more at peace with myself and the past. I see a counselor on a regular basis. He has been very helpful in working with me to undo the damage done by a lifetime of immersion in Baptist Fundamentalism.<br /><br />I have been forced to rethink everything. What do I really believe about ____________? Morals. Ethics.<br /><br />Fortunately, my wife of 32 years is with me on this journey. Her family poses a problem for us. Five fundamentalist Baptist preachers in the immediate family. Makes for strained relationships. <br /><br />For those of us who are older it is difficult to leave all we have ever known.Things like......a job resume that has a huge 25 yr hole in it. Pastoring does not translate well into the real world.<br /><br />All in all, the journey has been great. I am glad I am where I am.<br /><br />BruceAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-11553167407116196692010-07-07T18:20:21.498-04:002010-07-07T18:20:21.498-04:00Hi Bruce
Thank you for your story. It is interest...Hi Bruce<br />Thank you for your story. It is interesting that your de-conversion started with questions about the bible. In fact, where would christianity be without the book? I know that catholicism tried very hard to keep the bible away from the ordinary folk for millennia. It was only the clergy who were permitted to interpret the arcane messages of the bible. It was considered too dangerous for simple folk to make 'proper' sense of it. And of course, it was Luther who thought that everyone should have a personal experience with god of the bible and believed the masses should have their own bible, the basis of the protestant reformation.<br />For me, more importantly, how do you feel now that you have exposed the achilles heel of the bible? Do you feel more at peace within yourself and with your life? Please share.<br /><br />CheersPapalintonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03818630173726146048noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-76953748560689527342010-07-07T16:56:47.688-04:002010-07-07T16:56:47.688-04:00It's not often I read about the deconversion o...It's not often I read about the deconversion of someone who was in the church for a half-century. I was another; I was well into my 50s when I left. Like you, I moved slowly from fundamentalism, to liberal Christianity, to Universalism, to agnosticism. For the last 10 years, I have called myself an atheist. Like you, I found the Bible to be the key; once I realized it was not inerrant, the whole house of cards started to wobble.<br /><br />(Like you, if you could erase everything I've ever written off the internet, I could move back into mission work with no difficulty; I've had offers. Except for the need to disguise my disbelief, of course. I couldn't do that; that's why I resigned, even before I had become and agnostic. But I now find it strange that the church would accept me back into a leadership position at the drop of a hat.)<br /><br />"Perhaps I have PTSD from all my years as a fundamentalist Baptist pastor."<br /><br />I had to laugh at that. I can relate!<br /><br />I found your testimony encouraging; I have many relatives, of whom I despair; we are an old, multi-generational missionary family, and I watch one after another of our young ones follow their parents down the same dead-end street. (Only one of mine, happily; the other 4 families slowly eased out after I was no longer "encouraging" them to be active Christians, preferably on the mission field.)<br /><br />If only my brother, my in-laws, my cousins could see ... It might happen; now I have a bit more hope.Susannah Andersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11923063322849781223noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21219785.post-46530811461532043472010-07-07T16:37:48.545-04:002010-07-07T16:37:48.545-04:00Very written Bruce. If there is a 'god' th...Very written Bruce. If there is a 'god' then he/she created the world and is now no where to be found just as you mentioned.Zyroverhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18190899663934273427noreply@blogger.com