The Thinking ‘Kat: License for Cruelty
There seems to be a pattern of behaviour among some religiously devout folk. Some (and I cannot stress enough that this only applies to some) behave in a cruel, cowardly manner, and worse, seem committed to this behaviour, excusing themselves from even trying to be decent people. I could cite a plethora of examples, ranging from direct personal experience, observation of behaviour towards friends, and general observations from self-proclaimed good, pious Christians in positions of authority. I should add that my examples are not limited to Christians, but this particular example highlights the seemingly endless, cowardly cruelty of a self-professed Christian, who seems to believe their attitude is both righteous and excusable.
Revival Fires is the anonymous username of the person who has plagued Bruce Gerencser for years. At no stage has Revival offered anything looking even remotely like a coherent, honest, compassionate or compelling set of arguments to persuade Bruce (or his readers) that they should accept the Gospel into their hearts. If anything, Revival is an excellent case study in how to drive people away from Christ, and keep them away. When I challenged him on his abhorrent behaviour, suggesting he was being a poor example of a Christian, he replied thusly:
Ben Birddick,
There is no such thing as a “good Christian “. No one is good. All are depraved and in need of his grace.
As you can see, Revival doesn’t even wish to try and respect the teachings of the religion he claims to follow. He openly admits it. Instead, it appears he wishes to be as cruel, vindictive and hateful as he likes, and every now and then, at an arbitrary moment of his choosing, declares himself saved and forgiven. He has engineered himself a get-out-of-jail card. Instead of attempting to be virtuous and kind, Revival has chosen the opposite. Bruce has plenty to say on the subject, as you can see here.
Will he genuinely consider my words, or ponder how his behaviour reflects upon his religion? We shall see.
All of this certainly made me think. Why do people believe they can call themselves a follower of any given religion that preaches love, honesty, compassion and grace, and then proceed to completely dishonour those qualities? Do they believe that by declaring themselves to follow any given religion, they are automatically saved, or somehow automatically better than everyone else, even though their attitude does not show this? I’d love to understand the mindset of those who regard themselves as good, simply because of their faith, as opposed to those who actively try to be kind and respectful.
I’ve often wondered how people such as Fires and Dr. Tee are in real life. I tend to be consistent on and off the Internet, but surely these men can’t treat their families and acquaintances as they do others on the Internet.
I have often wondered what their motivations are. They know neither of us are low-hanging fruit; easy marks. So, either they just want to harass us or their is some sort of psychological benefit they get from being an ass*ole for Jesus.
I can imagine Derrick and Revival both present different real world personas. Then again, both are fanatics, and we know of Derrick’s history, so…. ?