Jump to content

Ray Comfort

Page semi-protected
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Brambmanu (talk | contribs) at 14:53, 15 December 2011 (→Filmography). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Ray Comfort
October 2010
Born
New Zealand
Occupation(s)Christian Evangelist, Author, Television host
Known forThe Way of the Master, Living Waters Publications, Christian Evangelism
WebsiteLiving Waters

Ray Comfort (born December 5, 1949) is a New Zealand-born Christian minister and evangelist.[2] Comfort started Living Waters Publications and The Way of the Master in Bellflower, California and has written a number of books.

Early life and career

Comfort was born to a Jewish mother and a father who he described as "a Gentile [who] was open to the things of God". His parents put "Methodist" on his birth certificate because his mother feared the possibility of "another Hitler" but he was given no religious instruction as a child.[3] According to Ray Comfort's blog, after finishing high school at 17, he worked in a bank, and began a successful business when he was 20. He "came to know the Lord" at 22, and began seven years training at a local church, after which he was ordained as a full-time pastor. He then spent three and a half years pastoring in Christchurch, New Zealand, and 12 years preaching open-air in the city's Speaker's Corner.[4] Beyond this he has no formal training or theological degree.[5] He says that it was during this time that he began receiving invitations to speak throughout the country, and in other countries. In 1989, accepted an invitation to the join the pastoral staff at the non-denominational Calvary Chapel in Southern California.[4] Ray Comfort also still continues to identify himself as a Jew.[1]

The Way of the Master ministry

Origins and theology

Comfort believes that evangelism is the main reason the Christian Church exists and that many of the evangelistic methods used over the last century have produced false conversions to Christianity. Comfort uses the Ten Commandments to speak about sin before presenting the gospel of Jesus to them. In the mid-1980s he formulated two sermons entitled "Hell's Best Kept Secret"[6] and "True and False Conversions."

Comfort speaks professionally at churches and evangelism seminars, and preaches in Huntington Beach, California. As well as co-hosting the former The Way of the Master Radio with Kirk Cameron, he is co-host of The Way of the Master Television Show, and the "Creationism Examiner" on The Examiner.[citation needed]

Comfort and Cameron were also involved in rewriting parts of the film, Left Behind II: Tribulation Force.[citation needed]

Interviews and debates

Rational Response Squad

Comfort, seated behind Kirk Cameron, at a debate on the existence of God at Calvary Baptist Church in Manhattan, May 5, 2007

On April 13, 2001, Comfort appeared at the 27th National Convention of American Atheists in Orlando, Florida, where he debated Ron Barrier, the National Spokesperson for American Atheists.[7] Comfort later stated that "they laughed at my humor, and although there was unified mockery at some of the things that I said, I was able to go through the Ten Commandments, the fact of Judgment Day, the reality of Hell, the Cross, and the necessity of repentance, and no one stopped me."[7]

On May 5, 2007, Comfort and Cameron participated in a televised debate with Brian Sapient and Kelly O'Connor of the Rational Response Squad, at Calvary Baptist Church in Manhattan. The debate focused on the existence of God, which Comfort claimed he could prove scientifically without relying on faith or the Bible. Nightline correspondent Martin Bashir moderated the event.[8] During the debate, Cameron and Comfort repeatedly referenced the Ten Commandments and denounced the theory of evolution.[9]

Dawkins debate offer

In February 2009, Comfort challenged biologist and author Richard Dawkins to a debate, offering to donate $10,000 to him.[10] Dawkins, who had previously stated a general policy not to debate with creationists,[11] countered that he would do it for $100,000. Comfort raised his offer to $20,000, which according to PZ Myers, writing on Dawkin's site, was not enough.[10]

Tracts and books

File:KirkRay.jpg
Ray Comfort with Kirk Cameron in 2008

According to Comfort, he has designed dozens of gospel tracts since the 1970s, and sells millions of Living Waters tracts each year.[12] Comfort has also authored The Way of The Master, God Doesn't Believe in Atheists, How to Know God Exists and Evolution: the Fairy Tale for Grownups. His 2009 book, You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence, But You Can't Make Him Think, is Comfort's first book published by WND Books,[13] Comfort went on a promotional tour to promote the book, which Amazon.com ranked No. 1 in the atheism and apologetics categories, No. 2 in spirituality and No. 6 in Christianity when it debuted in February 2009.[14][15] On September 22, 2009, Comfort released his latest book, Nothing Created Everything.[citation needed]

In November 2009, Comfort released an edited version of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species, with a 50 page foreword detailing creationist arguments against the theory of evolution.[16] Stan Guffey, a biologist at the University of Tennessee, has alleged that most of Comfort's section on Darwin's life was plagiarized from his work.[17][18] The book was given away for free at selected schools around the United States.[19]

According to Comfort's website, "Nothing has been removed from Darwin's original work",[20] but Eugenie C. Scott, executive director of the National Center for Science Education, noted that Comfort deleted four chapters by Darwin that described the evidence for evolution, adding that two of the omitted chapters, Chapters 11 and 12, showcase biogeography, some of Darwin's strongest evidence for evolution.[21] She wrote that Comfort's foreword is "a hopeless mess of long-ago-refuted creationist arguments, teeming with misinformation about the science of evolution, populated by legions of strawmen, and exhibiting what can be charitably described as muddled thinking."

On his website, Comfort said that the four chapters were chosen at random to be omitted in order to make the book small enough to be affordable as a giveaway, with the absent chapters available for download, and that the missing chapters were included in the second edition, which had a smaller text size that made printing the entire book as a giveaway affordable. The second edition still lacks Darwin's preface and glossary of terms.[22][23] The National Center for Science Education arranged a campaign at colleges across the U.S. to distribute an analysis of the Comfort introduction, a one page flier and "the NCSE Safety Bookmark" in the shape of a banana, a reference to Comfort's use of a banana in one of his arguments for the existence of God.[16][24]

In October 2010, The New Zealand Herald reported that elderly people received "appointment cards" by Comfort's California-based publishing company, Living Waters, asking them to fill out information regarding the date and time of their deaths, and advising them to contact evangelists in order to avoid hell. Recipients of these cards expressed anger and horror over receiving them, and contacted police over the matter, with one of them commenting, "It's disgusting. It was quite spooky. I just couldn't comprehend why anyone would ask you to predict the date of your death." Living Waters spokesperson Lisa Law stated that the cards were a way of raising awareness of human mortality in order to spark discussion about Jesus, though she stated that anyone could order them from their website, and did not know who sent them.[25]

Film

In 2011, Comfort wrote and produced a 33-minute documentary film called "180: Changing the Heart of a Nation". In the film, he interviews people and makes comparisons between abortions and the Holocaust.[26] The movie was distributed on DVD and can be viewed for free on both Youtube,[27] and the film's official website.[28]

In less than a month, the documentary passed the 1 million views on YouTube.[27] Alex Murashko of The Christian Post stated that the film "catches the responses of young adults to a series of questions by evangelist Ray Comfort in which he begins by asking whether they know who Adolf Hitler is and the fact that he sanctioned the killing of 11 million people."[29]

Filmography

Publications

Ray Comfort open-air preaching at a Great News Network evangelism boot camp in 2004
  • My Friends are Dying. (1977) ISBN 1878859072
  • Words of Comfort Living Waters (1983) ISBN 1878859064
  • Poured Out for a Thirsty World. Living Waters (1986) ISBN 0908751036
  • In Search of New Jawbones: Aggressive Evangelism. Living Waters (1986) ISBN 0908751001
  • Springboards for Budding Preachers Inspiring Illustrations, Stimulating Thoughts, Quotes and Aids for Street Preaching and Personal Witnessing. Living Waters (1987) ISBN 0908751133
  • You've Got to Be Choking. Living Waters (1990) ISBN 1878859005
  • Russia Will Attack Israel: a "for the Thinking Mind" Publication. Living Waters (1991) ISBN 1878859056
  • The Key to Heaven Whitaker House, New Kingsingston, PA (1993) ISBN 0883684772
  • The Devils Nightmare. Whitaker House (1993) ISBN 0883682842
  • The Undertaker's Nightmare. Living Waters (1994) ISBN 1878859218
  • Militant Evangelism. Living Waters (1994) ISBN 1878859080
  • Comfort, the Feeble-Minded: Consolation for People Who Do Dumb Things: an Autobiography. Living Waters (1995) ISBN 1878859161
  • Everyday Evangelism: Witnessing That Works. Huntington House Publishers (1995) ISBN 156384091X
  • The Secrets of Nostradamus Exposed. Living Waters (1996) ISBN 1878859188
  • Bride of Heaven, Pride of Hell. Bridge-Logos Publishers (1997) ISBN 0882707337
  • 101 Things Kids Can Do to Annoy Their Parents Bridge-Logos Publishers (1998) ISBN 0882707590
  • The Power of Darkness. Living Waters (1999) ISBN 1878859226
  • How to Win Souls and Influence People. Bridge-Logos Publishers (October 1999) ISBN 0882707884
  • God Has a Wonderful Plan for Your Life. Living Waters (2000) ISBN 1878859250
  • Evidence Bible-Romans: Irrefutable Evidence for the Thinking Mind. Bridge-Logos Publishers (2000) ISBN 0882708554
  • Evidence Bible: Irrefutable Evidence for the Thinking Mind. Bridge-Logos Publishers (2000) ISBN 0882708163
  • The Mystery (2000)
  • The Untearable Bible: for the Terrible Twos. Bridge-Logos Publishers (2001) ISBN 0882708848
  • Revival's Golden Key: Unlocking the Door to Revival. Bridge-Logos Publishers (October 2001) ISBN 0882708910
  • God Doesn't Believe in Atheists (1993, 2001) ISBN 0882709224
  • Who is the Lord of the Ring?. Bridge-Logos Publishers (2002) ISBN 0882708929
  • End Time Believer's Bible. Bridge-Logos Publishers (December 2002) ISBN 0882709321
  • Miracle in the Making: the Incredible Story of the Making of Left Behind II: Tribulation Force. Bridge-Logos Publishers (2003) ISBN 0882709313
  • Evidence Bible-OE-KJV Easy Reading, Comfortable. Bridge-Logos Publishers (2003) ISBN 0882709550
  • Out of the Comfort Zone: The Authorized Autobiography. Bridge-Logos Publishers (May 2004) ISBN 0882709437
  • 101 Things Husbands Do to Annoy Their Wives (2004)
  • The School of Biblical Evangelism Textbook (2004)
  • Scientific Facts in the Bible: 100 Reasons to Believe the Bible is Supernatural in Origin. Bridge-Logos Publishers (October 15, 2001) ISBN 0882708791
  • Hell's Best Kept Secret. Whitaker House (December 1989, updated 2004) ISBN 0883682060
  • What Hollywood Believes: An Intimate Look at the Faith of the Famous. Genesis Pub. (August 25, 2004) ISBN 0974930016
  • Behind the Scenes: the Way of the Master. Genesis Pub Group, Bartlesville, Oklahoma, U.S. (2005) ISBN 0974930024
  • How to Bring Your Children to Christ ... and Keep Them There (2005)
  • What Did Jesus Do? A Call to Return to the Biblical Gospel (2005)
  • Overcoming Panic Attacks. Bridge-Logos (July 11, 2005) ISBN 0882700146
  • Spurgeon Gold: Pure. Refined. (compiled by Comfort) (2005)
  • The Way of the Master Minute: a One-Minute, One Year Devotional for the Busy Christian. Bridge-Logos Publishers (2006) ISBN 0882701614
  • Whitefield Gold: Pure. Refined. (compiled by Comfort) (2006)
  • How to Live Forever ... Without Being Religious (2006), a version of the Gospel of John with Comfort's commentary.
  • The Way of The Master (2006)
  • The Way of the Master Minute. (co-author Kirk Cameron) Bridge-Logos Publishers (April 8, 2006) ISBN 0882702203
    • The 2004 version itself was a revised and updated version of Revival's Golden Key, which itself was a revision of God Has a Wonderful Plan for Your Life.
  • The Way of the Master. Genesis Publishing Group (2006) (previously 2004 by Tyndale House)
  • Springboards for Budding Preachers (2006), a transcript of Comfort open-air preaching with his son-in-law Emeal "EZ" Zwayne.
  • Intelligent Design vs. Evolution – Letters to an Atheist (2006), a collection of correspondence between Comfort and James D. Franz, an American atheist.
  • Intelligent Design Versus Evolution: Amazing Evolution Discovery. Living Waters (2007) ISBN 1878859374
  • Scratch & Sniff (Creation for Kids). Bridge-Logos Publishers (2007) ISBN 0882703285
  • What Your Nose Shows (Creation for Kids). Bridge-Logos Publishers (2007) ISBN 0882703269
  • 101 Annoying Things about Other Drivers. New Leaf Publishing Group (2007) ISBN 0892216689
  • 101 Annoying Things About Air Travel. New Leaf Publishing Group (2007) ISBN 0883684772
  • Hollywood Be Thy Name. Bridge-Logos Publishers (July 1, 2007) ISBN 0882703943
  • Overcoming Insomnia: Practical Help for Those Who Suffer from Sleep Deprivation. Bridge-Logos Publishers (2007) ISBN 088270334X
  • 101 of the Dumbest Things People Have Done. Bridge-Logos Publishers (2008) ISBN 0882705555
  • How to Know God Exists: Scientific Proof of God (2008)
  • Evolution: A Fairy Tale for Grownups (2008)
  • World Religions in a Nutshell: A Compact Guide to Reaching Those of Other Faith (2008)
  • Comfort Food: Delectable Devotions to Satisfy the Soul Bridge-Logos Publishers (2008) ISBN 0882705288
  • The Atheist Bible (HCSB) (2009)
  • The Charles Darwin Bible (HCSB) (2009)
  • You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence, But You Can't Make Him Think WND Books (February 12, 2009) ISBN 1935071068
  • Nothing Created Everything: The Scientific Impossibility of Atheistic Evolution (September 2009, WND Books).

References

  1. ^ a b Ray Comfort. Nothing Created Everything: The Scientific Impossibility of Atheistic Evolution. Jesus was Jewish. All the disciples were Jewish. The first eight thousand Christians were Jewish. I am Jewish. Christianity came from the home of the Jews.
  2. ^ About Living Waters, Living Waters, 2008, accessed March 30, 2011.
  3. ^ Comfort, Ray (2003). Out of the Comfort Zone: The Authorized Autobiography. Bridge-Logos Publishers. pp. 123, 202. ISBN 978-0882709437.
  4. ^ a b "Ray's Blog".
  5. ^ Bashir, Martin (17 March 2006). "Kirk Cameron, From Sitcom Star to Evangelist (page 3)". Nightline. Retrieved 17 May 2007.
  6. ^ Comfort, Ray. "Hell's Best Kept Secret". WVCY-TV 30. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
  7. ^ a b Ireland, Michael (16 April 2001). "Atheists National Spokesman Debates Christian Author on Good Friday at National Convention". AssistNews.net. Retrieved 23 February 2009.
  8. ^ Bashir, Martin; "Prepare for a Conflict: The Nightline 'Face-Off' No-Holds Barred Battle Over the Existence of God"; May 7, 2007
  9. ^ Bashir, Martin (7 May 2007). "The Nightline Face-Off". ABC News. Retrieved 22 January 2009.
  10. ^ a b PZ Myers (24 February 2009). "Bananaman". RichardDawkins.net.
  11. ^ Dawkins, Richard (15 May 2006). "Why I Won't Debate Creationists". RichardDawkins.net. Retrieved 24 February 2009.
  12. ^ Comfort, Ray (May 2004), Out of the Comfort Zone: The Authorized Autobiography, Bridge-Logos Publishers, ISBN 0882709437 {{citation}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |Authorlink1= (help)CS1 maint: year (link) (Page [citation needed])
  13. ^ Thompson, Dorothy (16 February 2009). "An Interview with Ray Comfort, Author of You Can Lead an Atheist to Evidence, But You Can't Make Him Think". Blogcritics. Retrieved 17 February 2009.
  14. ^ "Book appeals to atheists, Christians alike". OneNewsNow. 18 February 2009. Retrieved 3 March 2009.
  15. ^ "Christian Evangelist's Book Ranked Bestselling 'Atheist' Item". The Christian Post. 14 February 2009. Retrieved 3 March 2009.
  16. ^ a b "The Don't Diss Darwin Institute". Analysis and synopsis. National Center for Science Education. 2009. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
  17. ^ Miller, Laura. "Creationism vs. atheism: It's on!" Salon.com; November 23, 2009
  18. ^ Rikki Hall, "UT Professor Considers Legal Action Over Use Of Charles Darwin Bio", Metro Pulse, Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group, December 2, 2009
  19. ^ Comfort, Ray (29 October 2009). "Exclusive: Ray Comfort Defends His Creationist Edition of 'On the Origin of Species'". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
  20. ^ "Origin Into Schools". Living Waters. 2009. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
  21. ^ Scott, Eugenie (30 October 2009). "How Creationist 'Origin' Distorts Darwin". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved 31 October 2009.
  22. ^ Press Kit, Livingwaters.com
  23. ^ Ray Comfort; Darwin, Charles (2009). Origin of Species: 150th Anniversary Edition. Bridge-Logos Foundation. ISBN 0-88270-919-4.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  24. ^ "Got Comfort? Get protection! | NCSE". 9 November 2009. Retrieved 20 November 2009.
  25. ^ Carroll, Joanne. "'Appointment with death' cards shocking for elderly". The New Zealand Herald. October 31, 2010
  26. ^ Tony Madonna (10 November 2011). "Genocide vs Abortion: Documentary provides weak comparison". Arbiter. {{cite web}}: |access-date= requires |url= (help); Missing or empty |url= (help)
  27. ^ a b Dave Bohon (5 November 2011). "Pro-Life Movie 180 Goes 'Viral'". The New American. Retrieved 12 November 2011.
  28. ^ 180: Changing the Heart of a Nation website. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
  29. ^ Murashko, Alex. "Pro-Life Evangelists Push '180 Movie' to 1 Million Views". The Christian Post. October 18, 2011
Wikiquote has quotations related to Ray Comfort.

Template:Persondata

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ray_Comfort&oldid=466005551"