Ray Comfort's Blog, page 49

The Definition of an Atheist

"Primate worshiper, I need your advice. When Ray says that atheists are 'fools,' is that raw hate? When he quotes (out of context, but that's another matter) Psalm 14:1 in defense of his position, does that prove that the Psalms are a reservoir of raw hate?" Steven J.

I don't hate anybody. It is clear to me that if someone believes that nothing created everything he or she is a fool (see the sidebar of this blog to see the list of the many atheists and scientists who believe that).

To believe that there was no First Cause is not only unscientific; it's unreasonable. To believe that nothing could create anything, let alone everything is absolute foolishness. And that's the position of the professing atheist.

I know that you define "nothing" as "There's nothing to eat in the fridge." By "nothing," you mean that there is something there, but you find it distasteful. Agreed.

Let's see if Psalm 14:1 is quoted in context:

"The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that does good. The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that does good, no, not one" (Psalm 14: 1-3).

The Word of God says the atheist is a fool. I agree wholeheartedly. There's no "raw hate." It's simply raw common sense.

In another comment, you (Steven J.) said "Ray frequently cites Psalm 14:1 as 'proof' that atheists are fools; occasionally he feigns erudition and calls us 'morons.'"

I don't cite the verse as proof that atheists are fools. It's not something that needs proving. It's self-evident.

Also, I am not aware of ever calling atheists "morons" on this blog or anywhere else--even once, let alone "occasionally". I would therefore be grateful if you could cite evidence of me doing this. If you do, I will sincerely apologize. If not, I think you owe me an apology. Thank you.For Evangelism Resources, please visit LivingWaters.com.

Way to go Dan!

Wait a minute! The sign doesn't make any sense. I thought atheists didn't believe that God existed. Oops, I mean that "atheists don't see evidence for God." Oops, I mean "evidence for a god" (small "g"). Gotta get the language right.

Once again, I commend my friends at "Free From Religion Foundation" for letting people know that they can be good without God. All you need is to have your own definition of "good." Most people are "good" in their own eyes (see Proverbs 20:6).

You can also be happy without God. Most people know that anyway, but it's good to be reminded.

I was extremely happy without God for 22 years of my godless life. So was a friend of mine who was a millionaire at 16 years old, was world famous, and could have any girl he wanted. Who wouldn't be happy with a lifestyle like that?

The Bible makes it very clear that you and I can be real happy without God. It says that Moses choose to suffer affliction with the people of God rather that "enjoy the pleasures of sin, for a season" (see Hebrews 11:25). Sin gives pleasure. It makes us happy. See also Luke 8:14, 2 Timothy 3:4 and Titus 3:3.

This silly and unbiblical thought that we can't be happy without God is the basis of a teaching I have done for years called "Hell's Best Kept Secret" (you may like to freely listen to it on www.livingwaters.com ). When my famous friend preached it (from my notes) on TV, our website got over one million hits the following day.

So good work Mr. Dan Barker. Keep putting those (costly) signs around the country--signs that make people think about God, and give us Christians more opportunities to share the gospel of everlasting life with a dying world.

You are doing more for the Christian cause as a professing atheist, than you did for the whole 19 years you pretended to be a Christian.

EDIT: Added: "...for letting people know that they can be good without God. All you need is to have your own definition of 'good.' Most people are 'good' in their own eyes (see Proverbs 20:6)."For Evangelism Resources, please visit LivingWaters.com.

John the Baby's Leap for Joy

God told Jeremiah that He "formed" him in the womb (Jeremiah 1:4,5). While we may think that God created Adam and Eve and backed off, Scripture tells us that He is intimately involved with every one of us even before we existed.

God not only forms us in the womb, He knows each of us as individuals before we are created. He told Jeremiah that before He formed him, He knew him and set him apart as a prophet. Even before our conception, in the eyes of Almighty God each of us are a personality with worth and purpose.

Psalm 139 adds, "You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb" and that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made" (v. 13,14). How does God form our inward parts? How does He create eyes that can see and relate what is seen to a brain? How does our brain independently think endless thoughts? Or how does He make life-giving blood that flows through a mass of amazing vessels that make the complex freeways of Los Angeles look simple? How does He give us an invisible soul with its own unique personality? We are truly "fearfully and wonderfully made."

God knows every detail about every individual, down to the hairs on our head and the thoughts of our heart. He not only knows the date of our birth but He knows the date of our death. Such sobering thoughts will be a great comfort to us if we fear God, and if we have obeyed the gospel.

I wonder if you have wondered (as I have) about the joy that John the Baptist experienced when he was unborn. Doctor Luke says,

"And it happened, when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, that the babe leaped in her womb….For indeed, as soon as the voice of your greeting sounded in my ears, the babe leaped in my womb for joy" (Luke 1:41,44).

Notice how the Bible uses the word "babe" (baby) when it refers to the unborn cousin of Jesus. It consistently does this throughout the Old and the New Testaments. It doesn't call a baby a "fetus" or some other name. Snuggled in Elizabeth's womb was a living, moving baby that had been set apart to prepare the way for the Messiah who was going to destroy death.

It was this unborn human being that Scripture tells us experienced the emotion of joy. But is that scientifically possible? Can an unborn child experience emotions? Or is this just some sort of biblical camel-through-the-eye-of-a-needle or Pharisaic camel-swallowing hyperbole?

According to pregnancy.org, "Your baby can see, hear, taste and feel the intimate world you have provided around him or her. Playing soothing music for your baby helps release endorphins that help baby relax." An unborn child can even see shades of light, and "around the fourth month, your baby may begin reacting to the light, by turning away or towards it."

On the website "Pregnancy and Newborn," an article titled "Your Baby's Experience in the Womb" states,

"Believe it or not, that's a little person you're growing inside your belly! Just like the rest of us, your baby can experience a whole range of emotions even before entering this topsy-turvy world of ours. While you probably would not get into a screaming match with your partner in front of your baby once he is born, you may not think twice about it while pregnant. You may want to start censoring yourself now, however, because your unborn little guy or girl is capable of experiencing feelings of anger, fear, affection, depression and disappointment in response to his mother's emotions and activities."

A confused, sin-loving, blind and godless world doesn't know when or how life began on earth. It pleads ignorance as to when life begins in the womb. Nor does it know why we exist. It's not even sure if the chicken came before the egg or the egg came before the chicken. Scripture describes this ignorant world as "having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart" (Ephesians 4:18).

However, those who believe the Word of God know that the chicken came first, that God created us in the beginning, and that when someone has an abortion, they take a human life. They stop a human heartbeat. Dead. There is no nice way to put it: anyone who takes the life of their own child commits the most heinous of premeditated murders. May those who have done so find a place of mercy at the cross, before the Day of Judgment.For Evangelism Resources, please visit LivingWaters.com.

The Mountain of Evidence for Evolution

"There is indeed a mountain of evidence for evolution from fossil records to homology, chronology, distribution of space and time, geology, DNA, biochemistry, artificial selection ex. Wolf to dog, ecology, Nested hierarchies, embryology, comparative anatomy, geographical distribution, etc."

The above is typical of the modern cut-and-paste faith-filled atheist believer in evolution. The mass of proof he sees at a distance isn't even a molehill of evidence.

His problem is that he has never taken a close look at the mountain, and believes that he has a mammoth case with his long list. His "etc." means that he believes there are even more mountains, somewhere.

Maybe that works for the simple folk, but it doesn't work for those who know that his evolutionary fossil "record" doesn't exist. Of course fossils exist, but not as a record for evolution.

I don't have time to run down the long list of winding rabbit trails, other than to say that DNA is an incredibly complex "language", and to say that it's proof for evolution, rather than of intelligent design, is to confirm Psalm 14:1.

Also, you are not a primate, nor are you a relative of fish, pig, or the dog. You are a human being, created by God (with an intuitive knowledge of right and wrong), and therefore you are morally responsible to Him for your thoughts, words, and deeds...whether you believe it or not.For Evangelism Resources, please visit LivingWaters.com.

"I Hate You...I'm Going to Kill You!"

I read recently where mother from Texas was sentenced to probation, and lost custody of her children--for spanking her daughter! "Rosalina Gonzales of Corpus Christi pleaded guilty on Wednesday to injury to a child for swatting the two-year-old on her buttocks."

More than 53 million babies have been murdered in America through abortion, and the law says that's okay. No crime has been committed. But a judge makes a criminal out of a mother who disciples her child, and then he takes her children from her, leaving them without a mother.

Judge Jose Longoria said, "In the old days, maybe we got spanked, but there was a different quarrel. You don't spank children." What planet does this judge live on? In days of old we didn't have kids who murdered their parents, shot their schoolmates, lied daily, stole whatever they wanted, blasphemed as a normal part of conversation, or killed themselves with drugs and alcohol.

How is a parent supposed to discipline a child? Andy Griffith used the woodshed. But that was in the days of old, when Americans didn't even need to lock their doors. Nowadays we do. Today our prisons are full of people who weren't given proper boundaries at home, and now they have immovable boundaries given to them by the government.

In Psalm 1, Scripture gives us a clear picture of what a godly person should be, as well as the reward of this godliness.

"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper" (vv. 1–3).

Let's meditate on these verses to truly understand their meaning and consider how they apply to parenting.

God says that you are blessed (highly favored) if you don't listen to the world's advice. If you are tempted to heed the "counsel of the ungodly," consider that the world's "ex¬perts" believe mankind evolved from monkeys. A little thought on our part should help us see why it's wise not to listen to their ramblings, but rather listen to what the Creator has to say.

The fruit of the world's godless advice is seen in the headlines of the daily news. Their counsel may sound right, but so often it proves to be wrong. For example, the world says that if you love your children, you will never physically discipline them. It says to seek alternatives rather than inflicting physical pain.

In the Book of Proverbs, written by the wisest man who ever lived, God's Word gives the following counsel:

"Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child, but the rod of correction will drive it far from him." (Proverbs 22:15)

"The rod and reproof give wisdom, but a child left to himself brings shame to his mother." (Proverbs 29:15)

It's commonly said that he who spares the rod spoils the child, but God's Word actually puts it more strongly:

"He who spares his rod hates his son, but he who loves him disciplines him promptly." (Proverbs 13:24, emphasis added)

So there's your choice: listen to what seems right, or do what God says is right.

As parents, we should always do what the Word of God says to do, and often that's not easy. Applying the rod of correction (often called "the board of education") to "the seat of learning" takes resolution, as well as courage. But love will do it. The Bible says that in doing so you will save your children from hell (see Proverbs 23:13,14), and what parents want their children to go to end up in hell?

We should value the eternal welfare of our children, rather than our own temporal anxiety when it comes to applying discipline.

The contrast between God's ways and the world's ways were clearly demonstrated in an incident that occurred when our eldest son, Jacob, was six years old. We had a neighbor who would never even think of physically disciplining her six-year-old. When he refused to go to school, she would simply bribe him with candy.

One day Jacob said a word to his mother that he wasn't supposed to say. I sent him to his room, and then followed him a moment later. I asked him if he knew that what he said was wrong. He admitted that he did. I then told him to bend over his bed, and resolutely gave him a swift swat across his rear with a small stick. He burst into tears. I went to get him a tissue, then left him for ten minutes.

When I returned, I knelt down in front of him and we hugged. I then looked him in the eyes and said, "I want you to pray and ask God to forgive you, then go out to your mother and tell her that you are sorry." He did just that.

A few minutes later I was helping Sue dry the dishes while Jacob sat at the table, thoughtfully holding a pencil and paper. Suddenly I felt a tug on my shirt. It was Jacob. He reached up and handed me a note. It read: "I love my dad."

This made no sense to me. I had just caused him physical pain, yet even as a six-year-old he could discern that my motive was love.

In contrast, the neighbor's six-year-old would point a toy gun at his mother and say, "I hate you, I hate you. I'm going to kill you!" Of course, he wasn't disciplined for that either.

Tragically, the world refuses to use the rod of correction to drive "foolishness" from the hearts of their children. The foolishness therefore remains in their hearts as they grow (atheism is a case in point), and many children bring their parents nothing but grief by ending up pregnant, in prison, with drug or alcohol problems, or with broken marriages.

Adapted from How to Bring Your Children to Christ, and Keep Them There.

Picture: Andrew Bardwell, Cleveland, Ohio.For Evangelism Resources, please visit LivingWaters.com.

How to Drink a House

It's been said that if you have a question about something, ask a teenager. They know everything. Well, they think they do. One of my sons moved into an apartment with a couple of friends when he was a teenager. After about a year of his paying rent, I explained to him how much he could have saved if he had stayed at home. The thought of not paying rent, no utility bills, free food, and clean clothes must have spoken to him, because he moved back home and saved a bundle.

He was soon in a financial position to support the woman of his dreams. This happened around the time he purchased a pair of generic sneakers for about $20. He said that he realized he had been wasting money on high-priced designer brands just to look cool. My boy had become a man.

More recently a mother asked me to talk to her teenage daughter about tattoos. The daughter was tempted to get one, so I suggested that she wait until she was in her early 20s, and then make a decision. When I added that the difference between 19 and 22 was about 10 years, both mother and daughter nodded in agreement.

Tattoos are fine for those who want to mark themselves for life. I remember chatting with a very distressed man who complained that he couldn't get a job. I told him that the words "F- - - You!" that he had tattooed on his chin, could have had something to do with it. He reluctantly agreed.

Two nights before I was married I decided to find out if there was anything worthwhile in alcohol and tobacco. I drank eight double Bacardis and then chain-smoked 13 cigarettes. All that happened was that I ended up with a mouth that tasted horrible, and had to be carried home because I couldn't walk. Needless to say I didn't take up smoking or drinking. After becoming a Christian I saw the wisdom of my decision: "Fools, because of their transgression, and because of their iniquities, were afflicted" (Psalm 107:17).

After speaking with a friend (affectionately known as "Bear") about the subject of smoking and drinking, he told me that before he was a Christian, he drank "a whole house." He wasn't joking. He threw away enough money on alcohol to buy his own home. Now he is forced to live in a tiny rented house with his wife, son, and daughter-in-law, struggling week by week to make ends meet. His American dream went down the drain...flushed forever. But that's not the whole story. Alcohol doesn't just drain us of finances, it drains us of health. It not only deprived Bear of his own home, but left him with serious medical problems.

Bear also "smoked an SUV." He threw away thousands of dollars on cancer sticks--and the vehicle he could have owned went up in smoke. He estimated that he spent $47,000 on cigarettes and an incredible $170,000 on alcohol in the 23 years that he smoked and drank.

Now that Bear can see through the smoke, he's the first to admit that people who smoke are a little slow mentally. Think about what smokers do. They pay good money for cigarettes when they could just as easily wrap their lips around any exhaust pipe and get similar carcinogens. Tobacco smoke is poison.

Alcohol is also a poison. It's "toxic." That's why we call someone who is drunk "intoxicated." They are filled with poison. Hangovers are a good clue that the body doesn't like what is going down. It's trying to say, "No more, please."

Last month, I took time to chat with a teenager smoking outside of his workplace. He was on his break and had stepped outside for a breath of fresh air. As he breathed in the fresh air of toxic fumes, I explained what fun it is to die of emphysema. No doubt the naive kid thought that his lungs were like two paper bags that he filled with smoke, and then when he kind of squeezed them, he was able to make little smoke signals come out of his ashtray mouth. If the smoke was sending any signal, it was saying that where there's smoke, there's fire. In time, he was going to get burned.

I said that his lungs were made up of tiny holes, and every time he breathed in the poison of burning fumes, they were slowly clogging up with a black tar, and eventually he would suffocate. That means nothing to a healthy, breathing teenager—unless you can get him to experiment by closing his mouth and then blocking his nose, so that he can only breathe in the smallest amount of air. Doing that produces a sense of terror-stricken panic in the human mind. Try it for a moment, if you dare. That's what it's like to die of emphysema. And modern medicine can do nothing but stand by and watch you suffocate to death.

So my advice to a drinking smoker is that we only get one shot at this life. We should therefore make it our aim to be on target, and we can do that by thinking deeply about life's consequences. And while we're thinking clearly, we should give some sobering thought as to where we will spend eternity. If you are having such thoughts, you will find details about how to find everlasting life on www.needGod.comFor Evangelism Resources, please visit LivingWaters.com.

What Science Says...

One of the great mysteries about the holocaust was the seeming complicity of so many of the German people. Yet, I have watched World War 2 footage of the Allies (as they liberated Concentration camps) forcing those who lived around the death-camps, to go through them. They walked in with smiles on their faces and came out grief-stricken and horrified. I was left wondering how could they not know! They lived around the camps and could see the smoke billowing from the chimneys.

Didn't they know what was going on in their own backyard? Did they know but were they fearful of the Nazis, and therefore remained silent? Or did they seriously think that the camps were nothing more than some sort of wartime confinement housing for Jews?

Do you know about America's holocaust? Do you know about what's going on in your own backyard? Or do you know what's happening, but you think that it's not a baby in the womb, and therefore it's not a "holocaust" at all. You think that whatever it is that's growing within the womb is not human, and therefore can be eliminated like common waste. It's okay to get rid of it because it's not human. That's what Hitler said of the Jews. He said that they weren't human, and that justified their elimination.

Yet, we do know when life begins, and it's not when you or I or the mother feels it begins. According to science, it is at conception:

"Biologically speaking, human development begins at fertilization." The Biology of Prenatal Development, National Geographic, 2006.

"The two cells gradually and gracefully become one. This is the moment of conception, when an individual's unique set of DNA is created, a human signature that never existed before and will never be repeated." In the Womb, National Geographic, 2005.

So at the moment of conception there is infant human development. There is a living entity with its own unique DNA. So with those thoughts in mind, help me to finish this sentence if you can: "It's okay to kill a baby in the womb...when?"

Perhaps you answered that a pregnancy could be morally terminated in the case of rape. But why would you kill the child for the crime of the father? Which is worse, rape or murder? Why not support the mother and then have the baby adopted? Isn't it better to have a child adopted rather than kill it? If you don't like the thought of adoption and prefer abortion, could you kill the child yourself by cutting it in pieces, or would that be too difficult and you would you rather that a doctor do it for you?

I have some more questions for you. How do you make a moral decision about an important subject such as abortion? How do you know right from wrong? For example, how do you know if adultery is wrong? How about murder? Theft? Is theft ever right? Not according to the Bible. Even if you steal to feed your hungry family, it is still wrong, and according to Scripture if you are caught you have to pay seven times the amount you stole (see Proverbs 6:30-32).

Hopefully you know that murder and adultery are never right. So if you know that both murder and adultery are morally wrong, from where do you get that knowledge? If it is from what society says is right and wrong, you have a problem. Remember, what Hitler did, he did legally. In the case of Nazi Germany, society ruled murder to be right, and we live in a society that has done the same with the unborn.

If you and I advocate that the taking of a human life in the womb is a "right" then how are we any different than those who advocated the taking the lives of so many Jews? The answer is that we are not.

If you don't know God, and you are suddenly "born again" (see John 3:3-5), you will no doubt look back at yourself and say with John Newton "Amazing grace that saved a wretch like me." You will agree that the word "wretch" is well-chosen to describe how vile you were, because you will see yourself in truth—as a selfish, sin-loving contemptible person who advocated the murder of children in the womb.

You will enter your evil heart smiling, and come out grief-stricken and horrified at what you see.

May that day come quickly, not only for the sake of your own salvation, but for the sake of the thousands who will legally die today at the end of a sharp scalpel or from the agony of a burning saline solution. May it come quickly so that your vote won't be a vote that elevates prosperity above morality, as did the German vote not so long ago. Please, never, ever, vote for a man or a woman who believes that it is a right to kill the unborn.

NOTES: http://www.ehd.org/products_bpd_dvd.php
http://www.amazon.com/National-Geogra... Evangelism Resources, please visit LivingWaters.com.

Atheist Nail-hitter

Andy Duchemin said...Ray, I've been listening to the Living Waters podcasts and it's given me an insight as to how sly and underhanded your preaching can be. I think it was Kirk who was going through the good person test and if someone answered in the wrong way than he wanted to hear, there's a back-up plan to prove that the person is wrong. It's not a test, it's a trap, a condemnation...The self-assuredness that your friends show appears to be dishonest.

Andy...You hit the nail on the head. It is "a condemnation." However, it's not dishonest. Think of it like this. You are a devious criminal who refuses to give up his evil lifestyle, because you don't see it as being "evil." You consider lawlessness to be an exciting lifestyle. Besides, you've never been caught by the police. Not once.

I'm a police officer who has the difficult task of telling you about an special short-term amnesty, offered by the Chief of Police. You have a certain amount of time to surrender your weapons and change your lifestyle. After the door of amnesty closes there will be a big bust, and when that comes there will be no mercy, especially in the light of your ignoring the offer of amnesty. I have no alternative but to show you that you are already condemned with no way of escape, and that you would be a fool to neglect the offer of amnesty.

As a Christian, the only (and not very pleasant) way to convince you of your terrible danger is to point out the seriousness of your crimes against God....that you have "eyes full of adultery" and that lying lips are an abomination to Him. This is done by taking you through the moral Law (the Ten Commandments). You must be convinced that you are an enemy of God...that you hate Him "without cause," to the point of foolishly denying His very existence.

If you refuse to surrender to Jesus Christ and take advantage of God's incredible offer of amnesty (escape Hell and live forever), you will come under the deserved condemnation of His Law. The Bible says that you are already condemned (see John 3:17-18, 36).

There are three ways to know if I'm speaking the truth:

1. The very second you pass into eternity you will realize what a fool you have been to neglect the Savior, because you will know that it's too late to cry "God help me!!"

2. At the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, when the heavens depart and He comes in flaming fire "to render His anger with fury and His rebuke with flames of fire."

3. Upon your repentance and faith in Jesus. Obey the gospel and God with reveal Himself to you (see John 14:21), and you will know the truth and the truth will make you free. The gospel I am privileged to preach is backed by the power of God. The atheistic philosophy you have is backed by less than nothing.For Evangelism Resources, please visit LivingWaters.com.

Thanks for Your Thoughts

"Some of the disturbing personal attacks on Ray's mother are crossing the line. Who is monitoring this? Come on, what's the purpose of posting this kind of low class garbage?" Taiwan1997

Thank you for your concern. I am the one who has been monitoring the comments, and have deleted the bad ones. Those I have been letting through were pretty tame.

However, the nasty folks were a minority compared to all the kind and thoughtful words of most. Thank you.

I haven't been posting lately--not just because of my mother's death (by the way, I do have assurance of her salvation), but because God has placed something incredible into our hands.

It is very powerful and will no doubt become huge.

I'm not at liberty to share this with you at present, but will in the near future. I'm blown away by His incredible kindness.

Thanks for your patience. I may post again in a few days.For Evangelism Resources, please visit LivingWaters.com.

My Mother died last night. I will be taking a few days br...

My Mother died last night. I will be taking a few days break from posting. Thanks for your understanding.For Evangelism Resources, please visit LivingWaters.com.