The Way of the Master
Christian evangelist Ray Comfort is known for his use of fear as a tool to gain converts. While he is not the only one by a long shot who uses this tool, he is one of the more notable culprits.
Comfort and his completely straight heterosexual partner Kirk Cameron (aka Mike Seaver from Growing Pains) like to go around to spring break hotspots and harass (in a non-sexual manner) young, drunk, and attractive college students with the Ten Commandments.
Once they find people young enough to have never watched Growing Pains and have no idea who Mike Seaver was, they start the interrogation. The questions are moral questions which coincide with some of the Ten Commandments. For example, their first question is usually, “Have you ever lied?” To this most college aged people confess that they have on some occasion of another.
This is where Comfort starts getting really excited. He whips out his Bible and points to the Ten Commandments with his erect finger and asks, “You are a self-confessed liar and the Bible says, ‘Thou shall not bear false witness.’”
Most drunk college students are left without protection. They have no idea what to say while Comfort and Cameron shoot their loud all over the young student, “The Bible is Gods law and you broke that law and God is the judge. You’re guilty. You’re a criminal. You belong in Hell, but 2000 years ago Jesus paid your fine. So God can dismiss your case legally because Jesus suffered, died, and rose from the dead on the third day. Now you need to accept the sacrifice or burn in everlasting Hell.” The choice is clear, either be a Christian or Burn in Hell for all eternity, no pressure.
What’s wrong with this line of rhetoric? The list is a long one. First, Comfort and his boy-toy Cameron are preying on those who they believe can’t defend themselves adequately. They seem to enjoy harassing drunken college students who are not expecting to be bombarded with these types of questions. They are exploiting these people and preying on the vulnerable.
Second, when they bring out the Ten Commandments, they rarely talk about the Commandments that are obviously ridiculous. They don’t go around and ask college students if they have ever worked on a Saturday or coveted their neighbor’s ox.
Third, they have presented zero evidence that these commandments are “God’s Laws” or even that this God of theirs exists. There is no evidence for Hell and no evidence that someone will spend eternity there for breaking any of these Commandments.
Fourth, they are creating a problem that doesn’t exist and then presenting the only way out which conveniently is to join their cult.
Fifth, they are using fear to terrorize their victim into doing what they want them to do. There is a word for that… I wonder what that word might be? Umm…
Sixth, they introduce the flawed concept of vicarious redemption of wrongdoing. This last one is a dozy and will be the subject of an upcoming blog. It is an issue which concerns all of Christianity.
Filed under: Judge God, Preaching, ray comfort, Religion, Religious Manipulation, ten commandments
