MovieChat Forums > The Atheist Delusion (2016) Discussion > Sincere, but poor execution. Ray should ...

Sincere, but poor execution. Ray should consult Christian philosophers..


....and ask for their help. Ray Comfort has the money and staff to produce a quality film if he would recruit top Christian philosophers and scholars like Dr. William Lane Craig, Dr. John Lennox, Dr. N.T. Wright, and so many others. There are many outstanding evangelical thinkers who have spent lifetimes researching and addressing the major questions of life. They regularly engage PhDs at universities throughout the world as well as lay audiences of average, curious people, both Christian and non-Christian.

Instead, Ray puts together these embarrassing, poorly executed, "pop apologetics", amateurish, God-of-the-Gaps attempts which only impress his favorite buddies, like Kirk Cameron and Ken Ham. Then he brags that the atheists are voting down his ratings on IMDB because they are allegedly intimidated by his brilliant, undeniable arguments. Really, Ray? Is that the best you can do? Do you really think an elementary school playground argument like "You are a scare-D-cat! You know I can beat you so you run away from me!" No, Ray. They post criticisms and laugh at you because EVEN THINKING CHRISTIANS recognize that your arguments are extremely lame.

Ray, I commend you for wanting to do something to engage skeptics and anti-theists. I don't doubt that you are sincere. Yet, before spending a lot of money on these amateurish productions, why not take a course or two in Christian philosophy as well as apologetics at a top-ranked evangelical seminary? Why not ask some of the aforementioned Christian scholars (who are authors of textbooks used at major seminaries) to watch your videos and privately critique your ideas? Ask them why they don't use the weak arguments which you use in your films. Christian theologians and philosophers have been engaging the hard questions for over 2000 years. Do you think they might have something to teach you? Instead of "reinventing the wheel" (and producing a square tire), why not learn to be a good student before you presume to be everyone's teacher?

Ray, you are still paying the high price of that silly banana video where you revealed your appalling failures of logic (and your lack of common sense.) Your videos apparently please many of your donors, but they aren't convincing waves of atheists to become theists. Of course, in any case, that's not what the Great Commission calls upon us to do. The Gospel message is not a declaration of war on atheists and anti-theists (and please don't confuse the former with the latter.)

Do these kinds of videos convince gnostic and agnostic atheists to accept the Gospel message? No. Do these kinds of videos lead them to embrace a theistic viewpoint? No. Do such films convince your Christian brethren (and others) that you've discovered "logical proofs" for the existence of God? No. (Believe me, I've taught Christian philosophy at the graduate level and I'm familiar with peer-reviewed arguments for the existence of God. Your God-of-the-Gaps arguments don't even come close to being convincing arguments. They only convince your like-minded fans.

The Bible says that there is safety in many counselors. Ray, did you seek out many of the Christian academy's best scholars to help you produce the best possible arguments and films? Based upon the final product, you clearly you did not. It's embarrassing. The Christian world can do much better. The Bible says that God has given the Church gifted teachers. Use them. Help equip them. You simply have no idea what you are doing---and it shows in this film.

Ray, it's time to put your amateurish Banana-man days behind you. Take yourself out of center stage, step into the backgrounds, and work together with the best Christian philosophers to produce a much better product. It's time you and Ken Ham develop some humility and help those who have been gifted by God to display their best efforts.

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Well, I think that's because he's banking on the fact that most people are uneducated. You ever hear him debate an intellectual? I have. He gives the same apologetics, never really listens to the other point-of-view, and walks away believing he won. With the intellectual, he lost before he started. But with everyone else...

It's up in the air.

-Nam

I am on the road less traveled...

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Yes, Ray Comfort is always convinced that he just said something brilliant. He's the Kruger-Dunning Effect personified.

I wonder if my Christian brethren ever wonder why Ray's books and films are not required reading/viewing on the course syllabi at the top evangelical seminaries and graduate schools. Of course, there the students learn NOT to use the God-of-the-Gaps argument and to avoid Paley's Watchmaker analogy. Ray keeps repeating the worst of discredited Christian apologetics of long ago.

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