Mark 4: 13-20
And he said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How then will you understand all the parables?

The sower sows the word.

And these are the ones along the path, where the word is sown: when they hear, Satan immediately comes and takes away the word that is sown in them.

And these are the ones sown on rocky ground: the ones who, when they hear the word, immediately receive it with joy. And they have no root in themselves, but endure for a while; then, when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately they fall away.

And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.

But those that were sown on the good soil are the ones who hear the word and accept it and bear fruit, thirtyfold and sixtyfold and a hundredfold.”

Thanks!

I upset him to a point where he said that if I ever made contact with him again, he would have my email account shut down. He was really mad.

I can’t tell you his name because he is lawsuit-crazy, but I can tell you what I said to him. All I wrote was, “Judas lasted three and a half years. Yet you managed to fake it for 19 years! Amazing.” etc.

Isn’t it great how he exhibits Christian behavior by plagiarizing himself and kicking after people for years? The man has issues.
I have submitted a comment at his blog, but I doubt he’ll allow it posted.

Chris C said: A good argument is to ask Ray (or any party involved): Do you believe in Santa Claus (or the tooth fairy, or Easter Bunny, etc.)? He would say, “Of course not.” But at some point he probably really did believe that one or all of these ficticious creatures existed. Only now he’s come to his senses. So that means he never believed in the first place? Obviously he truly believed and has now been persuaded otherwise.

That wouldn’t be a “good” argument.
The Christian theology centers around a knowing Jesus Christ personally, not just believing a God exists. So therefore, all Ray, or any Christian would have to retaliate with is:

“I did believe that the Easter Bunny, Santa, the Tooth Fairy existed. Just like I still believe that God exists. The difference is, I eventually stepped out of the realm of just believing in God and into the realm of knowing God. That is an absurd thought with the other 3 characters, because they are truly “unknowable.”

Perhaps some of you have heard Ray’s heater analogy (with a child, his dad, and a heater) that explains this exact scenario.

Now, that still may seem like a “radical” idea to you, but I’m just saying, that’s probably what would be fired back. That is also largely the reason that Ray (and other evangelical Christians) say that people are false converts. That is, they lived purely with a belief, and never a knowledge. (There is Bible scripture to back up this idea, but I suppose you aren’t interested – and Karen – it isn’t a twisted interpretation of a verse, just a plain statement).

Like I say, that may seem like an off the wall idea, and totally ridiculous, but that’s a different topic.

I am not advocating for Ray, just trying to help. I enjoy reading your guys thoughts.

-A Christian

Epistaxis said,
…I’ve met another minister-turned-heretic from a less radical denomination, who said he actually knew several other preachers who didn’t really believe everything they were preaching…

I am not surprised. Being a Pastor is a fairly specialized profession and it would be challenging to change careers at mid-life (or later) if one lost his/her faith. I suppose there are some out there that continue on with their jobs even while no longer believing. Altogether, I hope the percentage of pastors doing this is small. It would be hard psychologically.

It should also be recognized that pastors work for the church. The pastor will almost always be better educated on theological matters than the congregation. But due to the expectations of the congregation, the pastor may feel compelled to preach certain literal biblical interpretations that he himself believes/knows to be only metaphoric or allegorical.

You know, it’s funny, but you atheists pay way more attention to Ray Comfort than any Christians I’ve ever met

Some years ago I was in a college freethought group, and Todd Friel (of the Cameron-Comfort-Friel trinity) debated Dan Barker. The auditorium was absolutely packed with some three or four hundred Christians who came because Todd told them to on his radio show. There were many amens when he spoke, and a little bit of hissing when Dan talked about having been a believer (which, of course, Todd said was a big lie, and that made Dan upset). We shouldn’t paint Christians with a large brush, but that’s because there’s every kind of them out there, including the loonies as well as the moderates.

On the other hand, I’ve met another minister-turned-heretic from a less radical denomination, who said he actually knew several other preachers who didn’t really believe everything they were preaching. Wolves in shepherds’ clothing, as it were.

That’s because he specifically targets atheists for his “ministry” – he’s not preaching to the choir. Thus most Christians haven’t heard of him like they have heard of evangelists who spend a lot of time writing books for and speaking to people who are already Christians.

Good point.