The Atheist Delusion
- Video
- 2016
- 1h 2m
IMDb RATING
2.4/10
3.9K
YOUR RATING
Evangelist Ray Comfort attempts to prove the existence of God to various atheists.Evangelist Ray Comfort attempts to prove the existence of God to various atheists.Evangelist Ray Comfort attempts to prove the existence of God to various atheists.
- Awards
- 2 nominations
Richard Dawkins
- Self
- (archive footage)
Amanda Peet
- Self
- (archive footage)
Raven-Symoné
- Self
- (archive footage)
Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Self
- (archive footage)
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaAll entries contain spoilers
Featured review
mind games and mental gymnastics, but still no evidence
I used to be a born-again bible thumper and a fan of Ray Comfort. One of my desires before I left the faith was to find some form of irrefutable proof of God that atheists couldn't deny. Because I was sick of wishy-washy 'evidence'. I'm still looking.
Ray Comfort tends to dazzle with philosophical mind games and arguments that don't honestly represent the opposite side's position. This tends to be the trend of 'evidence' these days from Christians (like Sye Ten Bruggencate's schtick): philosophical mind games, yet ultimately zero genuine evidence of their god.
Here's some of the points brought up in the video:
This is the old 'tornado goes through a junkyard and creates a 747 jet' argument. It's a misrepresentation of evolution. We came from simpler lifeforms, likely going back to a single- celled organism - an organism that had some form of life that could mutate and eventually reproduce. DNA mutated and evolved, and natural selection took place.
A book and a jet are inanimate, so it's a poor analogy. There's no potential for a book to mutate. They are also their finished forms, humans did not start in a completed form. Life began with an extremely simple lifeform. No one knows where that lifeform came from, but that doesn't mean it's the Christian-God-who-sent-Jesus-to-die-for-your-sins-and-all-other-gods- are-false.
From an evolution perspective, we (and the chicken/egg) came from simpler lifeforms that over time became more complex. We didn't get amazing eyes in one birth, the process occurred over millions of years, from a lifeform with 'eyes' that could barely distinguish anything, to what we have today. It's natural selection: the mutation of better eyesight provided better survival, so the animals that survived passed on the gene to their offspring. Oh, and as for the chicken/egg scenario, technically the egg came first, since mutation occurs during reproduction.
Is that an excuse for eternal torment? Billy tells a few lies, looks at some porn, stole gum when he was 6, yet he deserves eternal torment in flames? Not even human justice is that cruel. And if all evil people need to be punished, what about those murderers who accept Christ on their death bed? They go to heaven and "enter into the joy of the Lord" with no punishment. Our justice system would still punish the person, even though they admitted they were wrong. The reasoning provided by Ray is certainly not proof that there's a hell.
That's a bit like seeing a light in the sky, and then assuming it's an alien from the Andromeda galaxy coming in a spacecraft to give you a certain kind of probe at 3:00am.
One of the big claims in the bible is that Jesus is the Messiah - the guy that's meant to usher in world peace and ultimately destroy evil. The concept of the messiah is from Judaism, and Christianity came along and claimed that Jesus is this messiah person. The problem is, if you research who the messiah is and what he needs to do, Jesus didn't meet the criteria. That's why most Jews don't believe in Jesus. They know their scriptures better than christians.
Overall, the movie is only an hour long and is worth a watch if you want to keep up with the arguments that pop christians are making these days. Oh, and Ray Comfort is looking more and more like a Jesus picture these days... I guess he'd take that as a compliment! None of this review is meant to be a personal attack on Ray, my intention is only to bring the arguments into question.
Ray Comfort tends to dazzle with philosophical mind games and arguments that don't honestly represent the opposite side's position. This tends to be the trend of 'evidence' these days from Christians (like Sye Ten Bruggencate's schtick): philosophical mind games, yet ultimately zero genuine evidence of their god.
Here's some of the points brought up in the video:
- Tornado in a Junkjard: Ray says, "Here's a book with words and illustrations, the book couldn't form itself and come from nothing, so something had to design it. Therefore, look at DNA, earth and living beings, something had to create it."
This is the old 'tornado goes through a junkyard and creates a 747 jet' argument. It's a misrepresentation of evolution. We came from simpler lifeforms, likely going back to a single- celled organism - an organism that had some form of life that could mutate and eventually reproduce. DNA mutated and evolved, and natural selection took place.
A book and a jet are inanimate, so it's a poor analogy. There's no potential for a book to mutate. They are also their finished forms, humans did not start in a completed form. Life began with an extremely simple lifeform. No one knows where that lifeform came from, but that doesn't mean it's the Christian-God-who-sent-Jesus-to-die-for-your-sins-and-all-other-gods- are-false.
- Chicken or Egg: Ray then goes on to say things like, "what came first in humans, blood or blood vessels?" Or, "What came first, the chicken or the egg?".
From an evolution perspective, we (and the chicken/egg) came from simpler lifeforms that over time became more complex. We didn't get amazing eyes in one birth, the process occurred over millions of years, from a lifeform with 'eyes' that could barely distinguish anything, to what we have today. It's natural selection: the mutation of better eyesight provided better survival, so the animals that survived passed on the gene to their offspring. Oh, and as for the chicken/egg scenario, technically the egg came first, since mutation occurs during reproduction.
- Perfect earth: Ray says, "The earth is in perfect position with just the right amount of distance from the sun for life" etc. This argument is perfect for evolution: if the conditions of earth weren't as they are, then we would not have evolved to be what we are. We're here *because* of those conditions. Natural selection caused us to evolve to eat meat, fruit, etc, in order to survive. If there were some weird other source of food, then we likely would've evolved to eat that instead. We are the result of our unique conditions. Life finds a way (thanks Dr Malcolm from Jurassic Park).
- Hell: Ray says "There has to be a hell because as humans we know that evil needs to be punished. Since we're created 'in the image of God', God therefore agrees that evil needs to be punished."
Is that an excuse for eternal torment? Billy tells a few lies, looks at some porn, stole gum when he was 6, yet he deserves eternal torment in flames? Not even human justice is that cruel. And if all evil people need to be punished, what about those murderers who accept Christ on their death bed? They go to heaven and "enter into the joy of the Lord" with no punishment. Our justice system would still punish the person, even though they admitted they were wrong. The reasoning provided by Ray is certainly not proof that there's a hell.
- Accept Christ: The last portion of the film is trying to convince people that they need to accept Christ, and that he provided a way for them to get to heaven. So we went from the possibility of there being some kind of creator, to the only creator being the God of the one true bible who sent himself to sacrifice himself unto himself, to fix a problem that he created.
That's a bit like seeing a light in the sky, and then assuming it's an alien from the Andromeda galaxy coming in a spacecraft to give you a certain kind of probe at 3:00am.
One of the big claims in the bible is that Jesus is the Messiah - the guy that's meant to usher in world peace and ultimately destroy evil. The concept of the messiah is from Judaism, and Christianity came along and claimed that Jesus is this messiah person. The problem is, if you research who the messiah is and what he needs to do, Jesus didn't meet the criteria. That's why most Jews don't believe in Jesus. They know their scriptures better than christians.
Overall, the movie is only an hour long and is worth a watch if you want to keep up with the arguments that pop christians are making these days. Oh, and Ray Comfort is looking more and more like a Jesus picture these days... I guess he'd take that as a compliment! None of this review is meant to be a personal attack on Ray, my intention is only to bring the arguments into question.
helpful•10853
- prizm4
- Sep 4, 2016
Details
- Runtime1 hour 2 minutes
- Color
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