It’s bad. So bad that Ray Comfort is calling for “backup recruits” to help him manage his Facebook page.
Hundreds, if not thousands of atheists have become “followers” on Ray Comfort’s Facebook page, and he says that he needs help to reach them. There has been an influx of 80,000 followers in the last two months, and according to Facebook statistics the page has a “weekly total reach” of over a million people.
Comfort said, “I have looked at a number of other Facebook pages, and have seen an average of 30-40 comments from followers, however, it is not uncommon to get over 1,000 comments on one post on my page (one had over 1900 comments). With six posts each day we can’t possibly answer all their questions, and so I’m asking Christians to come and help–because this is a very real battle for a generation.”
Poor guy. He’s got his stated target audience in the palm of his hand and what does he do? He insults them. Ah, but who is his target audience?
If you want to reach atheists with the gospel, don’t spend too much time addressing their “carnal” mind with apologetics, because that is the place of hostility they have towards God’s moral requirements (see Romans 8:7). The Bibles says that they are “enemies of God in their minds.” Instead, do what Jesus did and address the ally of their conscience, using the moral Law (the Ten Commandments).
I always tell my copywriting students that insulting your target audience is never a way to gain a customer. But then, Comfort isn’t interested in converting those who disagree with him, he appears to be more interested in building his little empire. After all, as he builds this straw-man enemy, he can unite and ignite his group of followers.
The best-selling author and TV co-host is a little mystified as to why so many would camp on his page. “I guess they are bored with their godless life. Atheists aren’t the intellectuals they think they are. They think there’s no proof for the existence of God. They are like fish in the ocean saying that there’s no proof that water exists. They make mindless statements, such as there’s no evidence that Jesus Christ ever existed. I guess they don’t know what year it is. Most Christians find it a little uncomfortable diving into evangelism, and so this is an easy way to get their feet wet.”
Comfort added a caution though. “You will need a lot of patience because many show up as though they are God’s intellectual gift to the world. They are extremely arrogant, very condescending, they say things that aren’t true, and they use worn out arguments. My advice is to wait for a minute to calm down, and then show them love and respect. It is tempting to give a quick sarcastic reply, and that just adds fuel to their fire. It’s also important to know that I deliberately create a ‘buzz.’ I say things like ‘Evolution stands in the way of the science of discovery, summed up in Einstein’s ‘I want to know how God created this world.’ This brings them out in force, and gives us an opportunity to give sensible and biblical answers to their questions and objections.”
I have to wonder why any skeptic in their right mind would comment on his page. They have no hope of persuading him, his followers, or his lurkers. It seems like a waste of time when there are better things to do like… not engage in Comfort’s world… make a living… take a walk… go on a date… pretty much anything is better than supporting his fantasy world by personifying his strawman non-believer.
Comfort said that at first they were vicious, but they soon learned that the site has rules–no bad language or bad talk about God. After over 500 were permanently banned from the site for breaking those rules, others have cleaned up their act. “Christians need to keep in mind that atheists’ worldview allows them to lie and twist the Scriptures. They mock creation, say that God commands murder and the rape of women, and that the Bible is full of mistakes. However, the issue here isn’t about evolution, or even the existence of God. It’s about the pleasure of guilt-free sexual sin. Christianity threatens that freedom by saying that fornication and lust are morally wrong, and that God will hold them accountable. They love darkness and hate the light, and so they fight it with all their might and will hold back at nothing in their attempts to extinguish it. This is a wonderful opportunity to reach a Hell-bound world with the gospel of everlasting life. Please help us.” Comfort’s Facebook page can be found at www.facebook.com/official.Ray.Comfort or by using the search-words “Ray Comfort Facebook.”
Note the plug at the end. The guy knows his product, he knows where his cash comes from, he’s constructed a perfect “enemy,” he’s building quite a powerful platform. This is manipulative marketing at its finest.
Dang.
