How to Know God Exists Answers many evolution books on the best–seller list. Ray Comfort is a well know TV and Radio personality. The style of writing is easy for everyone to follow.
Ray is the Founder and CEO of Living Waters and the best–selling author of more than 80 books, including, Hell's Best Kept Secret, Scientific Facts in the Bible, and The Evidence Bible. He co–hosts (with actor Kirk Cameron) the award–winning television program "The Way of the Master," seen in 200 countries. He is also the Executive Producer on the movies "Audacity," "180," "Evolution vs. God," and others, which have been seen by millions. He and his wife, Sue, live in Bellflower, California, where they have three grown children.
Despite some helpful insights, I felt discouraged by the book's obsession with discounting the theory of evolution. I do not personally find this a helpful conversation -- seeing no contradiction between evolution, science and faith. (See, for example, The Language of God by Francis Collins, leader of The Human Genome Project.)
Ray claims this is a scientific book filled with evidence, but instead it's a book filled with Ray trying to justify young earth creationism because that's what his holy book says.
In the beginning of his book he states that he takes believing in God seriously because of the implications. If there is no god we can do whatever we want; if there is a god the consequences of not believing in him are eternal. This sets up his mindset for the whole book. He isn’t willing to look at all sides because no matter what he is afraid of hell. He has chosen Pascal’s wager and there is no other way.
Every bit of “proof” and “evidence” that he gives is debatable at best, and extremely unscientific. He believes that the human body(eyes, ears, taste, etc.) is proof enough that God exists. He will not take into consideration that evolution has great explanations for how our bodies became so complex. He believes that Bible prophecy is proof of God’s existence, yet every bit of “fulfilled” prophecy he sites can be easily debated by historians and non believers. He also claims that the Big Bang is when nothing exploded into something…this is not scientific and shows how unknowledgeable he is when it comes to true science. The Big Bang is when infinitely dense energy rapidly expanded into the universe that we know today… Scientist don’t claim to know how that energy or when that energy began. It is a mystery that scientists are continually studying and trying to figure out. One of the many differences between scientists and Ray, are that scientists won’t say that the universe originated because of something supernatural when they don't know the answer. While Ray says that because we don’t know it must be God. His views remind me of those who lived long ago who believed that natural disasters and lightning were the gods in the heavens fighting with each other; when people don’t know and don’t want to understand science it's easy to just say God did it. I could say more about the other "proofs" he gave but they are all along the same lines as the above examples.
Towards the end of the book he began to evangelize to the reader. He did this by bringing up death and eternal punishment (hell) as well as trying to convince the reader that they are sinful, and should feel guilty and shame for everything they've ever done wrong. He says that if you've ever thought a lustful thought you deserve eternity in hell. This was the most frustrating aspect of this book. Trying to convert people by belittling them and threatening them with eternal torture.
I was hoping to read a book that was going to give good evidence and scientific research that would open my eyes to god again, but instead it's a book filled with personal opinions and shame filled proselytization.
Fantastic book from Ray Comfort. Ray is an absolute gift to our generation in the way he relentlessly challenges Christians to share their faith and challenges atheists and agnostics to have to live in their world view. But he does it with such logic and kindness and absolute love and care for those he talks to through his daily sharing of his faith or the many books he has written.
If you want a scriptural, scientific, logical and factual defense of Christianity, this is it!
“Troops of monkeys thundering away randomly at a typewriter could not produce the works of Shakespeare.”
Ray certainly took the bull by the horns in writing this book. The accounts of numerous renowned scientists denouncing evolution combined with irrefutable evidence of God’s existence presented in this book will strengthen the most devout Christians and certainly leave non believers speechless.
If I could give it less than 1 star, I would. This book raises an important question about the differences between science and religion but then proceeds to ignore the question entirely and move on to the authors personal quest for rationalizing his own faith. Poorly argued, a serious reader would be drawn away from (rather than toward) a religious basis for truth.
Not one of my normal reads, but I am branching out into spiritual/philosophical debates with science lately and was looking for one that had a more scientific approach instead of just "preaching" that specific individual's thoughts and agendas. I thought I had found it with this book going by the book blurb. I was definitely misled. I would not have disliked it as much if it had been more clear on what it was.
I was expecting a more scientific rational discussion with more than a person's opinion or "faith" to prove this sort of discussion that was promised on the back of the cover. Some of the "evidence" he presented seemed very flawed or left out parts which happens in any debate so I shouldn't have been so surprised. I am not again spiritual or religion or God. However, I was kind of upset to be promised a book about applying "basic logic" when discussing "evidence for the existence of God". I was curious to see what the author believed "God" would be which is actually part of the reason I picked it up as usually in these type of debates or discussions, the author's belief will come across. Comments about how there are elements of the Bible that is confusing or contradictory can appear that way due to being pulled out of context....well, no. The Bible is said to have been written by many different people with literally tons of different translations from the actual documents and verbal accounts. Things will obviously get translated or misinterpreted which is why I always would recommend trying to find the source documents or the most accurate source documents in the original language to study (which is in two different languages so definitely time consuming). So when the author decides to use "logic" to prove his arguments regarding that, he states that as a "Christian i have the choice to doubt or to trust. Based on my knowledge of God's ability and His integrity, I have chosen the latter." That goes off into "faith" and not scientific proof as they are two different things. AGain, if he had not marketed or promoted the book as being a scientific discourse without resorting to just "faith" and "trust as the author is doing. It sort of defeats his intention if he is trying to convert someone (at least coming from a reader's perspective". For some, this book would be a comfort and a great read, but at the same time, I have a feeling they are not the "aethists" or "other pagans' he is trying to reach to argue with. I have my own personal beliefs and the tone of the book did not work for me as again, it is promoted as using evidence outside the source of "faith, but using a "100% scientific proof" which definitely made me feel misled on what I bought.
Would recommend for Christians, those curious to see how one Christian fellow debates proof of God, and the potential curious layperson regarding the subject. Would not recommend for those who are expecting a more science based approach with little reference to the Bible to support his arguments or "proof".
Surprisingly it lost it's momentum, precision, and persuasion when he stopped talking about science and started talking about Christianity.
I don't disbelieve evolution but I do think there is a problem with the nuances of the theory and this book lays the problems down very nicely, (I could tell it was a summary of the real on going argument though) although it reaches a radical conclusion. Wouldnt take this as proof for God though. The theory of evolution neither proves nor disproves God so by 'disproving' the theory the author is mainly going after a red herring.
Ultimately I conclude the author failed to reach his goal. This book was motivating when I read it years ago but right now it mainly seems problematic unless you want an basic introduction to the evolution debate or want to hear about how many scientists believed in God. (The conclusion there, which I agree with, is that faith and reason are not seperate nor contradictory)
I don't know how anyone can read books like this and Case For Christ and walk away still unbelieving. It takes more faith to believe we are here by random chance, which in itself goes against the laws of science, than it does to believe we were all created by an Intelligent Designer. I choose the latter. I highly recommend this book!
Disclaimer: I only listened to this one on Audible.
While this book is a little outside my normal scope (being in the realm of apologetics), I found some of the argumentation really good and some lacking at times. Lacking in that I don’t think unbelievers would be convinced by some of the rational, i.e. arguments that rely on telling an unbeliever who doesn’t believe the 10 commandments to be Gods law that they have broken said standard. I’m in total agreement that this is true but as a manner of apologetics, I’d probably navigate to that point a little differently. On the other hand, the beginning of the book was excellent at presenting the foolishness of ideas such as something coming from nothing and random creation of life.
As far as the scientific data Ray presents, I’m with Ray that scholarship always claims that whatever is currently being circulated is the truth and as COVID has proven, a lot of PhDs doesn’t always mean a lot of right analysis. For example, in the early 2000s it was taught that the seemingly more complex organism had more complex gene data than simper creatures. Well, turns out moss and rice are more genetically complex than a human is. Said differently, a computer could more easily type out a code for a human than your bag of rice on the shelf. Or to take another example that Ray doesn’t use, 1970s fear of global cooling or early 1900s belief that cigarettes are good for your health. Again, some of the information presented and refuted is again outside of my scope.
Plain, Straightforward and Understandable Approach.
This is a straight comparison, scientific alignment between Evolutionism and Creationism. Whilst there’s some discussion about Thermodynamics which, quite frankly, went quickly marching over my head, there were very, many more verbal examples which were compelling!
To be fair, it seems to me that it takes a lot more concerted faith to become an Atheist rather than a Christian. He’s approaching it as a Theist, but there is significant research of and reference to, famous Atheists, which he quoted from ,,to substantiate the ‘argument’ one way or another.
I liked the use of visual imagery to absolutely bring a point home. It is very affective (the car and the can of coke was the best for me). Take notes with an ample sized note book - as there is So Much within this little tome
It takes itself seriously, but is lighthearted in doing so. I saw a potential Avenue to discuss in with friends and work colleagues, whilst avoiding the name calling!
I listened to the audiobook version of this title. This was read really well by Jim Denison. I’m sure that he gets Ray’s personality over, admirably - he comes across as a socially inclusive person. This will be revisited many times as, there are very many nuggets to digest. A straightforward and understandable account which, I think is hard to dispute.
This book is full of such strawman arguments about atheists and evolutionary biologists position. Almost every argument comfort makes was rebuked by Dawkins in the god delusion. Dawkins mentioned each theist claim comfort makes almost word for word before rebuking them so much so that half way through the book I started to think god delusion was a direct response to this book but was shocked when comfort referenced it later on. I had to look up the release date and found out this was published a year after Dawkins. Did comfort read god delusion take out all the theist arguments Dawkins addresses and turn it into a book? Seems that way. Overall it got better as it progressed but that first chapter had me wanting to bang my head against the table. Comfort makes stupid claims such as “Atheists think we evolved from monkeys” “bananas are a sign god exists” and a ridiculous analogy about finding a coke can on the moon which actually proves the opposite of what comfort is claiming. It would be insane to think that coke can appeared magically through supernatural forces which is what he thinks happened with humans. The airplane analogy is also a strawman as it relies on the assumption we know we are going to hell in order for it to wo
This is a good apologectics book by evangelist Ray Comfort. Mr. Comfort does a good job of using evidences, quotes from renowned scientists, hypothetical situations, and anecdotes to make the clear case that the only rationally consistent worldview is Christianity. I found especially interesting the section on scientific statements found within the Bible that were written well ahead of their discovery by scientists. The founders of many branches of science were Bible believing Christians who preceeded from the asumption that the natural world would exhibit fingerprints of its designer (God) and the natural laws would reflect the special revelation of his word. The law of conservation of mass/energy, the law of increasing entropy, the pathways in the sea (ocean currents), the hydrologic cycle, the spherical shape of the earth, deep ocean springs, and other examples mentioned in scripture centuries ahead of their scientific discovery points to a supernatural intelligence behind the scriptures. Also interesting is the section on the many prophetic passages in the Bible that have been fulfilled in exact detail. This book is easy to read, entertaining, written in everyday language and thought provoking.
I read a book recently, and overall, I thought it was decent. The author emphasized the importance of understanding that faith and repentance are the keys to salvation, rather than good works. However, there were a couple of parts that I found confusing or unhelpful.
One chapter in particular seemed to suggest that the Bible and church were not very important, which I strongly disagree with. It's possible that I misunderstood the author's intent, but the writing was unclear.
Additionally, I didn't find the radio conversation transcript at the end of the book to be very helpful.
If those two parts were removed, I would give this book a higher rating of 4 or 5 stars. I also noticed that the Bible verses used were not from the KJV.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Let me make one thing very clear, this book has a rocky start. However, the overall message is solid. I was worried at the start of the book. Let’s put it this way, if you’re going to mention two examples of robots to make a point about intelligent design, you might want to mention both of those robots by name. Only one of them is. ( only CB2 is mentioned by name.)
Outside of this one blunder, the book offers compelling logical explanations and raises genuine questions that will cause any thinking person to pause and think for a moment.
Don’t just read or listen to this book. Look up the articles and books mentioned within. I think anyone who can put aside their own biases will have a much easier time absorbing the material and analyzing it objectively.
I am a Catholic and I live with solidly Christian beliefs and honestly this man couldn’t convince me that God exists despite the fact that I already know and fully believe that He does. Ray’s use of science is genuinely insulting to Christians. As a scientist myself, I can confidently say that based on what I just read, this man has zero business talking about science. At all. Some of the things he said honestly made me laugh out loud (and not in a good way)… Sort of embarrassing. I was hoping for some good, legitimate arguments. I found none in this book. In fact I genuinely hope that atheists wouldn’t come across this book because it will only strengthen their resolve.
God's existence is so evident. . . even a "klutz" like Ray Comfort can prove it. (Such he describes himself in this book) I venture to say, a person with an open mind cannot read this book and still believe God is a hoax. Comfort brings out some powerful points to illustrated God's existence. In my own book, The Box Top to Life's Puzzle, I recommend this book as a great source to help settle, in any doubter's mind, that God does indeed exist.
Best researched, most straightforward synopsis of why God exists. Employing logic, reason, expert testimony, and hard evidence, Ray Comfort makes an ironclad case for Theism. His honest, gentle, sincere approach to a difficult, divisive subject is a powerful testament to the power of faith and belief. The "Go-to" book for any atheist or agnostic searching for clear answers to theistic questions.
I have had conversations with people from every faith over the years. The faith of atheism has always been one of the most difficult to explain God to; because they usually say "science", and that somehow explains away a connection between religion and science. This book packs an amazing amount of scientific evidence that any honest person will have to admit, no one can hide behind their idolatry of creating their own god.
If you're an atheist or someone of another religion besides Christianity, or even a skeptical Christian, I think you should read this. It really sums it all up on why we Christians believe what we do. Before you go mocking one of us, you really should study up by reading this or researching the religion yourself. But I would say this book does the best at explaining what you need to know.
I like Ray Comfort and am in awe of his love for the lost, but I found this book flawed from the beginning. Being outside of a natural world, it seems a waste of time to scientifically prove God’s existence because you can’t. The book had some good points, but the idea that you must be a young earth creationist to be a Christian is problematic for me.
Was a good book. Lots of information to help think and know facts about Christianity and Jesus. For those who say they don’t believe it is a good book. Christians are not dumb or confused is what this book helps explain.
I didn't read the book. But I watched Ray Confort's conversation with atheist Matt Dillahunty on youtube and Comfort presented no evidence for God. If the author will not even present this evidence in a debate, it must be garbage.
Such a good read for those who feel like science and Christianity cannot co-exist. The author shows how instead of refuting the idea of religion, science increasingly gives us little choice but to believe in a divine creator.
Simple work on apologetics I didn’t like the section where he tried to remove the word of God from Evangelism. Could have been said different bc the scriptures are our proof text and a must.