How to Know God Exists (book)

How to Know God Exists: Scientific Proof of God is a book authored by Ray Comfort.

Content
Ray Comfort hopes to provide a case that the existence of God can be proven, scientifically he says. Throughout the book, he provides many of his old arguments that are known to be flawed. He further displays a great lack of understanding of science. He bashes and targets atheism and evolution, as if disproving one position makes his win by default. Evolution does not disprove God, many Christians accept evolution and believe in God. Evolution, however, does contradict a literal interpretation of the book of Genesis, and this is precisely why Ray Comfort is defending; creationism. Creationism is the position everything was created by God out of thin air from nothing. The book of Genesis has God saying "Let there be..." and there was and it was good. This is a form of an incantation (i.e. MAGIC), and thus Ray is arguing for a supernatural position with science, but it is clear science cannot prove the supernatural.

Anyway, on with the review...

Chapter 1: Are Atheists Smarter than Most?
Ray starts off by telling a story of his wife and a series of events in his life. One of these includes accidentally walking into a room with a couple in their underwear. Based on this, Ray calls himself a klutz, but could a klutz make an case against evolution?

Ray outlines that if there is no God, then the only purpose in life is pleasure. However, if there is a God, then we are morally obliged to him.

Mr. Joe Average
Ray creates a character Joe Average, a typical atheist or agnostic.

Joe does not think about creation (perhaps, Ray, is because he knows there is no creation), but Comfort says Joe's body is a miracle machine. Ray compares it to a robot built in Japan. The differences between the two is that Joe has certain senses and can walk upright without someone holding it up. Ray goes into detail of the human anatomy and concludes this could only be the work of a designer. Mankind has given robots certain senses, such as light-sensitivity, movement sensors, and such. Recent robots have been manufactured to walk, dance, and perform tricks without a human holding it.

Ray goes on to look closely at Joe's life at breakfast, and how everything he eats came from a living creature. Joe then examines his environment with his senses, which Ray always calls "God-given." When asked to provide proof that God created the cow that produced the butter for Joe's toast, Ray challenges anyone to create a cow from nothing.

Ray provides a poll from 2007 that 91 percent of the American population believes in God. However, the recent poll shows it is close to 80. Ray questions if this minority is smarter than the majority. Ray defines an atheist as "someone who believes there is no God."

Ray ends this section that there is proof of God and his existence God can be proven, and this book will explain how.

The Sciences
Ray first notes that the reader should keep an open mind throughout the book.

Ray says God's existence can be proven in the following fields of science, Ray says the origin of the word "science" comes from the Latin word scientificus which means "producing knowledge."
 * Physical sciences (physics)
 * Earth sciences (the structure and compositions of earth)
 * Life sciences (biology)

Ray's first proposed evidence for the existence of God is the Anthropic principle.

According to Comfort, there are three types of knowledge that each can prove the existence of God, The first evidence for God Ray will examine is "creation."
 * Intellectual knowledge
 * Subconscious knowledge
 * Experiential knowledge

Millions of Years
Ray begins this section with his Coca-cola can analogy (which is a straw-man of the Big Bang Theory. Comfort's analogy is not even a hypothesis.) This is how it goes: ''there was nothing, which exploded and produced everything. Over billions of years, a big rock forms. On top of this rock forms a muddy puddle, from which metal arises. Then red and white paints fall from the sky and land on the metal, so accurately it forms words and pattens. And thus, the modern Coke can is formed.'' The response Ray provides is that his analogy is ridiculous. Ray tries to turns the table by saying: we know the coke can had a maker, to believe it formed on its own by random chance is too move into an intellectual-free zone.

Ray moves on from the Coke can and mentions on his show Way of the Master that Ray used this argument along with another analogy using the banana.

Comfort appeals to authority by quoting Sir Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein as men who believed there was a Creator. While Ray admits that Einstein did not believe in a personal God, Ray tries to portray him in that sort of life, such as by quoting friends of Einstein who viewed Einstein as a "disguised theologian." The reason why they accepted a creator, according to Ray, was because they could see order and design in the universe.

Ray uses his old arguments that a building had a builder and a painting had a painter, similarly creation proves there is a creator. Ray says you do not need faith to believe in a creator, you just need eyes that can see and a brain that works.

Chapter 2: Absurd in the Highest Degree
This chapter mainly addresses intelligent design and the human eye. Ray has used this argument many times, and it is still unconvincing as ever. He goes into detail about how marvelous the eye is, how fast blinking is, the light sensitive cells, sight, etc.

Ray includes several quote mines, most notable is the one from Charles Darwin. To suppose that the eye, with all its inimitable contrivances for adjusting the focus to different distances, for admitting different amounts of light, and for the correction of spherical and chromatic aberration, could have been formed by natural selection, seems, I freely confess, absurd in the highest possible degree.

Besides the eye, Ray focuses special attention on the ear and the nose.

Comfort ends the chapter by arguing that we don't need faith to know that God exists, because the Bible declares that God's existence is obvious from evidence.

Chapter 3: Is Evolution Scientific?
The first line of this chapter says "The foundation of atheism is the theory of evolution."

This chapter focuses on whether evolution is not only a fact, but also scientific. Ray includes a quote that explains evolution is a historical science and we search for fossils to fit the theory. It also states evolution cannot be directly tested. Ray argues that none of the scientists were there at the beginning, but if we want to prove evolution is true with historical evidence, we should find evidence for the following: All of these, according to Ray, should have evidence of random causes and natural explanations.
 * How the universe began
 * How life began
 * How we have such diversity of life

Origin of the Universe
Ray argues that people do not accept God because they cannot comprehend an eternal being, but they will accept what scientists tell them that the universe is eternal. Ray says if you accept an eternal universe, it is "logically" possible to accept an eternal being like God.

Ray goes on to explain scientists have proven the universe had a beginning (but he does not go any further than that to explain how). Ray brings up the question "Who created God?" but dances around it and does not answer it. Next he addresses the Big Bang Theory, which Ray claims it says everything came from nothing.

Comfort firmly believes the evidence (which he does not source) says the universe is not eternal and must have had a beginning. The two dilemmas set forth by Comfort are 1) where did matter come from and 2) what caused it to go "bang"?

Comfort quotes cosmologist Andrei Linde, professor of physics and Standford University, "The first, the main, problem is the very existence of the big bang. One may wonder, what came before? If space-time did not exist then, how could everything appear from nothing? What arose first? The universe or the laws determining its evolution? Explaining this initial singularity—where and when it all began—still remains the most intractable problem of modern cosmology."

Comfort uses his coke can argument, arguing that if people find it nonsense then how is the Big Bang any more scientific?

However, Comfort concludes that no matter what, we all must accept the "logical, reasonable, and scientific" conclusion: a uncaused cause. Comfort argues that there has never been an instance when something has come from nothing; such an occurrence is un-scientific.

Comfort provides a quote from Charles Darwin seeming to agree that there must have been a first cause and that cause was God. "The impossibility of conceiving that this grand an wondrous universe, with our conscious selves, arose through chance, seems to me the chief argument for the existence of God...I am aware that if we admit a first cause, the mind still craves to know whence it came and how it arose."

Next, Comfort quote-mines Stephen Hawking to give the appearance that he and Einstein agreed that the universe appears fine-tuned.

In conclusion, Comfort argues that evolution cannot account for the origin or complexity of the universe and the only options are 1) no one created everything out of nothing or 2) someone (an intelligent, omnipotent, eternal First Cause) created everything from nothing.

Origin of Life
Comfort argues that evolutionists must explain the origin of life because evolution requires non-life becoming life.

Comfort argues Louis Pasteur's Law of Biogenesis which disproves "spontaneous generation" that life can come from non-life.

Comfort says scientists have tried for years to build even the most simple building block of life, but all have failed.

Comfort quotes Sir Frederick Hoyle on the probability of "spontaneous generation."

On examining the complexity of the cell, Comfort introduces Michael Denton, a intelligent design proponent. Comfort says that there is no evidence of how life could have come into being (which is absolutely not true) but instead are finding examples of complexity that can only be the result of divine intervention.

Chapter 4: The Origin of Species
Comfort brings up several exposed frauds that supposedly proved evolution.

Ray brings up Archaeorapture. Comfort provides a quote from Storrs L. Olson (Curator of Birds at the National Museum of Natural History at the Smithsonian Museum), National Geographic has reached an all-time low for engaging in sensationalistic, unsubstantiated, tabloid journalism.... The idea of feathered dinosaurs ... is now fast becoming one of the grander scientific hoaxes of our age.

Ray moves on to address whale evolution. The first fossil he mentions is Pakicetus, and argues that all the evidence drawn from this a single skull and tells the reader that not a single bone in its body has ever been found. Later discoveries showed Pakicetus looked nothing like the original sketched by paleontologists.

Comfort argues that same features proves same creator.

Next, he brings up Piltdown Man.

Comfort even says the horse evolution is entirely fictional. He uses a quote from Boyce Rensberger addressing the fossil record and horses, The popularly-told example of horse evolution, suggesting a gradual sequence of changes from four-toed fox-sized creatures living nearly 50 million years ago to today’s much larger one-toed horse, has long been known to be wrong. Instead of gradual change, fossils of each intermediate species appear fully distinct, persist unchanged, and then become extinct. Transitional forms are unknown.

Near the end, Ray returns to his apologetic preaching tactics and playing with peoples fears instead of relying on actual empirical proof (so much for being scientific Ray). He uses his tactic are you a good person? and using the Ten Commandments. After questioning, based on God's standards if you will be guilty or not, Ray brings up recent polls that a majority of Americans think Hell is real.

Ray says Hell is a rightful place for people like Hitler. Comfort warns us that God also judges our thought life (greed, selflessness, pride, lust, hatred, etc.) Ray asks if the reader is concerned about their fate and are probably trying to figure out which religion to choose. Ray says he will explain why you should pick Christianity in the next chapter.

Chapter 5: Mutant Turtles
This chapter is mostly about mutants with very little to do with turtles. The only time Comfort mentions turtles is to question where are the transitional fossils for turtles.

Ray also briefly discusses vestigial organs, dismissing them as evidence for evolution on the grounds that they represent a loss rather than a gain of information, and because it can never be demonstrated conclusively that a vestige has no function.

Most of the chapter is about why mutations do not enable one "kind" to evolve into another. Ray spends a surprising number of lines and quote-mines to argue that mutations are random (this is in connection with a misunderstanding of punctuated equilibria, which Ray apparently thinks means that environmental pressures can cause a lizard to lay an egg that hatches out into a robin).

Ray argues that mutations do not "add information."

Ray goes on but provides several quote mines, including one from Francisco Ayala (a strong a critic of creationism and the intelligent design movement) to make the appearance Ayala thinks that mutations cannot accumulate into new structures. Ray concludes that even if mutations add information, this added information can't keep accumulating into a new structure. What use, Comfort asks (quoting Stephen Gould) would two percent of a wing be?

Chapter 6: Science and Atheism
Comfort repeats the fallacious fine-tuning argument, abiogenesis and evolution is impossible.

Ray asserts that there is no evidence to support evolution.

Comfort quote mines Stephen J. Gould that Homo sapiens is a "glorious accident."

Ray goes on to question the chances of evolution, that is that everything had to have happened at the right times.

The rest of the chapter consists of bringing up smart people who believed in God.

Ray asserts that science cannot contradict Christianity, since science arose in a Christian culture, and that faith itself cannot be a problem, since since we all have faith in something, whether God or human reason.

Chapter 7: Evolution's Strange Dilemma
Ray begins by pointing out that humans are widely religious; the overwhelming majority of humans today and historically accept not only that they were designed but that the Designer has (or designers have) a personal interest in them. If, Ray asks, evolution is supposed to have shaped our minds to grasp and deal with reality, why is there such widespread acceptance of Something that atheists insist is not real and has no real evidence? If evolution has shaped our faculties for purposes -- if we hunger because we need food, and food exists, and we feel thirsty because we need water and water exists, and we feel sexual desire because we need sex to reproduce (and it exists), then ought we not consider, indeed embrace, the idea that we (many of us, anyway) feel a need for God because God exists and we really need Him?

Ray notes that even surviving stone-age tribes accept that murder and theft and adultery are bad. Why, he asks, are humans uniquely and (almost) universally moral animals? He argues that without a Creator, we have no basis for absolute morals, so a moral nature is further evidence for a Creator.

Ray ends the chapter with his classic "are you a good person?"

Chapter 8: The Four Gifts
Ray begins this chapter presuming the reader believes in God and know that they will be judged. Ray then uses his parachute analogy, that is that if you were in a plane that was going down and people offered you a variety of gifts, you would reject them. However, when someone offers you a parachute, you take it and put your trust in it to save your life. He compares this parachute with faith in Jesus Christ.

Chapter 9: Three Wise Fools
These three skeptics are on their way to see a test of electricity. These skeptics do not "believe" in electric power because they cannot observe it. Even when they see a switched turned and a light bulb turned on, they still do not accept it because they find some apparent errors in a biographical sketch of Thomas Edison provided by the power company, and because electricity has been used to kill animals and people. They will not make the simple test to see if electricity is real.

Ray ends this chapter with a repeat of Pascal's Wager, reminding us that 10 out of 10 people die and we should embrace our fear of death and accept Christ.

Chapter 10: This Day Was Different
In this chapter, Ray tries to argue that the Bible is clearly of supernatural origin, and hence further proof of God, and that the Bible is not actually necessary in order to know God and be saved.

Ray offers two main lines of evidence for the supernatural inspiration of the scriptural text, knowledge of creation (nature) and knowledge of the future (prophecies).

Ray insists, in the section of this chapter, that "the scriptures tell us that the Earth is round ... not flat or square."

Ray also interprets Hebrews 11:3 as referring to atoms.

As for prophecies, none of the ones presented are accurate or true.

In conclusion, Ray Argues that we all have seen the evidence of Gods existence through creation, conscience, and conversion. Ray notes the Bible is not the whole source of conversion, since the early Christians did not have a complete form of the New Testament.

Chapter 11: Alleged Mistakes in the Bible
In this chapter, Ray tries to explain away the seeming contradictions in the Bible and counter claims by non-believers why the Bible should not be trusted. He says that God put is these contradictions to "snare" non-believers.

Ray says that all Christians believe Scripture is God inspired, citing 2 Timothy 3:16. What Ray does not share with the reader is that 2 Timothy, along with many other NT books, is considered by a vast majority of critical scholars to be pseudepigraphical, that is it was not written by Paul but by a forger. That is right, forgers have made it into the word of God.

Comfort explains the creation of Adam, consisting of three parts: the boy, soul, and spirit. Ray claims atheists have a soul, but no spirit and thus cannot understand God. He compares them to fish in the ocean who do not know they are surrounded by water.

Ray says that Adam died spiritually when he sinned and God removed his Spirit from Adam. And thus, all of Adam's descendants would be spiritually dead, because according to Ray, everything produces after its own "kind" - but he never explains what kind means.

Lot's Stupidity
Deuteronomy 25:11, 12. Ray cites this as proof brought forth by atheists to show the Bible cannot be trusted. It tells of a woman defending her husband, and if she should touch the attackers genitals then her hand must be cut off. Ray says this type of incident has not been found anywhere is Scripture.

Ray says that the Bible does not literally men cut off your arm. Mark 5:30 says the same, but Ray says it is not to be taken literally.

Next, Ray includes the story of Lot handing his own daughters to a crowd so they can rape them. Ray says the Scriptures are instructions, so he says do not offer your daughters up to a crowd.

Finally, Ray points out atheists objections to the food laws in Leviticus. Ray says the purpose of this was to separate the Israelites apart from their neighbors to keep the Israelites "pure."

Ray admits things may seem contradictory, when taken out of context.

A Nearsighted View
Comfort compares atheists to a nearsighted person looking at the Mona Lisa, that they cannot see the beauty and meaning of the whole picture. Here, he provides 12 examples of biblical contradictions presented by atheists to distrust the Bible.

2) Proverbs 3:13;4:7-10;19:8 and 1 Corinthians 1:19-21. Ray says Proverbs speak of wisdom coming from God, whereas Corinthians compares wisdom from God and wisdom from the "foolish world."

3) Numbers 15:24-28 and Hebrews 10:11. Ray says that the sacrifices in Numbers cannot provide perfect atonement, whereas Hebrews tells of the sacrifice of Jesus makes believers perfect in the eyes of God.

4) Exodus 20:8-11;31:15-17;35:1-3 and Romans 14:5; Colossians 2:14-16

5) Matthew 5:43,44;22:39 and Matthew 10:5

8) Deuteronomy 23:1 and Matthew 19:12

11) Psalm 30:5; Jeremiah 3:12; Micah 7:18 and Jeremiah 17:4; Matthew 25:46

12) Psalm 78:69; Ecclesiastics 1:4;3:14 and Psalm 102:25; Matthew 24:35; Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33; Hebrews 1:10,11; 2 Peter 3:10.

Chapter 12: Common Objections to Christianity
What about suffering - doesn't that prove there isn't a loving God? Ray addresses this by telling the reader to examine the soil producing weeds.

How can you love the God when the Bible encourages slavery? Ray says the Bible only "acknowledges" slavery.

Ray goes on to argue that slaves back then were like modern day servants.

Comfort says that the Laws of the Old Testament was not confined to slaves but to Israel, the Law for death was for blasphemers, adultery, homosexuality, rape, etc.

Finally, Ray says people obey the law when "there is a bite to it." He says murderers get free lunch, TV, gym hours, and such for many years. Ray says no wonder there were several hundred thousand murders in America in the 1990's.

The Bible says children should be stoned to death. Ray says that the law says parents of a drunk, rebellious youth had the option to take them to the elders to decide to stone them or not. Ray concludes this never happened because it is not mentioned again in Scripture.

What kind of God would tell Joshua to kill the Canaanites - every man, woman, and child? Ray tries to counter this with a story about his father leaving him each day to fend for himself while his father went to kill animals to provide food and shelter for them.

Hitler was a Christian! Here, Ray says that Hitler was brought up in a Roman Catholic background, but Ray says he later developed an anti-Christian worldview and believed in evolution. Ray cites Hitlers Table talk as proof Hitler was not a Christian.

What about Galileo - didn't the church persecute him? Ray says Galileo had the audacity to question what science believed of the day: geocentrism. Ray says that Galileo's scientific beliefs did not contradiction scripture, but contradicted the Roman Catholic Church and science of the day.

The Church is full of hypocrites. Ray says hypocrites may show up in church every Sunday, but there are no hypocrites in the church of Christ's body (what does that mean?).

Jesus Christ never existed. Ray says the entire New Testament is a historical record that confirms his existence and there is proof that a man named Jesus of Nazareth existed in the first century. Ray say that over 25,000 archaeological discoveries show the accuracy of the Bible. Ray then lists several secular sources: Josephus, the Babylonian Talmud, Pliny the Younger, Tacticus, etc.

Chapter 13: Confessions of a Rocket Scientist
Comfort passes the pen to a scientist, an engineer who makes the claim that everything must be created, because scientists discover that which exists while engineers create that which never did. He believes God is an engineer.

Before allowing the scientist to make a case, Comfort argues for three "evidences for the existence of God."
 * Creation. Using a coca-cola can as an example, Ray "theorizes" the origin of the can came from billions of years ago, when there was an unexplainable massive explosion in space, and from it came a rock and on the rock was a brown bubbling pool where after millions of years, aluminum came forth and created itself a tab on the top. Millions of years later, red and white paint fell from the sky and formed the words on the coca-cola can. Ray Comfort claims that if you find something that was created, there must be a creator. He claims that a building must have a builder and a painting must have a painter, even though you cannot see, touch, smell, hear, or taste him. This to Comfort is scientific proof of a creator and does not require faith to believe in a creator. According to Ray, all you need is eyes that can see and a brain works. Ray asks himself "can we scientifically prove that a painting had a painter?" He replies if we put a dozen scientists in a room with a painting, they will all answer that it indeed had a painter. Ray includes nothing more. He then says the human body is a very complex machine and the eye is perfect so there must be a designer. He then addresses those who are not convinced by his arguments as people who put themselves on an "intellectual pedestal."


 * Conscience. According to Ray, God put within each of us conscience when God made us in his image. This separates us from the other animals since we have the ability to know right from wrong. But, according to Ray, our conscience has "lost its life on the outside" and each of us are "self-admitted blaspheming, lying, thieving, adulterers at heart" and could only be restored by the Ten Commandments. He then goes on using his old tactic of are you a good person? In this speech, Ray very briefly tells the audience that he may sound preachy, but the gospel is the greatest evidence for God anyone could have.


 * Conversion According to Ray, if you believe in God and seek him out, you will find him and you will experience Jesus. "That is the ultimate proof" -Ray Comfort.

The scientist addresses the Big Bang Theory. He argues if the Big Bang were true, basing it on his assumption that the Big Bang says everything was spinning and then separated, that all planets and galaxies should be spinning the same direction, not in different directions. He claims that this theory is ridiculous, and yet scientific people have the gal to ridicule those who believe in God.

In a section, the scientists says "Despite the fact that the Bible was apparently written by mere men, so were all of my science texts."

Next, he claims that the scientific method cannot invalidate the claims made in the Bible, it is perfect because it is written by a perfect being.

The scientist says that he received a Masters of Science Degree in Aerospace Engineering, and came to the conclusion that creation requires a creator. He claimed to be seeking out truth, and found it in scripture.

Chapter 14: Why Bother?
Ray does not repeat the "evidences" for God, he just warns the readers how important their decision of where they would spend eternity is. Ray says the Bible provides an accurate warning and reason why we all deserve hell.

Ray deals with the passage in Deuteronomy 25:11-12, which prescribes that if a wife tries to rescue her husband from someone he's fighting by squeezing the other man's testicles, her hand must be cut off. Ray suggests that this passage is, like Jesus' command to pluck out our eyes if they tempt us to sin, is hyperbole, not literal prescription. And of course on his blog, if not in this book, Ray has insisted that, e.g. biblical references to the "windows of the sky" are purely figurative.

Here are the "proofs" Ray provided throughout this book, (with refutations in the comments section.)

1. First Cause argument: the Universe cannot come from nothing, and hence must come from an Intelligent Creator.

2. Design argument: no explanation exists or is possible for the mechanisms of life or the diversity and complexity of living things, except an Intelligent Designer.

3. Argument from General Human Experience: human beings agree that some things are right and others wrong, that human beings don't live up to their own moral standards, and that human beings want something that can't be found in this world.

4. Argument from specific Christian experience: True Christians know God personally, and you can too if you believe.

5. Argument from Biblical Information: The Bible contains facts about nature and about future events that was not naturally accessible to humans at the time it was written.

6. Pascal's Wager: Ten out of ten people die, and most of them don't want to. Let your fear of death humble your pride so that you can believe and repent.

There includes a dialogue between Todd Friel and a person named Jess.

Ray is glad we picked up this book and read it.

Ray ends this chapter with sharing his experience with Kirk Cameron filming an episode. After the filming, Ray decided to ride a bull. He held onto the bull by the horns. Ray calls himself am "intelligent, clear-thinking human being" however as we have seen throughout this book review that is certainly not true. He compares being "gored" by the bull and confronting atheists. Ray retells his motivation for spreading the gospel: Hell is real and people are going there. He encourages Christians to take the bull by the horns, confront the lost and sinned with Christian love and spread the gospel.