God Doesn't Believe in Atheists (book)

God Doesn't Believe in Atheists: Proof That the Atheist Doesn't Exist is a book authored by Ray Comfort, published in 1993, with a foreword by mister Kent Hovind.

Content
In this book, Ray tries to make an argument that atheists do not exist and provide evidence of the supernatural.

BACK COVER:"''Contrary to popular opinion, the existence of God can be proven absolutely, scientifically, without reference to faith or even the Bible. It is also possible to prove that the Bible is supernatural in origin. This book will do just that.

It will also show the atheist that he doesn't exist, reveal the true motives of the agnostic, and strengthen the faith of the believer.''"

Foreword
In this section, Kent Hovind praises this book and attacks atheism. According to him, the debate of whether God exists or not continues. If there is a God, we should find out who he is and what he wants. However, if there is no god, we are in trouble since the earth is moving at great speeds into space with no one in charge. The universe operates according to natural law, and our safety is not a concern for the universe.

Hovind says anyone with eyes that can see and a brain that can work can obviously spot the evidence for a creator. He uses a different version of Paley's watch argument, that if you walked through the woods and found a painting on a tree, you would assume someone created that painting. We know a painting had a painter, but the core issue is contrasting between natural design or intelligent design.

Hovind claims in his 33 years of examining the creationism vs. evolution debate, he never encountered an atheist who did not use evolution to support his worldview. Hovind claims not a shred of evidence has been found to support evolution, and it requires a leap of faith to accept evolution, as well as to accept that there is no god. He claims that both atheism and evolution are religions.

Hovind ends his remarks by claiming this book is meant to open the eyes of atheists to make them see the evidence for a loving creator and they all must repent of their sins. And this review will show when and where the evidence presented stands up to scrutiny and if indeed Ray comfort made his case if there is a creator.

Introduction
Ray Comfort shares a story that he offered to debate atheists, such as the American Atheists Inc. They turned him down. He then challenged Ron Barrier (a spokesperson of American Atheists) to a debate, who at first turned him down, but then later challenged him due to, according to Ray, pressure from other atheists. Ray concluded that the Bible was right, "with God, nothing is impossible."

Chapter 1: Who made God?
According to Ray, there are only three explanations for the misery of the world:
 * 1) There isn't a god
 * 2) God doesn't have the power to control his own creations, or won't, "which makes him a tyrant"
 * 3) The Bible tells you the reason for the state of the world.

Faith is for Wimps
Here, Ray wonders why using the word faith is "offensive" to nonbelievers. Ray makes the argument that we all have faith of some sort, such as that we believe the milk we drink is safe because of faith, rather than for a reason, such as that it is pasteurized in health-inspected facilities. He claims that we cannot know if Napoleon existed or who discovered America. For the small things in life, Ray says we "trust" that the coffee cup is clean or trust the taxi driver to keep his hands on the wheel. Ray argues that we have faith in information provided by others, such as weather men, historians, or scientists. Therefore, Ray concludes that atheists have faith in "erroneous information" and think they are "atheistic in [their] beliefs."

Trump Card
Here Ray addresses the question "Who Made God?" Ray dances around this question by saying anyone can find the answer by being reasonable. Ray claims that God has no beginning and no end, and God is not subjected to time since he created time. Of course, Ray quotes Scripture to support his claims (such as 2 Peter 3:18 and Hebrews 6:19). Ray says that God can "flip through time as you can I can flip through the pages of a history book." Ray believes prophecies is enough evidence to support this claim.

Atheist Test
Finally, Ray tries to persuade readers that atheists do not exist. He provides a false definition of agnosticism and claims that atheists make an "absolute claim" that God does not exist. According to Ray, one must possess all the knowledge of the universe in order to make such a claim.

Ray ends this chapter with a tale of Mussolini. It is said that Mussolini stood on a pedestal, shouted "God, if you are there, strike me dead!" when God did not, he concluded that he did not exist. Ray says his prayer was answered later.

Chapter 2: Banana in hand
In this chapter, Ray provides arguments for "Creation." Among them are the coca-cola can, the banana argument, an apple, and other examples. His argument is basically that these could not have formed naturally and creation requires a creator.

Using the coca-cola can, he provides a straw man argument of the Big Bang theory.

In a section, he says his arguments are scientific because science provides evidence that a creation must have a creator.

He adds that atheism is a dying movement, providing quotes from articles but provides no reference.

Chapter 3: Seeing is Believing
In this chapter, Ray claims the evidence of God is self-evident.

Back to Da Vinci
Ray provides a whole section repeating his argument a "painting had a painter." He then says that since man has not been able to create something as complex and magnificent as the human eye, it must have been specially created.

Ray further argues that atheism is a position that claims everything came from nothing, and challenges any scientist on the planet to create something from nothing.

Albert Knew
Does not believing in something mean it does not exist? Ray says of course not. He argues a blind man may not believe in color, color still exists in the same way God exists.

Can we believe in things we have never seen? Ray says no and uses the human brain as an example. Since you have never seen your brain before, do you conclude it does not exist?

Ray also quote mines Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking deliberately to make it seem as they believed in god; however, neither of these men held such beliefs.

Ray ends this chapter by repeating the fine tuning argument, that is our earth is just in the right state of being for life to evolve.

Chapter 4: Strawberries and garlic
Ray begins this chapter by asking a series of questions, such as "Where does your hair grow from?" and "If you ever decide to get false teeth, will you have them made, or will you wait for 'chance' to make a pair for you?" in a attempt to drag the reader into wonder by thinking such instances can only be done by a creator.

Ray then uses arguments of irreducible complexity proposed by Michael Behe. Such examples include the blood clotting mechanism and argues such a system could not have evolved by small steps through natural selection.

Ray goes on to list several organs that seem irreducibly complex, such as the brain and the ear, and concludes that only a creator could design such features.

Ray ends this chapter by stating that even atheists stand in awe at such wonders of nature (Niagara Falls, the Grand Canyon, etc) and questions "How much more should we be humbled by the maker of these things?"

Chapter 5: Stronger than Sex Drive
In this chapter, Ray plays on people's fear of death and appeals to emotion. Since we all die, we have an inner feeling to avoid death. Unable to find an answer for how or why this is, Ray concludes this feeling is given to us by God. Ray promises that faith in God will present us everlasting life if we repent.

Ray uses an analogy similar to one he presented at the Nightline debate Rational Response Squad of a television and signals. He says radio waves are invisible flowing through the air and our minds are transmitters. He says if we just push the power button, we will receive signals and see a picture. The same, according to Ray, will happen if we accept God and Jesus Christ: we will have evidence of his existence and know his laws. He claims that people just "won't" find god, and chooses not to try.

In the last paragraph, Ray says (bold emphasis added) "[Christianity] maintains that the invisible God of creation can supernaturally reveal himself to you. Despite the fact that it is illogical, I have more that an air of confidence because what I am saying is provable." Ray asks skeptics to stop doubting and dares them to believe (despite the hundreds of reasons they can give why it will not work). He claims that people just "won't" find god, and chooses not to try. He says those who refuse to look at "willfully ignorant of the truth."

Chapter 6: Atheist Obstacles
Ray goes on to explain why atheists cannot defend their position.

"It is because the atheist is neither omniscient nor omnipresent that he then takes an illogical leap by concluding that there is no god, because it cannot be proven that he doesn't exist. Such reasoning is absurd."

Ray goes on to prayer and miracles, claiming since atheists do not pray, they will not see miracles. Ray uses a story of a dying child to prove miracles. If a child dies of some disease while the family attempted prayer to save them and the child dies, the atheist counts that as an unanswered prayer; if a child lives, it's again unanswered, because the child's body simply healed itself. Next Ray claims that the prayers were answered because, according to Ray, even if a child dies, because god "took him to heaven because he wanted the child there."

Ray talks about his car, and if it should become damaged, Ray argues, "What would be my intellectual capacity if I concluded that it had no manufacturer simply because I couldn't contact them about the dilemma? The fact of their existence has nothing to do with whether or not they return my calls."

Ray concludes in this chapter that God answers all prayers.

Ray then urges all readers, who are people in a failing airplane, to put on their parachute (faith in Jesus) and be saved before its too late.

Chapter 7: Worms transformed
Ray goes on to repeat another of his favorite arguments against evolution. He claims that each male of all species must find a mate, who also must be equally evolved and have a desire to mate, that is they both must have evolved sex organs that fit each other. Like bolt and nuts, according to Ray, they are meant to fit each other.

A Coincidence
When Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron ask how is it that leaves fall in a straight line and how our human bodies are like a car - perfectly designed with "little squirters called tear ducts."

Chapter 8: Tombstone face
In this chapter, Ray tries to persuade the reader to choose Christianity over all other religions. He uses his old guilt trip tactic "are you a good person?" in which he sets up a problem for everyone that only his God can fix by using the Ten Commandments.

Chapter 9: I'll resurrect her for you
Ray begins this chapter with a series of questions and asks why "pseudo intellectuals [who] know the answer to everything except the issues that really matter...they haven't the faintest idea what they are doing here on earth."

In a section called "The Assumption" Ray calls evolution a fairy tale since there is no evidence to support it.

Ray asks his readers to listen carefully to the language scientists use: believe, surmise, suspect, think, assume, perhaps, maybe, possibly, etc.

Ray then quotes Darwin, "I was a young man with unformed ideas, I threw out queries, suggestions, wondering all the time over everything: and to my astonishment the ideas took like wild fire. People made a religion out of them."

Moving on, Ray goes on to say those who believe in evolution is because of carbon dating. Ray quotes from an article by Time to show that carbon dating is faulty and cannot be trusted.

Once again, Ray goes on to cast doubt upon the readers on evolution. Ray asks "Did the fish first that crawled out of the ocean to be come an animal have lungs or gills?" and how could the giraffes neck evolve?

Ray himself quotes from several people, appealing to authority, such as Sir Arthur Keith, Malcolm Muggeridge, and other articles from Time.

Next, Ray talks about how scientists have been fooled by several hoaxes like Java Man, Heidelberg Man, Piltdown Man, etc. Ray goes on to basically say "dogs produce dogs. Cats produce cats. Horses produce foals, and so on and so on."

Ray discusses the Big Bang theory, and how an explosion only produces chaos instead of order, and thus evolution cannot be true.

On page 73, Ray adds "Mother nature can't do anything to stop the thousands of diseases that plague humanity. While evolution carries on for all of the animals, there will be no new lungs for those humans with emphysema and no new brains for those with brain disorders....The noses of those who live in Southern California will not evolve a smog filtration system, neither will orange pickers who have longer arms survive over the short-armed orange pickers. Men will not have their right hand evolve into a remote control, neither will drivers evolve hands-free cell phones on their chins."

Ray finally ends this chapter by claiming "If evolution is true, then the bible is not the creator's revelation to humanity."

Chapter 10: Who wrote the letter?
Comfort begins this chapter with a story of his conversion to Christianity. He is grateful that he has been given eternal life in Heaven and promised to read the Bible ever since to check if it is authentic and reliable.

Ray mentions and compliments the Dead Sea Scrolls, claiming they show Christianity has not changed.

To prove the Bible, Ray goes into discussing the scientific foreknowledge found in the Bible. The first one he brings up is Job:26:7 "He hangs the earth on nothing." Ray claims that this passage means that the earth simply floats in space while, according to Ray, science thought that it sat on a large animal, or giant.

Ray then uses an out of date quote from Time to claim that science is in agreement with the creation account of Genesis. "Most cosmologists...agree that the genesis account of creation, in imagining an initial void, may be uncannily close to the truth (Time, December 1976)".

Next, Ray claims: "Science expresses the universe in five terms: time, space, matter, power, and motion. Genesis 1:1-2 revealed such truths to the Hebrews in 1450 b.c. " In the beginning [time] god created [power] the heaven [space] and the earth [matter]…And the spirit of god moved [motion] upon the face of the waters…"

Not stopping there, Ray claims the Bible reveals "the earth is round" from Isaiah 40:22. There are other Bible verses that contradict the concept of a round earth, but rather a flat earth with ends (Matthew 4:8, Isaiah 11:12, Revelation 7:1, Psalms 67:7, Daniel 4:20, Luke 4:5, and much more).

Ray repeats the misquote of Albert Einstein in Chapter 3 to make it seem he believed in God.

Chapter 11: Benevolent Jelly
This chapter mainly consists of Ray Comfort preaching and repeating his usual theological arguments. He reminds people about sin and salvation through the blood of Christ and such.

Chapter 12: The real thing
In this chapter, Ray delves into the topic of Christians who perform horrible acts in the name of God (murder, war, genocide, etc.). Ray calls them "hypocrites" "pretenders" and "not real christians."

Chapter 13: Death Sentence for error
In this chapter Ray talks about bible prophecy, and how, if a prophet wasn't one hundred percent accurate, they would be put to death. This explains why many prophets spoke in very vague language, predicted inevitable outcomes, and often faked their prophecies.

Ray goes through all of these different "prophecies" and cites things that have happened in the world, such as murders, earthquakes, etc., and claims these are proof of the bible's prophecies.

Chapter 14: Bizarre to the insane
This chapter discusses information that governs our thoughts. Ray warns us what information we accept. This goes into the theory of evolution. Ray says, "If you believe a drink contains poison, you won't drink it. If you believe it is safe, you will drink it. If you believe evolution is true, and from that premise believe that the bible is false, then you won't repent."

Cozy Cocoon
Ray tries to explain how a Christian hides from such information that may harm their faith. Ray states that, like a caterpillar that wraps itself in its cocoon, a Christian likewise wraps himself/herself "with the rules and regulations, hiding from the real world in the cocoon of Christianity."

Light Relief
Ray repeats an old argument known as Pascal's Wager.

The chapter ends with Ray asking the reader to imagine and pretend Christianity is true and there is a Creator, Heaven, etc. "But if what I'm saying is true, the atheist will get the shock of his life - at his death. He will wake up dead, and will find that he truly has 'passed on'. I ask again, is it possible that you could be wrong? Come on, bend a little. Just between you and me, have you ever been wrong? Are you divinely infallible? Are you different from the rest of us?"

Chapter 15: Going for the spider
Ray hopes the reader is convinced by his arguments by now. He addresses atheists as intellectually embarrassing. Ray repeats his argument a plane had a plane maker and we are all in the plane but will all have to jump.

He uses an analogy that we are sinners and doomed to an eternity in hell. We are all like people on a plane that will soon fail. We can be saved with a parachute, and in this case faith in Jesus is our parachute. However, those passengers who accept evolution will not put on the parachute and wait for one to "evolve" under their chair.

The Main Objections
Here Ray addresses and generalizes non-Christians. By now, he expects us to be convinced that there is a Creator, now he moves on to talk about Judgment.

Ray says he is not here to convince anybody that the Moral Law exists, because everyone already know it exists because the Bible says so (Romans 2:15).

Ray portrays God as: see's your youth days; see's your thought life; and he is perfect, just, good, holy and utterly righteous. Then Ray begins to move through the Ten Commandments while taking a person down the are you a good person? routine.

Not Even a Groan
Ray walks the reader through his interpretation of the Ten Commandments, starting with blasphemy. He wonders why people use Jesus Christ as a curse word rather than Buddha.

Diamonds or Water?
Ray asks the audience if he handed him a fistful of diamonds or a bucket of water, which one would they choose. Ray says anybody in their right mind would not choose the diamonds. However, Ray changes the scenario that if he offered the same options to a person in the desert, the person would choose the water or else they would die. Ray says Christianity offers the choice of sparkly diamonds of sin or the water of everlasting life.

The chapter ends with Ray explaining why automobile safety commercials show us dummies wearing seat belts and then crashing. They show us these scenarios to scare us, because of the risk of a car accident is fatal and thus we should wear a seat belt. Ray says that we should put on our seat belt: faith in Christ. Ray admits this is why he uses fear tactics, so we will know we must always wear the seat belt.

Chapter 16: The Repellent
Throughout this chapter, Ray appeals to emotion, hoping the reader is uneasy and feels guilty for not following God's law and the Ten Commandments. Ray makes no further attempt to provide any proof for his claims, he just plays with people's fears and provides a solution that only his God can help. This ploy is called snake oil.

Ray addresses the readers conscience, questioning if it is functioning correctly and parallel to God's laws and sin. If the readers conscience is not pointing in the right direction, Jesus' sacrifice will guide us once we accept and acknowledge our sin and guilt.

Chapter 17: A Hopeful Presumption
At this point, Ray continues to make the reader feels uneasy and begins to ask if the reader is ready to accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior. He assures it's readers to have faith, and in time God will fulfill all his promises.

Once Ray is finished with this approach, he shares a personal story of experiences what it is like to become a Christian. He talks about his home New Zealand and voyage to the United States.

Chapter 18: Watch and Pray
Ray shares his experiences in street preaching and his thoughts on the violence in the United States. He explains that he thought the best tool to counter this suffering is prayer.

Unsatisfied with the role of religion in America, Ray shares his thoughts that churches and missionaries should return to preaching of hellfire and brimstone. Ray's idea of addressing the people is that they need to know God is an angry, vengeful God and will destroy us unless we repent. According to Ray, many preachers are immoral (such as cheating on their wives) and not following an example of God's law.

Chapter 19: The Lost Altar
Ray continues this chapter examining the ills of America. His reasons why these problems exist are predictable: not enough Christians (by Ray's definition) and the good news of salvation is not being widely distributed throughout the country.

Based on this, Ray instructs the reader what they should do to counteract the ills of America. This includes indoctrinating your children into Christianity.

Chapter 20: Tampering with the Recipe
In this chapter, Ray talks about how to make a marriage last. The advice is good, but can simply be reached through common sense really (like don't argue in front of kids).

At the beginning of the chapter, Ray talks about how christian marriages last, while others' don't, and how "nowadays secular and christian divorce statistics run hand in hand."

Chapter 21: If the average girl knew
Ray starts off with telling the reader about an experiment. Two people were placed in separate rooms (they could still see each other through a window) and each person was told to hit a button as fast as they could once they saw a light come on. The one who wasn't fast enough in reacting to the light, was shocked by the winner, and the winner could choose the amount of shock that the loser got. The scientist did the experiment with sober, and intoxicated individuals, and when intoxicated, people sent a higher voltage of a shock into the person, than when they were sober. Ray concludes that this "proves" that people are born "wicked," and states this is exactly what the Bible predicted. Ray argues all the scientist had to do was open the bible to learn of this "truth."

Ray next talks about a woman who wrote him about being terrified about potentially having homosexual thoughts. Ray goes into his bullshit about how people have been "hoodwinked into accepting many lies, and one of the greatest is that homosexuals are 'born that way'. If that is true, we are all born homosexuals."

Ray continues to talk about the "sinful nature" of humans, and how when you're a christian you should be even more aware of the fact that you're sinning all the time, it's just that when you're a christian, you feel guilty about it.

Next, Ray lists some things a person can do, in order to fight their feelings of "sexual lust" and of course claims that this is yet another sin.

Diving or Falling
Ray talks about how a "pretend christian" will "dive" into sin, while the true christian will "fall" into it. Basically, he's claiming that a true christian will do whatever they can to avoid sinning, yet Ray talks about his feeling guilty about taking "the biggest piece of chocolate cake," and that he can't help it, because of his sinful nature.

The rest of the chapter is simply Ray using examples from the Bible, about Peter, and his sin, and yet again contradicting himself, because he has used the bible...and for the remainder of the chapter too, for his so called proof.

At the end of the chapter, though he restates his position in his book about atheists only using that as a label as a "weak and transparent shield for sin," and quotes the Bible, Psalm 14:1: "The fool has said in his heart, 'There is no god'." Ray says "you no longer have to be a believer in the religion of atheism. You know there is a God. Your faith has been shattered. You don't believe you are an atheist."

Appendix: Reasoning for the Faith
This last part of the book goes over questions that Ray found at a "Hollywood atheist organization" (page 179), whatever that is, and attempts to answer them. Some of these questions Comfort doesn't even answer and goes around the question. For example: on the very first question, it asks how you would define god, and why you're so convinced there is one, and Ray simply states that "god is the creator, the upholder, and the sustainer of the universe. He revealed himself to Moses as the one and only true god" (page 179). He doesn't even really answer the question as to why he's convinced there is a god...unless it's because of what the bible says, though that's not a logical answer to say the least.

Ray responds that since color cannot be described, it does not mean color does not exist. He also mentions plant life beneath the sea and planets not seen or described by man, but they nevertheless exist.
 * Question 3: "how can something that cannot be described be said to exist?"

Ray answers no religion is "truer" than any other. He says religions strive to make peace with their creator, but Christianity does not do so. Instead peace has been given to man by Jesus. Ray concludes that Christianity is not a man made religion, but a personal relationship with Jesus.
 * Question 4: "Since there are countless religions in the world today claiming to be the one true religion, why do you think yours is truer than theirs?"

According to Ray, "Jesus discarded all other religions as a means of finding forgiveness of sin." Ray then quotes Bible verses that supports Jesus as being the one true God (John 14:6, 1 Timothy 2:5, and Acts 4:12).
 * Question 5: "Can more than one of these religions be right?"

First Ray offers a translation for the word 'evil' in that verse. He says it means "calamity" or "suffering." Ray says God uses good and bad things to bring us to a relationship with him, but he did not bring evil into being. Ray goes on to tell the story of Adam and Eve in the garden, and God gave him a choice to obey or not. Once they were aware of good and evil, it was up to them to choose between the two.
 * Question 15: "If God of the Bible is "all good," why does he himself say he created evil (Isaiah 45:7)?"

Ray simply answers no. He then goes on to mention from the Bible "'Come now, and let us reason together,' said the Lord." Ray then mentions Paul reasoned with King Agrippa and Felix.
 * Question 16: "Is there a better way than reason to acquire knowledge and truth?"

Ray says that at least every nation acknowledges there is a Creator. However, Ray says they worship the sun, moon and idols. Ray says no one has ever found an atheistic tribe, because they were not that ignorant.
 * Question 17: "If you answered #16 with "faith," then why are there so many contradictory faiths in the world?"

Ray simply responds that those who do not worship the one true god will find any replacement, whether it be multiple gods or small wooden idol.
 * Question 18: "If you believe, as many do, that all religions worship the same god under different names, how do you explain the existence of religions which have more than one god, or Buddhism, which, in its pure form, there is no god?"

Ray does not provide a suitable answer. Ray's respond is that he already has been convinced, during the 22 years of his unconverted life.
 * Question 19: "What would it take to convince you that you are wrong?"

Ray defines a cult as a "system of religious worship and ritual" which reflects every man made religion.
 * Question 20: "If nothing can convince you that you are wrong, then why should your faith be considered anything but a cult?"

To Ray, it does not matter how much of a moral life we live we are still born in sin and violate the Ten Commandments, and thus we are damned.
 * Question 21: "If an atheist lives a decent, moral life, why should a loving, compassionate God care whether we believe in him/her/it"

After examining their lifestyle, Ray claims those people who did deserve to die. They rejected God. When a judge finds a criminal guilty, criminals never see the judge as righteous.
 * Question 22: "How can the same God who, according to the Old Testament, killed everybody on earth except for eight people be considered anything other than evil?"

Ray says no, that bible verse is a "hyperbole." Ray says we should love God more than our families and ourselves. To place love in anything else, Ray considers it idolatry.
 * Question 23: "Must we hate ourselves and our families to be good Christians (Luke 14:26)?"

Ray says, unlike those other myths that died off, the Jesus myth is true and provable. All one has to do is accept Jesus into their heart and experience the truth.
 * Question 24: "Since the ancient world abounded with tales of resurrected Savior-Gods that were supposed to return from the dead to save humanity, why is the Jesus myth any more reliable than the others?"

Ray says there are no contradictory accounts in genesis. Gen. 1 explains creation while Gen. 2 goes into detail.
 * Question 25: "If the Bible is the inerrant word of God, why does it contain so many factual errors, such as the two contradictory accounts in Genesis?"

Ray says it is clear to those who obey God and those who are closed spirituality will not understand it.
 * Question 26: "Why isn't the Bible written in a straightforward way that leaves no doubt about what it means?"

Ray responds with the usual absurd argument about the communist regimes, and claims these were a result of atheism.
 * Question 28: if anyone has ever been killed in the name of atheism?