Crock-o-Duck Strikes Back

April 15, 2012 By vorjack 32 Comments

The banana was amusing. It was easy to refute and easy to skewer.

Crock-o-duck is annoying. Every time I run into it, I realize that we’re going to have to start from the very beginning and dispel all the common misunderstandings about evolution before proceeding. It’s fractally wrong.

This is from Way of the Master: Prague, part of the dynamic duo’s trek through Europe spreading the good news of crock-o-duck. Sorry, Europe, but religious ignorance seems to be the only thing that America can export these days.

Via American Jesus.

(Note: Do we really need separate “Oh the Stupidity!” and “Ray Comfort Mania” tags? Isn’t the second just a sub-category of the first?)

Filed Under: Evolution, Oh the Stupidity!, Ray Comfort Mania, Videos 32 Comments

Blogging in the Underworld

March 12, 2012 By vorjack 10 Comments

The hounds at The Wild Hunt have sniffed out a strange relic from back in 2006. Apparently, Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort “infiltrated” a Druid ritual put on by the Raven’s Cry Grove in Southern California.

Comfort and Cameron made a secret recording of the ritual. (which is at least unethical and likely illegal, but whatev.) They played clips of it on their adventure on the “Way of the Master” podcast, but that particular episode seems to have disappeared. Fortunately, the “satanic panic” quasi-parody site Objective Ministries saved a copy of that segment, and it’s available on their website.

“If listening to Pagan religions try to contact their deities gives you the creeps … um, Sean Hannity is on, you might want to tune in to him.”

I’m sorry, but what’s the difference? Are you telling me that Hannity isn’t offering up incense to the genius of Ronald Reagan?

Most of the problems that Cameron seems to have with the group come down to the fact that this isn’t Protestant Christianity. Words like “orthodoxy” don’t have much meaning without a power structure to enforce them. I think he’s a bit confused by the fluidity and diversity of the movement. Since his ministry is dedicated to reducing Christianity into a series of non-negotiable bullet-points, his reaction doesn’t surprise me.

At least Cameron does seem to have paid attention. Or at least, read their website. Which is what makes the whole thing so baffling.

Do you think that Druids are really a strange and secretive lot? Read their blogs.

Do you think your Johnny is dabbling in dark magic? Check his Facebook page.

Think it may be Satanism? Well, is it Theistic Satanism or Non-theistic Satanism? Perhaps you’d better read some of their faqs.

Honestly, if there was an evil occult conspiracy, it would have a blog circle, a webforum and half a dozen junior members policing its Wikipedia page.

Filed Under: Christianity, Oh the Stupidity!, Ray Comfort Mania 10 Comments

Monumental Failure

February 13, 2012 By vorjack 33 Comments

Kirk Cameron makes a “Christian Nation” documentary. Yes, it’s as bad as you think …

Honestly, I’ve been sick this past week, so I don’t have the energy to pick this apart. I’ll leave it up to you. My only regret is that it’s probably too silly to garner any attention from more serious historians. I suspect you could write a book on the fallacies.

Via Jesus Needs New Pr.

Filed Under: Oh the Stupidity!, Ray Comfort Mania, Videos 33 Comments

Slingstones for Jesus

February 6, 2012 By vorjack 19 Comments

Via Remnant of Giants, a bit of Ray Comfort’s blog, Words of Comfort:

If you have a passion to reach the unsaved with the gospel, you are going to confront Goliath. This is the giant the Bible calls “the spirit of fear” that will come against you and taunt you the moment you decide to reach out to the lost. When it’s a one-to-one encounter or you are preparing to preach open air to a crowd, you will hear his tormenting voice telling you that what you are about to do will result in you being torn limb from limb and fed to the birds. [...]

This sort of fear certainly has “torment,” and the only way to overcome it is to do what David did. He slung Goliath a straight-forward mind-impressing message that he wasn’t going to be deterred, and then he cut of his head. That silenced his big and loud mouth.

I think that the slingstone is the perfect analogy for Comfort’s methods of evangelism. It’s quick, straight-forward, easy to understand and intuitive in its operation. It’s also completely unencumbered by any depth, complexity, strategy or nuance.

If Ray Comfort were a weapon, he’d be a slingstone. If he were a piece of writing, he’d be a Hallmark card. If he were a vehicle, he’d be a unicycle. His goal seems to be to make Christian theology – a profound system of thought that has benefited from the greatest minds of the west for almost 2000 years – and make it fit on a bumper sticker.

Filed Under: Ray Comfort Mania 19 Comments

Just Say No to Tracts

July 5, 2011 By vorjack 35 Comments

I’ve always regarded evangelical tracts as the lowest, least meaningful kind of evangelism. So I was interested in Trisha Ramos’ blog post Why I Use Gospel Tracts. She lists her reasons, but the first one alone was enough to stop me, “1. People can get saved by reading one – it has happened before and can happen again.”

Really? I just have a hard time imagining someone reading a typical tract and having a conversion experience. Tracts are almost always tersely written pieces where the arguments take a back seat to illustrations and proof texts. They are written by people who already believe and can’t seem to overcome their preconceptions long enough to reach out to a non-believer.

Arni Zachariassen over at I Think I Believe has the same problem I do:

But here’s an honest question: Has anyone ever heard of a person who actually has become a Christian after reading a tract? I’ve asked people who have handed out tracts if they had ever heard back and none of them could respond in the affirmative. I presume, since tracts exist in the first place, that they were useful once upon a time. But I cannot believe people still use them because they remain useful.

I think tracts are popular because they’re a cheap and easy way to evangelize. I’ve heard stories of evangelicals being racked with guilt because they failed to witness to the person next to them on the bus. That person may now go to hell, and the evangelical couldn’t work up the guts to start the usual spiel.

But you don’t need much courage to slip a tract into their bag while they’re not looking. There, guilt avoided.

Arni takes it a step farther:

Just look at how excited Trish is after having handed out her tracts. You feel like you’re doing something good for God, so you’re happy. You feel like you’re in enemy territory and you’re up against great opposition, which gets the adrenaline pumping. Your work might actually save someone, which makes you hopeful and optimistic. I think it’s this emotional high combined with the very little effort required to hand out a tract that’s the reason tracts, as useless as they are, still proliferate.

So tracts are a drug. I think we need a tract prevention ad campaign. Any ideas?

Filed Under: Christianity, Ray Comfort Mania 35 Comments
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