Evidence Bible: Irrefutable Evidence for the Thinking Mind

Evidence Bible: Irrefutable Evidence for the Thinking Mind is an evangelical Christian book authored by Ray Comfort and endorsed by Josh McDowell and Franklin Graham.

Contents

The Evidence Bible contains books from the New Testament, in addition to Psalms and Proverbs from the Old Testament. Each chapter includes footnotes, annotations, and sections addressing certain questions, points, or objections.

Throughout this book, Ray tries to show the Bibilical scientific foreknowledge in the Bible and presents a case against evolution, skepticism, atheism, and non-Christian views. However, he uses many logical fallacies and lots of creationist propaganda.

Questions and Answers

Questions and Answers

RationalWiki Responses

Who made God?

On page 82 in another Question and Answer bit, they ask the question: "Who made god?" And they answer with: "To one who examines the evidence, there can be no doubt that god exists. Every building has a builder. Everything made has a maker. The fact of the existence of the creator is axiomatic (self-evident). That's why the bible says, 'The fool has said in his heart there is no god' (Psalm 14:1). The professing atheist denies the common sense given to him by god, and defends his belief by thinking that the question 'who made god?' can't be answered. This, he thinks, gives him license to deny the existence of god." "The question of who made god can be answered by simply looking at space and asking, 'Does space have an end?' Obviously it doesn't. If there is a brick wall with 'The end' written on it, the question arises, 'What is behind the brick wall?' Strain the mind though it may, we have to believe (have faith) that space has no beginning and no end. The same applies with god. He has no beginning and no end. He is eternal." "The bible also informs us that time is a dimension that god created, into which man was subjected. It even tells us that one day time will no longer exist. That will be called 'eternity.' God himself dwells outside of the dimension he created (2 Timothy 1:9, Titus 1:2). He dwells in eternity and is not subject to time. God spoke history before it came into being. He can move through time as a man flips through a history book. Because we live in the dimension of time, logic and reason demand that everything must have a beginning and an end. We can understand the concept of god's eternal nature the same way we understand the concept of space having no beginning and no end – by faith. We simply have to believe they are so, even though such thoughts put a strain on our distinctly insufficient cerebrum."

Equating these attributes to God (timeless, transcendent, etc) is just as valid and credible as giving these traits to galatic sky pixies. Ray admits only by faith he holds that the specific entity with these traits is his narrow version of God. Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron did not fully answer the question "who created God?" Space and God are not fully the same thing. According to the Big Bang Theory, time and space appeared simultaneously in the universe. If time didn't exist before this then what does "God created time" mean? Also, critical scholars agree that the books 2 Timothy and Titus were not written by Paul, but rather by forgers.

Abortion

On page 117, they talk about what god supposedly has to say about abortion, and how "taking the life of the unborn is clearly murder." They say that, "god's word says that he personally made each one of us, and has a plan for each life: 'Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.' (Jeremiah 1:5)"

If God knew us and has a plan, then he knew and planned every abortion and miscarriage. In Hosea 13:16: "The people of Samaria must bear their guilt, because they have rebelled against their god. They will fall by the sword; their little ones will be dashed to the ground, their pregnant women ripped open." Moreover, Numbers 5:16-27 seem to prescribe the application a primitive, unreliable abortifacient (namely, water, oil, and whatever germy mess the priest scrapes up off the floor) as part of a trial by ordeal for a woman whose husband kinda has a feeling she's been running around on him. It's safe to say Biblical morality does not itself proscribe abortion.

Contradictions in the Resurrection Account

On page 259 it asks: "There are contradictions in the resurrection accounts. Did christ appear first to the women or to his disciples?" Their answer: "Both Matthew and Mark list women as the first to see the resurrected christ. Mark says, 'He appeared first to Mary Magdalene" (16:9). But Paul lists Peter (Cephas) as the first one to see christ after his resurrection (1 Corr. 15:5). Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene, then to the other women, and then to Peter. Paul was not giving a complete list, but only the important one for his purpose. Since only men's testimony was considered legal or official in the first century, it is understandable that the apostle would not list the women as witnesses in his defense of the resurrection here."

Or Paul did not know about Mary, or perhaps flat out believes that Jesus never appeared to a woman first.

Religious wars

On page 324 they ask: "Religion has caused more wars then anything else in history." They reply with stating that there have many people who have used religion for political gain. They say that, in John 16:2-3 that there will be some who, in their error, commit atrocities and murder in the name of god. However, they say, that these people are not true believers, and will be dealt with on judgment day."

This is a fallacy known as the No true Scotsman fallacy.

Seeing is Believing?

Page 444 they try to answer another skeptics question: "Seeing is believing. If I can't see it, I don't believe it exists." They answer: "We believe in many things that we can't see. Ask a skeptic if he has ever seen the wind. Has he seen history? Has he ever seen his brain? We see the effects of the wind, but the wind is invisible. We have records of history, but it is by 'faith' that we believe certain historical events happened. Television waves are invisible, but an antenna and a receiver can detect their presence. The unregenerate man likewise has a 'receiver.' However, the receiver (his spirit) is dead because of sin (Ephesians 2:1). He needs to be plugged into the life of god; then he will come alive and be aware of the invisible spiritual realm."

Every religion claims to believe as they do because of reason, education, or intelligence given by their god in revelation. But whether they admit it or not, all of them are assuming their preferred conclusions on faith, and this would still be true even if all of their gods exist. Believe as hard as you want to. But convincing yourself however firmly still can’t change the reality of things. Seeing is believing. But seeing isn’t knowing. Believing isn’t knowing. Subjective convictions are meaningless in science, and eyewitness testimony is the least reliable form of evidence. For example, if I go into my front yard and I see a large sauropod walking down the middle of my street, I will of course be quite convinced of what I see. I may be even more satisfied when I follow the thing and find that I can touch it, maybe even ride it if I want to. When I gather sense enough to run back for my camcorder, I may not be able to find the beast again, because I don't know which way it went. But that doesn’t matter because I saw it, I heard it, felt it, smelt it and I remember all that clearly with a sober and rational mind. But somehow I'm the only one who ever noticed it, and of course no one believes me. Some other guy says he saw a dinosaur too, but his description was completely different, such that we can’t both be talking about the same thing. So it doesn't matter how convinced I am that it really happened. It might not have. When days go by and there are still no tracks, no excrement, no destruction, no sign of the beast at all, no other witnesses who’s testimony lends credence to mine, and no explanation for how a 20-meter long dinosaur could just disappear in the suburbs of a major metropolis, much less how it could have appeared there in the first place, -then it becomes much easier to explain how there could be only two witnesses who can’t agree on what they think they saw, than it is to explain all the impossibilities against that dinosaur ever really being there. Positive claims require positive evidence. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and that’s what I’d need –since what I propose isn’t just extraordinary; its impossible. But since there's not one fact I can show that anyone can measure or otherwise confirm, then my perspective is still subjective -and thus uncertain. Eventually, even I, the eyewitness, would have to admit that, although I did see it, I still don’t know if it was ever really there –regardless whether I still believe that it was. It doesn’t matter how convinced you are; belief does not equal knowledge. The difference is that knowledge can always be tested for accuracy where mere beliefs often can not be. No matter how positively you think you know it, if you can’t show it, then you don’t know it, and you shouldn’t say that you do. Nor would you if you really cared about the truth. Knowledge is demonstrable, measurable. But faith is often a matter of pretending to know what you know you really don't know, and that no one even can know, and which you merely believe -often for no good reason at all.

Circular Reasoning

On page 492 they pose as the skeptic and ask: "Christians can't use 'circular reasoning' by trying to prove the bible by quoting from the bible!" Their response: "The 'circular reasoning' argument is absurd. That's like saying you can't prove that the president lives in the white house by looking into the white house. It is looking into the white house that will provide the necessary proof. The fulfilled prophecies, the amazing consistency, and the many scientific statements of the bible prove it to be the word of god. They provide evidence that it is supernatural in origin."

Their white house analogy is absurd. Comparing the Bible to a building with a resident is fallacious. We can verify that the building exists and a leader of a country dwells in it, but when compared to a holy book, there is no external evidence to verify that its contents are true. There is no evidence for miraculous events like the dead rising from their graves after Jesus' death (as recorded in Matthew).

Church Persecution of Galileo

On page 679 they ask the following: "Didn't the church persecute Galileo?" They argue the christian church therefore should not be blamed for his imprisonment. It was the Roman Catholic church that persecuted Galileo.

Roman Catholics are Christians. A Christian is someone who accepts there is a God, Jesus is the key to salvation, and the Bible is God's Word. So yes, Christians can be blamed for the persecution of Galileo. Galileo's discoveries were in conflict with the teachings of the Bible, so the church choose to continue to believe in faith while trying to silence all heresy. Some Christians try to do the same today with the theory of evolution.

Joy in Heaven?

On page 808 they pose a skeptic's question and try to answer it: "How can people be happy in heaven, knowing that their unsaved loved ones are suffering in hell?" They respond: "Those who ask such questions fall into the category of those who asked jesus a similar question. The Sadducees said that a certain woman had seven consecutive husbands, so whose wife will she be in heaven (Mark 12:23)?" Jesus answered by saying that they neither knew the scriptures nor the power of god. The unregenerate mind has no concept of god's mind or his infinite power. If god can speak the sun into existence; if he can see every thought of every human heart at the same time; if he can create the human eye with it's 137,000,000 light sensitive cells, then he can handle the minor details of our eternal salvation. John writes that in heaven 'we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is'(1 John 3:2), so perhaps we will be fully satisfied that god is perfectly just and merciful, and that he gave every individual the opportunity to accept or reject him. However he works it out, god promises that there will not be sorrow or crying in heaven. Our focus in heaven won't be our own loss, but our own gain."

Here they are merely speculating about what god might do, and how heaven might be, though where is their evidence? Even they are unsure, because they are using their own "language of speculation," with using the word "perhaps." But regardless of what the clearly fallible bible claims, Ray and Kirk's seemingly uncaring attitude is disturbing, saying that no one should care about their loved ones while they are burning for eternity. Claiming that those in heaven should just think about themselves, and no one else in hell, is just horrible and selfish.

Against Science

*On page 130 it says: "At least six different radiometric dating methods are available. The assumed age of the sample will dictate which dating is used because each will give a different result."

Measurements of atomic decay are generally considered one of the most accurate ways of measuring the age of an object, and these measurements form the basis for the scientifically accepted age of the earth. There are many different variations of the radiometric dating technique such as radiocarbon, argon-argon, iodine-xenon, lanthanum-barium, lead-lead, lutetium-hafnium, neon-neon, potassium-argon, rhenium-osmium, rubidium-strontium, samarium-neodymium, uranium-lead, uranium-lead-helium, uranium-thorium, uranium-uranium, and fission track, of which every single one will date objects far older than 10,000 years. Fission track dating is a radiometric dating technique that can be used to determine the age of crystalline materials that contain uranium. As uranium decays, it sends out atomic fragments, which leave scars or "fission tracks" in crystalline structures. Because decaying uranium emits fragments at a constant rate, the number of fission tracks correlates to the age of the object. This method is generally held to be accurate, as it shows a high degree of concordance with other methods such as potassium-argon dating.

Against Evolution

Anti-Evolution statements

RationalWiki Responses

On page 80 Ray tries to disprove macro-evolution. They say, "While we do see what we call microevolution- variations within species (different types of dogs for instance)- we don't see any evidence of macroevolution- one species evolving into another species. Microevolution is observable, while macroevolution takes a tremendous leap of faith."

This is another blatant lie. Macroevolution does not take any faith at all. There are massive amounts of evidence for macroevolution, not to mention that speciation and macroevolution have been directly observed, repeatably tested and proven beyond a shadow of a doubt.

On page 92 they talk about why the peppered moth experiments did not prove evolution. The nocturnal peppered moth does not rest of the trunks of trees during the day. In fact, despite over 40 years of intense field study, only two peppered moths have ever been seen naturally resting on tree trunks! So where did all the evolution textbook pictures of peppered moths on different colored trees come from? They were all staged. The moths were glued, pinned, or placed onto tree trunks and their pictures taken. The scientists who used these pictures in their books to prove evolution all conveniently forgot to tell their readers this fact. If the best example of evolution is not true, how about all their other supposed examples? It makes you wonder doesn't it?" (Mark Varney)

The comment that moths do not rest on trees that is false: Peppered moths do not rest exclusively on tree trunks, but they do rest there. Of the forty-seven moths one researcher found in the wild, twelve were on trunks and twenty were on trunk/branch joints. (The other fifteen were on branches). The numbers and proportion on trunks near light traps were even higher (Majerus 1998, 123). Photos showing moths on trunks were staged but only for purposes of illustration. The photographs depict what is found in the wild, whether trunk or branch. Furthermore, the photos played no part in the scientific research or its conclusions.

On page 210, they repeat the same old argument the blood clotting system is irreducibly complex proposed by Michael Behe: "To form a blood clot there must be twelve specific individual chemical reactions in our blood. If evolution is true, and if this 12-step process didn't happen in the first generation (i.e. if any one of these specific reactions failed to operate in their exact reaction and order), no creatures would have survived. They would all have bled to death!"

The blood clotting system has been shown to be reducible.

On page 485, they discuss their classic arguments about Piltdown Man, Nebraska Man, Java Man, Heidelberg Man, and Neanderthal Man, trying to convince people that this is some of the only evidence that evolution has ever come up with, or that some of these are not valid finds, as far as fossils are concerned, but there are some big problems with their claims.

One hoax cannot indicate the inferiority of conventional archeology, because creationists have several of their own, including Paluxy footprints, the Calaveras skull, Moab and Malachite Man, and others. More telling is how people deal with these hoaxes. When Piltdown was exposed, it stopped being used as evidence. The creationist hoaxes, however, can still be found cited as if they were real. Piltdown has been over and done with for decades, but the dishonesty of creationist hoaxes continues.

On page 486 in the inset titled 'Missing Link Still Missing' they claim that Archaeoraptor was a fake.

However, the missing link is not missing (and it has not been for a very long time) and Archaeoraptor was not ever published in any scientific journals. Only a handful of scientists ever saw Archaeoraptor, but every one who did noted that it was composite piece, and the artistic amateurs who paid for the fossil were repeatedly warned that some parts of it might not even belong to the whole. Popular press foolishly scooped the story prior to peer review, where it was instantly exposed as a fake by multiple experts, and each submission to scientific journals was immediately rejected. Archaeoraptor therefore fooled no one in the scientific community at all. The irony there is that the tail of the alleged Archaeoraptor turned out to belong to the as-yet undiscovered Microraptor, a four-winged and apparently gliding feathered dinosaur which turned out to be even more compelling proof of avian evolution from dinosaurs than Archeopteryx was in Darwin’s day.

On page 486 he quotes from Time' magazine, "Scientists concede that their most cherished theories are based on embarrassingly few fossil fragments and that huge gaps exist in the fossil record." TIME Magazine, Nov. 7, 1977.

This quote is over 30 years old and many new discoveries have happened since then.

On page 580, Ray states that the evidence for evolution is lacking. He mentions Kent Hovind's $250,000 prize to anyone who can prove evolution.

However, this challenged is a fraud and intentionally made impossible to pass. Similar to Ray Comfort's challenge to anyone to present a "living transitional fossil." The challenge is deliberately constructed so nothing counts, and the contact is set up to bounce all entries.

On page 780 they depict a picture from a creationist pamphlet, attempting to disprove evolution.

The pamphlet is called "Big Daddy?" It is a small anti-evolution comic book tract by evangelist Jack Chick. From that same pamphlet grew a new lie from creationists. In that pamphlet of supposed 'failed transitionals from monkey to man' included the fossil of “New Guinea mam." This fossil never existed, and from this lie sprout new creationist propaganda, which reveals how lazy creationists are at doing their background research (Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron are no exception).

Against the Big Bang Theory

Anti-Big-band Claims

RationalWiki Responses

In a Questions and objections section, they ask: 'Doesn't the big bang theory disprove the genesis account of creation?' Ray responds "Try to think of any explosion that has produced order. Does a terrorist bomb create harmony? Big bangs cause chaos. How could a big bang produce a rose, apple trees, fish, sunsets, the seasons, humming birds, polar bears-thousands of birds and animals, each with its own eyes, nose and mouth? A child can see that there is 'grand design' in creation."

This is a straw man. The big bang was not an explosion. It was an expansion of space/time. For the sake of argument, can bombs create order? Absolutely. Powerful explosions can compress carbon into diamond crystals, the most ordered arrangement. The Big Bang does not say suddenly trees, fishes, and such were made directly afterward. Nor is the big bang what caused life. That is a complete misunderstanding of the whole concept. Later on, once the universe formed, elements come together. From these elements, under environmental factors, begin to form simple organisms. Evolution explains how life diversifies, not how it began. Since evolution at every level is -by definition- limited to the variation of allele frequencies inherited over generations of living organisms, then it obviously can’t operate where no genomes yet exist. The evolutionary process starts with genetics and can’t start before it. The big bang (or however the universes came to be) has no real relevance to the fact that evolution of plants and animals happened on this planet.

Against Atheists

Bashing Atheists

RationalWiki Responses

On page 48, Comfort talks about atheists: "It is much more reasonable to believe that this publication had no printer then to believe that there is no god. Who in his right mind would ever believe that no one compiled its pages, no one produced the graphic art, and no one printed it. The publication happened by chance...from nothing. There was no paper, no ink, no cardboard, and no glue. The paper just came into being (from nothing), and then trimmed itself into perfectly straight edges. All the words fell into place, forming coherent sentences, and then the graphic art appeared. The pages fell into numerical order, and finally the book bound itself. The fact that there was a printer is axiomatic (self-evident), so it would be intellectually insulting to even begin to argue for the case of the printers existence. For the same reason, the bible does not enter into the case for god's existence. It simply begins by stating, 'In the beginning…' 'It takes no brains to be an atheist. Any stupid person can deny the existence of a supernatural power because man's physical senses cannot detect it. But there cannot be ignored the influence of conscience, the respect we feel for the moral law, the mystery of first life…or the marvelous order in which the universe moves about us on this earth. All of these evidence the handiwork of the beneficent deity…' - Dwight Eisenhower"

This comment is ridiculous because if they claim that there must be a creator for something to exist, then there must also be a creator for their god. What created God? Atheism does not hold a position that everything came from nothing. Creationists (Ray Comfort) believe everything came from nothing.

In Favor of Creation

Promoting Creationism

RationalWiki Responses

On page 581, they ask a question which a skeptic might ask, then answer it: "Adam was a mythical figure who never really lived." They respond with: "Adam is a key figure in scripture. He is described as the "first Adam," the one who brought sin into this world….If Adam and Eve were not real then ought to doubt whether their children were real too, and their children…and then we ought to doubt the first 11 chapters of genesis, and so on. All the genealogies accept Adam as being a literal person, so their children Cain and Abel must be real too. Jesus was descended from Adam, and it is impossible to be descended from a myth."

It can be that both are myths (see Jesus myth theory). The genealogy of Adam can be exaggerated or meant in a metaphorical style.

Scientific Facts of the Bible

Scientific Foreknowledge Revealed in the Bible

RationalWiki Responses

"Only in recent years has science discovered that everything we see is composed of invisible atoms. Here scripture tells us that the "things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." (Hebrews 11:3)

This is what Hebrews 11:3 says: "Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear." This seems to imply, not that life is made up of invisible particles, but rather that God created matter out of nothing, which would make much more sense as a reading, since that belief is "through faith."

"Science has discovered that stars emit radio waves, which are received on earth as a high pitch. God mentioned this in Job 38:7: When the morning stars sang together."

So the stars sing? Stars do not vocals or lungs. In this verse, the word for "sang "means "United in a grand chorus or concert of praise" in the sense of being performed by humans or angels - the thing is they have mouths and actual voices. Stars don't sing. Stars give off infrasounds, but they cannot be heard on earth.

"Most cosmologists (scientists who study structures and evolution of the universe) agree that the genesis account of creation, in imagining an initial void, may be uncannily close to the truth." Source: TIME Magazine, Dec. 1976

Time magazine is not a science article, plus it is WAY out of date. Close to nothing in Genesis reflects how the universe actually came to be. Genesis says that the stars were created AFTER the earth. Furthermore, the translation "formless and void" for the Hebrew expression tohu w'bohu is misleading. In actual fact, the pre-created cosmos in Genesis 1:2 more closely approximates "watery chaos", and is much more closely aligned with other ancient Near Eastern cosmologies and creation myths.

"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…"

This is religious literacy analysis. The same exact argument can be used to prove the Koran. It reveals nothing on how the universe was made, no explanation how God did anything, leaving it all as a big mystery. Answering a mystery with a mystery is not an answer at all.

"Look at the specific instructions god gave his people for when they encounter disease: "And when he that has an issue is cleansed of his issue; then he shall number to himself seven days to his cleansing, and wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in running water, and shall be clean. (Leviticus 15:13) Until recent years doctors washed their hands in a bowl of water, leaving invisible germs on their hands. However the bible says specifically to wash hands under "running water."

There's no order in the passage to not use standing water, no claim that standing water is dirtier or has ill effects. There's also a sort of poetic symbolism of continuing on with one's life by using running water. Continue reading down Leviticus 15:13 tells us to sacrifice two pigeons and two doves. Scientists and doctors have not received any scientific knowledge from the Bible, why? Because this is more voodoo than science.

"The prophet Isaiah also tells us that the earth is round: 'It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth.' (Isaiah 40:22) This is not a reference to a flat disk, as some skeptics maintain, but to a sphere. Secular man discovered this 2,400 years later. At a time when science believed the earth was flat, it was the scriptures that inspired Christopher Columbus to sail around the world."

Simply stating that it is a sphere, contrary to what skeptics think, without providing any evidence to support your claims is simply wishful thinking and completely dishonest. A circle does not imply a sphere (a 3 dimensional shape), a circle implies a flat two dimensional form. There are multiple references and verses in the bible that all point to a flat, fixed, geocentric earth.

Defending Christianity

Defending Christianity

RationalWiki Responses

On page 183 in a Questions and Objections section, they say in to a common claim about the bible: "Christianity oppresses women by making them submit to their husbands." They then try to refute that claim with another Bible verse: "The bible does say, 'Wives, submit to your own husbands, and to the lord, ' but it also instructs, 'Husbands, love your wives, even as christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it.' (Ephesians 5:22,25). A man who understands that jesus christ sacrificed his life's blood for the church will likewise love his wife sacrificially and passionately. He will honor her, respect her, protect, love, and cherish her as much as he he does his own body, as he is instructed to do (Ephesians 5:28)…A godless world rejects the god given formula to make marriage work. It thinks it knows best, and suffers the heartbreaking consequences of destroyed marriages and ruined lives."

This is completely wrong. Christians have the highest divorce rates, particularly evangelicals. The most secular countires have the lowest divorce rates. So actual stats and facts actually disconfirm the Bible.

On page 204 they have a section on prayer and claims that, "god always answers prayer. Sometimes he says yes, sometimes he says no, and sometimes he says 'wait for a minute.' And since to the lord a day is a thousand years that could be a ten year wait for us."

This argument can be reconstructed as "the milk carton always answers prayer. Sometimes it says yes, sometimes it says no, and sometimes it says 'wait for a minute.' And since to the milk carton a day is a thousand years that could be a ten year wait for us." Prayer is just as effective as praying to a milk carton, or any of the other deity constructed by man.

On page 524, they bring up the "if there is a building, there must be a builder" argument, and in that same section they make the claim that, "no scientific evidence has been found that homosexuals are 'born that way.' They then spout their biblical nonsense that no sexual activity should be done, unless it is within marriage, and that "homosexuality goes against god's created order and expressed will."

Homosexuality occurs in nature. If Christianity is all about having sex only within marriage, then the vast majority of Christians are very poor role models. The highest rates of STDs, teen pregnancies, and abortions in America are among Christians. Compared to vast secular countries, the exact opposite is true.

In-depth comments

Here, Comfort addresses several issues, from personal to ethical. It also includes some depth on how to approach and evangelize to various non-Christians.

In-depth comments

RationalWiki Responses

Abortion

What God’s Word Says About Abortion By Lynn Copeland. God speaks very clearly in the Bible on the value of unborn children. God’s Word says that He personally made each one of us, and has a plan for each life: "Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart" (Jeremiah 1:5) "Even before I was born, God had chosen me to be His" (Galatians 1:15) "For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother’s womb . . . Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be" (Psalm 139:13, 16). "Your hands shaped me and made me . . . Did You not clothe me with skin and flesh and knit me together with bones and sinews? You gave me life" (Job 10:8–12). "This is what the Lord says—He who made you, who formed you in the womb" (Isaiah 44:2). "Did not He who made me in the womb make them? Did not the same One form us both within our mothers?" (Job 31:15). Because man is made in God’s own image (Genesis 1:27), each life is of great value to God: "Children are a gift from God" (Psalm 127:3). He even calls our children His own: "You took your sons and daughters whom you bore to Me and sacrificed them...You slaughtered My children" (Ezekiel 16:20,21). The Bible says of our Creator, "In His hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of every human being" (Job 12:10). God, the giver of life, commands us not to take the life of an innocent person: "Do not shed innocent blood" (Jeremiah 7:6); "Cursed is the man who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person" (Deuteronomy 27:25). "You shall not murder" (Exodus 20:13). Taking the life of the unborn is clearly murder—"He didn’t kill me in the womb, with my mother as my grave" (Jeremiah 20:17)— and God vowed to punish those who "ripped open the women with child" (Amos 1:13). The unborn child was granted equal protection in the law; if he lost his life, the one who caused his death must lose his own life: "If men who are fighting hit a pregnant woman and she gives birth prematurely but there is no serious injury, the offender must be fined . . .But if there is serious injury, you are to take life for life" (Exodus 21:22,23). Life is a gift created by God, and is not to be taken away by abortion. God is "prochoice," but He tells us clearly the only acceptable choice to make: "I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live" (Deuteronomy 30:19).

These Bible verses hint that God has predetermined our lives eons before our parents even met. If this is true, and God sees and knows everything that will happen in the future (and has a plan) that would mean God is in control of all miscarriages. Miscarriages are defined as spontaneous abortions. All the stats show that every year there are about three to four miscarriages per abortion Not to mention several times in the Old Testament God purposely kills unborn children (the Global Flood, Hosea, etc.) Based on this, God is not pro-life at all.

Pornography

Before you go through these... have you looked at yourself under the penetrating light of God's Law? Have you come to a place of genuine repentance? Do you know that your heart is desperately wicked; that it's an enemy of God? Do you see your Adamic nature as a Judas living within you, raising his hands and crying "Master, Master," but at the same time betraying the Son of Man with a kiss? Then put that traitor to death. Never trust your own heart again. It cares for nothing but self. The instant gratification of thirty pieces of silver is better than Heaven's approval. It is self-serving, self-gratifying, and self-deceiving. It is "earthly, sensual, devilish" (James 3:15). Look at what Philippians 2:12 says about the "self" nature: "...work out (cultivate, carry out to the goal, and fully complete) your own salvation with reverence and awe and trembling (self-distrust, with serious caution, tenderness of conscience, watchfulness against temptation, timidly shrinking from whatever might offend God and discredit the name of Christ)" (The Amplified Bible). Would you ever take pornography to church and look at it during worship? You may as well, because God is just as present in your bedroom as He is in the church building. Face the fact that you may not be saved. Examine yourself to ensure that Christ is living in you (2 Corinthians 13:5). See Romans 6:11–22; 8:1–14; Ephesians 5:3–8.) Realize that when you give yourself to pornography, you are committing adultery (Matthew 5:27,28). Grasp the serious nature of your sin. Jesus said that it would be better for you to be blind and go to heaven, than for your eye to cause you to sin and end up in hell (Matthew 5:29). Those who profess to be Christians yet give themselves to pornographic material evidently lack the fear of God (Proverbs 16:6). Cultivate the fear of God by reading Proverbs 2:1–5. Read Psalm 51 and make it your own prayer. Memorize James 1:14,15 and 1 Corinthians 10:13. Follow Jesus’ example (Matthew 4:3–11) and quote the Word of God when you are tempted (see Ephesians 6:12–20). Make no provision for your flesh (Romans 13:14; 1 Peter 2:11). Get rid of every access to pornographic material—the Internet, printed literature, TV, videos, and movies. But don't just stop there... you also need to begin to think about how high God's standard of holiness and purity really is. What the general public would have called "pornographic" just 60 to 70 years ago is plastered through your Sunday morning newspaper, the billboards you see on your way to work, and the magazines that line the counters at the grocery checkout. Even television commercials are filled with images that if you printed them off and stood in front of an elementary school showing them to children... you would be arrested. The fire is being fed from all different directions... not just those that the world lables as "pornographic." You must stop feeding the fire. Guard your heart with all diligence (Proverbs 4:23). Don’t let the demonic realm have access to your thought-life. The Bible commands you to get control of your thoughts; read what Romans 13:14 says, "But clothe yourself with the Lord Jesus Christ (the Messiah), and make no provision for [indulging] the flesh [put a stop to thinking about the evil cravings of your physical nature] to [gratify its] desires (lusts)" (The Amplified Bible - bold added for emphasis). If you give yourself to it, you will become its slave (Romans 6:16). Read the Bible daily, without fail. As you submit to God, the devil will flee (James 4:7,8). The next time temptation comes, do fifty push-ups, then fifty sit-ups. If you are still burning, repeat the process (see 1 Corinthians 9:27, and 1 Corinthians 7:9). This is not just a random "get your mind off it" exercise. This produces a physical reaction that is the equivalent of what is often called a "cold shower."

God is not in disfavor with pornography. When God punished David for taking Bathsheba, God commanded a man to have sex with all of David's concubines in the open "for all of Israel to see" - meaning he made love in broad daylight for bystanders to watch. Pornography is not harmful, but the United States spends about a hundred times more than that to fight the failed Drug War. But how many Christians engage in or purchase pornography? Studies have show that the more conservative or religious a person is the more likely they will spend money on pornography. Depends on which church you go to. Several Christian ministers preach naked on the altar. Plus, this argument is based on the presupposition that Ray's narrow version of God is real. What is there to be saved from? In all of Ray Comfort and Kirk Cameron's religious career, not once had they shown any evidence or reason that we need help or need to be saved from anything. "Adultery" in the Bible did not depend on the man's marital status, but the woman's. Bloodline was reckoned through the male. "To adulterate" means to introduce a foreign substance into something, thus adultery meant corrupting another man's bloodline by having sex with another man's wife. There is no evidence for "sin." A Scientologist can use the same topic and argument to say that "thetans" are the cause of our bad behavior and will be the result of a terrible fate after death. Proverbs 16:6 says "By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the LORD men depart from evil." Read a bit earlier (16:4) "The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil."God made bad people for the pleasure of punishing them. Cherry-picking 1 Peter is a forgery, and claiming too get rid of your Internet is very hypocritical of Ray Comfort - who still to this day has his own Internet blog. Can Ray provide ONE instance of a person going to school with a cut-out paper from a Sunday newspaper? Especially considering virtually every school has a library (filled with similar material) and often has a newspaper order to be delivered at the school. how canit be demonic if God not only allows it but commands it? - see main argument above.

Quote-Mining

• On page 798 "The Evidence Bible claims that Sir Arthur Keith wrote the forward to the 100th edition of Origin of the Species, and wrote: ""Evolution is unproved and unprovable. We believe it only because the only alternative is special creation which is unthinkable." (Keith, Arthur, forward to 100th anniversary edition of Charles Darwin's Origin of Species, 1959) The quote that is attributed to Sir Arthur Keith is a figment of the creationists imagination. No library in the Atlanta metro area has this particular edition and neither Amazon nor Barnes and Noble has this edition. A search of the internet showed many references for this quote but every one of them was from a creationist site. It is also amazing because that Sir Arthur died in 1955 and the 100th anniversary edition would not have been issued until 1959.

• They also quote a H.S. Lipson, who is a professor of physics (at least used to be- this quote is old from what info I can find, from 1980) at the University of Manchester, UK: "In fact, evolution became in a sense a scientific religion; almost all scientists have accepted it and many are prepared to 'bend' their observations to fit in with it." H Lipson spoke skeptically about evolution in 1980 or so; but he is not an evolutionist; and as far as can be gathered he had nothing to do with the Supreme Court in the US.

See also

• Atheism
• List of Ray Comfort publications

External links

• Evidence Bible Homepage
• Arizona Atheist book review