Home
What does everyone think of Ray Comfort's method of evangelism?
Ray is from New Zealand, but he lives in California. His ministry is called Living Waters, and he does a lot of street preaching. He seems to have two major ways of reaching out to people: he either goes throughout various neighborhoods interviewing people about their views on God or he does public preaching near the beach to crowds that gather.
His conversations with people always follow very similar scripts. First, he asks them what they believe about God and/or the afterlife. Then he asks if they think they'd make it into heaven (whether or not they believe in it) or if they're a good person. Most people say yes, so then he gives them a little test on which of the ten commandments they've broken. He doesn't go through all ten, but he almost always asks them if they've ever lied, stolen, or lusted after a woman or man. He usually references what the Bible says at this part. Inevitably, people say yes to most or all.
Then he asks them, based on that evidence, if they stood before God as a judge, would he let them into heaven? If they say no, he makes sure they realize this is a serious thing, and then he tells them about what Christ did to save them from hell. If they say, "Yes because I've done more good than bad" or something, he argues that a judge wouldn't let a thief or murderer go free just because they were a nice person. Then he brings it back around to how they're damned to hell without accepting Christ, and he cares about them and doesn't want that to happen to them.
If the person sticks around, he tells them to read their Bible and really think about what he said. A lot of times, he shows them a magic trick, gives them a gift card to someplace, or something nice to show that he really likes them.
People have different reactions, of course, but a lot of the time, even when they disagree, they're cordial about it.
Here's an example of a one-on-one interview:
And here's one of the public situations:
Anyone have any strong opinions on this either way? I used to be mostly against it, but now I'm thinking it's not such a bad way to do things. If only I could get up the courage to do it...
Ray is from New Zealand, but he lives in California. His ministry is called Living Waters, and he does a lot of street preaching. He seems to have two major ways of reaching out to people: he either goes throughout various neighborhoods interviewing people about their views on God or he does public preaching near the beach to crowds that gather.
His conversations with people always follow very similar scripts. First, he asks them what they believe about God and/or the afterlife. Then he asks if they think they'd make it into heaven (whether or not they believe in it) or if they're a good person. Most people say yes, so then he gives them a little test on which of the ten commandments they've broken. He doesn't go through all ten, but he almost always asks them if they've ever lied, stolen, or lusted after a woman or man. He usually references what the Bible says at this part. Inevitably, people say yes to most or all.
Then he asks them, based on that evidence, if they stood before God as a judge, would he let them into heaven? If they say no, he makes sure they realize this is a serious thing, and then he tells them about what Christ did to save them from hell. If they say, "Yes because I've done more good than bad" or something, he argues that a judge wouldn't let a thief or murderer go free just because they were a nice person. Then he brings it back around to how they're damned to hell without accepting Christ, and he cares about them and doesn't want that to happen to them.
If the person sticks around, he tells them to read their Bible and really think about what he said. A lot of times, he shows them a magic trick, gives them a gift card to someplace, or something nice to show that he really likes them.
People have different reactions, of course, but a lot of the time, even when they disagree, they're cordial about it.
Here's an example of a one-on-one interview:
And here's one of the public situations:
Anyone have any strong opinions on this either way? I used to be mostly against it, but now I'm thinking it's not such a bad way to do things. If only I could get up the courage to do it...
It seems many sharing the "gospel" is "Jesus has a wonderful plan for your life" and "your life will be so much easier with Jesus" and very little talk of sin and the need for a Savior and repentance. He really gets to the heart of the matter but in a caring, personable way. 