Ray Comfort took the Orange County Atheists up on an offer to join them for dinner. From the way Ray describes it, it’s like he wants to be praised for simply accepting the invitation and coming out of the IHOP (referred to as the “International House of Prayer” — zing!) without any visible bruises:
I accepted their invitation and decided to take my manager with me (Mark Spence is the Dean of the “School of Biblical Evangelism”). Before we went I got permission to also take a handheld HD camera. I was determined not to go there to win an argument, but to simply show that I deeply cared for them as people, as most atheists seem to have the impression that Christians don’t like them. We arrived about five minutes early, shook hands and sat down. After the orders were taken, I quietly approached the waiter and told him to give me the bill for the entire party. When he brought it to me I was almost shaking with excitement.
…
When they found out that I had personally paid the tab they were very grateful, polite, pleasant, kind, and extremely thankful (see 1 Peter 2:15).
That’s a nice gesture (even though it reeks of some sort of superiority complex). He says some kind words, too. I wonder, though… 1 Peter 2:15. Which verse is that…?
Because it is God’s pleasure that foolish and narrow-minded men may be put to shame by your good behaviour.
Huh.
A subtle jab.
So much for Ray’s kindness.
He ends with this:
Then we posed for pictures and left, almost bursting with joy after such a wonderful opportunity to meet and talk with these dear people. Maybe the next time they meet for dinner (at the International House of Prayer) hundreds will show up saying “We heard that this is the atheist group where you get a free meal.” Seriously though, please pray for the “Orange County Atheists.”
To paraphrase:
We *totally* converted those atheists because of our amazing evangelical skills. I pity them. Seriously though, they’re going straight to hell.
Ray’s readers are very impressed by this extraordinary feat of being in the company of the atheist evildoers:
Praise God, Ray! I don’t know if I’d have the guts to do that.
Because, typically, atheists stab anyone who infiltrates their meetings.
This commenter also enjoyed some subtle humor:
Praying that one day they will meet as “The Former Atheists Group”
The FAG. Very clever, commenter…
I’m not sure what the big deal is about all this. It’s nice of Ray to pay for dinner. And I’m sure the atheists had a good time debating someone who disagrees with them.
But really, that’s about the extent of it. No one changed their minds. No one is going to.
Michael, the Orange County Atheists’ president, leaves some kind words on Ray’s site:
Ray and Mark, thank you very much for coming to our meeting. We really appreciated the chance to meet you both. Your generosity will allow us to donate several hundred more dollars to our local charity of choice, doing good work in southern Orange County.
For everyone posting comments, I’m the president of Orange County Atheists. We had a great discussion and are looking forward to the video as much as all of you.
Knowing what I know about my group, I doubt largely that there’ll be any conversions, though. To Ray and Mark’s credit, there wasn’t any hardcore witnessing going on, just a lot of questions. Thanks again, guys!
Also a nice gesture from Michael.
(Is anyone else wondering whether they ordered banana splits for dessert?)
Speaking of Ray and his goodwill gestures, here’s one more quotation from him:
He who doesn’t fear God, has either never been in a good lightning storm, is blind, or is severely mentally challenged.
A kind-hearted man, that Ray…
[tags]atheist, atheism, Kirk Cameron, Living Waters[/tags]
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