Review of Ray Comfort Antimormon Video

Well, I thought for my first critique of Protestant Antimormonism that I would review a video that has shown up on some apologetics sites where Protestant author Ray Comfort interviews a Mormon in an attempt to show that Mormons do not believe in what he terms "Biblical Christianity."

To see the video you can copy and paste this link: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=121726

Sorry, for some reason they aren't letting me post activated links.

First of all, the man he interviews as representative of Mormonism only says he was "raised Mormon" and does not necessarily identify himself as active or inactive. Comfort goes on to ask the man a series of questions in an effort to determine whether or not he was "saved." Comfort's conclusion is that the man is a thief, adulterer, liar, blasphemer, etc. and is in trouble on judgment day. The man responds throughout the attack by saying that he regrets doing those things (which demonstrates repentance), that only God judges the heart, that Jesus took his sins upon Himself, he does his best and He (Jesus) does the rest, and quotes from James 2 that "Faith without works is dead."

Comfort counters the man by saying that if the believer has to do anything it is considered a payment and no longer grace, thus contradicting the Bible, that salvation cannot be earned. He uses Eph. 2:8-9 "For by grace are ye saved...not of works, lest any man should boast." He told the man that we show our repentance by our works or fruits. The man countered that we have to make ourselves deserving of God's love and trust. Comfort acted shocked at this and said it contradicted the Ephesians passage in the Bible and that his eternal salvation depends on having the correct view.

Now, before we cover the two Scriptures used in this encounter, I would like to point out that Comfort is employing a classic antimormon twist on semantics here. The term "salvation" means something different in Protestant and Mormon theologies. Mormonism takes the term "salvation" to refer to exaltation, or receiving the maximum amount of rewards in the next life for following God's plan of salvation, and that some who do not receive salvation will still be in one of the lower heavens, having receved less rewards for doing less works or being less valiant in the Gospel. This explains why Jesus Christ mentions that some will be greater in the Kingdom of Heaven, and why Paul says we are rewarded according to our works.

Protestant theology, on the other hand, teaches that salvation is being saved from hell. This theology allows for no middle ground, if you are saved you don't burn for eternity, if you are lost you are condemned to burn in the lake of fire for eternity. Therefore, Mormons who do not know this are naturally going to answer questions in the context of what they believe salvation is. This explains why the man in the video responded that he wasn't sure if he would receive salvation, but moments later said he would be moving "upward" when he died.

To sum it up, Mormonism teaches saved by grace, exalted by works. Protestantism teaches saved by grace, show evidence of being saved by works. Was Ray Comfort aware of this difference when he interviewed the man? I'm not sure, since this is a common misconception among protestants, who don't fully understand Mormon theology. In Mormonism, emphasis is placed on working toward exaltation, not showing evidence of initial conversion. I feel Ray Comfort is wrong in presenting Mormonism out of context, and claiming we are not Christians when we clearly depend on the Atonement of Christ and His death on the cross. The man in the video clearly demonstrated repentance and belief in Christ.

Now, let's take a look at the two Scriptures used in this video, and see if they were used in their proper contexts. James 2:26, "...faith without works is dead." To understand this passage we should look at the context in which James uses it. Earlier in chapter 2 James tells us about those that transgress the law of love given by Christ, that love is the fulfillment of the law. It answers in verse 13, "For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment." This is what sparks the discussion of the relationship of faith and works.

Verse 14 says, "What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith and have not works? Can faith save him?" We are given an example of telling a hungry person to be warmed and filled without giving them something, which is like having faith without works. The chapter also uses the example of Abraham offering Isaac on the altar and Rahab the harlot sending the messengers out without divulging their location, which are acts that took great faith in God.

Verses 17 and 18 remind us, "Faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works." This verse shows us that works are very much apart of faith. You cannot have faith without works.

Verse 26 reinforces this, "For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also." So, just as when we die and no spirit is in the body, there is no person there, if works are not in faith, there is no faith there. Faith is more than simply "believing." I believe the bay bridge is in San Francisco, is safe because it gets thousands of cars across the ocean each day, but that doesn't mean I have enough faith to drive across, since I'm scared of heights. Therefore, believe in the bridge, but do not put my faith in it. Putting your fath into something requires a total commitment, which includes action on the part of the believer.

This brings us to the next passage, the one used by Ray Comfort to supposedly refute Mormonism. Placing Eph. 2:8-9 in the proper context reveals that the purpose of chapter 2 of Ephesians is to refute the idea that Jew and Gentile are saved separately, and is to prove that the blood of Jesus Christ unites both Jew and Gentile. If we back up to verse 1 we get a very dim picture of the Gentiles: "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others."

So, we see that these Gentiles did not follow God's laws and were rebellious. They are also described as lustful and children of wrath. You would think this group would be damned, but in verse 4 we are given hope, "But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace are ye saved) and hath raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus." Now, keep in mind that in verse 2 it uses the phrase "in times past," meaning we are talking about two different times here. Once these people repented they were no longer walking in these sins.

Verse 8, "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them." So, putting the verse in context, we see that this is a people that have repented, received a free gift of God, and are now to walk in good works that have been ordained of them. This puts this passage in an entirely different light than Comfort puts it. If you read on in the chapter we see in verses 13-16 that he abolished the law and united us in the Gospel, so that Jew and Gentile can now be one people. This one I will discuss in another post.

If you keep reading in Ephesians, after we learn what we have in Christ, Paul tells us in 4:1 to "walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called." This to me sums up nicely what the Mormon man in the video was trying to say. However, instead of deserving, I think he should have used the term "worthy."

I feel that this shows that Comfort was using scripture out of context, distorting the beliefs of Mormonism, condemning Mormons to hell under a false standard, quoting his doctrine as scripture, and accusing Mormons of teaching a works salvation when he himself says we must show evidence of our repentance by works and fruits. Aside from the exaltation belief, there really doesn't seem to be that much difference from Comfort's works salvation and Mormonism's.

To add to the insult a Kirk Cameron cameo is tacked on the front and end of the video talking about some problematic Mormon doctrines for shock value, such as polygamy, Jesus/Satan spirit brothers, and Joseph Smith. Without giving the Mormon defense of these items the video seemed to have the purpose of "poisoning the well" for potential Mormon converts instead of converting Mormons.

In short, I definitely do not recommend this video to anyone wanting to know more about Mormons, whether protestant or otherwise.