Ray Comfort on "Heaven is For Real"

While I was scanning my newsfeed at 1am, I stumbled across Ray Comfort's post on the upcoming film, "Heaven is For Real". (You can find it on his FB page, here.) I know the movie is based on a popular book of the same name, but I haven't read it, nor do I have plans to see the film version.However, the post caught my attention since it's Holy Week and the movie comes out on Easter. That's sort of nice, I thought. Long story short, I don't usually pay much attention to Comfort, and his post on the film was the typical commentary of those in his camp. Ray Comfort's response was along the lines of the typical, "this, is NOT Biblical" argument. It was of no interest to me, and honestly, I would have continued scrolling if it weren't for Comfort's final statement:

"God's “note” is the Bible. It says, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.” I believe the Bible, not because I welled up some sort of faith in its words, but because the Gospel came to me “in power, and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance.” It authenticated itself because it took me out of darkness and brought me into light. Therefore every other promise in it about the joys of Heaven, the pains of Hell, and everlasting life is utterly true altogether."

Immediately, my inner dialogue became: "WAIT. What? lol. He's kidding, right? Is Ray Comfort For Real?"

I kept rereading this, and I even went back to reread the analogy he used previously, of a note and a house, and something or other...but the lines that really gave me pause were, "God's "note" is the Bible." Well, I get it, I guess. The Bible crucial to the Christian faith, it is a written document...but still.

 "God's "note" is the Bible."

All I have to say that is, NO.

God's "note" is Jesus Christ.

remember? John  1:1?

As we read the New Testament, it is important to remember that there is an important distinction between the Word of God, and the word of God.  For the sake of brevity, one is the incarnate Word, That's Jesus. He is the Word made flesh. He is God's message, God's note, embodied. The other 'word' is a collection of 66 books of divinely inspired written words on pages.

So, I'm going to revise Mr. Comfort's statement, because I think it contains some glaring fallacies.

Here goes:

God's "note" is Jesus Christ. He say's "love God, and love your neighbor as yourselves." I believe In Jesus Christ. Not because I welled up some sort of faith in His words, but because He came to me through the gospels, "in power, and in the Holy Spirit, and in much assurance." He authenticated Himself because He took me out of darkness and brought me into light. Therefore every other promise is rooted in Him. He is a reflection of heaven, He overcame hell, and in Him we find everlasting life; He holds everything together.

This is a poor mashup, and it will never do my Savior justice. However, the Bible should never be held up synonymously with Christ, or be rendered indistinguishable from the One of whom it testifies. Never.

First and foremost, Messiah Jesus.

In Him we have all we need.

There is way more to this...but that's meant for another post, another day. So, I will end with this: the Bible is extremely important. Personally, even outside of Sunday morning Church, my entire career as a seminary student has been spent learning how to read it, translate it, and exegete it. I have spent devotional time reading it's narratives, and marveling at its poetic beauty, and  its inspired words. However,the bible is not a person of the Godhead to be worshipped, Jesus is. And none of these things trumps Messiah Jesus, of whom the bible testifies.

So, why is this so important? Why not just assume when we say "Bible", we actually mean everything the Bible talks about, which of course includes Jesus? Because what we believe about God and Jesus and the Bible, affects our lives at the deepest levels. It affects how we view and treat our God, ourselves, and other human beings. When we choose the letter over the love, the principal over the person, we miss out on something crucial. We miss out on the life of Christ, and we stifle our ability to practice that life.


 Christians, it is Holy week. Therefore, remember this.