Recently I read a to be expected attack against 180 movie. To be brief, the article basically said that Ray Comfort fixed the responses of the people in the 180 movie in order to meet his Pro-life agenda. The accusers even provided some forensic evidence by highlighting the reflection of what they proposed to be a cue card in one of the interviewee’s sunglasses.
So how should we view an accusation such as this? In short: biblically. “Biblically” is, in fact, the way we should view EVERY event in life. I know, I know: you who are Christian want to come to Ray’s defense; and the non-believers out there are outraged, wondering “What is the real truth?” Let me slow you down and ask you to consider using the Proverbs 26:4-5 approach. The general idea is that we “do not answer” foolish accusations according to their fallacious reasoning so that we might not make the same mistakes; but that we “do answer” foolish arguments according to their fallacious reasoning in order that we might expose the foolishness. Bear with me as I explain how that applies in this situation!
First, let’s categorically deny the accusation. Ray Comfort, in fact, did not pay actors or people on the street to say what he wanted. He is my brother in Christ, and I trust that the Lord who could pay for Ray’s sins can also keep him walking in integrity in his Christian walk. I don’t truly entertain the possibility that the film was altered. For many Christians, this should be sufficient reasoning to reject the accusation since they have no more reason to believe the original “arbitrary” accusation than to believe this refutation of it.
But for the sake of argument, let’s say Ray Comfort did in fact “script” this entire 33 minute movie. Let’s assume that instead of an honest documentary, what we really watched was a scripted movie which exhibited nothing but the opinions of the movie makers and script writers. That would not change the message which was exposed, nor the personal feelings it is meant to draw out of viewers!
Think about it – we watch movies ALL THE TIME with paid actors who convey a message through a story which we know is not TRUE. Even if 180 is not honest in that sense – the change that can occur in a viewer’s heart and mind are still valid.
The point is that no pro-life message portrayed in the movie is invalidated by the authenticity of the movie itself.
IF the movie was not truly a documentary, then the pro-abortion movement gains nothing except the satisfaction that Ray Comfort and his team are lying, hypocrites.
In conclusion, let’s be clear that I do believe this movie to be authentic, which I do believe ADDS to the credibility of the argument from an emotional standpoint. But the comparisons made in the movie and the logical reasoning used against abortion are sound either way.
May God get the glory and may He bless Ray and his staff for their labor of love.
Amen! I know Ray and there’s no way he would lie. He did not pay people. I say we do an experiment and go to colleges and ask similar questions regarding whether they know who Hitler is. I’ve read blogs that say he found “dumb” people to say they don’t know. I was surprised to see them say they don’t know, but really – not so much!
I’ve witnessed for Christ on OSU campus and let me say, many aren’t going there to learn. Fred and I used to have to avert our eyes from what was going on there, unfortunately. Tamara
Amen; the message is true even if the means were false.
But like Tamara said, these were real responses, all a person would have to do to prove them is go and ask a couple of people the same questions. Even ignoring Comfort’s upstanding character, the responses were exactly what I receive in Atlanta.
Not only are the accusations utterly crazy, they’re also lazy, because it would be an easy thing to test and prove. This documentary could be remade any day in any city in America.