Ray Comfort
New Zealand- Early Life and Influences
- Career in Business and Ministry
- Evangelistic Ministry
- Works and Collaborations
- Debates and Controversy
Early Life and Influences
Ray Comfort was born in New Zealand to a Jewish mother and a self-described pagan father who was open to divine intervention. Comfort's parents claimed to be Methodist on his birth certificate out of fear that another Hitler might arise, but he received no religious upbringing.
Career in Business and Ministry
After completing high school, Comfort worked in a bank and later started a successful business. Growing increasingly religious, he attended a seven-year pastor's training program at a local church. He was ordained as a pastor and served in Christchurch, New Zealand, for three and a half years, preaching outdoors at the city's Speakers' Corner for 12 years. Despite his pastoral background, Comfort has no formal theological training or degree.
Evangelistic Ministry
Around the age of 30, Comfort received invitations to speak internationally. In 1989, he joined the Calvary Chapel pastorate in Southern California, but still identifies ethnically as Jewish.
Comfort believes evangelism is the primary reason for the existence of the Christian church and criticizes modern evangelistic methods as leading to false conversions. He frequently uses the Ten Commandments to present the reality of sin before sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Works and Collaborations
In the mid-1980s, Comfort developed two sermons, "Hell's Best Kept Secret" and "True and False Conversions." He regularly speaks at churches and evangelistic conferences, as well as preaching in Huntington Beach, California. He co-hosted the radio program "The Way of the Master" with Kirk Cameron and currently co-hosts the TV show "The Way of the Master Television Show" and writes for "Creationism Examiner" in "The Examiner." Comfort and Cameron also co-wrote the screenplay for the movie "Left Behind II: Tribulation Force" (2002).
Debates and Controversy
As a prominent figure in Christian evangelism, Comfort has engaged in numerous debates, including television appearances. He has discussed the Ten Commandments, Judgment Day, the reality of hell, the need for repentance, and the existence of God. In 2007, he publicly condemned the theory of evolution.
In 2009, Comfort challenged evolutionary biologist and science advocate Richard Dawkins to a debate, offering a donation of $10,000 to Dawkins' charity. Dawkins accepted on the condition that the donation be increased to $100,000, which Comfort declined.
