Atheist Tuesday: Ebert’s Egregious Emptiness

16 CommentsAtheist Tuesday

This article written by Ray Comfort, from the Living Waters Newsletter, is just too good—and too poignant—not to reprint. (Subscribe to the newsletter here.)

The well-known movie critic, Roger Ebert, who tragically died recently, said, “Many readers have informed me that it is a tragic and dreary business to go into death without faith. I don’t feel that way. ‘Faith’ is neutral.”

But this is what Ebert also wrote about his impending death: “I know it is coming, and I do not fear it, because I believe there is nothing on the other side of death to fear.” He believed that there was nothing on the other side. Faith and fear are opposites. If you are fearful of stepping into an elevator it’s because you lack faith in it.  If you have faith and therefore trust it, you won’t fear. Ebert didn’t fear death because of what he “believed.” Again, he believed he had faith, he trusted that there was nothing after death.

As a Christian, I trust that there is life after death. This is because my faith is in the Son of the Living God—the One who forgave my sins, and in an instant of time transformed my life.  My trust is in Him who said, ““I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.” But look at where Ebert placed his faith. He said, “I am comforted by Richard Dawkins’ theory of memes.” His faith in the words of Professor Richard Dawkins gave him comfort in his death. He placed his trust in the words of a man who believes that God “probably” doesn’t exist, has no training in theology, thinks he’s a talking primate, that he’s a distant cousin of the banana and the turnip, and believes that we could have been seeded by aliens.

If Jesus Christ was a liar and there is no afterlife, then Roger Ebert will never know it.  Death is the end.  But if the Son of God spoke the truth and there is a real Hell, then he died deceived, and will have eternity to despise Dawkins for his lies and deception.     

Read what Christopher Hitchens said shortly before his death by clicking here.

Comments (16)

  1. vintango2k

    Reply

    “If Jesus Christ was a liar and there is no afterlife, then Roger Ebert will never know it. Death is the end. But if the Son of God spoke the truth and there is a real Hell, then he died deceived, and will have eternity to despise Dawkins for his lies and deception”

    “And if he wasn’t the son of God and Allah is the one true God, then Ray would be in trouble.”

    If there’s no empirical evidence that points to the Christian (or even the Young Earth Creationist) view of God then there’s no way you can expect people to believe you or take what you say seriously. I’m curious Steve, do you think if God loves everyone and wants us all to repent and come to Christ, then why would it not provide emperical evidence that would give Christian’s the ability to reasonably demonstrate the truth of the gospel?

      • vintango2k

        Enough clues… for instance… the fact that the notion of a world wide flood never occurred yet his book seems to suggest otherwise, was proven over a 100 years ago by countless examples of cross confirmatory evidence isn’t a stumbling block? Yaweh seems to have a persistent strike of blinding people it seems… and the worst part Steve is that those blinded people seem to be informing MORE people who are ending up blinded… and then they’re informing MORE people, its almost like a domino effect. And its not like Christians aren’t TRYING to prove the things in the bible with evidence and facts, but for some reason they just keep coming up short. It seems Yaweh enjoys sending people to hell… or blinding them or allowing others to be blind as opposed to say… providing just one piece of evidence that would point undeniably to “the truth”

      • Steve Sanchez

        The bible trumps your “proof.”

        Sorry.

        You have enough info to enter into Heaven. Your pride keeps you from the truth.

      • vintango2k

        Next time you visit a doctor, why don’t you preach at him how the science backing up the medicine he gives you is just another lie, I’m sure he’ll get a kick out of it. Just another blind person I guess. =) And for the record Steve, knowing things, learning, studying, and understanding the way reality works is not pride… its knowledge. If I explained to you how a clock works, would you call it pride? How would explaining a cell be any different?

  2. Richard Chavarria

    Reply

    The free thinker is he who refuses to listen to his conscience. Refuses to see the handy worker of the Creator by the things that were made. I so sorry to see anyone die. Especially one who I know will face an eternity the the presence of God’s wrath forever. This story puts more fire into my efforts to let people know the truth. I pray for those who knew Ebert as friends and those who are his family. I pray their grieving will be short and turn to the one who can save. The Lord Jesus Christ the Son of Glory.

    • vintango2k

      Reply

      “The free thinker is he who refuses to listen to his conscience. ”

      That’s a pretty bold claim Richard, but then again you typically only make bold assertions that rarely are backed up by anything, and seldom address any thoughful criticism. Tell me, wouldn’t you agree that if I made a statement, “The Christian is he who refuses to acknowledge tangible, testable, claims about reality in favor of delusion.” You’d find that offensive and incorrect? Hint… you’d be correct.

      “Refuses to see the handy worker of the Creator by the things that were made.”

      When you can demonstrate the veracity of your truth claim then we can have a more interesting discussion, till then you’re on equal footing with a Scientologist. Feel free to laugh it up with Tom Cruise. =)

      “I pray their grieving will be short and turn to the one who can save”

      How exactly can one’s grieving be short when faced with eternal separation? If Ebert’s mother is in heaven and Ebert is not, will her grieving that her son is suffering forever in hell, not be anguishing?

      • Steve Sanchez

        No. Because all that God does is righteous. If his mother is in Heaven she will see that God’s judgment was fair and right. As one theologian put it: “Those in Hell will agree that they should be damned.” (My paraphrase from James Montgomery Boice)

        And another theologian, John Gerstner I believe, said this: “Once we see the glory of Christ, and the hideous nature of sin as God sees it, Hell will be understandable. If my own mother were being carried to the mouth of Hell, I would stand and applaud.”

        Martin Luther: When questioned whether the Blessed will not be saddened by seeing their nearest and dearest tortured answers, “Not in the least.”

        J.I. Packer: “…love and pity for hell’s occupants will not enter our hearts.” J.I. Packer in article “Hell’s Final Enigma” in “Christianity Today Magazine, April 22,2002 .”

      • vintango2k

        They, of course, don’t know this Steve, but hey if you’re fully capable of applauding and clapping and smiling if someone you love goes to hell then more power to you. And since you seem to be quoting Martin Luther here’s some more…

        “People gave ear to an upstart astrologer who strove to show that the earth revolves, not the heavens or the firmament, the sun and the moon….This fool wishes to reverse the entire science of astronomy; but sacred scripture tells us [Joshua 10:13]that Joshua commanded the sun to stand still, and not the earth.”

        Wrong on astronomy…

        “Their synagogues … should be set on fire.”
        “Their homes should be broken down and destroyed. They ought to be put under one roof or in a stable, like Gypsies, in order that they may realize that they … are … but miserable captives.”

        “They should be deprived of their prayerbooks and Talmuds.”

        “Their rabbis must be forbidden under threat of death to teach any more.”

        — Didn’t get the memo on that who, turn the other cheek, non-violence, love one another commandment…

        “Idiots, the lame, the blind, the dumb, are men in whom the devils have established themselves: and all the physicians who heal these infirmities, as though they proceeded from natural causes, are ignorant blockheads….”

        — Wrong on medicine as well…

        “Snakes and monkeys are subjected to the demon more than other animals. Satan lives in them and possesses them. He uses them to deceive men and to injure them.”

        — Wrong on animals… unless you think those animals in the zoo are more evil and possessed then all the others?

        “Heretics are not to be disputed with, but to be condemned unheard, and whilst they perish by fire, the faithful ought to pursue the evil to its source, and bathe their heads in the blood of the Catholic bishops, and of the Pope, who is the devil in disguise.”

        — Love one another… right Martin? Why bother burning, just behind them like other radicals do, right?

        “We know, on the authority of Moses, that longer than six thousand years the world did not exist.”

        — Wrong on the age of the Earth.

        “The winds are nothing else but good or bad spirits. Hark! how the Devil is puffing and blowing….”

        — Wrong on the gulf stream…

        “What shall we do with…the Jews? I advise that their rabbis be forbidden to teach on pain of loss of life and limb.”

        “What shall we do with…the Jews?…I advise that safe-conduct on the highways be abolished completely for the Jews.”

        “What shall we do with…the Jews?…their homes also should be razed and destroyed.”

        — Do you think Adolf Hitler used the writings of Martin Luther for Nazi national policy, they seem to be of similar mind.

        Now after all that, why should anyone take this man as an authority figure when he has such a proven track record of being dead wrong?

        The biggest culprit though of why Martin Luther was wrong on so many many things probably lies best with his quotes on reason.

        “There is on earth among all dangers no more dangerous thing than a richly endowed and adroit reason…Reason must be deluded, blinded, and destroyed.”

        If you can’t use your reasoning, then deducing truth from falsehood becomes impossible. You become incurious, recalcitrant and only set yourself up for being well… dead wrong about everything… with so many falsehoods, would Martin Luther not qualify as a… False Prophet?

      • vintango2k

        I’d say incorrect more so than a sinner, if he said the same things today people would look at him like he was crazy… because he drew his authority from a certain book rather than the infernal reason he cursed so soundly. He so did love to assert himself though, that’s the problem with claiming authority when you don’t know any better than your fellow man… you’re just guessing, so you’re going to be wrong, because its a guess based on superstition… not on reason. For an example of this, you don’t have to go any further than the Salem witch trials to see where that gets you. Its one of the reasons why courts no longer accept spectral evidence… because it doesn’t exist.

  3. vintango2k

    Reply

    And as I’ve pointed out, the Native Americans had no knowledge of God or Jesus. If salvation is by faith alone then would you not agree that it must have been God’s whim that all of those people died in their sins… purely because of geography? At least until white Christians came and introduced them to their religion and then suddenly they were now worthy of being saved. I guess the lucky ones are just the ones born post Columbus, no, unless their ancestors were just completely unworthy?

    • S.S.

      Reply

      vintango2k;

      Greetings to you! You said:

      “the Native Americans had no knowledge of God or Jesus”

      What empirical evidence do you have to support your claim?

      Have a great weekend!

      S.S.

      • vintango2k

        Take a trip to any museums on Native american history.

        Here’s one.

        http://nmai.si.edu/home/

        There are others, a simple walk through the internet can give you some insights. Or plan a real life trip!

        You can read up on the various spirtual beliefs of the tribes, and not one of them talks about Jesus. The Aztecs believed that the earliest Spanish explorers were their Gods returned to them after all.

        But enlighten me, can you point me to a specific tribe that worshiped Jesus pre age of exploration? I mean some early Christian missionaries had discourse with their elders about whether or not the Native Americans had souls or were truly human. Isn’t superstition grand? =)

  4. S.S.

    Reply

    Vintango2k;

    Greetings again! My last post on this thread.

    1) No human has exhaustive knowledge of the beliefs of every single Native American that has ever lived..pre or post Columbus.
    2) If God exists, He would be capable of revealing himself to different cultures throughout history.
    3) The God of the Bible counted faith in Him as righteousness (example: Abraham) even when those people did not know the name “Jesus”.

    You cannot say that no Native American had faith in Jesus in God, OR that God sent them all to Hell. You don’t have that kind of empirical evidence.

    Have a safe and productive week!

    S.S.

    • vintango2k

      Reply

      Oh must have missed this one. Not sure if you’ll check it but here goes.

      1) You’d have to define what you mean by exhaustive, or adequate for that matter. The best examples of religious practice comes from the tribes that still exist, as they’ve kept better records. Can you point to a specific one amongst them that practiced Yaweh or Jesus worship pre-Columbus?

      2) Indeed… God as you define him (why he’s male I have no idea) could be fully capable of revealing himself to any culture he wished.

      3) Indeed, and if you can find Elohim or Yaweh or a similar figure within Native American culture/religion pre-Columbus I’d love to see it. I wait for your response if you know of an example.

      “You cannot say that no Native American had faith in Jesus in God, OR that God sent them all to Hell. You don’t have that kind of empirical evidence.”

      I can’t say there are no invisible purple elephants on the moon either. Its useless proving a negative, you must prove what you are asserting based on evidence. If there is no evidence that the native americans worshiped Yaweh then you simply can’t assume they did, that would be false, dishonest, and you’re only setting yourself up to be wrong. Take a gander at the Martin Luther quotes and see where that line of thinking gets you.

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