The Ray Comfort Test (parts 1-4)

Let's say you're walking down the street with your friend John. You come across a barrel with the lid closed, labelled MARBLES. John proposes what he calls his Black Marble Theory: "There are only black marbles in that barrel."

TEST ONE

Under which of the following circumstances are you justified in believing the absolute statement, "John's Black Marble Theory is false"?

1. Under no circumstances.
   
2. Only if you check each and every marble in the barrel to make sure there are no black ones there.
   
3. By observing only one white marble in the barrel.

In his classic novel Childhood's End, Arthur C. Clarke wrote about the Overlords, extremely powerful aliens whose giant silver spaceships hover a few miles above the capital city of every nation on Earth.

TEST TWO

Under which of the following circumstances are you justified in believing the absolute statement, "The Overlords, as described above, do not exist"?

1. Under no circumstances.
   
2. Only if you check the skies over the capital cities of each and every nation on Earth to make sure there are no giant silver spaceships there.
   
3. By observing the skies over only one capital city, such as Washington, and failing to find a spaceship.

Christians have a theory: that God exists. God is described as having the characteristics (among others) of being all-powerful, all-knowing and all-good. One of the logical consequences of that definition is that such a being cannot create a universe containing suffering, or even co-exist in the same universe as any instance of suffering, because such suffering would be prevented from existing by that being.

It doesn't matter what excuses Christians offer for the existence of suffering in the actual universe (such as "free will"), any more than it matters what excuses might be offered by someone who believes that 2+2=5, because excuses cannot resolve a logical contradiction. God and suffering are logically contradictory.

TEST THREE

Under which of the following circumstance are we justified in believing the absolute statement, "God does not exist"?

1. Under no circumstances.
   
2. Only if you search the entire universe and fail to find proof that God exists.
   
3. By observing only one instance of suffering.

Ray Comfort states, and has in fact stated for many years, that an atheist requires absolute knowledge to be justified in saying that God does not exist.

TEST FOUR

Ray Comfort is:

1. Intelligent.
   
2. A fool.
   
3. Has an ulterior motive for denying the obvious.