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			a bunch of BULLSHIT
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	'''''The Way of the Master''''' is a ] ] training ministry, with several other groups related underneath it. It is headed by ], of ] and ], and evangelist ], though there are several other key figures within their ministry. It also involves a TV show, radio broadcast, book, online school, Sunday school program, and Web site of the same name. It is a ministry of ].

	Their ministry is headquartered in ].

	==The Principle==
	The basic principle of ] that they teach is using the ] to show someone their ] and, by implication, their need for God's forgiveness. The main Scriptures they use to prove the validity of this are Mark 10:17-22; Romans 3:19-20 and 7:7-13; and Galatians 3:24.<ref name=Biblegateway>"Biblegateway.com", , , , " Accessed March 20th, 2006 </ref> The acronym they present the 10 commandments with in a conversation is represented by the letters in the ministry's logo, WDJD, which stands for the four questions:
	* "'''W'''ould you consider yourself to be a good person?"
	* "'''D'''o you think you have kept the 10 Commandments?" followed by asking specifically if the person has broken the commandments, with questions like "Have you ever told a lie?"
	* '''J'''udgment: "If God judges you by the 10 Commandments on the ], will you be innocent or guilty?"
	* '''D'''estiny: "Would you go to ] or ]?"

	However, these questions are usually an outline, with more in-depth questions and commentary given by the "witnesser" during the conversation. After the 10 commandments are used to "bring the knowledge of ]", (based on ) the ] is usually presented to the "witnessee", describing the Christian belief in ]'s death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins, and encouraging the person to give a response of ] and ] in Christ. If the "witnessee" is especially stubborn or antagonistic, the witnesser might return to the 10 commandments or engage in other rhetoric.

	==The Television Series==
	, it airs in 70 countries, including six Christian networks in the U.S., the most prominent of which is ]. The aim of the show is to teach Christians how to reach non-Christians with the ], via teaching and example, in one-on-one interviews.

	The television series has three main segments, sprinkled about throughout the program:
	* The main teaching, in which ] and ] are in various locales teaching about sharing the gospel. Such backgrounds include:
	** Alcatraz Island
	** The New York skyline
	** The Golden Gate Bridge
	* Clips of Ray, Kirk, and others interviewing and sharing the gospel with non-Christians, using the method described above.
	* Various "filler" segments, such as:
	** "Questions & Objections," with Kirk and Ray answering some common questions and objections to Christianity.
	** "Reality Break," with Kirk and Ray providing commentary in a car, followed by showing them witnessing.
	** "Wake Up Call," to motivate Christians to evangelize.

	The ] association awarded ''The Way of the Master'' the "People's Choice Award" for 2004 and 2005, and their "Best Program Award" in 2005 and 2006 in the television category.

	===Season 1 Episodes===
	# The Firefighter
	# The Mirror of the ]
	# The Motive of the Sinner
	# The Summary of ]
	# Practice What You Preach
	# ] -- The Darling Sin of Humanity
	# The Beauty of a Broken Spirit -- ]
	# WDJD?
	# ], ], ]
	# ]
	# ]
	# ]
	# ] and ]

	===Season 2 Episodes===
	# God's Wonderful Plan
	# ]
	# ], ], ]
	# True and False Conversion
	# When Things Go Wrong
	# The ] Influence
	# How to Witness to Someone Who's ]
	# ]
	# How to Witness to a Loved One
	# The Fear of God
	# Ice Breakers -- ] ]
	# The Greatest Gamble
	# How to Get on Fire for God

	===Season 3 Episodes===
	Though only the first two seasons have been aired and released on DVD, 13 more episodes for a third season are being planned. They will have a focus on comparing other religions to Christianity and the Bible, and showing how to reach people of these religions with evangelism.
	# ]
	# ]
	# ]
	# ]
	# ]
	# What ] Believes
	# ]
	# ]
	# What ] Believes
	# ]
	# ]
	# ]
	# ]

	==The Radio Show==
	Cameron and Comfort have teamed up with Minnesota Christian talk show host ] to produce a daily live ] show of the same name, which began airing on ], 2006.

	According to Cameron and Comfort, every two-hour daily program "focus on three things: reaching the lost, equipping ''you'' to reach them, and teaching you how to read the Bible properly so that you can determine what's true from what's false. ... There'll be live open-air preaching, and we'll even open up the phone book and randomly call people and share the gospel with them, live." Other segments include sending staff members out onto the street, frequently in southern California, and either listening to them witness to someone, or have Todd, Kirk, or Ray witness to someone. They also frequently listen in via cell phone to witnessing during ] "Evangelism Boot Camps," which began in January 2006.

	According to their station listing, the daily show is available on about a dozen terrestrial radio stations as of March 2006, as well as on ] and via Internet ] and ]. Another 30 stations air a weekly "best of" show, and over 600 stations air Way of the Master Radio Minutes, short features designed to encourage Christians to share their faith with others.

	==Evangelism Training Courses==

	===Basic Training Course===
	In ] ], after roughly a year of planning and production, the ministry released a "Basic Training Course," a set of materials designed to work as a ] or other small group curriculum. The package includes:
	* Eight videos on four ]s, each ranging from 30 to 50 minutes. Five of the videos include large portions of teaching from the television show.
	* The audio portions of these videos on four ]s.
	* A 120-page study guide.
	* A "Quick Reference Card" containing two acronyms which can be used with these techniques.
	* 300 of their gospel tracts.
	* Special promotional materials on DVD and CD-ROM.

	The eight videos included in the Basic Training Course are:

	# Cultivating Your Compassion for the Lost -- contains portions of the TV episode "The Firefighter"
	# Discovering Hell's Best Kept Secret
	# Learning to Ovecome Fear -- contains portions of the TV episode "Conscience"
	# Practicing What You Preach -- contains portions of the TV episode "Practice What You Preach"
	# Crafting the Message -- contains portions of the TV episode "WDJD?"
	# Answering The Top Ten Objections -- filmed at a 2005 ] in Los Angeles
	# The Myth of the Modern Message -- contains portions of the TV episodes "God's Wonderful Plan" and "The Fear of God"
	# Spreading Your Wings

	===Intermediate Training Course===
	On the "Spreading Your Wings" video of the Basic Training Course, Comfort and Cameron mention an "Intermediate Training Course," which will cover topics presented in some of the TV episodes like "When Things Go Wrong," "How to Witness to a Family Member," "How to Witness to Someone Who's Gay," and "Evolution." No other information, such as contents or scheduled release date, are known at this time.

	===Advanced Training Course===
	At the ] at the ministry's Bellflower headquarters in January 2006, Cameron and Comfort also mentioned an "Advanced Training Course." No other information, such as contents or scheduled release date, are known at this time.

	==School of Biblical Evangelism==
	Another branch of their ministry is an unaccredited school of 101 lessons on their teachings, called '''The School of Biblical Evangelism''' (also called '''SOBE''' or '''SBE'''). This school is available both online, and in textbook form, though only the online form of lessons leads to graduation. As of early February 2006, roughly 6,500 people have taken or are taking the school. The history of SBE is chronicled in the preface of their textbook:

	:In 2001, we decided to create an online Bible school called "The School of Biblical Evangelism," in which we would systematically equip Christians to share their faith. It would have a total of 120 lessons. We couldn't wait to get it underway, so we placed the first ten lessons online, thinking we could write the others before students caught up with us. We were wrong. Almost immediately students were banging on our door asking, "Where is the next lesson?"
	:The experience of trying to outrun hungry students was a taste of what was to come. Within a short time we were delighted to find thatover 2,000 students from 18 countries had enrolled in the school.

	==Key Figures==
	Though not considered a ], ], or ], there are several "headliners" in the ministry who are often cited by those who follow the Way of the Master:
	* ], co-founder, TV and radio show co-host
	* ], co-founder, TV and radio show co-host
	* ], daily host of the radio show
	* ], founder and leader of ]
	* ], the dean of SOBE
	* ], Comfort's son-in-law and general manager of the ministry headquarters.

	== Criticisms ==

	Cameron and Comfort use what some describe as flawed arguments to prove the existence of God. For example, in the pilot episode, "The Firefighter," Comfort stops a group of people on the street and claims to be able to prove the existence of god.

	:''"When you look at a painting, how do you know there was a painter? The painting exists. When you look at a building, how do you know there was a builder? The building is proof there is a builder. And creation proves there is a creator. And your conscience tells you when you do right from wrong."''

	Many people claim the argument ignores the theory of ], instead assuming we were created and therefore there must be a creator (God). However, it is yet to be seen whether these people are trying to refer to evolution, or various theories on the creation of the universe which are not exactly related. The last sentence also seems to be a transition into their line of questioning which uses of the Ten Commandments.

	Other examples, when asked about Creationism versus the Big Bang Theory, Cameron said that he knew Adam and Eve were real because "Jesus was descended from Adam, and Jesus was real, so Adam has to be real."

	The website states "Evolution is not a good theory—it is just a pagan religion masquerading as science.". The page also contains a list of 15 questions designed to disprove evolution from the ] ], though many ] claim some of the questions have nothing to do with the theory of evolution.

	Some critics feel that The Way of the Master series employs ] against the public, and that it asserts as fact many suppositions that are at best conjecture and at worst complete falsehoods.

	'''Examples of fallacies'''
	Episode 21: Evolution

	'''"Argument from Personal Incredulity":'''
	''Because one personally finds a premise unlikely or unbelievable, the premise can be assumed not to be true, or alternately that another preferred but unproven premise is true instead.''
	Examples:
	At the begining of Episode 21, the hosts explain, using the analogy of their program as a spontaneous creation '']'', that evolution is not possible. The reason behind this incredulity is that they know their show had creators involved in its creation (which some assert may be several fallacies in their own right), therefore the universe, appearing to them as a designed construction like the show, must have a designer and that designer must be god. However, Although this may be better categorized as a ], the introduction does not seem to imply that the show's attempt at proof ends there.

	Some believe that the second part of this fallacy is that of the ] fallacy, in that either the ] either has a designer who did not create it with evolution in mind or has no designer at all. Some claim this is untenable, as many Christians (], for example) have accepted the evidence of evolution but believe that evolution is the method that god uses to develop his creations. In this manner, some critics claim that both a designer and evolution are compatible, unlike the either-or assertion of Episode 21. {{fact}} However, it should be noted that evolutionary theory does not necessarily address the question of whether the universe was designed or not. {{fact}}

	Some critics also believe that it is an example of a ], in that the evidence from the production of their show is verifiable and testable. However, this does not mean that the status of the episode as a designed construct carries over to the concept of the universe or world as a whole having a supernatural designer, which in a purely ] sense, is completely untestable. This may also be an ].

	Some critics charge that this same opening scene of the program contains another fallacy:
	'''"The Straw Man"'''
	''A ] is a rhetorical technique based on misrepresentation of an opponent's position.''
	In the episode, The essence of evolutionary theory is described in a form somewhat inconsistant with the modern theory, in which Ray Comfort explains that evolutionists believe that "there was nothing, and then there was this big bang, and out came the sea and the land, and (various fauna and flora) and of course, man and woman". Of course, evolutionists believe no such thing. {{fact}} Critics charge that Ray Comfort has set up a "Straw Man" of a non-existent evolutionist that ironically believes in a process remarkably similar to the Biblical creation Story in book of Genesis due to its expediency.

	Critics charge that this Straw Man fallacy is carried over throughout the program, for instance,
	some charge that the bulk of interviews are with unknowledgeable and unprepared young people who may or may not have a grounding in the discipline being discussed. These individuals are spoken to until they say something that is either non-supported or non-factual about the topic (for instance, one male student believes that the big bang was likely caused by a "big asteroid hitting the planet"). The interviews then stop abruptly, in a manner designed to imply that that this is a generally accepted belief of the opposition. (Though arguably, the interviews may of stopped due to the interviewee calling it off.) Interestingly, some critics claim that no attempts are shown to consult any widely recognized authorities on the subject in question (evolution in this case) or to try to utilize their interviewing technique against those in the field of evolutionary science (this is an example of the informal fallacy of "]"), though both Ray and Kirk do make it a point in this episode and many others not to argue in circles with people over evolution, or topics which often have no bearing over their evangelistic method.

	At around the 7:30 mark of the same program, Kirk Cameron speaks about a lack of ]. Critics may charge that this discussion is actually not a fallacy, but is known as a ]. Evolutionists may charge that there are numerous examples of transitional fossils on record, and more being discovered even today, though Kirk may actually of been claiming that considering the length of time natural selection takes, that even the fossils scientists have today are nowhere near enough.

	A link to the episode above can be found (as of April 20, 2006) here at Google Video:


	On March 17, 2006, Comfort and Cameron were featured on a segment of ], being interviewed by ] about their ministry. Bashir asked each of them questions relating to evolution, their credibility as ministers, and their motive in speaking of things such as ] and ], where as many other Christian figures in the public eye do not speak of such things.

	==Notes==
	<references />

	==See also==
	* ]
	* ]

	==External links==
	* - the main "The Way of the Master" Web site for his ministry with Kirk Cameron.
	* - an evangelism resources Web site, originally known as RayComfort.com
	*
	* - their gospel presentation Web site.
	*
	* - A ministry which has teamed up with "The Way of the Master" to create a worldwide network of Christians using the principles of "biblical evangelism", as well as run "evangelism boot camps" across the world.
	* - Daily one-minute short devotionals compiled by Cameron and Comfort, in written and audio formats.
	*

	]

Revision as of 04:04, 24 April 2006

a bunch of BULLSHIT