| Written by Dave Bohon |
| Wednesday, 28 September 2011 10:02 |
A new online movie released September 26 by Christian apologist Ray Comfort (left) is poised to radically change the abortion debate in the United States and beyond. Entitled 180 because of the complete change of heart eight “pro-choice” individuals in the film have just moments after being confronted with the truth about abortion, the movie had nearly 30,000 views on YouTube within 24 hours of its release, prompting some observers to predict that the free online movie is destined to go viral — meaning millions will log on to view it over the next few months.Shane Martin, who is managing the film’s social media sites, told the Christian Post that 180’s Facebook page had been receiving approximately 100 new “Likes” per hour shortly after the video’s online launch. “The response has actually been overwhelming,” he said. “We’ve had thousands of views on YouTube today and it’s just the first day that it’s live.”
Comfort said he can understand how skeptical some might be at the film’s power to change minds so quickly and completely because he was surprised himself. Nonetheless, he told OneNewsNow.com, “knowledge is very, very powerful, and when we have knowledge, it can send information; it can change our whole perspective. That’s exactly what happens. The reason why we called it ‘180’ is because people do a 180-degree turn….”
He said that 180 was not the film he originally set out to produce. While taping interviews for a companion DVD to go along with a book on Hitler and the holocaust, Comfort found the questions he was asking people being steered toward the issue of abortion. “It began with two male university students completely changing their minds about abortion when we asked them this one question,” Comfort recalled, referring to the provocative “What if…?” query that frames the discussion in the movie. “We realized it wouldn’t be convincing to have only males speaking on the subject, so we took to the streets, asking that one particular question, and found that six women changed their minds from pro-abortion to pro-life in a matter of seconds. It was amazing!”
Comfort quickly changed the direction and thrust of the film’s theme, recognizing its potential to change the hearts and minds of viewers. “I have held up pro-life signs,” admitted the well-known Christian evangelist. “I have printed pro-life literature and spoken against abortion in pulpits and in my books. But I have felt that all my efforts were almost futile — that is, up until now. In 180 we have a nation-changer.”
Most people “know that we should be doing something to stop this horror” of abortion, Comfort pointed out, “but the thought of protesting is a little unnerving, especially with the demonization of those who do so.” But with the release of 180, he challenged, “here is something each of us can easily do. We can give this DVD out. We can pass it out on the streets, leave copies on park benches or on seats in malls or give it to the checkout lady at the supermarket. This isn’t hard to do.” Most importantly, he predicted, “it will save lives — perhaps millions of lives.”
Comfort told OneNewsNow that the simple, 30-minute video has the potential to be something “... unique. If you can change people’s minds about abortion, you can change the way they vote. And if you can change the way they vote, you can change the direction of a whole nation.”
As to the potential of the video to go viral through its distribution via Facebook and other social sites, Comfort said that kind of popularity means more babies will be saved who might otherwise have been killed through abortion. “Thanks to social media, every person who sees 180’s potential to save lives becomes a distributor with a click of a ‘Send to a friend’ button,” he told the Christian Post.
He added that even though his ministry, Living Waters, is planning to distribute 200,000 copies of the movie at 100 top universities, “our big hope is that millions will freely see it via social media. If the YouTube clip ‘Charlie bit my finger‘ can get over 360 million views, we can do just as well if not better, because a video that can save lives is a little more important than a kid having his finger bit by his brother.”
To view 180 online, see below:
