Q: Is Scientology a Christian religion? What do they believe?
A: Scientology is not a Christian religion. Before I tell you what they believe, I want to give a brief description of what we, as Christians, believe and the basis of Christianity. Then, when I get to...
...the beliefs of Scientology, it will be very apparent that the two don’t connect.
Christianity is founded on the person of Jesus Christ: his teachings, ministry, death and resurrection. The word “Christ” means that He is the anointed one (it’s not Jesus’ last name...{smile}). Jesus came to Earth, fulfilled Old Testament laws and prophecies, died on a cross, and physically rose from the dead. He performed a lot of miracles that are recorded in the Gospels – with eye witness accounts.
We believe that there is only one God in all existence who made the universe and created man and woman in His image. We also believe in God as Trinity – not three Gods – but one God who is the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Christianity is the only religion in the world that teaches salvation through grace…all other religions teach that we must do some sort of good to achieve the right to be in the presence of God. In other words, our belief is that there is nothing we can do to earn our way to heaven. We are able to enter into the Kingdom of Heaven by faith in what Christ did for us on the cross.
As Christians, we also believe that once an individual comes to know Christ (“is born again”; “saved”) – they are filled with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit actually indwells their body and they are changed, allowing them to experience a true, living relationship with God.
All that being said…here is the core belief system of Scientologists, taken directly from their writings:
“Man is an immortal, spiritual being. His experience extends well beyond a single lifetime. His capabilities are unlimited, even if not presently realized—and those capabilities can be realized. He is able to not only solve his own problems, accomplish his goals and gain lasting happiness, but also achieve new, higher states of awareness and ability. In Scientology, no one is asked to accept anything as belief or on faith. That which is true for you is what you have observed to be true.”
A religion with no truths and no belief system, that elevates each individual to be their own god…is definitely not compatible with Christianity.
Thursday, February 7, 2008
Scientology...
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Does God cause illness?
Q: How do we explain to a loved one that God is not the one who makes them sick, bitter or have no joy?
A: It is all in knowing the character of God. The teaching of Jesus that best contrasts the work of God with the work of the devil is John 10:10. “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” If the scene of the accident has the fingerprints of death, disease and destruction all over it, you can be sure it is not of God. No where in the Gospels do we see Jesus going about distributing illness. We only see healing disease. No where do we see him oppressing someone with hardship or suffering. We see him tenderly alleviating suffering and bringing encouragement to the downtrodden. If you want to know what God is like, look at Jesus. Study the gospels. There you will see that God is good … all the time!
Why does God intervene only some times?
Q: Why would God choose to intervene in some cases and not in others, i.e. sickness, poverty, etc.?
A: In the teachings of the New Testament there is this tension between “the already” and “the not yet.” Jesus said, “The Kingdom of heaven is among you.” Yet, he also instructed us to pray, “your Kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” In his first coming, Jesus inaugurated the Kingdom of Heaven. But, he did not culminate it. The Kingdom of God is seen wherever people are submitted to the King. We pray for a healing, let’s say, and sometimes God graciously grants our prayers. Other times, the person gets worse and dies. The reality is that all people in this world will eventually die. The Kingdom is not fully here yet. When Jesus returns he will establish his Kingdom in all its glory. Then, “the kingdoms of this earth will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ.” There will neither be sickness or sorrow or pain. A new heaven and a new earth will be created will replace the old. Until then, we wait and live in the land of the already/not yet. We see glimpses of what is to come, but only glimpses. A miracle of healing is a signpost of what is to come. So, while it may appear God doesn’t intervene now, he will most definitely intervene later!
Why did the Father allow Jesus to die?
Q: A couple of weeks ago you spoke about a group of people who sacrificed their first born child as an offering – and that sounds so awful to us, but God sacrificed His son for us and we think it’s a noble, worthy cause?? Why would a father do that to his child? And I guess Jesus had a choice, but did he really have a choice – a little bit of guilt there – taking on the sin of the world? Why would he allow his son to go through that? He is supposed to be a loving God. The other people who did it were monsters for it, but God is love?
A: There is a world of difference between the two. As you already point out, Jesus had a choice. He said, “No one takes my life from me. I lay it down on my accord.” “The good shepherd lays down his life for...
...the sheep.” “Greater love has no one than this; that a man lay his life down for his friends.” In Galatians Paul said, “the son of God loved me and gave himself up for me.”
God, the Father, gave his son as a gift to the world. The son, as a gift to us, offered himself as the Lamb of God, taking away the sins of the world. Jesus said, “I and the Father are one.” To say that the Father did this to Jesus misses the key point that the Father, through his son, took the cross upon himself. They are one.
God allowed his son to go through the agonies of the cross because of his love for us. The penalty for sin is death. That is what God established in the garden and throughout history. Sin is a serious matter. Just as prison time is required for some crimes, blood is required for sin. Justice demanded that our blood be shed. Mercy meant Jesus shed his blood on our behalf. The One sacrificed for the many that the many could be saved.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
Why Bother Living?
A: A subtle distinction; death does not bring us closer to God – resurrection in Christ allows us to come fully into the presence of God. We will see him not like through the bottom of a Coke bottle (or Pepsi bottle…whatever your preference of bottle), but clearly. However, that truth does not render our present life meaningless or useless. I suppose if God only made us to lay around and do nothing on earth, and then we would lay around and do nothing in heaven, this question would be a tougher one to answer. But God has a plan for our life; he has imbued our lives with purpose.
Also, a similar question is something like this, “If running the 100 at the Olympics gets us closer to a gold medal, why practice sprinting on a track?” The answer is preparation for what our ultimate destination is. Just like God was trying to teach the Israelites how to be his people in the desert before they entered the Promised Land, he is teaching us how to be his here and now before we enter eternity.
Grace and Judgment Day
A: The Bible says that Christ died for the forgiveness of our sins. If we believe in Christ and accept that grace, then we are forgiven and on judgment day we will be found in Christ, washed clean and without sin. However, it is still a judgment day, because for those who have rejected Christ and, in so doing, stand before God without Christ, they will be judged on the basis of the law. Have they been perfect and upheld the law in every way; not just the 10 commandments, but the summary of those commandments - loving the Lord with all their heart, soul, mind and strength and loving others as themselves? Judgment day will separate the wheat from the chaff, but remember that outside of Christ’s gracious atonement for our sins, we are all chaff.
God will ask us to give an account of what we’ve done with what he has given us. It will not be for condemnation, but for a true reckoning of how we lived our lives under his grace and love. I suppose it would be something like this: on graduation day there are those who graduate and those who don’t, but a secondary question is – what grades did you get? (That’s a pretty iffy example, because graduation doesn’t come by grace…but hopefully you get the point).
Monday, February 4, 2008
Alcohol, Drugs, and Teenagers
Q: What about substances in the world and God? Biblically, I know that we, as Christians, are supposed to lead by example and that we are to always be in our “right/sober” mind. But why is this? If I am responsible with my actions and don’t put myself or others in danger, why is this so bad? I know in the bible it says to obey the law of the land in all aspects unless it goes against the morals of Christianity. Of course under-age drinking and smoking marijuana are both against the law. But I don’t understand how the government can allow me to choose who is going to be the next leader of our country but they won’t let me go out and have a beer or hang out in my house and smoke a plan (sic) that grows in the dirt. I understand that the majority of people under the drinking age would not be responsible after drinking and some people may not be responsible after smoking marijuana, but how is it right to put these restrictions on me and judge me without even knowing me? I pray; I spend time with God and I am trying to do so more often. I also know that it says in 1 Peter 4:7 to be sober in spirit for the purpose of prayer. But I think this is pointed more toward clearing our minds for prayer and to not be distracted. I have prayed after drinking and I have prayed after smoking. My prayer is sometimes more sincere after smoking than it is sober.
I am not trying to justify under-age beer drinking and pot smoking. I am trying to educate myself on things that I have been taught were wrong but I don’t quite have an understanding of why they are wrong. Is it ignorant for me to continue these things and even think that they might be able to be okay with God or is it ignorant for others to believe what they have been told to believe without doing any research?
A: You have a lot of questions to contend with here: drinking, obedience to authorities, drugs, etc. I will do my best to cover all of them.
First of all, if you consider the government to be inconsistent with laws doesn't give you license to pick and choose which ones you want to obey. For a while I have had a difficult time with the fact that out government sends 18 year-olds to war but won't let them buy a beer. But, these are the laws that the authorities have put into place, and the Bible - as you pointed out - is pretty clear that we need to obey those authorities. So while I agree with you that there are inconsistencies there, obedience is still required on our part. I don't like that the IRS comes knocking every year, but it doesn't mean I don't have to pay my taxes (doggone it!).
But why are they against the law? You asked: I understand that the majority of people under the drinking age would not be responsible after drinking and some people may not be responsible after smoking marijuana, but how is it right to put these restrictions on me and judge me without even knowing me? It is ridiculous to expect the government to go out and survey each individual to find out what they can and can not handle, which it sounds like you are advocating by saying that they need to know you before putting restrictions on you. What the government tries to do is make laws to protect the individuals in that jurisdiction. They are looking out for the greater good. And the fact of the matter is that alcohol and drugs do affect the majority of people, and oftentimes in harmful ways. You started with the premise that you are responsible with your actions and don't put yourself and others in danger. That is a faulty premise because when you start drinking/doing drugs, you become less and less responsible with your actions. Your judgments are affected by the drugs in your system. So while you might feel like you are starting out responsibly, your responsibility decreases.
A side story: I have alcoholism in my family. Do you think my family members went out and said, "Hmmm, I think I'll become an alcoholic/drug addict. That would be cool."? Of course not. They started out 'drinking responsibly,' but as they went along, their responsibility went down in a hurry.
Another thing to take into consideration is your stage of life. As a teenager, a few things are true of your development. First, your brain is still developing. Your frontal lobes, which control self-control and judgment, are still developing and will be until your mid-20's. This says that a teenager doesn't make the best judgment calls (like choosing to drink or do drugs because it's not hurting anyone). That could be part of the reason for the laws as we have them. And second, because it is still developing, the teenage brain is more susceptible to the negative affects of alcohol, particularly on memory and learning. Studies have shown negative cognitive effects in those who have used/abused alcohol, even weeks after they have stopped using. Maybe the law is there and the command from God is there to protect you (and your brain).
The Bible does talk a lot about being sober-minded and self controlled. As a matter of fact, drunkenness and self-control are for all intents and purposes contrasted in Galatians 5 in the discussion of the acts of the sinful nature (drunkenness) and the fruit of the Spirit (self-control). I could go into exposition on each of the verses in the Bible that cover drunkenness/soberness/self-control. But rather than do that, I will try to summarize with a question that I think can be derived from many of the verses: Which would you prefer to be controlled by, the alcohol/drugs or the Holy Spirit? That seems to be the distinction made throughout Scripture.
Saturday, February 2, 2008
Suffering
Q: Why do the innocent suffer?
Read More......
Friday, February 1, 2008
The Trinity
Q: The concept of the Trinity is difficult for me to understand. Can you explain it in simple terms?
A: First, I would say join the club. Trying to understand the Trinity completely is extremely difficult, if not impossible. The Trinity is a mystery on some levels. I don’t believe that we will ever fully understand the Trinity this side of Heaven. However, I do believe...
that God has revealed himself to us in this way. We worship a God that is truly three in one.Hebrews 1:3a says, “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being, sustaining all things by his powerful word.” The word “being” or person is the English rendering of the Greek word hupostasis {hoop-os'-tas-is}. The sense of the word is best described as “substance.” In other words, The Son is the exact substance of God. This word is significant because it helps us understand the relationship between the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. All three are unique yet contain the same substance; hence, three in One.Here’s an example:1. Water is a good example for understanding the substance question. If you freeze water, its still water; it’s just frozen. In a similar way, God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are of the same substance, yet distinct.I know there are other examples that might help us understand the Trinity better. I would encourage people to post other examples that they have heard or seen that could possibly be helpful so that we all can learn a little more.The Trinity is one of the unique doctrines of the church that is vital to understanding the God we worship. Christians do not worship three gods. We worship one God who has revealed himself to us in three distinct beings. The Trinity is simple, yet complex all at the same time. However, this is how God has chosen to reveal himself to us, so we must ask for wisdom in order to understand better. Will we fully understand the Trinity in this life? I doubt it. Can we understand it better each day? Absolutely!
God's Name?
Q: My problem with God is his name. I grew up “in the church” and “God” was someone that I had to be good for. “God” became like a parent who only paid attention to me if I was “bad”. I am glad God has many names. I need a new name for God.
A: I realize this is not a question per se, but for some reason I was drawn to your statement. Your problem is pretty common. People have bad experiences all the time and sometimes those experiences color our ...
view or understanding of God. It is true that there are many names used for the God of the Bible. The truth is that no name will ever fully capture the fullness of God.
One name commonly used by follows of Christ to refer to God is the name--Father. I tend to like this name a lot because it helps me understand that no matter my situation or circumstance God will always be as close as a Father. He is the perfect Father without a doubt. I think one of the reasons I relate to this name, Father, is because I guess on some levels I have always longed for a closer relationship with my earthly Father. I don’t know if you can relate to this at all? I know of people who have had retched fathers and it is terribly difficult for them to refer to God as Father. However, to completely eliminate this name for God is to in some way lose an aspect of how God has revealed himself to us. The one thing I say to people that struggle with this name for God is that God wants to redeem and heal the brokenness that inhibits someone from experiencing him as Father.I only use the “Father” example to make the point that the names we use matter, and that if certain names are left out because of our difficult experiences or family history we run the risk of losing an important aspect or attribute of God.You said you needed another name for God. What name would you use? Would you use multiple names? Would these names reflect the revealed nature and character of God found in the Old and New Testaments?Lastly, God is not a cosmic cop waiting around to give us a ticket when we mess up. I recently read a book called “The Deity Formally Known as God” by Jarrett Stevens. I would encourage you to read it. He does a really great job with describing who God is and who God is not. Thanks for the question/statement!
