THE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY (4)

General Teachings of Scientology (2)

Victor M. Eskew

 

          The foundational teaching of the New Testament involves Jesus’ being the Son of God and the Savior of the world.  During His ministry, Jesus said:  “I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins:  for if ye believe not that I am he, he shall die in your sins” (John 8:24).  In that same gospel, we have these words spoken by Jesus Christ:  “I am the way, the truth, and the life:  no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).  Peter understood the importance of Jesus.  He made it clear to the Sanhedrin council that salvation can only be found in Christ Jesus.  “Neither is there salvation in any other:  for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).  When a person is in the process of becoming a Christian, he must not only believe in Jesus Christ, but he must also make a public confession of his faith.  “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation” (Rom. 10:9-10).

          This teaching opposes the view that Scientology has about Jesus Christ.  L. Ron Hubbard puts Jesus on the same level of other great spiritual leaders such as Moses and Muhammad.  On June 3, 1955, Mr. Hubbard gave a lecture entitled, “The Hope of Man.”  In that discourse he set forth his view of Jesus. 

 

                   “But what I am telling you is that these people handed on a torch                                     of wisdom, of information, generation to generation.  It was handed                                     along geographical routes and one of those geographical routes was                                     the Middle East.  And one of the people who handed it on was a man                                   named Moses.  And again it was handed on to a man named Christ.                                 And he handed it on and even the Arab nations benefited from this                                      through their own prophet Muhammad.

 

                   “And these men I consider great spiritual leaders, because they gave                                    to Man, on down through the years, the hope that life could go on, that                                there was a spiritual side to existence, that the business of barter and                                 gain was not all there is to life” (www.scientology.org).+

 

Scientology presents Jesus as only a man, a great spiritual leader like unto Moses or Muhammad.  Scientology does not proclaim that Jesus is deity.  Scientologists do not affirm that salvation can only come through the “God-man” named Jesus Christ.

          Jesus was not a mere man.  There are many proofs that confirm He was truly who He proclaimed to be, the Son of the living God.  First, he was born of a virgin (Matt. 1:19-23).  Second, the Father Himself proclaimed that Jesus was His Son immediately following his baptism in the Jordan River (Matt. 3:17).  Third, Jesus was a sinless human being.  He never transgressed the law of God while on earth (Heb. 4:15; 7:26; 1 Pet. 2:22).  Fourth, He was the fulfillment of every Old Testament prophecy regarding the Messiah (John 5:29).  Fifth, the mighty works that He did during His earthly ministry point to His deity (John 10:37-38; 14:11; 20:30-31).  Sixth, the authoritative teachings of the Christ point to His being divine (Matt. 7:28-29; John 7:46).  Seventh, the manner in which he endured the cross of Calvary proves He is the Son of God (Mark 15:39).  Eighth, the resurrection of Jesus from the dead proclaims that He is the Son of God with power (Rom. 1:4).  Ninth, Jesus testified on His own behalf that He was the Son of God (Matt. 16:16-18).

          Any religion that rejects Jesus as the Son of God is a false religion.  Scientology rejects Jesus as the Son of God.  Therefore, it is a false religion.  Dear readers, no one can be a part of Scientology and be saved in the last day.  Jesus said:  “He that believeth on him is not condemned:  but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18).  The apostle John affirms this same teaching in 1 John 5:10-13.  “He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself:  he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.  And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his Son.  He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life.  These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”