Rev. David Holwick F Jesus and Other Faiths First Baptist Church Ledgewood, New Jersey February 7, 2016
I. Be like Tom Cruise! A. He is a phenomenally successful movie star. 1) He is worth $500 million, and has had 20 movies that have earned over $100 million each. 2) Tom Cruise is also the world's most famous Scientologist. a) He credits the religion with making him a winner. b) Many others feel the same way. 1> John Travolta 2> Kirstie Alley 3> Juliette Lewis 4> Priscilla Presley 5> Isaac Hayes 6> Fox News's Greta Van Susteren 7> Will Smith denies being a Scientologist, but he has donated millions of dollars to the group. 8> Mass murderer Charles Manson took Scientology classes but he decided the religion was too crazy for him. [1] B. Why is Scientology so popular with the famous? 1) Fame can be fleeting and this produces anxiety. 2) Overcoming anxiety and maximizing your abilities are goals that most successful people seek. a) Scientology focuses on the inner mind and promises to unlock your full potential. b) Isn't this what we all want? c) I don't suppose anyone joins a religion to be a loser. 1> Which religion makes you a REAL winner? II. The interesting life of L. Ron Hubbard. A. Without a doubt, he has had an impact on American religion. In 2014, Hubbard was cited by the Smithsonian magazine as one of the 10 most influential religious figures and one of the 100 Most Significant Americans of all time. [2] He is also one of the most controversial. B. There are multiple versions of his life story. 1) Scientologist biographies make him into an otherworldly saint. They describe him as a boy who grew up on a ranch that was half the size of Montana, became a globe-trotting prodigy and a decorated war hero with many wounds. He claims to have been blinded and made lame. Scientologists say he was awarded 29 medals. 2) Many of the details do not bear up under scrutiny. Some are wildly exaggerated, most are outright inventions. The reality is that he was born in Nebraska, lived in a small apartment in Helena, Montana, and traveled to Asia while his dad was serving in the Navy. He stopped in a few ports, that's all. He did serve in the Navy in World War II but was removed from his ship and declared unfit to be a leader. Hubbard received only 4 medals, and they were all generic. He was never wounded in combat. He did get an ulcer, however. More importantly, after the war he applied for mental health aid from the Navy. He wrote them: "My last physician informed me that it might be very helpful if I were to be examined and perhaps treated psychiatrically or even by a psychoanalyst. Toward the end of my service I avoided out of pride any mental examinations, hoping that time would balance a mind which I had every reason to suppose was seriously affected." [3] One researcher wonders how many lives would have been saved from anguish if the Navy had followed up on his request. 3) This is fascinating because Scientology rejects psychiatry. Instead, Hubbard credited his new religion with curing all his supposed illnesses and war wounds. According to the Church's chief spokesman, if it was true that Hubbard had not been injured, "the injuries that he handled by the use of Dianetics procedures were never handled, because they were injuries that never existed; therefore, Dianetics is based on a lie; therefore, Scientology is based on a lie." [4] I can accept this statement. C. There is no dispute Hubbard became a prolific writer. 1) He wrote more than 1,000 books - a Guinness world record. a) Science fiction was his specialty. b) Each of the main themes of Scientology - engrams, the concept of clear, thetans - are foreshadowed in his science fiction stories. 2) His ultimate book was Dianetics. a) It was a huge best-seller. b) The basic principle of Dianetics was that the brain recorded every experience in a person's life. Bad or painful experiences were stored as what he called "engrams" in a "reactive mind". These could be triggered later in life, causing emotional and physical problems. By using a special E-meter that reads electricity conducted through the person's body, the engrams could be re-experienced and "cleared." He called this process "auditing", and it is similar to a lie detector exam. People in a state of "Clear" have a perfectly functioning mind with an improved IQ and memory. People at the highest levels of Scientology supposedly can read minds and move objects with their thoughts. 3) Critics were not kind to his book. Scientific American said that it contained "more promises and less evidence per page than any publication since the invention of printing." The sales eventually fell off so he came up with a new idea. III. Birth of Scientology. A. In 1954 Hubbard formed a religion from the ideas in his book. 1) A big motivation for him was money. a) He said, "You don't get rich writing science fiction. If you want to get rich, you start a religion." [5] b) Hubbard made tons of money by charging for auditing sessions. c) He added a series of levels you could attain to, each more expensive than the others. 2) It is a rich person's religion. a) One woman remarked that it was the only church she has seen with a cash register in the sanctuary. b) Reportedly Tom Cruise has paid over $500,000 for his E-meter audits. c) You can also get all the auditing for free - by joining Sea Org. 1> They sign a billion-year contract (with a "b"). 2> They work 16 hours a day, and earn 40 cents an hour. 3> There have been many reports of physical and mental abuse of the workers. But their audits are free. B. Scientology has a very dark side. 1) Not only charges of abuse, but harassment of those who try to leave. a) They specialize in lawsuits against their enemies. b) A big enemy has been the IRS, which finally caved in and classified Scientology as a tax-exempt religion. 2) Ex-members say it is run like a concentration camp. a) The mind-control is very heavy. IV. How Scientology compares with Christianity. A. Both believe in a Supreme Being. 1) Scientology doesn't give him much attention - the real focus is on YOU. 2) It is a very self-centered faith. B. Both believe people are spiritual beings. 1) Christians believe we are each created specially by God. 2) Scientologists believe we are spirits called "thetans" who are the remnants of a galactic battle. 75 million years ago, the dictator Xenu brought billions of people to Earth in spaceships that looked like DC-8s, which dumped them around volcanoes and then dropped hydrogen bombs on them. The spirits of those dead people are called body thetans and they adhere to humans like you, causing spiritual harm. I am giving you the super-advanced teachings of Scientology. L. Ron Hubbard says I will now die of pneumonia.... C. Both teach the need for salvation. 1) Scientologists get saved through a weird form of expensive Freudian-style therapy. 2) Christians believe we can only be saved by God, through the death of his Son, Jesus. a) Hubbard said there was no Christ on the cross. 1> Instead, Xenu forced all the thetans to watch a 3-D movie that implanted negative images on their minds. 2> One of those images was the cross. b) Scientologists say their faith is compatible with Christianity, but I cannot see how. 1> In one of his lectures, Hubbard actually said he would return as the Antichrist. #65069 2> He followed explicit Satanic rituals and used drugs to expand his mind. V. Do we share Scientology's dark side? A. This series examines other faiths, but also our own. 1) I want Christianity to look better than them. 2) But I can admit that sometimes we make the same mistakes. B. Some issues where Christians need to be aware. 1) Controlling leadership. Preachers can be tyrants, too. 2) Group pressure to believe and conform. a) A woman this week told me she grew up Baptist, moved to the South, and felt like the churches were cults. 1> She became a Catholic instead. b) True Baptist tradition believes in "soul freedom" - you can have your own thoughts about God, as he directs. 3) Promising more than we can deliver. a) Jesus can solve any problem, but he won't necessarily solve all of yours. b) Born-again Christians can be a mess. 1> Sometimes it is from deliberate sin. 2> At other times it can be from living in a broken world, and no fault of our own. 3> In either case, it is very hard for us to admit it. It is easier to paste on a fake smile. Don't! c) Bad experiences have a real impact on us. 1> However, they don't have to defeat us. 2> The early Christians were rejected and beaten but still found joy and strength in God. 3> There is a peace and steadiness from faith. 4) Beliefs that challenge non-believers. a) It is easy to mock Scientologists for their science fiction fantasies. b) However, outsiders probably view Christian beliefs the same way. 1> We believe in a man who walked on water, multiplied loaves of bread, and was raised from the dead. 2> When I was an atheist investigating Christianity, I struggled with these. 3> Be aware that people you meet may have the same reaction. VI. Selfishness is not the answer. A. The way to mental wholeness and health is through others. 1) Through a loving relationship with other people. During the bombing of London, it was found that people suffering from nervous disorders found unexpected health by forgetting their own troubles and ministering to the terrible needs of victims of the air raids. The reason many of us have no energy, no vitality, no joy, is that we are living only for ourselves. #3003 Christianity stresses that love for others is a prime way we express our faith. It is not "all about you." 2) Through a loving relationship with God. a) God's love for us is at the heart of the Bible. b) He wants us to have peace in our hearts. B. The experience of an escapee. Karen Pressley spent half her life - 17 years - in Scientology. She had a strong desire to know God. She did not know any Christians who had a vibrant faith. Karen married a musician and they moved to Los Angeles where they wrote the mega-hit "On the Wings of Love." The pressure of success was intense. Karen sought relief through Scientology. She liked how it helped her control her world to get what she wanted. She says it was an "all about me" kind of faith. They believed it so much they quit their lucrative lifestyle and joined the international headquarters. The workload was unbearable. There was no privacy. They were forbidden to have children, who are distractions. She wanted out, but they were going to charge her $225,000 to reimburse Scientology for all her free auditing sessions. When you left the compound, a security team followed you. In July 1998 she came to a place of complete brokenness. She knew she had to leave Scientology, even if it meant losing her husband. Karen says she felt totally overcome with a sense of peace from God, even though she did not know who He was. She was one of the few allowed to have a car, and as she followed the worker bus on an assignment, she slipped away. Scientology can trace all the reservations out of Los Angeles airport, so she booked a flight out of Las Vegas. She headed for her 73-year-old mother in Georgia. Karen was not aware her mother had joined a Baptist church and was praying for her daughter to leave Scientology. For six months, Karen didn't want anything to do with Christianity. She was too exhausted. But she finally agreed to go to a Christmas program where she heard the choir sing about God's love, forgiveness and acceptance. A few months later, she accepted Christ as her savior. She divorced her husband through the mail, because Scientology will not let defectors communicate with members, even if they have been a spouse for 21 years. She has remarried and started a ministry to help others escape from Scientology. She says, "The best thing is that I am not searching anymore. Today I know the source of all knowledge is Jesus Christ." #29853 ========================================================================= SOURCES FOR ILLUSTRATIONS USED IN THIS SERMON: 1. “60 Famous People You Didn’t Know Were Scientologists,” Nico Lang, July 10, 2012; <link> 2. Wikipedia.org, “L. Ron Hubbard,” <link>. 3. Wikipedia.org, “L. Ron Hubbard,” <link>. 4. Wikipedia.org, “Military career of L. Ron Hubbard,” <link>. 5. Wikiquote.org, “L. Ron Hubbard,” <link>. 6. Wikipedia.org, “Xenu,” <link>. # 3003 “Who Will Wipe Away Their Tears?” Rev. King Duncan, Dynamic Preaching, Spring 1992. #29853 “After 17 Years In Scientology, She Found Truth In Jesus Christ,” staff writers, August 16, 2005, Baptist Press, <link>. #65069 “What Christians Need To Know About Scientology,” Margery Wakefield, 1991; <link>. The video "Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief" was helpful for understanding Scientology and has many interviews with defectors. These and 35,000 others are part of the Kerux database that can be downloaded, absolutely free, at http://www.holwick.com/database.html ========================================================================= |
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