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DIALOG ON SCIENTOLOGY
Dear Gary,
What are your thoughts on Dianetics?
Sincerely,
Mike; Denver, CO
I received the above, short letter from a person I met while living in Denver. The person was and still is involved in Scientology. Below is a copy of the letter I sent in return. This reply is presented as an example of the evangelism approach advocated by Darkness to Light and to provide the reader with some basic knowledge on this non-Christian belief system.
Dear Mike,
Thanks for the literature and letter you sent me. You asked me for my opinion on "Dianetics." I recently read the book Scientology: The Fundamentals of Thought by L. Ron Hubbard. Since Dianetics is a sub-study of Scientology, I figured this book would be a good place to begin in studying the practice.
The opening page of the book states, "Scientology is a religious philosophy . . . ." And further, "The Mission of the Church of Scientology is . . . to help the individual attain full awareness . . . of his relationship to the Supreme Being" (p. 1).
However, "the Supreme Being" is only mentioned twice in the book. On page 38 it is stated, "Scientology does not intrude into the Dynamic of the Supreme Being." Page 65 makes a similar statement.
Why is Scientology called a religion and a Church if it never discusses God? What a person believes about God and how to enter into a relationship with Him is of paramount importance to his or her overall well being.
As for the counseling service itself, it seems to me the system is designed to help people overcome their problems by diverting their attention elsewhere. If I am wrong on this evaluation, please let me know.
One of the major causes of emotional distress is guilt. Guilt cannot be dealt with by ignoring it. There is such a thing as real guilt before the personal God who created us. Whenever we break His moral standards, our conscience convicts us, and no amount of effort on our part can relieve this moral guilt.
God knows this dilemma. For this reason, and out of His grace and love, God Himself became a human being. He died on the cross to pay for our transgressions and to free us from our guilt. True forgiveness and freedom can be found by believing in Jesus Christ and what He has done.
Subsequent problems in the believer's life can be dealt with by reliance upon the now indwelling Holy Spirit. When counseling is needed, the counselor should help the person confront the problem and overcome it through the power of God, not by self effort alone and divergence of attention as Scientology teaches.
In sum, despite its claim to be a religion, Scientology omits God from its system. In doing so, Scientology divorces itself from the One true path to overall emotional and spiritual wholeness. Only in a relationship with Jesus Christ can true freedom be found.
If you care to dialog further on this subject, please feel free to write again. Enclosed is a copy of an article I wrote recently (Does the Bible Correctly Portray the God-Human Relationship?). It explains more about the importance of knowing who God is and how to enter into a relationship with Him.
Sincerely,
Gary F. Zeolla
Dear Gary,
Your letter was very well received. I apologize for such a belated response.
Scientology is a religious philosophy in that we deal with Man as a spiritual being. Our roots are more in the far eastern religions such as Buddhism and Hinduism.
Scientology is a workable technology. It's not the perfect technology but it is workable. It sounds like Scientology is not for you because of the fact that it is not "Christian" in that it does not hold Jesus Christ up as the Savior. I hope my conclusion is right. I respect your belief.
I wish you luck in your endeavors and hope you do well. I really don't see that a dialog between us would benefit either of us. In fact it could possibly lead to an unseemly dispute which is unnecessary.
Sincerely,
Mike; Denver, CO
Director's Comment: Please notice the reason Mike gives for being a Scientologist; he believes it is a "workable technology." He says nothing about whether or not Scientology teaches TRUTH (2Thes 2:9f; 2Tim 4:3f). Christianity not only "works" (John 145:27; 16:33), but more importantly, it presents TRUTH (John 4:24; 1Tim 2:5-7).
Further, let it be noted, Darkness to Light does not depend on "luck" for success in its ministry but on the power and sovereignty of God (Isa 55:11; Acts 16:14; 18:9,10).
Dear Gary Zeolla,
From your earlier letter it is obvious that the God-human relationship is one which you have spent considerable time, effort and thought into.
Your [statement] about why no lengthy discussions on this God-human relationship exists in the book Fundamentals of Thoughts are empty [answers]. Scientology does no tell a person what is true in a manner of insistence about such matters as this would be a philosophy of the human spirit [which] is not capable of evaluating truth from lies and would be the ultimate in negation of the basic nature of the sprit. And even this statement is subject to your own evaluation of truth as is your evaluation of Biblical statements [etc.].
I will say that from the observations of life it APPEARS that one is eternally trapped by the transgressions he commits against the codes he's subscribed to and [which] it may appear that one can simply [? ? ?] these you will find on experimentation that a person is in fact pinned in a trap until he sees himself the truth of his transgressions.
Bob; Denver, CO
Dear Bob,
Your printing was difficult to read. But as best as I could make it out, you are saying there is no way of truly knowing what is right or wrong. Even the Bible can not help because it can be variously interpreted. As such, people only feel guilty because they break the "codes" they set for themselves.
But is a decree like, "you shall not commit adultery" really very difficult to understand? And even if you were correct, God still holds us accountable when we act contrary to our own conscience (Rom 2:1-3,12-16; 14:23). And we need forgiveness to be set free from the "traps" our transgressions hold us in (Prov 5:21-23). Only Jesus can provide this deliverance (Matt 26:28; John 8:31-36; 1John5:11,12).
Note: All Scripture references from: The New King James Version. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1982, unless otherwise indicated.
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