What does Scientology have to offer me?

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Question:
Now, I am not interested in the teachings, I am not interested in the social benefit, and I am not interested in freeing my body from Aliens.  What does the church have to offer me culture-wise? Do their "Priests" dress in unique clothing?  Do Scientology members participate in rituals?  Are there items that are of high regard in the Church? etc etc...

My Reply:

Being a Scientologist offers you about the same perks as being a Trekkie. A few include that fact that both doctrines and faiths are based on science fiction, and each was written by a human with a great imagination, and who was out to make a buck (or several millions). Culture-wise, both are also full of famous people, and "out of this world". 
Scientology-founder L. Ron Hubbard was a science fiction book writer. He said in an interview once that there's no money in fiction book writing, and that he thinks he'll start up a religion...and that's exactly what he did. 
Click on the blue links in the text for more information.

---Pastor Andy

Robot Domination?

Question: I've heard that by the year 2050, the world will be taken over by robots.  What do you think about this supposed prediction?

My Reply: 
In 1949, there was a book written called "1984". In it, it was believed that by the year 1984, we'd be flying to work in jet packs, robots would be in control, a new type of government would be in place, and a whole bunch of other stuff that never happened (except for "Big Brother", which was a pretty close prediction).
Also, if you're a fan of Star Trek, the supposed year when space travel and the Starship Enterprise all began was 2151. But today, we're still collecting rocks from the moon and Mars...far from the proposed technological advancements.
And finally, in the movie "The Terminator", they believed that by the year 2029, Skynet would take over and wage war on humankind.
Of all those, we're probably closer to the Terminator story. But when you look at all the other predictions, to set 2050 as the date it'll all happen, I think is pure (science) fiction.

 ---Pastor Andy

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God's Word and Communication With Us

Question:

Why do Christians claim that God said something just because their Bible says God said it? I mean, you can't prove the Bible speaks for God, so why claim that it does? What gives the Christian Bible, or their Bible's authors, the right to speak for God?  Of course, you can claim that God inspired the Bible writers, but, I can claim that you inspired me to ask this question. Does that mean you asked it?

  

My Answer:

To turn this around, why do you think God didn't say it, just because you didn't hear it?
Or, how do you know famous people really said the quotes they're known for? How do we know the words of Buddha or Socrates? How do we know the things in history really happened?  What, because they're in our school text books?

You could say that people who were there at the time they said them, or at the times these things happened, witnessed it and wrote them down so we may know today. That's what the people who composed the Bible did, too.

You also have to figure the drastic change in the lives of those who heard the words of Jesus and who knew Him personally. You also have to figure the history, not only by what's written in the Bible, but also by those who were not connected directly with Christianity, yet wrote about such anyway.  Other cultures wrote about events mentioned in the Bible, many of whom were even directly affected negatively, yet identical.

So how do we know God said these words? Because people present at the time, who heard God's words, wrote them down for others to know, because of the direct impact it made on those who heard God's words, and because archaeology and literature from non-biblical sources confirm what the Bible says.

So what gives us the right to speak for God? As Christians, we have intimate (close) relationships with God...He's our friend, too. So as we communicate with Him, He communicates with us, also, for communication is a huge part of a friendship/relationship. The "Right" we have is by believing in Jesus Christ that we're given the right to become children of God (John 1:12), and as children of God, we are also given the right to speak for Him when He reveals something to us, and some things, it's even our responsibility to tell others so that they too may be blessed, and/or glorify God.

As for your last question, I'm guessing you've had some time to think about it.  So how do you know that God didn't prompt you into asking this question in order to receive the answer?

---Pastor Andy

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