Christianity vs. Scientology

A few months ago I mentioned in a post how I wanted to learn more about the different religions in the world so I could know more about how to respond to people when they try to put down my own belief in Catholicism/Christianity.... well with all the hype surrounding the Scientology cult, I became curious to know more about it all. I found a lot of different information on it, but my favorite website that explains more on this subject can be found if you click here. Below is from the website I mentioned above. Some interesting stuff right there,

Christianity vs. Scientology—Doctrine

The doctrines of Scientology and Christianity are quite divergent. It is important to immediately clarify specific terms that are incompatible between them, such as:

TERM	SCIENTOLOGY	CHRISTIAN
Scripture	L. Ron Hubbard’s writings	Bible
God	“All Theta,” “Eighth Dynamic”	Personal Triune Creator
Jesus	A shade above “clear”	God—the Messiah
Man	Thetan (immortal spirit)	Finite creature
Sin	None (man is basically good)	Disobedience to God/man is fallen
Salvation	Increasing self-awareness	In Christ alone by faith alone
Reincarnation	Yes	No
Universe	Mentally emanated by thetans	Created by God

Christianity and Scientology are divergent as to the following:

They disagree over what constitutes the basis of authority of one’s beliefs. Christianity accepts only those writings inspired by the living God, the 66 books of the Holy Bible. Scientology views the writings of L. Ron Hubbard to be Scripture. Because of this there is a sharp contrast in their doctrines, a sampling follows:

Scientology accepts reincarnation; Christianity rejects it (Hebrews 9:27) and holds to the resurrection of the body (1 Corinthians 15:50-57; 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18; Revelation 20:5, 13).

Scientology says man is basically good; Christianity teaches that man is plagued by original sin (Romans 5:12).

Scientology dismisses the reality of hell; Christianity accepts it as the final destination of all who reject Jesus Christ (Revelation 20:10-14).

Scientology rejects the divinity of Jesus Christ; Christianity believes Jesus is absolute deity (John 1:1), the divine Messiah who is the unique only begotten Son of God and Savior of mankind (John 3:16; Titus 2:13, 14).

Scientology accepts occult “out-of-body” experiences; Christianity condemns all forms of occultism (Deuteronomy 18:10-12).

When considering the many thousands of existing and unexplainably accurate manuscripts of the Bible, the many hundreds of fulfilled prophecies contained in the Bible, and the existence of over 25,000 supportive archaeological discoveries of the Bible, as compared to the highly dubious writings of L. Ron Hubbard; there is no question to the intelligent mind that the Bible is the only credible and divine Word for man.

They disagree over the concept of God. The Bible declares there is one true God, the Creator of the universe and all that is therein. He is knowable and personal by His creators. He transcend (is outside of) both time and space. He is sovereign over all creation (Psalms 135:6; Ephesians 1:11), and there is no god beside Him (Deuteronomy 32:39; Isaiah 44:6; 46:9). Even though He is both righteous and just, He is portrayed in Scripture as compassionately toward His people (Exodus 3:7, 8; Job 34:28; Psalms 81:10, 91; 14, 15; 2 Corinthians 1:3, 4; Philippians 4:6, 7). He is a loving God toward all mankind (John 3:16; 2 Peter 3:9). God, not thetans, created the universe—which is real (not an illusion)—Genesis 1:31. Man is also real, having been made from the dust of the earth.

Contrary to Scientology’s portrayal of man as a powerful immortal spirit who has self-imposed limitation by the MEST, he is intrinsically weak, helpless, and dependent on God. He is absolutely finite (Psalms 100:3) and who is puny in comparison to the matchless and incomparable one true God. Contrary to the prideful view that man is an immortal thetan, the fact of his true position before God should lead man to a sense of humility and engender worship before the one true God.

They disagree regarding the condition of man. Man did not fall in “materiality.” He fell by and into sin, which caused his alienation from God (Genesis 3:6-24). Every human being is born with the Adamic nature and is prone to and will in fact sin (Romans 5:12). Unlike Scientology’s belief in the “clearing” of engrams, sin can never be eradicated in this life (Romans 8:4; Galatians 5:16, 17; 1 John 1:10)—but only in the next life (2 Peter 3:13; Revelation 22:15).

Whereas sin caused estrangement and enmity between God and man, Jesus Christ, through His sacrifice on the cross where He paid the penalty-price for man’s sin, brought the grace-gift of eternal salvation to man, which included reconciliation (Colossians 1:20), peace (Romans 5:1), and the restoration of fellowship with God (Ephesians 2:13). And all of this is totally free (Ephesians 2:8, 9; Revelation 21:6) to anyone who will only exercise non-meritorious faith in Christ alone, unlike the huge expense of courses offered to those within Scientology who wish to be eventually delivered from themselves.