Christian Science vs Scientology
That Tom Cruise has a lot to answer for. Thanks to him the “religion” of Scientology and his name now seem to go hand in hand. Someone mentions the Mission Impossible star and you immediately think “he’s in that Scientology cult” or “What a whacko.” However, another religious sect, Christian Science, is often confused with Scientology when in reality the two are completely different. Here are the main aspects of the two religious viewpoints and what sets them apart from each other.
Christian Science – The Basics
Christian Scientists believe in one infinite God who is all and all good. They believe that God is not distant and unknowable but that he is all encompassing and always present, and that each individual is loved by God, cared for by Him and made in God’s image, spiritual, not material.
Above all, Christian Scientists believe in the saving, healing power of God’s love – that no one is beyond redemption, that no problem is too entrenched or overwhelming to be addressed or healed. In other words, they don’t believe that salvation occurs at some point in the future, but that the presence of God’s goodness can be experienced here and now by everyone.
For more information on Christian Science please visit: www.christianscience.com or call Tony on 020-8282-1645.
Scientology – The Basics
Scientology holds in common with many of the world’s oldest religions is the belief that man was put here to work out his own salvation and that only by doing this can he fully understand his relationship to God the creator.
Scientology principles further hold that man is basically good and that his salvation depends on himself, his relationships with fellow man and his attainment of brotherhood with the universe.
Scientology principles provide the means for an individual to become capable of solving his own problems. He is then in a position where he not only can sort out his own life, but having learned to better conditions around him, he can also help others, friends, family and those he encounters in daily life
For more information on Scientology please visit: www. scientology.org.uk or call the Church of Scientology in Manchester on 0161 834 6463.
Christian Science was launched by Mary Baker Eddy in the 1800s. They consider themselves to be Christians, use the old and new testaments of the Holy Bible and believe that a spiritual and physical healing is the desire of God and his people. The First Church of Christ (pictured) is located in Boston, Massachusetts, but has many branches throughout America and beyond.
There is no “ordained clergy” in the First Church of Christ, Scientists. Instead the pastor of each church is the Bible and Mary Baker Eddy’s book. The activities of the Christian Science Church are designed to inspire and encourage as well as explain the practical Science of Christ that heals. They include a Bible Lesson, church services, periodicals, Reading Rooms and lectures. While this gives some insight into the beliefs of Christian Scientists, there is little information available on the website about their core beliefs, the ones that are really most important to followers of Christ Jesus.
Scientology, on the complete other hand, has no basis in Christianity whatsoever, despite the fact that a cross (pictured), clearly a Christian symbol, is found in the Scientology logo. Founded by science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, the same man who wrote Battlefield Earth starring John Travolta, (a fellow scientologist) there is no belief in the Holy Bible, God or Jesus Christ. As stated on the official Scientology website: “Scientology is the study and handling of the spirit in relationship to itself, others and all of life. The Scientology comprises a body of knowledge extending from certain fundamental truths.” Among those fundamental truths includes the idea that man is immortal, his life extends beyond the present life. Also, no one is asked to accept anything as a belief or faith.
There are however, some parallels between Christian Science and Scientology which are fascinating. While the Christian Science Church was never as litigious as the Church of Scientology, it was once terrifically controversial just as Scientology is today. A century ago, Christian Science was as scandalous as Scientology is now, but, largely through the influence of its own newspaper, managed to calm society’s fears and grew ever more respectable. One thing I have learnt through my research is that Scientologists and Christian Scientists are not in any way related and should not be confused. The Christian Scientists established their church in the late 19th century (almost a century before the Scientologists), and are really no more than another bona fide Christian denomination, or are they? That’s for you to decide.
How Christian Science has helped me by Tony Lobl, District Manager for the UK and the Republic of Ireland.
“People often come into Christian Science Reading Rooms and ask about Tom Cruise and John Travolta. We have to disappoint them. We know nothing more than they do from reading the newspapers. We might like some of the movies, I enjoyed Cruise’s Jerry Maguire and Travolta’s Hairspray, but the two actors are Scientologists. Christian Science Reading Rooms, on the other hand, are public outlets for literature and audio-visual products on Christian Science, and they are places people can go for some quiet, thoughtful, spiritual self-refreshment.
Christian Science is prayer-based, biblederived and has been established since 1866. Most of the pages in Mary Baker Eddy’s “textbook” of Christian Science, “Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures” have at least some direct refer-ence to the scriptures, particularly the Gospels. The book’s purpose is to highlight the infinite, yet intimate, love of God for every individual on this planet, and shows how to prove the practicality of that love in our daily lives. The ideas in Science and Health– and all the activities of the Church of Christ, Scientist, nurture the inherent ability which Jesus showed every human being has to be healed and to be a healer.
My own first healing after finding the book was of sinusitis, from which I had suffered for years, and which antibiotics had failed to help me with, while producing uncomfortable side effects. When I came down with it once again, I chose instead to use prayer as explained in Christian Science and was soon healed. I have never suffered from sinusitis again in over two decades. Better than that, though, the healing came when I felt the presence of God’s love for me and for everyone, which helped me overcome some very negative thinking I was harboring. More than just bringing about the physical relief, for which I was very grateful, that spiritual experience showed me why Jesus says we are to love God wholeheartedly and our neighbours as ourselves, and it encouraged me to strive to do better at both these things.
Science and Health finishes with 100 pages of such accounts of healing written by some of its earliest readers, including a reader in Liverpool who had a “quick healing of cataracts” through prayer based on its ideas.
Not all healings come about so quickly, but the track record of Christian Scientists for well over a hundred years is compelling testament to the power of God’s presence to help address life’s many challenges today.”
How being a Scientologist has helped me by Michelle Feile
“My father became interested in Scientology in 1978 and brought me in to do a course on communication when I was 12 years old. While many of my peers were taking drugs and abusing alcohol during my teenage years, the information I had learned in Scientology kept me from falling into that trap. In fact, I was able to keep my integrity even when it was going on all around me.
In my 20s, I became more aware of the true value of training in Scientology and began taking further services. I found they contained the answers to questions I didn’t even know I had about life. Why people suffer from wrongdoing from long ago; why you feel despair that you might never be your own person, or learn how to be happy; and why some small actions by others can seem to ruin your whole life. In Scientology, I’ve learned to be true to myself. I know more about “right” and “wrong,” what kind of person I want to be and am becoming. It is a very personal, very spiritual way to view yourself that is only about you, how you feel about your own actions and whether you can sleep with that knowledge every night. To put it most succinctly, I now feel capable. I know what my goals are, I feel confident that I can attain them and my future is full of hope. “
