Tom Cruise on Scientology

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Originally Posted by buttcheeks

I see it as a matter of power and authority.

The dinosaur thing and the evolution thing puts genesis to debate. Which in turn puts the whole bible to debate for the "EVERYTHING is the inspired word of God" crowd.

If the entire bible is up for debate, no one group can claim authority with it, reasonably.

On a much smaller scale, it is kind of like people figuring out that the king wasn't really appointed by God and divine right was BS.

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That's pretty much the stakes of it, yeah.

Do I still feel the Bible is the word of God, albeit run through human beings? Sure! Do I think the Bible contains allegory? Absolutely. Does this contradict? Not at all. There's a lot of poetic language in there designed more to illustrate a point than to function as a history textbook, which a lot of folks have trouble wrapping their heads around throughout time.

I personally get a lot of value out of it. I'm fine if people disagree, even washed up punk rockers with a secret Peter Pan complex. ;)

Scientology < Christianity, Hinduism, Daoism: because they all try to explain the same things -- creation, abstract connection between the species, and the intangible force, call it good or evil, that drives the natural world.

The difference is that Scientology is 1900 years younger than the rest and compared to the limited knowledge the ancients had and science they used to explain these things, it uses far less scientific or creative means? I mean, Come on! DC8's, volcanoes?? A Lord of the Rings religion would be a hell of a lot more convincing.

Piss off! ancient religions are far better than this hokey sci-fi shit.

Scientology amounts to the mafia declaring itself a religion so it can claim its rackets are constitutionally protected religious practices. In this context, it doesn't really matter that their creation myth is over-the-top ridiculous - it's just window dressing anyway, only there because a religion is supposed to have a creation myth.

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Originally Posted by YellerDog

That's pretty much the stakes of it, yeah.

Do I still feel the Bible is the word of God, albeit run through human beings? Sure! Do I think the Bible contains allegory? Absolutely. Does this contradict? Not at all. There's a lot of poetic language in there designed more to illustrate a point than to function as a history textbook, which a lot of folks have trouble wrapping their heads around throughout time.

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There's no real clarification between what's allegory and what's literal. Believing the bible is "the word of god" is just as ridiculous as believing any of the fantastic elements within the actual book. The Christian religion itself is tied to a premise as ridiculous as any of the stories in the old testament. It is possible to take none of it literally, take whatever meaningful philosophy you can from it and write off the magic and archaic values not worth bothering with as products of their time. You could still call yourself a Christian, it just wouldn't be a religion anymore. After that you could snicker at Scientology without coming off as the emperor in no clothes.

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Piss off! ancient religions are far better than this hokey sci-fi shit.

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Just wait 2000 years. Then the DC8s will sound as reasonable as angels flying through the sky riding horses.

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Originally Posted by rezo

Believing the bible is "the word of god" is just as ridiculous as believing any of the fantastic elements within the actual book.

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You're free to think so, but I disagree. Personal faith and whatnot.

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You could still call yourself a Christian, it just wouldn't be a religion anymore.

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I think the main question with the orginized side is, for me, is it more important to agree on every point, or to take value in a community?

I'm pretty sure Scientologists value their community a great deal.

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Originally Posted by Scourge

I'm pretty sure Scientologists value their community a great deal.

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So do jugglers.

Hey, it was your point, not mine.

Juggling is more practical than believing in god.

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Originally Posted by Josh

Juggling is more practical than believing in god.

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What you do with balls in your spare time is your buisness, just like your belief in God.

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Originally Posted by Scourge

Hey, it was your point, not mine.

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And similar to jugglers, I can say Scientologists are pretty damn goofy.