Christanity has done the same thing over the years, avoiding scientific priniciples and telling their faithful to rely on prayer to heal themselves.
Christanity has done the same thing over the years, avoiding scientific priniciples and telling their faithful to rely on prayer to heal themselves.
but that's exactly what your doing. your using the base principle behind Christianity which is positive and then your using a negative example of Scientology. i doubt very much the basic principle of scientology is to pay large sums of money to earn happiness.Quoting megladon8 (view post)
Quoting Mr. Valentine (view post)
But not to this degree (at least, not anymore).
I'm not saying Christianity is perfect - I was born Protestant, but I consider myself agnostic. I have many, many problems with Christianity, as I do with every other religion.
But Scientology insults our intelligence.
Asking one to pray to try and heal themselves does not require one to make these enormous sacrifices which Scientology does - like donating enormous chunks of your wealth towards their "cause".
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
From all the research I have done on Scientology - which is quite a lot - I can quite safely say that yes, in fact, their main goal is attaining more and more wealth.Quoting Mr. Valentine (view post)
They mask it with messages of "world peace" and of wanting "a world without insanity, murder, war or hate" - but in the end, they really do just want more money from you, and when you've exhausted yourself and your resources, you are of no more use to them.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Less molesting priests, more skaterpunk priests...
"How is education supposed to make me feel smarter? Besides, every time I learn something new, it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Remember when I took that home wine-making course and forgot how to drive?"
--Homer
Quoting megladon8 (view post)
"Every person is to give 10% of their total income to God. This is called a tithe. Tithing is a command from God. In addition, as the Lord provides, a person should give extra (an offering) and also should give to the poor (alms). Giving an excuse, such as, "I don’t have enough," is not acceptable to God. Obey the Gospel. Even a person in prison receiving an income or other items is to tithe on them."
Quoting Mr. Valentine (view post)
Isn't that from, like, hundreds of years ago?
I thought the whole "buying your way into heaven" thing was something the church did away with a long, long time ago.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
i would be willing to bet that most of the research you have done on scientology was already biased against them and that no one would care less about them if it wasn't for Travolta and Cruise.Quoting megladon8 (view post)
All religions mask their true intentions which is mind control and to continue to have power over the masses.
Okay, so in other words it's completely pointless for me to continue this discussion, since you will dismiss everything I say as "biased".Quoting Mr. Valentine (view post)
I really, seriously doubt that Buddhism's main goal is mind control.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
nope, i have two friends that are both Christian preachers and tithing 10% is something that is followed and expected from their followers.Quoting megladon8 (view post)
no i'm not saying what your saying is biased. i'm saying that most articles about scientology are biased. i mean cmon the article number8 linked to is someones blog and is almost a year old from a site called celebitchy.Quoting megladon8 (view post)
Quoting Mr. Valentine (view post)
Well, part of my research involved actually going to the Church of Scientology down on Rideau Street here in Ottawa. I'm sure they aren't biased against their own religion.
They asked if I would like to make a donation towards their "cause" (that seems to be all they refer to it is, which is a little bit ominous and creepy to me) after I had been there for about 10 minutes.
You should see some of the hilarious "motivational posters" they have up all over the walls of their churches - some of the things they claim Scientology can "cure" are just priceless.
I remember one in particular which claimed schizophrenia could be cured with vitamins and daily visitations to the church.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Show me one passage in the New Testament that tells Christians to tithe.Quoting Mr. Valentine (view post)
My point being, that just because some preachers preach it, doesn't mean it represent all of Christianity.
Quoting Mr. Valentine (view post)
Aliens are more plausible than zombies? I'd have to disagree...though I hope for both.
Quoting Skitch (view post)
I can't tell if you're joking or not, but seriously...
Are there really still learned people who believe we are completely alone in the universe?
I find this idea pretty laughable. There's no way in hell that Earth is the only planet with "intelligent" life.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
Quoting megladon8 (view post)
Bit of both. I find the idea that we are alone in the universe laughable as well.
But I would think there is slightly more reality to the possibility of actually reanimating a corpse...based solely on what we know as scientific fact as of the writing of this post.
Quoting Skitch (view post)
OK, reanimating a corpse may not be out of human reach - but when one says "zombie", I imagine legions of the undead wandering around earth feasting on human brains.
And if someone was to say that's more likely than there being lifeforms on other planets, I would feel compelled to knee them in the groin.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
A guy can dream!Quoting megladon8 (view post)
*sharpens sword*
Quoting Skitch (view post)
Oh Skitch...I'm glad you're back.
"All right, that's too hot. Anything we can do about that heat?"
"Rick...it's a flamethrower."
This is probably the nuttiest Match Cut religious discussion I've seen yet.
Quoting Sycophant (view post)
Yeah, I'm gonna head over to Random Thoughts and talk about dinosaurs.
Christian salvation is not determined by tithing. Tithes are used to help the Church pay its bills. It is as simple as that. Buildings require rent, utilities, and up keep, and pastoring is a full time job, for which the compensation is generally quite small. Often times tithes are used to stock food pantries and feed the homeless, or help to fund other community outreaches and charities.Quoting Mr. Valentine (view post)
I am just going to repost this, because I don't feel like saying it differently. So for those of you have read it already, tough toe nails.
On paper, all of the world's religions sound silly. However, I believe there is a difference when it comes to the world's righteous religions and those whose main goal is only financial gain. You may argue that some Christians have used the church to gain wealth, and while this is true, it is not sanctioned in the Bible and actually goes against the teachings of Jesus Christ (The Beattitudes, Blessed are the poor and humble...). However, Scientology was set up as a tax shelter for Hubbard and its sole purpose was to make its leaders wealthy.
I can tell you all of the deepest most spiritual aspects of Christianity, and give you our Bible, which is the only book you will need to further your Christian walk, for free, and you would never, ever have to pay another dime to secure your salvation.
With Scientology, and other like minded cults, they have a pay structure that is strictly enforced. You literally have to pay money to become the "saved" equivalent. You can download the official pay scale that Scientology uses. It shows how much money it cost to gain certain OT levels.
This is a major difference.
Yes, I believe that some dude named Jesus came to the earth, claimed to be God, was killed for asking us to love one another, and rose again - a zombie. And I can tell you this for free. It is no less wacky than space aliens - although I believe that my God is also the God of space aliens, so I am even wackier still! And you can rip my religion to shreds, in public, on TV, on the internet, and in person, and a group of Christian lawyers will never try to destroy your life nor will you be put on some list of dangerous people. The same can also be said about Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Shintoism, Catholicism, and so on.
There are major differences between the world's righteous religions/philosophies and cults.
I'm a therapist and the activities director at a mental health facility (adult crisis unit), and this just completely baffles me. But then again, I guess it should come as no surprise. Hm, I wonder what kind of reaction scientologists would receive from our nurses if they told them to replace all the anti-psychotic medications with vitamins. We wish the process was that simple, and that there is a cure.Quoting megladon8 (view post)
Happy-Go-Lucky (Leigh, 2008): 6
Of Human Bondage (Cromwell, 1934): 8 [2nd]
Watchmen (Synder, 2009): 2
Rachel Getting Married (Demme, 2008): 7
You know a religious discussion is bad when Barty keeps his point to one sentence.