Newsgroups: alt.religion.scientology From: dennis.l.erlich@support.com Subject: SIMPLE RELIGIOUS QUESTION Message-ID: <9511121345.0JBZP01@support.com> Organization: L.A. Valley College Public BBS (818)985-7150 X-Mailer: TBBS/PIMP v3.35 Distribution: world Date: Sun, 12 Nov 95 13:45:43 -0800 Lines: 49 ktwa@gpu5.srv.ualberta.ca (Kevin Twa) >I noticed that Andy Milne has been posting about Scientology being a >religion and that lots of experts agree. So I have a simple question >that most anyone in any religion could answer. > >Andy, what is the concept of God in Scientology? > >I asked a woman in the Office of Special Affairs and was told that in >Scientology, God can be anything you want it to be. That would seem to >mean that Scientology does not believe in God as a person (notice the >lack of describing God as him or even her). Now I realize that some >eastern religions have a non-personal god concept but Scientology is not >derived from any eastern religion apparently. > >If the Scientology God, can be anything _I_ want it to be, than am I not >the God of my god? So, does Scientology not have a god that is separate >from the observer? Or is Scientology advocating an ego-centric worship >of self in the extreme hedonistic sense? > >It has been rumored that L. Ron Hubbard is the God of Scientology. Andy, >could you respond to that in a straight-forward yes/no way? > >It has also been rumored that the God of Scientology is money itself. >This idea has some merit since truth can only be revealed to the >Scientologist after paying or promising to pay substantial amounts of >money to advance in its ranks. > >Perhaps, the answer is that the God of Scientology can be anything... >anything that will get the person to sign up, anything that can be used >to maintain the guise of religion, anything that can be latched onto by >"experts" hoping to declare Scientology a religion rather than a >business, and anything that can be used to get a tax exemption from the >IRS. Which of these reasons is the most important one in sustaining the >nebulous god concept in Scientology? You have grasped the scieno concept of godhood precisely. El Rotundo wasn't God. He was *a* god. As we (us thetans) each can be. It's a toadly occult goal. Wasn't Lucifer banished from from God's side for precisely this practice? +--------------------------------------+ Rev. Dennis L Erlich * * the inFormer * * dennis.l.erlich@support.com + inForm@primenet.com "tar baby"