BIKERS CLUB OCTOBER 2019 ISSUE | Page 28

BIKERS CLUB | MAGAZINE Hubbard taught "that all men have inalienable rights to their own religious practices and their performance." Christians are commanded to demolish arguments and every pretension that goes against the knowledge of God. According to Hubbard, we have the inalienable right to practice our religion, which means responding to Hubbard's challenges of Christianity. Church of Scientology The Church of Scientology International is the mother church under which individual Church of Scientology groups are organized. With its headquarters in Los Angeles, the 11,000 local churches or groups exist in over 160 nations. Scientology's Scriptures "private" interpretation or revelation, and they alone have the authority in its message. It is important to understand that the Church of Scientology regards the teachings of Hubbard as authoritative. These materials are essentially the "Bible" for Scientologists where Hubbard is seen as the only "prophet." In order to properly contrast the beliefs of Scientology with those of Christianity, there must be an emphasis on the writings and teachings of Hubbard. The Bible is different to the scriptures revered by other religions. There is ultimately only one author for Scripture - God the Holy Spirit who moved through human authors to communicate his perfect and eternal message. Although Scientology sees Hubbard's writing as authoritative, they claim to be tolerant of other religious views. There is also complete harmony in Scripture when compared to the disharmony of holy books of other world religions. Even though the Scriptures were written by men from different times, lands, professions, and ways of life, they all consistently attest to the glory of God and the revelation of the Messiah who would redeem people from their sin. Scientology, like many of the dominant religions such as Islam, Buddhism, and Mormonism, has a single author as the revealer of truth. The authors of these religions have all attested to some sort of Not only is the Holy Spirit the author of Scripture, he is also the one who opens our eyes to receive the truth that God gives to us.