Calvin Synod Herald, 2008 (109. évfolyam, 1-10. szám)

2008-01-01 / 1-2. szám

CALV IN SYNOD HERALD

5

What Do You Say When People Claim “This is The Same As The Bible”

Whether it’s a movie star like Will Smith or the pastor of a church, what do you say when someone prominent says that Scientology (or some other cult for that matter) is “just like the Bible”?

First, let’s analyze something that’s true of all cults. Coming years after the canon of scripture was closed and trying to grasp legitimacy for themselves so they won’t be perceived as cultic, it comes as no surprise that they take credit for concepts that are widely perceived as “Christian” and approved as “moral” and then simply say the rest was “corrupted” and position themselves as a “Latter Day Saint” possessing the true interpretation that has been revealed to them but lost to the historical church. That’s a common theme whether the “Latter Day” prophet is Joseph Smith or L. Ron Hubbard. Unfortunately our own ignorance of the Scriptures and our own tendency to, like the Pharisees, replace the word of God with our own tradition plays right into this type of lie.

In this regard it pays to understand the amazing transformation that has occurred in history thanks to the coming of our Lord

of Apostles 14:21-22.

Protecting the Faith. Please read the story how Apostle Paul had spoken against idols and false gods, as recorded in Acts of Apostles 17:16-34. It starts in this way: “While Paul was waiting for them (Silas and Timothy) in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. So He Reasoned in the synagogue with the Jews and the God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there.” 16-17 verses. The other good example is the defensive speech of Stephen, who had become the first martyr, please read Acts of Apostles 7:1-53. The branch of science in theology that protects our faith is called apologetics, that is the systematic, logical defense of our teachings.

Propagating Our Faith. Our Lord had charged his disciples: “. . . go and Make Disciples of All Nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, . . .” Matthew 28:19, and He did the same before He had ascended into heaven: “you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.” Acts of Apostles 1:8.

During this coming year what will make us kneel down and turn to God: Faith, Hope, and Love, or Trouble, Trauma, and Tragedy? Do we still remember how many came to church suddenly after September 11,2001 ? What will direct our attention heavenward, smile on our face or teardrops in our eyes? Lord, have mercy on us again.

Rev. Mr. Alexander Jalso First Hungarian Reformed Church of Homestead

Munhall, PA

Jesus Christ in history. That’s akin to bank teller who can identify counterfeit currency because they’re so familiar with the “real thing.” Given the astounding blessings Jesus Christ has already poured out in history and is yet to pour out, it’s no wonder that pretenders come along who seek to be the legitimate steward of God’s Truth! They are successful to the degree Christians themselves don’t understand the marvelous things Jesus Christ in His incarnation as truly God and truly man, His resurrection, and His reign this moment at the Father’s right hand have produced in the midst of our sin and squalor. Alvin Schmidt’s work How Christianity Changed the World is a wonderful resource in this regard.

Secondly, when preachers or pundits do their so-called “comparisons” it’s obvious that they seize upon things designed to make the cultic group appear legitimate while avoiding the centrality of the cross of Christ which was foolishness to the Greeks and a stumbling block to the Jews, but the true power of God to those who believe (1 Corinthians 1:22-24). In practice that means they minimize the centrality of Christ’s cross in human history. Jesus death and resurrection that ushers in the New Creation must be minimized or there is, by definition, no need for the Jesus Christ, the unique God Man and Savior of the World.

Some minimize Christ’s cross by denying He actually died (Islam). Others minimize it by stating that Christ accomplished His work but that to obtain real blessings one must follow the teaching of the Latter Day Prophet (Mormonism). The apologists for other groups emphasize the similarity of their self-help teachings to the Bible or Christ’s (Scientology’s recent apologists referenced above).

The “teachings” of Christianity cannot, though, be separated from Christianity’s telling of history. Unless Jesus Christ is central to history, Jesus’ teachings are the mere rants of another megalomaniac. As Schmidt’s How Christianity Changed the World reading of history confirms, Jesus is Lord as the Bible declares. The “morality” the Bible teaches cannot be practiced apart from the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the outpouring of the Holy Spirit to supematurally enable us to live that otherwise impossible journey called the “Christian Life.” So unless Scientology has tossed L. Ron Hubbard as their source of inspiration and now is bowing to Jesus Christ the Lord and living under His Lordship in sole dependence upon Christ’s inscripturated Word and the Holy Spirit, there is only a superficial and incidental similarity at best between Christianity and its latter day pretenders. Without the resurrection power of Jesus Christ at work in us the righteousness people mimic outside of Christ is nothing other than something one might consider revolting at worst, but certainly nothing to boast about before God (See Isaiah 64:6 note).

So when people, however well meaning, claim “This is the same as the Bible!” it’s time for Christians to patiently speak the truth. Any surface similarities between the Good News about Jesus and the pretender of the day is at best a call to remember Mark Twain’s observation that “The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug. ”

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