Scientology On Trial

A prosecutor in Belgium is charging Scientology as a criminal organization in that country. Click here to read the article. One thing a reader might find helpful is a brief history and explanation of Scientology at the end of the article.

However, as interesting as the article is, it doesn't compare to the comments that follow it. Just scroll down and read what has been posted. It is amazing how much people hate "religion." Especially notice comments numbered 37 and 40. They give an idea of what many of the other comments are saying. These are not representative of all the comments, but they do show a strong tendency against religion as a whole. One person said truth is personal, and, therefore, no one should try to convince anyone else of their truth. Question: Why is he telling us this? Doesn't that violate his own rule that he should not try to convince us that he is right about his "personal truth."

First, unlike some of the people commenting on that article, I don't believe religion (even false religion) should be banned. Why? God even put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the midst of the garden of Eden (Genesis 3). He gave man a choice for a reason. Don't get me wrong. I'm not advocating false religion, but I am acknowledging that people must make choices.

Second, a counterfeit always implies that there is a genuine article. In other words, if there are counterfeit religions, there must be a genuine religion. Man has always had a tendency to change God's way of doing things (Proverbs 14:12; Jeremiah 10:23).

Finally, we must get back to simple the Christianity of the New Testament. We need to preach Jesus just like Philip did when he was with the Ethiopian (Acts 8). Of course, that means one must preach all of His Word. The problem that so many have with religion today isn't really with religion in general as much as it is with the religious people who give it a bad name. Thus, we are challenged to be the best Christians we can be so that the world can see what real Christianity is all about (Matthew 5:16).