Tom Cruise: Evangelist

Tom Cruise is everywhere, promoting his summer film, War of the Worlds. Cruise has given Scientology quite a PR boost too.

By his account, Tom Cruise owes his cool head, defeat of dyslexia and, in a way, his unstoppable stardom to Scientology. I took the constant interviews in stride until I caught an interview on the Today Show the other day.

In the interview Cruise told Matt Lauer, "It's like, you could be a Christian and be a Scientologist..."

I'll give Tom the benefit of the doubt. I don't think he knows Christianity as well as Scientology.

Sure, a Christian could practice Scientology, but two contrary religions cannot be true.  In fact fundamentals like God, man, salvation and death are at odds. Christianity and Scientology stand in diametrical opposition to one another. You can't have it both ways and, by implying that you can, Scientology clearly loses credibility. Don't get swept up in this Hollywood hype.

The Basics

God
Usually the individual Scientologist is free to interpret God in whatever manner he or she wishes.¹

Man
Scientology maintains that in his true nature, man is not the limited and pitiful body and ego he mistakenly imagines himself to be. He is a thetan whose fundamental nature is basically good and divine. He is not morally fallen; rather he is simply ignorant of his own perfection. His only "Fall" was into matter, not sin. .² The PERSON in Scientology is (and discovers himself to be) a Thetan (spiritual being) of infinite creative potential who acts in, but is not part of, the physical universe.... ³

Creation
The universe was not created by a single supreme being ex nihilo (out of nothing), thus having a separate existence of its own. Instead, the Scientology universe constitutes a subjective, mental emanation or "projection" of the thetans, having merely an agreed-upon (and not actual) reality. Thus, the entire physical universe is a Game, a product of thetan ingenuity (designed for escaping boredom) which apparently emanates from an original thetan consensus to "create" in pre-history.⁴

Salvation
This pitiful thetan (person) slavery to MEST and his own conditioned ignorance continued for millennia until L. Ron Hubbard discovered the secret nature of humankind and pioneered a solution to the thetan's misery by developing a universal plan of salvation. Through Scientology auditing, engrams may be neutralized and the thetan made increasingly self-aware or "enlightened." By various techniques a practical methodology was developed to enable the initiate to recognize his (or her) spiritual existence, to separate from the MEST body, and to begin to exert mental control over the MEST universe. In other words, the initiate may eventually achieve a state of "clear" and then, by progressing through numerous levels of "Operating Thetan" ("OT"), increasingly achieve self-realization. (An "Operating Thetan" is one who is more and more aware of and "operating" according to his true thetan abilities.)


Read more
•Christian Research Institute
•John Ankerberg
•ChristianityToday
•BeliefNet

1Hubbard, What Is Scientology? 200. Wallis (112n.) observes that God "does not figure greatly in either theory or practice."

²See L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology: A History of Man (Sussex, England: L. Ron Hubbard Communications office, 1961), 12-76, especially 53-60 for a discussion of alleged evolutionary dynamics and their impact on one's current life. Cf. the discussion in Evans, 38-47 and Roy Wallis, The Road to Total Freedom: A Sociological Analysis of Scientology (New York: Columbia University Press, 1977), 103-4.

On panentheism see Scientology: A World Religion Emerges, 21-24; L. Ron Hubbard, Dianetics and Scientology Technical Dictionary (Los Angeles: Church of Scientology of California, 1975), 429; L. Ron Hubbard, Ceremonies of the Founding of the Church of Scientology (Los Angeles: The American St. Hill Organization, 1971), 41; Reality magazine, no. 121, 3; Hubbard, The Creation of Human Ability, 277; Advance, no. 35, 14-15; no. 36, 6.

³ Scientology: A World Religion Emerges in the Space Age, 21-24.

⁴ Ibid. Cf. Hubbard, The Creation of Human Ability, 9-21; Hubbard, Technical Dictionary, 432; and L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology 8-8008 (Los Angeles: The American St. Hill Organization, 1967), 106-8.

Comments

[Tonya]

Christianity's fearful stance on what is and is not Christianity often alienates what Christianity is suppose to nurture, example the Christian values of loving your neighbor as thyself, turning the other cheek,and being like Jesus. Jesus's religious practice was loving the sinner unconditionally.

[Rose Cordova]

Tom Cruise is not an evangelist.He is not lead by the Holy Spirit.He's led by the flesh.His beliefs are all wrong and he is being misslead himself.Scincetology is not biblical,because that religion is adding onto the Bible.It's sad to see Tom Cruise acting all crazy as he puts down other people and he puts down psychiatry.As a Christian believer that I Rose am living it makes me sad to see Tom Cruise mocking others just because he has different thoughts and beliefs than others.He is a foolish man and I pray he gets the help he needs and I pray that he finds God in the Bible and for him to stop getting caught up in Sciencetology and his flesh.He really needs to get some help.He's bouncing off walls.He is acting out of character and its sad that he's embarrassing himself in his own life.Poor Katie Holmes.He can run from the truth but he cannot run from people who are praying for his lost soul.

[Jim]

[Tom Cruise is not an evangelist]
Agreed. He is not an evangelist of Christianity, he is an evangelist of Scientology.

[Dana Clark]

We have to remember that we are in the last days and that Jesus has warned us in the book of matthew that false prophets will come to lead some away from the truth. In todays world it looks different but its not any different from the days of the bible. Satan never has any new ideas he keeps doing the same thing over and over oh he might cover it with flashy movie stars like Tom Cruise but in essence its the same old thing. I do agree Tom Cruise is a lost soul in search of God but the religion he proclaims gives him justfication. I am way turned off to Tom Cruise now I have been since he divorced Nicole Kidman I believe he knows what he did in his marriage to Nicole Kidman was wrong and he is just so guilt ridden that this scientolgy babble makes him feel better about himself plus he has been on a self destruct trip since his divorce from Nicole Kidman. I think instead of dealing with his emotions about his choices this is his way of running away. Its easier to find justification for yourself than it is to take responsibility for your actions and life, to do take responsibility would cost you something. I have to say since his divorce with Nicole Kidman he career has gone down the drain none of his movies done well since then but Nicole's have done great. This is hard for someone like him to deal with we do need to pray for him but most importantly to pray that ppl don't fall under this lure of his to scientology.

[Dana Clark]

We have to remember that we are in the last days and that Jesus has warned us in the book of matthew that false prophets will come to lead some away from the truth. In todays world it looks different but its not any different from the days of the bible. Satan never has any new ideas he keeps doing the same thing over and over oh he might cover it with flashy movie stars like Tom Cruise but in essence its the same old thing. I do agree Tom Cruise is a lost soul in search of God but the religion he proclaims gives him justfication. I am way turned off to Tom Cruise now I have been since he divorced Nicole Kidman I believe he knows what he did in his marriage to Nicole Kidman was wrong and he is just so guilt ridden that this scientolgy babble makes him feel better about himself plus he has been on a self destruct trip since his divorce from Nicole Kidman. I think instead of dealing with his emotions about his choices this is his way of running away. Its easier to find justification for yourself than it is to take responsibility for your actions and life, to do take responsibility would cost you something. I have to say since his divorce with Nicole Kidman he career has gone down the drain none of his movies done well since then but Nicole's have done great. This is hard for someone like him to deal with we do need to pray for him but most importantly to pray that ppl don't fall under this lure of his to scientology.

[Barbara]

After spending years searching for answers to my life in Scientology, I can certainly say that the only answer to all life's questions are found in God and his son, Jesus. For Cruise to say that a person can combine the two beliefs tells me that he knows little about Christianity. Remember though, God loves him anyway and it is our calling to do the same, and pray for his salvation. Wouldn't it be great to see Cruise bouncing off the walls for Christianity?

[Amy]

Dana, I disagree that his career has been going down, his career is doing great. His domestic BO may be dwindling but the overseas market still gives him hits. Kidman is doing OK, she is still not a BO star but is now a critically acclaimed actress in her own right, something that eluded her before.

[Michael]

life is more like a test than a game.a individual either prevails or fails.thats why there are temptations that surround everybody every day.the nice thing is your equiped to make those choices.thats what seperates and gives character to a person.sympily thats what gives me some closure.once the person experiences the true values and its meaning then life becomes easier to understand then builds the substace and identifys the unknown.hope your able to digest maybe part of what is written.part1 the begining

[kasule]

its like this religion is not here in africa i had got some intrest so please you can get me the physical connections in africa.

[KAMAL KUMAR]

I want know what is scincetology? Why Mr. Tom cruise is in this belief? Could any body here who could short out my quiry?