The Salty Peanut Gallery

The Chicago Tribune has an interesting story about a local area church that is granting sanctuary to illegals. For the second time in less then a year an illegal immigrant has been granted refuge at the Adalberto United Methodist Church in defiance of a deportation order. Twenty-eight year old Flor Crisostomo (pronounced floor kree-SOHS’-toh-moh) told reporters that she was disregarding the deportation order in order to point out “the injustice of U.S. immigration laws.”

We’ll deal with her statement in moment. But before I go too far down this road I want to first acknowledge that this is a very real and very difficult issue for many believers, one in which we find ourselves torn between the biblical principles of love and righteousness. On the one hand Christian compassion compels us to want to deal lovingly with those less fortunate then ourselves, but on the other hand our sense of right and wrong demands obedience to the powers that be. Regardless of where you may be on this issue, I do believe that like everything else we face in life, God’s word holds the key. We would do well to rely more on biblical truth rather than simply how we feel.

The book of Philemon describes an interesting circumstance in which a slave named Onesimus stole some money from his master (v.18) and ran away. At some point along the way, Onesimus met the Apostle Paul and became a Christian. Apparently Onesimus was dramatically transformed and had begun serving Paul in some fashion (v.11). Paul grew to love Onesimus (v.16), but he also knew that the law had been broken and restitution had to be made. Paul decided to send Onesimus back to his master, (vv.19-20) a “brother” in Christ, along with a letter written in his own hand promising to repay whatever debt was owed and urging forgiveness. In addition Paul sent Tychicus, a co-worker, who was carrying a letter to the church at Colosse (Colossians 4:7-9) thus helping to insure safe passage.

Now here is the parallel as I see it. Recently I had the opportunity to meet with a local pastor who is attempting to plant a Hispanic church in my town. As it turns out there is a fairly large Hispanic community in the surrounding area where I live. My pastor and I met this man for breakfast so that we could get to know him and find out if there was any way our congregation could be of service. The gentleman shared with us his story of how he had come to be a Hispanic church planter and what his vision would be for reaching the community. One of the questions we felt we needed to have answered was, “What is your position on illegal immigration?” Let’s face it. It’s not unreasonable to think that a Hispanic church anywhere in America today is going to have some percentage of illegals. His response to us was one in which I think Christians across the country and especially pastors should take note.

The gentleman explained that his primary responsibility was to the gospel. First and foremost his priority was to share the message of salvation through Jesus Christ. Once an illegal comes to know Christ, however, that individual is strongly urged to contact Immigration and begin going through the proper channels for being in this country legally. But it doesn’t just stop there. As it turns out, my denomination has a team of lawyers working within our state association to help these brothers and sister’s in Christ fulfill the demands of the law. So this goes far beyond just saying, “Be warmed and filled, my brother,” and then going on our merry way. Believers are actually partnering with converted illegals to help them comply with the laws of the land.

So what of this idea that it’s okay to disregard the authorities in order to point out “the injustice of U.S. immigration laws”? First of all, just exactly what injustice are we talking about here? That it’s illegal to enter this country without obtaining a visa? That if you do you are in danger of being deported? And is there a biblical mandate for disregarding the law of the land just because we may not like it? That’s not the example of scripture. Paul’s priority was first to the gospel, then to righteousness, providing every aid that he possibly could to help the new convert comply with the laws of the land. And that is exactly how I believe we as Christians need to deal biblically with this issue of illegal immigration.

The picture says it all.

The Church of Scientology is getting a considerable amount of free publicity these days, though I’m not so sure it’s the kind they would prefer to have. With the surfacing of the Tom Cruise video clip in which he passionately advocates Scientology and the recent release of the controversial new tell all book, Tom Cruise: An Unauthorized Biography, Scientologists have been keeping fairly busy filing various lawsuits. Publishers Weekly reported last week that biographer Andrew Morton and St. Martin’s Press have both been threatened with a $100 million suit. Additionally petitions have been filed to have the Cruise video pulled from the internet, alleging breach of copyright since the clip was originally intended for Scientology use only.

So what’s got scientologists so up in arms? Is it Cruise’s outlandish claims? Is it his creepy laugher? Is it the kooky “Mission Impossible” music? Or maybe it’s the allegations that Cruise has been elevated to one of the highest levels of church leadership, or that Katie Holmes may have been secretly impregnated with L. Ron Hubbard’s frozen sperm.

Or maybe it’s simply this, that recent publicity is shedding new light on the ridiculous teachings of Scientology in a way that makes them look….well, ridiculous. “And just what DO they teach?” you may be asking. Here are a few things I’ve been able to glean from the web.

Scientology is the religious philosophy developed by L. Ron Hubbard in 1952 through his self-help system called Dianetics. According to the Church of Scientology Official Site:

“Scientology is the study and handling of the spirit in relationship to itself, others and all of life.”

“Man is an immortal, spiritual being. His experience extends well beyond a single lifetime. His capabilities are unlimited, even if not presently realized — and those capabilities can be realized. He is able to not only solve his own problems, accomplish his goals and gain lasting happiness, but also achieve new, higher states of awareness and ability.”

“Man consists of three parts. The first of these is the spirit, called in Scientology the thetan…which is the individual himself. The second of these parts is the mind. The thetan uses his mind as a communication and control system between himself and his environment. The third of these parts is the body. The body is not the person. The most important of the three parts of man is the thetan, which is the spirit, or you.”

Here’s what Beliefnet has to say on “What Scientologists Believe”:

“Suffering occurs as part of the spirit’s entrapment here in the physical universe. Only when the individual is aware of his spiritual nature can he identify his barriers within the universe and overcome them, rising out of a lower state and into a higher state of happiness and freedom.”

“Salvation is achieved through the practices and techniques of Scientology, the ultimate goal of which is to realize one’s true nature as an immortal spirit…who can control matter, energy, space, time, thought, and life.”

“Scientology considers the belief in a God or gods as something personal and therefore offers no specific dogma. The nature of the Supreme Being is revealed personally through each individual as he or she becomes more conscious and spiritually aware.”

I know this is a rather simplistic overview, but you get the picture. Essentially what they’re saying is that man is basically good, that you are the center of your universe, you are master of your own destiny, and you have the innate power within you to become whatever you want to be, up to and including becoming just like God. Sound familiar? It should. It’s the same lie Satan has been telling people for years going all the way back to Eve in the Garden of Eden.

The truth however is somewhat less palatable. According to God’s word man is not basically good. Man is spiritually depraved and destined for destruction. But here’s the good news. The hope of attaining true happiness and freedom is in the unmerited favor of a loving and just God. Ephesians 2:8-9 says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

Our natural desire is to be captain of our destiny. True freedom, however, comes through surrender.

Here’s the YouTube video Scientologists don’t want you to see. They’ve been busy trying to have it removed from the internet although Gawker.com, insists “It’s newsworthy, and we will not be removing it.”

There’s actually not much to see, so unless you’ve got nine and a half minutes of your life to waste I’ll save you the trouble. It’s mostly Tom Cruise rambling mindlessly on about how great it is to be a scientologist. In it Cruise is dressed in a black turtleneck with Mission Impossible music playing in the background. He encourages his Scientologists brethren to get on the stick and promote their faith. Here are some of the most noteworthy things he has to say:

“If you’re on board, you’re on board, just like the rest of us.”

“We are the authorities on getting people off drugs, we are the authorities on the mind, we are the authorities on improving conditions, Criminon, we can rehabilitate criminals, way to happiness, we can bring peace and unite cultures.”

“I think it’s a privilege to call yourself a Scientologist, and it’s something that you have to earn because a Scientologist has the ability to create new and better realities and improve conditions. Being a Scientologist, when you drive past an accident… you know you have to do something about it because you know you’re the only one who can help,”

From time to time he erupts in outbursts of maniacal laughter. That’s about it. So I ask you, would you want this guy promoting your religion?