Was Paul the L Ron Hubbard of 20 centuries ago?

Question

He took the popular stories of the time, added his own spin, and made a religion.. Is this not what L Ron tried to do with Scientology?
In two thousand years, could Scientologists be as common as Christians are today? Will it happen sooner?
Anyone have any more to legitimately prove or disprove this thought?

Just to add, look at how fast they are increasing in numbers today even without the mass forced conversions and killings of religions of the past..

Arnon, quite frankly, assuming this question to be good or bad just due to the perceived intention of the asker looks to be your way to avoid putting serious thought to it.

Calling Scientology a cult does not have anything to do with the question, the Romans called Christianity a cult too...

The OT has backing from archeology, the NT.. not so much... The Illogic of a religion has never been an impediment for expansion of it..

I figured someone would eventually come out and try to pimp Jesus here... Look, I am not A scientologist, or a Christian, and I am not here to be wooed by either..

Guinea.. I would expand that to say that the popular notion of jesus is also fiction... written well after the death he would have had if he existed, esp seeing as it's the same as many popular characters of the fiction of the era. These stories were much like the science fiction of today.... which brings us back to my original question...

You call me "misinformed" and say I am wrong, but bring nothing to prove your statement.... cute..

Answer 1

It's an interesting idea. I do see a major difference though in the motivation. Paul had a mental disorder and more or less believed in his delusions. He did not get a lot out of it personally. It is unfortunate that he turned all his sexual inhibitions into doctrines that some fundies still preach today.
Hubbard was in it just for the money (and very successfully so).

Answer 2

Not quite. It is peoples lack of comprehension of Pauls' writings that leads them to believe such things. They use his writinjgs selectively, and don't even care that by doing so, they create contradictions within Pauls own epistles.
Paul was an intellectual of his day, and as Peter warned, in 2Peter 3:15-16 he is hard to understand, and people twist his writings. (And notice how Peter and Luke accepted Paul as a brother and his words as scripture).
Peters words never rang truer- as the same misunderstanding and twisting of Pauls words continues even today. It is always the writings of Paul that people appeal to when they want to overthrow the words of the Old Testament or even of Jesus Himself.
For instance, they use Pauls' writings to justify antinomianism....yet it doesn't bother them that by doing so, they are not only contradicting the words of Jesus Christ in Matt. 5:17-19(and many others) but Pauls own very words. They will use a verse like Romans 3:20 "Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in His sight..." to say that we need not heed the law of God...yet if they finish quoting that very verse: "...for by the law is the knowledge of sin" it proves them wrong. Or, just a few verses later- Rom 3:31 says "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid!". (Note: We are not saved by keeping the law- the law merely defines sin. And no ammoiunt of law keeping will absolve us of our past sins...obedience now only keeps us from more sin).
The real Paul of the Bible is quite different than the Paul that people have made him out to be. The popular notion of Paul is as much a fictional character as the Easter bunny.

[and I do believe "Raymiew" is confusing Catholics with Christians. Christains are commanded to love their enemies...not kill them]

Answer 3

Well Issachar, the situation was not exactly as you depict... Paul was contemporary with a large number of people who were inspired by the Holy Spirit and leaders in the early church. Look at Peter's statement about Paul:

2Peter 3:14 Dear friends, I know you are looking forward to that. So try your best to be found pure and without blame. Be at peace with God. 15 Remember that while our Lord is waiting patiently to return, people are being saved.
Our dear brother Paul also wrote to you about that. God made him wise to write as he did. 16 He writes the same way in all his letters. HE SPEAKS ABOUT WHAT I HAVE JUST TOLD YOU. HIS LETTERS INCLUDE SOME THINGS THAT ARE HARD TO UNDERSTAND. People who don’t know better and aren’t firm in the faith twist what he says. They twist the OTHER SCRIPTURES too. So they will be destroyed.

I added some emphasis to Peter's statements to focus on a point that he made. He writes about people distorting Paul's writing LIKE THEY DO THE OTHER SCRIPTURES. What does he mean by "OTHER Scriptures?" Obviously, he is INCLUDING PAUL among those prophets of old who SPOKE AND WROTE GOD'S MESSAGE for their generations.

These are NOT the statements one makes of a person who is abusing or distorting God's message, but of one who is truly carrying out the commission he received from God.

Answer 4

Anybody with brains and a little logic knows scientology is a lie and a cult.

The bible is full of wisdom for day to day living, it explains the creation of earth and all living things in this planet, it has prophecies which have bee fullfilled and still been fullfilled. IT has the backing of ARCHAEOLOGY. Please...please....don't compare scientology with the bible or else you will look uneducated. The bible is part of our history, from the times of the first civilizations in our planet. Maybe you should go back to school before asking questions like that. thank you.

Answer 5

You know something. You may be right. He basically rewrote the OT to suit his needs. He wrote against what Jesus preached. He really reinvented what had actually happened. He was a Roman who took over and did things his way.

Answer 6

In two thousand years, could Scientologists be as common as Christians are today?

Only if they kill several million people because of ignorance.

Answer 7

You are grossly misinformed.
L.Ron Hubbard did not do what you are suggesting . Making this comparison does not make it true either.
You just created your own "popular story" to serve your own agenda with this question.
Hmm... sound familiar ? Has this ever been done before???

Answer 8

YISHSHKHR,

Pls review www.xenu.net to better understand the dangerous background of the Scientology cult.

Answer 9

That's a scary, scary thought. Thank you, now I'm going to have nightmares about Scientologists and their volcano god.

Answer 10

Nice job on this one sir.