📖 Reading 8.2: The Christian Story of Creation, Redemption, and New Creation
Reading 8.2: The Christian Story of Creation, Redemption, and New Creation
Introduction
Christianity is not merely a collection of religious techniques, moral principles, or spiritual experiences.
It is the true story of God, creation, humanity, sin, redemption, the church, resurrection, and new creation.
This story begins with the Triune God rather than with the independent spiritual self. It explains human brokenness as more than limited ability, painful mental recordings, or insufficient spiritual advancement. It announces that God came to humanity in Jesus Christ and accomplished the salvation that human beings could never achieve for themselves.
The central Christian movement is not:
Humanity climbing toward greater spiritual freedom.
It is:
God coming to rescue, reconcile, renew, and restore his creation through Jesus Christ.
This reading presents the Christian story through six movements:
Creation
Fall
Incarnation
Cross
Resurrection and the Holy Spirit
New Creation
These movements provide Christian leaders with a coherent framework for respectful conversations with Scientologists.
Learning Outcomes
By the end of this reading, students will be able to:
Present the Christian faith as a unified biblical story.
Explain the goodness and dependence of creation.
Describe sin as the religious misdirection of the whole person.
Explain why the incarnation is essential to Christian salvation.
Describe the meaning of Christ’s cross and bodily resurrection.
Explain the Holy Spirit’s role in regeneration and sanctification.
Describe the church as a new community formed by grace.
Compare spiritual self-advancement with salvation received through Christ.
Present bodily resurrection and new creation as the final Christian hope.
1. The Christian Story Begins With God
The Christian story does not begin with the human search for spiritual freedom.
It begins with God.
Genesis 1:1 declares:
“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”
God does not belong to the created universe. He is not an advanced spiritual being, an impersonal power, a cosmic principle, or one part of a larger spiritual system.
God alone is self-existent.
Everything else depends upon him.
The Bible reveals the one true God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The Triune God creates, sustains, judges, redeems, and renews creation.
The Father creates through the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit. All three persons act together in perfect unity.
John 1:3 says concerning the Son:
“All things were made through him. Without him, nothing was made that has been made.”
Creation therefore belongs to God and finds its meaning in him.
Human beings do not create the meaning of reality through personal preference or group agreement. We receive life within a created order that already belongs to God.
2. Creation: God’s Good and Ordered World
God created the heavens and the earth and called his creation good.
The material world is not an illusion, spiritual accident, or prison from which the true self must escape.
Bodies matter because God created them.
Relationships matter because God designed human beings for communion.
Work, justice, language, beauty, stewardship, love, and worship all belong to the richness of created life.
Creation contains many dimensions that cannot be reduced to only matter, spirit, survival, control, or ability.
Human life includes:
bodily existence
thought and discernment
emotion and perception
language and communication
family and community
work and stewardship
justice and responsibility
beauty and celebration
love and faithfulness
worship and ultimate trust
These dimensions cohere because they all depend upon God.
Humanity in God’s Image
Genesis 1:27 says:
“God created man in his own image. In God’s image he created him; male and female he created them.”
Human beings are embodied image-bearers.
We are not autonomous spirits who happen to use physical bodies. God created us as whole persons.
The body is essential to human identity. We think, love, communicate, worship, work, suffer, and serve as embodied people.
Being made in God’s image gives every human being God-given value.
That value is not earned through:
spiritual advancement
intelligence
productivity
emotional control
social status
religious performance
personal ability
physical strength
A person experiencing weakness remains an image-bearer.
A person struggling with grief remains an image-bearer.
A person who disagrees with Christianity remains an image-bearer.
A Scientologist remains an image-bearer.
Christian ministry must therefore treat every person with patience, honesty, compassion, and respect.
3. The Human Calling
God created human beings to live in covenant relationship with him.
Humanity was called to:
love and worship God
love one another
care for creation
develop culture
exercise responsible stewardship
pursue justice
practice faithfulness
enjoy fellowship with God
Human freedom was never meant to be independence from God.
Creaturely freedom means living faithfully within the good order God established.
A fish is not free when removed from water. A human being is not free when separated from the Creator.
True freedom is not self-existence.
It is not unlimited control.
It is not freedom from every responsibility, relationship, or bodily limitation.
True human freedom is loving obedience to God.
4. The Fall: The Religious Misdirection of Humanity
Human beings rejected their calling.
Genesis 3 describes humanity seeking wisdom and independence apart from God.
The temptation was not merely to break an isolated rule. It was to determine reality, good, and evil independently of the Creator.
Sin is therefore deeply religious.
It redirects the human heart away from God and toward something within creation.
Romans 1 describes humanity exchanging the truth of God for a lie and worshiping the creature rather than the Creator.
This misdirection affects the whole person.
Sin affects:
worship
thought
desire
emotion
relationships
sexuality
work
social institutions
justice
stewardship
bodily life
Human reason is not religiously neutral. It can be directed either toward faithful service to God or toward the defense of an idol.
Human beings may absolutize:
reason
science
physical matter
personal freedom
spiritual identity
social agreement
control
success
survival
technology
religious institutions
spiritual experience
Anything within creation can be treated as though it were independent or ultimate.
Sin and Suffering
Christianity distinguishes between sin committed and suffering endured.
People may suffer because of:
their own sinful actions
the sinful actions of others
injustice
illness
loss
bodily weakness
destructive social systems
accidents
natural disasters
life in a fallen creation
Not every struggle is evidence of personal moral failure.
A grieving person may need compassion rather than correction.
A person experiencing bodily or emotional distress may need medical or professional care.
A victim of abuse may need protection, justice, and wise support.
Christian care must distinguish guilt from injury, responsibility from victimization, and spiritual struggle from medical or psychological concerns.
5. Why Human Advancement Cannot Save
Humanity’s deepest problem cannot be overcome by increased knowledge, control, ability, or spiritual technique.
Knowledge is good, but knowledge cannot erase guilt.
Responsibility is important, but responsibility cannot reverse death.
Discipline can form habits, but it cannot reconcile sinners to God.
Religious practices may affect a person’s experience, but no procedure can transform a created person into a self-existent being.
Human beings cannot climb out of sin through graded spiritual achievement.
Romans 3:23 says:
“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
The gospel begins with the recognition that humanity cannot save itself.
Salvation must come from God.
6. The Incarnation: The Creator Entered Creation
The eternal Son of God became truly human without ceasing to be God.
John 1:14 says:
“The Word became flesh and lived among us.”
The incarnation is not the story of an immortal spiritual being temporarily using another body.
Jesus Christ is one person who is truly God and truly human.
He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary.
He possessed a real human body.
He experienced:
hunger
thirst
fatigue
emotion
grief
temptation
friendship
rejection
physical suffering
death
Yet Jesus remained without sin.
The incarnation confirms the goodness and importance of embodied human life.
God did not rescue humanity by teaching people how to escape the body. The Son took on human flesh.
Jesus entered the history, suffering, and vulnerability of human existence.
Hebrews 4:15 says:
“For we don’t have a high priest who can’t be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but one who has been in all points tempted like we are, yet without sin.”
Jesus understands human weakness from within embodied life.
7. Jesus and the Kingdom of God
Jesus proclaimed the kingdom of God.
The kingdom is God’s saving rule breaking into the fallen world.
Jesus:
taught with divine authority
forgave sins
healed the sick
welcomed outsiders
confronted hypocrisy
opposed injustice
delivered people from evil
demonstrated compassion
called people to repentance
announced forgiveness
revealed the Father
His miracles were not demonstrations of spiritual advancement for its own sake.
They were signs of God’s kingdom.
They revealed that God was acting to defeat sin, suffering, evil, and death.
Jesus did not invite people to become independent spiritual beings. He called them to follow him.
Discipleship means reorienting the whole person under the lordship of Christ.
8. The Cross: Christ’s Finished Work
Jesus willingly went to the cross.
The cross was not an accidental failure or the defeat of an unfortunate teacher.
It was central to God’s saving plan.
Romans 5:8 says:
“But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”
At the cross, Jesus:
bore human sin
endured judgment
acted as our substitute
satisfied divine justice
defeated the powers of evil
reconciled believers to God
demonstrated God’s self-giving love
Second Corinthians 5:21 says:
“For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
Christ’s work is sufficient.
The Christian does not add spiritual achievement to complete what Jesus left unfinished.
Jesus declared:
“It is finished.”
Salvation is not a bridge that people climb through increasingly advanced spiritual levels.
It is God’s gift received through faith.
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, that no one would boast.”
Christian practices such as prayer, Scripture reading, baptism, communion, worship, and service do not earn salvation.
They are responses to God’s grace.
9. Grace Without Humiliation
The gospel speaks honestly about sin without treating people as worthless.
Christianity teaches both:
every person bears God’s image
every person needs God’s grace
Sin is serious, but it does not remove human value.
Confession is not designed to humiliate people or give religious leaders improper control over them.
Biblical confession brings sin into the light so that forgiveness, repentance, restitution, and restoration may occur.
Christian leaders should never pressure people to reveal private information unnecessarily.
They should not attempt to extract confessions, diagnose trauma, or control another person’s conscience.
A Christian leader points people to Christ, who receives repentant sinners with grace.
First John 1:9 says:
“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
10. The Bodily Resurrection of Jesus
Jesus truly died and was buried.
On the third day, God raised him bodily from the dead.
The resurrection was not merely the survival of Jesus’ spirit. It was not a symbol of hope invented by the disciples. It was God’s action within history.
The tomb was empty.
The risen Christ appeared to his disciples.
He spoke with them, ate with them, and invited them to see his wounds.
First Corinthians 15:20 says:
“But now Christ has been raised from the dead. He became the first fruits of those who are asleep.”
The resurrection confirms:
Jesus is Lord
the cross accomplished salvation
death has been defeated
the body matters
creation will be renewed
believers will be raised
God’s kingdom will prevail
Christian hope is not endless spiritual existence through a succession of bodies.
Hebrews 9:27 says:
“It is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment.”
The biblical story presents one earthly life, death, judgment, resurrection, and eternal life under God’s reign.
11. The Holy Spirit Gives New Life
After his resurrection and ascension, Jesus poured out the Holy Spirit upon the church.
The Holy Spirit is not an impersonal force, energy, or spiritual technology.
He is the third person of the Triune God.
The Holy Spirit:
gives new birth
unites believers to Christ
indwells believers
assures them of adoption
illuminates Scripture
produces spiritual fruit
gives gifts for service
forms the church
empowers witness
sanctifies believers
glorifies Jesus Christ
Jesus said in John 3:6:
“That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.”
Regeneration is God’s work.
A person does not produce new birth by mastering the correct procedure.
The Holy Spirit awakens faith and directs the heart toward God.
12. Sanctification Without Spiritual Technology
Sanctification is the lifelong process by which the Holy Spirit forms believers into the likeness of Christ.
Christians do not become instantly perfect.
They continue to:
struggle with sin
repent
receive forgiveness
grow in wisdom
learn obedience
endure weakness
depend upon grace
support one another
Sanctification is not a graded path toward unlimited spiritual ability.
It is growth in Christlike faithfulness.
Galatians 5:22–23 says:
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, and self-control.”
The fruit of the Spirit focuses attention on character rather than rank.
Christian maturity is not measured primarily by extraordinary experiences, control, independence, or superior ability.
It is displayed through:
love
truthfulness
humility
patience
justice
faithfulness
mercy
self-control
service
The Christian remains a creature dependent upon God.
Greater maturity produces deeper dependence, not spiritual self-sufficiency.
13. The Church as a New Community
God does not ordinarily form believers in isolation.
The Holy Spirit joins believers to the body of Christ.
The church is a community of people saved by grace.
Within the church, believers receive:
biblical teaching
prayer
baptism
communion
pastoral care
mutual encouragement
loving correction
friendship
opportunities for service
protection and accountability
Christian transformation is not a private process between a spiritual technician and an individual.
The church is a body in which every member belongs to Christ and serves the others.
First Corinthians 12:27 says:
“Now you are the body of Christ, and members individually.”
No Christian leader possesses ultimate control over another believer’s spiritual life.
Church leaders serve under Christ, Scripture, and accountable Christian community.
Healthy Christian leadership protects conscience, honors privacy, corrects abuse, and directs people toward Jesus rather than creating dependence upon the leader.
14. Weakness Is Not Spiritual Failure
Christians continue to experience weakness.
They may encounter:
illness
grief
exhaustion
disability
persecution
fear
unanswered prayer
emotional pain
bodily limitation
death
These struggles do not automatically reveal inferior faith or failed spiritual advancement.
Jesus wept.
Paul experienced weakness.
The Psalms contain lament.
Faithful believers sometimes suffer deeply.
Second Corinthians 12:9 records God’s word to Paul:
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
Christian maturity includes learning to depend upon God within creaturely limitations.
Believers do not need to deny pain, hide weakness, or maintain a spiritually impressive emotional condition.
The church should be a place where people can lament, receive care, seek professional help when needed, and remain honored as members of Christ’s body.
15. The Return of Christ
The Christian story moves toward the return of Jesus Christ.
Christ will return personally and visibly.
He will judge evil, raise the dead, complete the redemption of his people, and establish the fullness of God’s kingdom.
The return of Christ means history has a God-directed goal.
Human beings are not trapped within an endless cycle of spiritual existence and repeated bodily lives.
Creation is moving toward judgment, resurrection, restoration, and the visible reign of Christ.
Acts 17:31 says God:
“has appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he has ordained; of which he has given assurance to all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.”
God’s judgment is both sobering and hopeful.
Evil will not have the final word.
Injustice will be addressed.
Faithfulness will be vindicated.
God will make all things right.
16. Bodily Resurrection
The final Christian hope includes bodily resurrection.
Believers do not hope to exist forever as disembodied spirits.
God will raise and transform them.
First Corinthians 15:42–44 says:
“So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown perishable; it is raised imperishable. It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness; it is raised in power.”
The resurrected body will be transformed by the Holy Spirit, free from corruption and death.
Bodily resurrection confirms that salvation concerns the whole person.
God does not discard human embodiment. He redeems it.
Christian hope therefore differs from the idea that the true spiritual self repeatedly inhabits and leaves different bodies.
The biblical hope is the restoration of the person God created.
17. New Creation
Revelation 21 describes a new heaven and a new earth.
God will dwell with his people.
Death, mourning, crying, and pain will pass away.
Revelation 21:5 says:
“Behold, I am making all things new.”
God does not say, “I am abandoning all things.”
He makes them new.
The final Christian hope includes:
restored fellowship with God
resurrected bodies
healed relationships
perfect justice
freedom from sin
the end of death
renewed creation
meaningful service
worship
beauty
peace
eternal life under Christ’s lordship
The goal of salvation is not unlimited personal ability.
It is life with God in a renewed creation.
Christians will remain creatures.
They will never become self-existent, autonomous, or divine.
Their joy will be found in perfectly knowing, loving, worshiping, and serving God.
18. Comparing Two Stories
Scientology and Christianity offer different stories of the human problem and hope.
Spiritual Identity
Scientology commonly identifies the deepest person as an immortal thetan.
Christianity identifies the person as an embodied image-bearer created by God.
Human Brokenness
Scientology may explain unwanted reactions through the reactive mind, engrams, and spiritual limitations.
Christianity distinguishes sin, suffering, bodily weakness, harmful habits, injustice, and injuries caused by others.
Spiritual Advancement
Scientology offers a graded path involving training, auditing, and advancement.
Christianity proclaims salvation by grace through Christ’s finished work.
Transformation
Scientology emphasizes the application of spiritual technology.
Christianity teaches regeneration and sanctification through the personal work of the Holy Spirit.
Community
Scientology offers participation within an organized spiritual system.
Christianity welcomes believers into the body of Christ, a community shaped by grace, Scripture, baptism, communion, and mutual service.
Final Hope
Scientology teaches continued spiritual existence and advancement.
Christianity proclaims one earthly life, judgment, bodily resurrection, and new creation.
The central Christian contrast is not between one technique and a better technique.
It is between self-attained spiritual freedom and redemption accomplished by God.
19. A Respectful Gospel Conversation
A Christian leader might begin by asking:
“How would you describe the complete Scientology story of where people came from, what went wrong, and how spiritual freedom is achieved?”
The leader should listen carefully.
Clarifying questions might include:
“What is the deepest human problem?”
“Is the thetan created or self-existent?”
“How does a person become free from guilt and death?”
“What is the final goal of spiritual advancement?”
After listening, the Christian may ask:
“May I explain the Christian story of creation, fall, Christ, redemption, resurrection, and new creation?”
The Christian can then present the gospel:
God created human beings as embodied image-bearers to live in fellowship with him. Humanity turned away from God and brought sin, alienation, and death into human life. We could not rescue ourselves, so the eternal Son of God became human. Jesus lived without sin, died for our sins, and rose bodily from the dead. Salvation is received by grace through trusting him. The Holy Spirit gives new life and forms believers within the church. When Jesus returns, God will raise the dead and renew creation.
This presentation should be offered without pressure.
The Christian shares faithfully and trusts the Holy Spirit with the person’s response.
20. Ministry Safeguards
Christian leaders presenting the biblical story must not:
mock Scientology beliefs
pressure immediate religious change
hide their Christian intentions
exaggerate differences
misuse private disclosures
promise an easy transition
diagnose people
practice psychotherapy without qualifications
treat conversion as a ministry achievement
claim authority over another person’s conscience
They should:
listen patiently
define terms carefully
ask permission
protect privacy
distinguish sin from suffering
recommend professional care when appropriate
offer Christian friendship
provide accountable church community
explain Scripture accurately
keep Jesus Christ at the center
Conclusion
The Christian story begins with the Triune God.
God created a good world and made human beings as embodied image-bearers. Humanity turned from the Creator and directed its trust toward created substitutes.
Sin affected the whole person and brought guilt, alienation, injustice, suffering, and death.
Human beings could not rescue themselves.
The eternal Son became flesh. Jesus lived faithfully, died for sinners, and rose bodily from the dead.
Salvation is received by grace.
The Holy Spirit gives new life, forms Christlike character, and joins believers to the church.
Jesus will return.
The dead will be raised.
Creation will be renewed.
The Christian hope is not spiritual self-advancement or escape from embodiment. It is reconciliation with God, transformation through the Holy Spirit, bodily resurrection, and eternal life with Christ in the new creation.
Key Ministry Principle
Christianity is not a spiritual technology through which human beings rescue themselves. It is the story of the Triune God creating, redeeming, and renewing embodied people through the finished work of Jesus Christ and the transforming presence of the Holy Spirit.
Reflection Questions
Why does the Christian story begin with God rather than with humanity’s search for spiritual freedom?
How does the goodness of creation shape the Christian understanding of the body?
What does it mean to describe sin as religious misdirection?
Why can human knowledge, responsibility, and discipline not produce salvation?
What does the incarnation reveal about God and embodied human life?
What did Jesus accomplish through the cross?
Why is Christ’s bodily resurrection essential to the Christian faith?
How does the Holy Spirit transform believers without functioning as spiritual technology?
Why is the church important to Christian formation?
How does bodily resurrection differ from continued existence through multiple bodies?
What does the new creation reveal about God’s purpose for the physical world?
How could you explain the Christian story respectfully to a Scientologist?