Scientology – Understanding World Religions

Scientology – Understanding World Religions

History and background

L.Ron Hubbard was a very successful science fiction writer in the 1930’s and 40’s. In 1949 while speaking to a group he reportedly stated, “Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous.  If a man really wanted to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion.” Time April 5, 1976, pp. 57.  The next year he released his book Dianetics which was the foundation to the new religion he was starting.

-In his book he announced that his new therapy was a “science of the mind” and it promised to “clear” a person of painful experiences and mental illnesses. These painful experiences are called “engrams”. Engrams are like photo images that are stuck in the brain that need to be cleared so one can reach his full potential. He claimed that the “clear” person “can be tested for all psychoses, neuroses, compulsions, and repressions (all aberrations and can be examined for any autogenetic (self generated) diseases referred to as psychosomatic ills. These tests confIrm the clear to be entirely without such ills or aberrations. Additional test of his intelligence indicate it to be high about the current norm.” Dianetics pp. 14

-John Campbell, Jr., the editor ofA stounding Science Fiction and publisher of many of Hubbard’s science fiction stories was an early supporter. He introduced Dr. Joseph Winter to Hubbard. Both men were fascinated by Hubbard’s work. Dr. Winter even wrote the introduction in the fIrst addition of Dianetics. (These two men worked hard to get Dianetics approved by the medical community.)

-In 1950 after the release of his book, Hubbard introduced the world to the fIrst “clear” person. Sonia Bianca. In front of a large crowd at the Shriner’s auditorium in Los Angeles Sonia was put to a test. “Clears” were supposed to have total recall. Unfortunately, Sonia, a physics student from Boston could not recall any basic physics formula or even the color of Hubbard’s tie, which she saw moments before. Both the media and medical community criticized the movement.

-In 1951 some of the clients started sharing what they thought were negative experiences from past lives. Hubbard took these ideas seriously. He then introduced the concept of a Thetan. A Thetan is like a soul. The Thetan has been around for millions of years moving from body to body. In each reincarnate state (called assumption) they would accumulate negative experiences called engrams. Through counseling (called auditing) the person could be freed of all these negative images in the mind. (Campbell and Winter left the organization at this point. They began to have further questions on if this really worked.)

-During these early years an “E-meter” was developed. Hubbard uses this machine in the “auditing” process to read engrams. This machine helps the auditor to go to earlier chains of engrams. The goal of the session is to erase engrams. (The medical conununity rejected this device. Hubbard was unwilling to allow blind studies to check out its reliability.)

-In 1953 this movement became known as the Church of Scientology. In 1957 they received their tax-exempt status as a religious organization. However, through the years they have fought many legal battles world-wide regarding being a church. In 1963 the FDA raided the church head quarters and took the E-meters. They called it an illegal medical device. There tax status we stripped in 1967. In 1969 they regained their tax exemptions.

-These legal battles have continued worldwide through the years. The most recent case was in France. In October of 2009 Scientology was convicted of fraud. Many countries do not recognize Scientology as a religion. (Wikipedia has a very detailed time line of the history.)

-Hubbard developed different levels of OT (Operating Thetans). This is an advanced spiritual state above clear. At OT III the story of Xenu is shared. According to the founder of Scientology L. Ron Hubbard, the dictator of the “Galactic Confederacy” who, 75 million years ago, brought billions (4)(5) of his people to Earth in a DC-8-like spacecraft, stacked them around volcanoes and killed them using hydrogen bombs. Official Scientology scriptures hold that the essences of these many people remained, and that they form around people in modern times, causing them spiritual harm. This story is only told to those who get to this OT III level.

-David Miscavige became the head of Scientology in 1986 after Hubbard’s death.

-They are involved in a lot of social awareness and service projects. They desire to rid the world of social ills using Scientology’s methods and techniques.

Basic beliefs and practices

-The essential tenets of Scientology are these:

-You are an immortal spiritual being.

-Your experience extends well beyond a single lifetime. And your capabilities are unlimited, even if not presently realized.

-Furthermore, man is basically good. He is seeking to survive. And his survival depends upon himself and his fellows and his attainment of brotherhood with the universe.

-The purpose of Scientology: to enable Man to improve his lot through understanding.

-In the primordial past, Thetans brought the material universe into being largely for their own pleasure. The universe has no independent reality, but derives its apparent reality from the fact that most Thetans agree it exists.! Thetans fell from grace when they began to identify with their creation, rather than their original state of spiritual purity. Eventually they lost their memory of their true nature, along with the associated spiritual and creative powers. As a result, Thetans came to think of themselves as nothing but embodied beings.

Thetans are reborn time and time again in new bodies through a process called “assumption” which is analogous to reincarnation. The effects on participating in MEST (matter, energy, space) after each rebirth becomes stronger thus moving them away from the pure spiritual state.

-Clearing the mind and becoming an Operating Thetan is the goal.

Understanding the mind. There are two major divisions of the mind.

-The reactive mind is thought to absorb all pain and emotional trauma in mental images called engrams. These sometimes sub conscious memories are painful and debilitating.

-The analytical mind is a rational mechanism which is responsible for consciousness.

The goal is to rid one’s mind of engrams. This is done through counseling (auditing).

-One pays to be audited. During this time they will use the E-meter and tone scale to assess where the person is at and help them to remove the engrams. The goal is to be “clear” of all engrams. Once you are “clear” you continue with the process to be a fully functional Thetan. There are many levels of Operating Thetans.

-Scientology embraces all aspects of life. Thus survival is a key concept.
Survival is broken up into 8 Dynamics.
The First Dynamic is SELF.
This is the effort to survive as an individual, to be an individual. It includes one’s own body and one’s own mind. It is the effort to attain the highest level of survival for the longest possible time for self. This dynamic includes the individual plus his immediate possessions. It does not include other people. It is the urge to survive as one’s self. Here we have individuality expressed fully.

The Second Dynamic is CREATIVITY.
Creativity is making things for the future and the Second Dynamic includes any creativity. The Second Dynamic contains the family unit and raising children as well as anything that can be categorized as a family activity. It also, incidentally, includes sex as a mechanism to compel future survival.

The Third Dynamic is GROUP SURVIVAL.
This is the urge to survive through a group of individuals or as a group. It is group survival with the group tending to take on a life and existence of its own. A group can be a community, friends, a company, a social lodge, a state, a nation, a race or any group. It doesn’t matter what size this group is, it is seeking to survive as a group.

The Fourth Dynamic is SPECIES.
Man’s Fourth Dynamic is the species of Mankind. This is the urge toward survival through all Mankind and as all Mankind. Whereas the American nationality would be considered a Third Dynamic for Americans, all the nationalities of the world together would be considered the Fourth Dynamic. All men and women, because they are men and women, seek to survive as men and women and for men and women.

The Fifth Dynamic is LIFE FORMS.
This is the urge to survive as life forms and with the help of life forms such as animals, birds, insects, fish and vegetation. This includes all living things whether animal or vegetable, anything directly and intimately motivated by life. It is the effort to survive for any and every form of life. It is the interest in life as such.

The Sixth Dynamic is the PHYSICAL UNIVERSE.
The physical universe has four components. These are matter, energy, space and time. The Sixth Dynamic is the urge of the physical universe to survive, by the physical universe itself and with the help of the physical universe and each one of its component parts.

The Seventh Dynamic is the SPIRITUAL DYNAMIC.
This is the urge to survive as spiritual beings or the urge for life itself to survive. Anything spiritual, with or without identity, would come under the heading of the Seventh Dynamic. It includes one’s beingness, the ability to create, the ability to cause survival or to survive, the ability to destroy or pretend to be destroyed. A subheading of this dynamic is ideas and concepts and the desire to survive through these. The Seventh Dynamic is life source. This is separate from the physical universe and is the source of life itself. Thus, there is an effort for the survival of life source.

The Eighth Dynamic is the urge toward existence as INFINITY.
The Eighth Dynamic also is commonly called God, the Supreme Being or Creator, but it is correctly defined as infinity. It actually embraces the allness of all. That is why, according to L. Ron Hubbard, “when the Seventh Dynamic is reached in its entirety, one will only then discover the true Eighth Dynamic.”

-They have Sunday Services, Ceremonies, and prayer.
-Services consist of a Chaplin leading them in reciting the creed, Sermon (Often using lectures from L. Ron Hubbard with the goal of enlightenment), Group Auditing, Announcements and the Freedom Prayer.

-They provide marriage counseling, instructions on working with children, dealing with life’s difficulties.

-They sponsor a number of drug rehab programs, human rights groups, and service projects.

THE CREED OF THE CHURCH OF SCIENTOLOGY
We of the Church believe
That all men of whatever race, color or creed were created with equal
rights.
That all men have inalienable rights to their own religious practices and
their performance.
That all men have inalienable rights to their own lives.
That all men have inalienable rights to their sanity.
That all men have inalienable rights to their own defense.
That all men have inalienable rights to conceive, choose, assist or support their own organizations, churches and governments.
That all men have inalienable rights to think freely, to talk freely, to write freely their own opinions and to counter or utter or write upon the opinions of others.
That all men have inalienable rights to the creation of their own kind.
That the souls of men have the rights of men.
That the study of the Mind and the healing of mentally caused ills should not be alienated from religion or condoned in nonreligious fields.
And that no agency less than God has the power to suspend or set aside these rights, overtly or covertly.

And we of the Church believe
That Man is basically good.
That he is seeking to survive.
That his survival depends upon himself and upon his fellows and his attainment of brotherhood with the Universe.

And we of the Church believe that the laws of God forbid Man
To destroy his own kind.
To destroy the sanity of another.
To destroy or enslave another’s soul.
To destroy or reduce the survival of one’s companions or one’s group.

And we of the Church believe
That the spirit can be saved.
And that the spirit alone may save or heal the body

Talking with a Scientologist:
Remember our role is to be an ambassador for Christ. Even though you may look at the theology of Scientology as unusual, remember these people are sincere in their beliefs. Our hope is to dialogue with them and share the claims of Christ.

Build a bridge:
Christianity and Scientology both desire to serve & help others and to help others become whole. I have a few questions about Scientology?

Where did L. Ron Hubbard get his information?

How long have you been involved in Scientology?
-Usually if they have been involved for 6 months or more they have had several E-meter readings and may have been talking about their past lives.

-Ask, have you ever wondered if what they were telling you was true? (They may be reluctant to admit this. However, some may have doubts and may open up some questions.)

Describe a Thetan. How did you come to the conclusion that these souls existed as spirits for millions of years? What evidence do you have?

There seems to be a big contrast between Scientology and Christianity.

Scientology                                                   Christianity

Reincarnation                                                 Born once (Hebrews 9:27,28)

Many gods                                                      One God (Duet. 6:4, Eph. 4 :6)

Mankind is good                                              Mankind is sinful and in a need of a Savior

(Romans 3:23, 6:23)

Christ didn’t die on Cross                               Christ died on the Cross and rose again

(1 Cor. 15:20, John 20:19-29)

Salvation comes through auditing                   Salvation comes through faith in Christ’s

death & resurrection (Romans 5:8; 10:9, 10,

Eph. 4 :8,9)
How did you choose Scientology over Christianity?

Other concerns:

-E-meters have never been allowed to be tested in a blind study. Does that concern you?

-In Scientology once you become clear you continue the auditing process. As you do, you can move up to different levels of Operating Thetans. At these levels you receive “secret knowledge” . You can’t move up unless you pay for these teachings. Does it concern you that you have to pay a lot of money to move up through these levels? Why secret information?

-Where did L. Ron Hubbard discover the story of Xenu? What evidence do we have that it is true?

It is important throughout the discussion to ask -what do you mean by that? How did you come to that conclusion? Have you considered …

Compiled by Dave Friese

Does God Change His Mind?

NO, HE DOES NOT!  Read below and study some marvelous scriptures dealing with this fact of God’s character.

If God is immutable (Malachi 3:6), if He does not change at all, does that mean He never changes His mind either?  YES, IT MEANS JUST THAT.  HE DOESN’T CHANGE HIS MIND WHATSOVER!  THIS WOULD IMPLY THAT GOD MAKES MISTAKES.

Some theologians and teachers bring up the following example in Exodus 32:11-14 as a proof text that God changes His mind, when Moses entreated the Lord for Israel’s sake.

“Then Moses entreated the LORD his God, and said, O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people.  Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” So the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.  (Exod. 32:11-14, NASB)

Even though at first glance, this might appear that God in fact changes His mind from time to time, particularly upon our beseeching Him in prayer, the person questioning God’s immutability needs to examine other correlating scripture as well to discover the true nature of God (Numbers 23:19, James 1:17, 1 Samuel 15:29).  I’m very thankful that God doesn’t make mistakes and doesn’t need to repent . GOD DOES NOT CHANGE HIS MIND!

In John 3:17 (the second verse after the John 3:16 verse that Tim Tebow loves to share so much with the world) is a wonderful promise to us, “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”  If we had just focused on another part of the Bible in the Old Testament, where God was sorry that He made man (Genesis 6:6), yet in God’s provision for us, as with Noah (read Genesis, Chapters 6, 7, and 8), we would see although God grieves over our sin, He truly loves us and desires that He become the object of our desire and affection.  In John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

So, in asking questions (some border on being blasphemous) like “Can God Change His Mind?”, “Did God create evil?” or “Can God sin?” and before possibly wandering into errant doctrine and teaching, please study other correlating scriptures and spend time in the Word to understand the character of God.  Try not to arrive at a possibly heretical position by coming to a conclusion too quickly. In 2 Timothy 2:15, “15Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”  Also, remember 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”