Scientology
Intro
The most popular cult today, which has been brought to the fore front by Hollywood celebrities is the “Church of Scientology.” Scientology claims to deal with the human spirit and its relationship to the universe and its Creator. It teaches that the fundamental laws of life, when applied, help people achieve a happier and more fulfilling existence, just as surely as an apple falls to the ground when dropped.
It contains numerous workable methods and techniques to tackle the most serious social problems of our age. Scientology is something one does: it is not a system of beliefs one is asked to hold.
The main point of Scientology is the human spirit, its salvation and rehabilitation. It teaches that an individual is a spirit, not a body, a brain, or a gathering of genes and chemicals. It is the recognition of the nature of an individual that forms the foundation of scientology. They believe that everyone has within them a great potential of potential to create one’s own life.
They directly address an individual’s spiritual nature with answers to the age-old questions – Who am I? What do I consist of? Where do I come from? Where am I going? They believe that spiritual enlightenment leads to a personal understanding of oneself, others and one’s relationship to the Universe. All of which we can find the answers to right in the beginning of Genesis. We are God’s creation, made in his image, to perform good works for His service.
I. Current Status:
a. There are now over 7,300 scientology groups, missions, and churches in 163 countries around the world.
b. There are 87,000 volunteer ministers
II. History
a. Scientology was developed by the author L. Ron Hubbard.
i. It was his life long passion to assist man to achieve a higher plane of civilization and existence.
ii. He was a well traveled man, starting from his youth years.
1. It was during his travels in Asia, that he viewed the misery of the people and wanted to know why and what is man anyway?
2. From that point on, he gave himself to study the nature of man and made it his life’s work.
b. In 1938, Hubbard gave his first unpublished manuscript “Excalibur”, which he claimed to have discovered the common denominator of our existence.
i. He claimed that it as a matter of survival and life was composed of two things:
1. the Material universe
2. X-Factors (Which he never really exponent upon)
c. His first major work was in 1950 a book called, “Dianetics: the Modern Science of Mental Health.”
i. This was a methodology designed to help alleviate such things as unwanted sensations and emotions, irrational fears, and psychosomatic illnesses.
ii. In 1951, after seeing the popularity of his book, Hubbard concluded that an individual was neither his body nor his mind, but rather an immortal spiritual being.
1. And this became the true beginning of scientology, as Hubbard moved from being a author, to now claiming to be a religion in the realm of the human soul.
d. Scientology is very wide in scope
i. There are scores of books and over 15,000 pages of technical writing and more than 3,000 taped lectures
ii. These books and lectures are considered to be scripture to a member of the church of scientology.
III. Beliefs
a. The word “scientology” means “the study of knowledge or truth.”
i. Scientologist hold that man is basically good, not evil.
ii. It teaches that it is their experiences that cause people to commit evil deeds.
1. Its not their basic nature to do so
2. To them, people can mistakenly solve their problems by thinking only of their own personal interests and overlook or ignore how their acts affect others.
b. They believe that they are not to try to help people solve their problems, but rather increase their ability and intelligence, so they can help improve themselves.
i. It’s not until after a person has taken care of self that they start to reach out to others.
c. According to scientology, the individual is not a body but a spirit.
i. Since there have been so many different concepts of the term soul throughout the ages, Hubbard came up with his own.
ii. He chose the term “thetan” from the Greek word “theta”, which is a symbol for thought and life.
iii. They believe that the thetan is the person himself, not his body, his name, or anything else.
iv. The identity is the individual.
d. Hubbard teaches that spirit or thetan, has the ability to leave the body and exist independent of the flesh, which they call exteriorization.
i. In this state they believe that they individual can see without they body’s eyes, her without the body’s ears, and feel without’ the body’s hands.
ii. With this act of exteriorization, attainable in Scientology, the individual gains the certainity that he is himself, an immortal spiritual being, and not a body.
e. The scientologist use concepts to better understand life.
i. One of the concepts is the Eight Dynamics of Existence
1. A dynamic is an urge, drive, or impulse toward survival.
2. With an understanding of these dynamics a person gains insight and can bring all aspects of his life into alignment.
3. The First dynamic is the urge to survive as oneself
4. The Second is the urge to survive through family and sex and the rearing of children
5. The Third dynamic is the urge to survive in groups small and large – a company, a group of friends, a city, or a nation.
6. The Fourth is the urge to survive as mankind
7. The Fifth, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth are the urges to survive through other life forms such as animals and plants, the physical universe, the spiritual universe and infinity/
ii. Scientology teaches that by simply delineating these dynamics, it clarifies and brings order into existence.
1. Once can observe these dynamics in one’s own life, not which need improvement and through the use of Scientology principles bring these factors into greater harmony.
IV. Practices
a. The main practice of Scientology is spiritual counseling called “auditing.”
i. It is seen as a form of personal counseling intended to help an individual look at his own existence and improve his ability.
ii. By viewing ones own existence, they can walk an exact route to a higher state of awareness.
iii. Auditing is a precious, thoroughly codified activity with exact procedures.
1. A Scientology counselor is known as a “auditor”
2. They use specially designed meters (E-Meter or Electro-psycho meter) which helps locate areas of spiritual distress by measuring the mental state of change of state f the person being audited.
3. They use a set form of questions to ask the person being audited, which tells them a the end of the test, what exactly they need to work on to improve their condition.
b. The really only other practice in Scientology is education in the scientology principles.
i. They commonly refer to this as training.
ii. Auditing teaches them to see how something happened, while training teaches one why.
c. People in Scientology believe by using both auditing and training, they can raise themselves to a higher spiritual existence.
d. The end goal is to free themselves from the dependence on the material universe.
V. So What’s the difference to Christianity
a. God
i. Scientology, believes that there is a supreme being, but his extact nature is determined by each person.
ii. Christians, we believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit the creator and Lord of everything (Gen. 1; Deut. 6:4; Matt. 28:19)
b. Jesus Christ
i. Scientology, teaches that Jesus was a good teacher that learned to be clear of his conscious.
ii. Christ is the second person of the trinity, the Savior of the world
c. Humanity
i. Scientology, believe that each person is immortal, divine soul, and basically good in three parts, soul, mind, and body.
ii. Christians believe tht humanity is the creation of God and created in God’s own image, with each person being unique, and precious to God. (Gen. 1:26-28)
d. Basic Problem of Humanity
i. Scientology teaches the problem of humanity is engrams (learned behavior or conflicts from one’s past) which prevent individuals from realizing their own divinity.
ii. Christians, Sin, by their own free will. (gen. 3; Romans 3:23)
e. Solution to problem
i. Scientologist believe through auditing and training, one can become “clear” of their engrams and attain full human potential and become fully aware of personal divinity
ii. Christians believe that salvation through the confession of Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior is the only way to be forgiven for our sin. (Eph. 2:8-9)
f. Life after Death
i. Scientologist, believe in a cycle of reincarnation of the soul (thetan) until it attains the state of spiritual awareness and liberation from matter, energy, space, and time.
ii. Christians: eternal communion with God or eternal separation from God (Heb. 9:27; Rev. 20-22)
