Scientology

1. Scientology The word "Scientology" means "the study of knowledge or truth." Is it possible to be a Christian and part of the Church of Scientology? We will begin tonight by looking at what scientology says about itself

2. Developed by L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology is a religion that offers a precise path leading to a complete and certain understanding of one’s true spiritual nature and one’s relationship toself, family, groups, Mankind, all life forms, the material universe, the spiritual universe and the Supreme Being. (From their website) Scientology addresses the spirit—not thebody or mind—and believes that Man is far more than a product of his environment, or his genes.

3. Scientology comprises a body of knowledge which extends from certain fundamental truths. Prime among these are: Man is an immortal spiritual being. His experience extends well beyond a single lifetime. His capabilities are unlimited, even if not presently realized. Scientology further holds Man to be basically good, and that his spiritual salvation depends upon himself,his fellows and his attainment of brotherhood with the universe.

4. Scientology is not a dogmatic religion in which one is asked to accept anything on faith alone. On the contrary, one discovers for oneself that theprinciplesofScientology aretrue by applying its principles and observing or experiencing the results. The ultimate goal of Scientology is true spiritual enlightenment and freedom for all. Scientology is something one does, not something one believes in.

5. Statistics with scientology The membership statistics are really complicated to pin down The 2008 ARIS (American Religious Identification Survey), which is conducted every 9 years is a massive survey, involving over 50,000 subjects. The ARIS study estimates the number of U.S. Scientologists at 25,000. That’s actually less than the number of Bahai reported (84,000) or the number of Sikhs (57,000) or the number of Pagans, Wiccans and Druids (307,000).

6. Others give conflicting numbers though for the number of people involved Some say they Church has 500,000 followers There are nearly 8,000 Churches of Scientology, Missions, and related organizations in 164 countries.

7. What does the scientology website claim? Total assets and property holdings of the Church of Scientology internationally have more than doubled since 2004. The combined size of Church premises increased from nearly 5.6 million square feet in 2004 to 12.1 million square feet in 2010. The Church has acquired more than 70 buildings since 2004 in major population centers around the world.

8. Scientology has been made popular through celebrities such as: John Travolta Tom Cruise

9. The history of scientology L. Ron Hubbard established the Church of Scientology (CoS) in 1954 The Church of Scientology considers his teachings, including the popular book Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health, as its essential texts.

10. Hubbard has a rough start to his adult life, and ended up getting into writing He found success writing pulp/science fiction, but as he declared in the late 1940s: "Writing for a penny a word is ridiculous. If a man really wants to make a million dollars, the best way would be to start his own religion." Hubbard took up ritual magic, the occult and hypnosis, giving demonstrations of hypnosis in 1948 and writing to his literary agent about a therapy system he was working on that had tremendous promotional and sales potential.

11. Piecing together hypnotic techniques, Freudian theories, Buddhist concepts and elements of other philosophies and practices, Hubbard came up with Dianetics. He published DIANETICS: THE MODERN SCIENCE OF MENTAL HEALTH in 1950.

12. Auditing Scientology proposes that in its "native state" the spirit/thetan is immortal and god-like and possesses the potentiality of knowing everything, but that in present time its true capabilities have been lost and forgotten. As an immortal entity, the spirit/thetan lives on after body death and is born into a new physical body, again and again, lifetime after lifetime, in an endless cycle of birth and death.

13. As a result of traumatic incidents extending back from the present life through a long series of "past lifetimes" hidden from conscious memory, the spirit/thetan has become trapped in the physical body and the physical/MEST universe. Scientology proposes that through a process called "auditing" that uses techniques developed by Hubbard (often assisted by a device called the E-Meter), an individual can be guided to find and "discharge" these hidden traumas, thus escaping the suffering and limitations imposed by the past.

14. Further, as one progresses through a series of auditing "levels," one can eventually be restored to native state and can attain the status of  "operating thetan," wherein one is free of attachments to the body and, even while "exterior" to (outside) the body, one can consciously control matter, energy, space, time, thought, and life.  “Scientology is concerned with assisting the individual in becoming “clear,” or free from the destructive influence of engrams. An operating thetan (OT) is one who not only is free from engrams but also operates as a fully conscious and functioning thetan according to the church’s most sacred teachings.” (E- Britannica)

15. People practice Scientology by moving up the "Grade Chart," officially known as the "Classification Gradation and Awareness Chart of Levels and Certificates." It outlines a series of steps one must take in sequence to reach the highest levels of awareness. The progression also is referred to as "the Bridge," short for "the Bridge to Total Freedom."

16. Reaching to the OT levels cost money The total costs for these preparations can be in the $20,000 range. But that’s really not that expensive once you learn how much it cost to move up the OT levels The current (conservative) total cost for the whole bridge to OT9 readiness is estimated at $365,000 - $380,000. From my understanding OT levels go up to level 15

17. Origins and mythology of Scientology The most shocking teachings within scientology is having to do with the history of the universe and life Scientologists have different terms they use for different times in our previous lives (like incident 1 and 2) Scientology is very evolutionistic in it’s history, but with many twists of it’s own

18. First thing to understand it “we” (spirits) were all here from the very beginning First we were all atoms, "complete with electronic rings." The impact of cosmic rays was very traumatic for us in that form. Then we were photon converters, unicellular plants which fell inactive at night (which explains why we need sleep in our human form). Then came the helper, which was our first experience of cellular division. It was called "helper" because sometimes one of the newly formed cells was weaker than the other, and the stronger one came in to help, usually losing its own life in the process.

19. This was also the source of many traumas. Then, for some time, we were seaweed, then we evolved into jellyfish (which, not being able to move by itself , was very traumatized by repeatedly hitting its head on the hard surface of underwater caves).  Then comes the part that so many critics like to laugh about: clams. Yes, Scientologists believe they evolved from clams. In fact, Hubbard said that, "your discussion of these incidents with the uninitiated in Scientology can cause havoc. Should you describe the "clam" [and all the incidents around it] to some one [sic], you may restimulate it in him to the extent of causing severe jaw pain.

20. Once such victim, after hearing about a clam death, could not use his jaws for three days." He also said that making an opening and closing motion with your thumb and forefinger in front of someone, while asking him to imagine a clam opening and closing its shell very rapidly, would upset this person greatly.  Smokers, note that your addiction to cigarettes comes from the time when you were a clam, during erupting volcano incidents. Go audit immediately the clam incidents on your time track; it works way better than the nicotine patch. 

21. Many other phases are included between… Then we were sloths, and as sloths we always fell off trees (giving us this feeling of insecurity that we have today), then apes, then... the Piltdown Man. Yes, it was a hoax, but not for Hubbard. The Piltdown Man had really big teeth - so big, in fact, were his teeth, and so careless was he, that he "was sometimes guilty of eating one's wife and other somewhat illogical activities." One year after the first edition of History of Man was published, Piltdown Man was revealed to be a fraud, but that entry in the book has never been deleted. 

22. Incident 1 is said to have taken place 4 quadrillion years ago, and consists of a cryptic series of events like "loud snap" and "waves of light."  If you have heard of scientology though, there is a name (and story) that comes to mind We do not suggest bringing this up immediately when witnessing to a scientologist, but want you to be aware of it It’s the story of Xenu

23. “I get deeply frustrated when I hear people say Scientologists must be either nuts or brainwashed because they believe in Xenu. The truth is they either haven’t learned about Xenu yet because they’re too new (or don’t have the financial resources to move up “the bridge to total freedom”) or they have learned about Xenu after many years of training, tens of thousands of dollars spent on courses, and a transformed social and family circle now consisting primarily of other believers who would be forced to disconnect from them should they disavow ‘LRH Tech.’” -Stella Forstne

24. Xenu was, according to the founder of Scientology and science fiction writer L. Ron Hubbard, the dictator of the "Galactic Confederacy" who, 75 million years ago (76 planets founded 95 million years ago) had to solve the problem of over population in his confederacy.

25. The way he solved that was by taking people from these different planet and moving them to earth (which was then called Teegeeack) Earth then acted as an extermination camp, and those people were put into volcanoes and killed with hydrogen bombs The Thetans of those people were then captured by Xenu and implanted with “Misleading data”

26. But that is not the end of the story. When Xenu was "through with his crime, Loyal Officers (to the people) captured him after six years of battle and put him in an electronic mountain trap where he still is." The Galactic Confederation has since been a desert.  Hubbard then tells us that if you attempt to solve the implant without proper help, it will kill you by pneumonia, or by free wheeling, which makes one sleepless, with traumatic visions always recurring, and can end in death.

27. No need to worry though because L. Ron. Hubbard on December 1967 figured out how to solve this problem He said he was "very knocked out but alive." He also tells us that he was "the only one ever to do so in 75,000,000 years."  After the people got blasted and their thetans were trapped, they were subjected to an incident called R6. There they were implanted by the means of a giant movie. Hubbard said that many things, including religion, comes from R6. 

28. Interesting quote from Ot7-48 (48th exercise) which is no longer used by the church (but believe at one point) “1. Find some plants, trees, etc., and communicate to them individually until you know they received your communication. .2. Go to a zoo or a place with many types of life and communicate with each of them until you know the communication is received and, if possible, returned."

29. In the Professional Auditor's Bulletin No. 123, called "THE REALITY SCALE", Hubbard says : "Let's say somebody's afraid of a stove. Have him say 'Hello' to the stove, and have the stove say 'Okay.' Have the stove say 'Hello' to him, and have him say 'Okay' to the stove. After a while he won't have any fear of touching the stove. Oddly enough he will receive less effect from the stove even if hot.

30. That is quite important. It tells you that the body does not naturally lend itself to injury, but injury takes place only in a highly aberrated condition. You should be able to take a body and throw it up against the wall hard enough to crush its skull in, have it drop to the floor, stand and walk away - providing you aren't holding in suspension the image picture of its hitting the wall and being injured." [eighth paragraph] These are the types of statements which make scientology seem like a scam

31. Scientology on Christianity OT 8 quotes: "For those of you whose Christian toes I may have stepped on, let me take the opportunity to disabuse you of some lovely myths. For instance, the historic Jesus was not nearly the sainted figure has been made out to be. In addition to being a lover of young boys and men, he was given to uncontrollable bursts of temper and hatred that belied the general message of love, understanding and other typical Marcab PR."

32. The dark side of scientology Since its origins in the early ‘50s, Scientology has had periodic reports leaked to the media by disgruntled Church followers, involving various kinds of criminal behavior, including abductions, false imprisonments, torture, brainwashing, beatings, larceny and occasional unexplained murders. Here are a few quick examples of this type of activity

33. “Annie Rosenblum’s declaration describes being drugged in a bar and waking up in a psychiatric ward with her front teeth knocked out, and receiving a threatening phone call a week later” (Colorado, 1978) Keith Henson says he was physically attacked by Scientology attorney Helena Kobrin during a deposition (California, 1998)

34. Martin Ottman describes seven (possibly eight) cases of physical assault he knew of during his time in Scientology, including one which he committed Shiona Fox-Ness’ s public letter of resignation from Scientology says that Scientology staff members are "routinely handled with ruthless force" Joyce Stephenson’s affidavit describes being thrown in a lake as punishment.

35. Roxanne Friend's sworn court declaration states she was forced to participate in auditing that she didn't want and was prevented from calling the police. Finally, she was kidnapped, drugged, and held against her will. Bob Geary and his wife Dorothy state that she required hospitalization after being held captive for more than two weeks in California after becoming involved with Sterling Management, a Scientology front group

36. Margery Wakefield’s affidavit states that she attended a meeting at which she heard two murders planned Scott Mayer's affidavit describes being "instructed to kill another human being by the Scientology organization." The witness of those coming out of scientology is strong, the organization regularly participates in many criminal activities

37. While many celebrities are involved with the group, many have also left the group Leah Rimini, Nicole Kidman, Jerry Seinfeld + more

38. Disagreements with the Bible Scientology say man is inherently good, while the Bible says the opposite Romans 3:10: “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; This is very common among opposing religions and cultic groups, the idea that mankind is good, which is in contrast with the Bible that says we are evil and in need of a savior

39. Scientology teaches that evolution is the means that life came about There are many scientific problems with this (we will avoid discussing for now) There are also many Biblical problems when we look at what the Bible says Read Genesis 1 to see all the problems, the Bible speaks about ex-nihilo creation

40. Memory Verse Romans 3:10: “as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;