Scientology is a cryptic new American religious movement begun in the 1950s. Ron L. Hubbard (1911-1986), a science fiction writer, founded it. Although his parents were largely nonreligious, Hubbard was exposed to Eastern religions, New Age thought, and various spiritistic groups, such as Meister Crowley and the Process.
Scientology makes occasional reference to Jesus Christ in its writings and uses as its symbol a cross with starbursts at each end. But even though it refers to itself as a church and may at times use Christian terminology and symbolism, it is clearly nonbiblical in its view of God, Jesus, Scripture, salvation, and other important doctrines. In fact, it may be challenged whether Scientology is a religion at all. It is largely a pseudo-psychological therapy movement. Ron Hubbard originally sought admission for the movement in the American Psychological Association. After being rejected for membership by the APA, Hubbard framed Scientology as a religion.
Scripture
The Church of Scientology does not subscribe to the view that God inspired a holy book, such as the Bible, that serves as divine revelation. Instead it lists as revelation Dianetics (1950), authored by Hubbard, as well as The Factors and The Axioms and Logics. The former book attempts to instruct adherents in the practice of Scientology, while the latter works are simply statements of the principles and beliefs of the movement.
No elements of Scientology's texts bear the mark of divine inspiration. There are no fulfilled prophecies in them and neither are they a narrative of God's love and redemption as is the Bible.
God
Scientology's earlier writings mention God, but they place their stress mainly on an individual's abilities to gain godlike qualities and become "full cause" over the universe. Hubbard obviously rejected the Christian understanding of God, particularly the concept of the Trinity.
Scientology adheres to a view of deities similar to that of Buddhism, using "allness of all" terminology. Its founder therefore could comment that man is part god and can attain a godlike nature.
Jesus Christ
Scientology does not accept the biblical concepts of Jesus as God the Word incarnate. It also places no emphasis on the substitutionary death and resurrection of Jesus. Rather, it views Jesus as a proponent of reincarnation and other Eastern mystical concepts. Hubbard taught that Jesus was "a shade above clear," or that Jesus met the standards (slightly at best) of living above the negative influences of His previous lives. Scientology's upper-level materials tout the concept of Jesus as God as being a fiction that ought to be removed by "auditing."
Man
Scientology views man's spirit as being the product of evolutionary processes. It rejects biblical concepts of man as being the creation of God and being fallen due to sin, with the need for repentance, faith, and salvation. Instead, Scientology maintains that we are primarily spiritual beings, that is, "thetans," and creators of the universe. The goal of life is to "clear" oneself of one's reactive mind and become "total cause over life, thought, matter, energy, space and time."
Salvation
The goal of Scientology is to press for the evolutionary improvement of oneself as a spiritual being. The removal of engrams (negative previous life experience stored in the mind) through "auditing" by a Scientology auditor using an electronic meter makes life improvement possible. The movement rejects all concepts of a biblical understanding of salvation.
Extracted from the Apologetics Study Bible.
Scientology and Christianity
ReplyDeleteJesus answered, Watch out that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, claiming, "I am the Christ," and will deceive many.
Matthew 24:4-5
Hubbard's teachings about Christ are somewhat contradictory. In an earlier writing he states that Christ never existed but was only an idea electronically implanted in our minds during the "between lives" period (he called this implant "R6").
Somebody on this planet, about 600 B.C. found some pieces of "R6."
I don't know how they found it; either by watching madmen or something. But since that time they have used it. And it became what is known as Christianity.
The man on the cross. There was no Christ!
The Roman Catholic Church, through watching the dramatizations of people picked up some little fragments of R6. [LRH, Routine R6EW]
Then in a later writing he portrays Christ differently:
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 [he] 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.... You have only to look at the history his teachings inspired to see where it all inevitably leads. It is historic fact and yet man still clings to the ideal, so deep and insidious is the biologic implanting. [LRH, Student Briefing, OT VIII, Series 1]
Similarly, Hubbard's overall tone when writing about Christianity in general is usually derogatory:
The whole Christian movement is based on the victim.... They won by appealing to victims. We can win by converting victims. Christianity succeeded by making people into victims. We can succeed by making victims into people. [LRH, Technically Speaking]
And:
Very often you will find aberrative personalities addicted to religion, but the addiction will not be accompanied by any belief in the human spirit. Just how this paradox is accomplished -- a professed avowal of Christianity and a complete unwillingness to accept any effort to heal or help the human spirit -- is another one of the paradoxes which mark the aberrative personality. [LRH, from PABS, Book 1]
Hubbard, in fact, believed himself to be the reincarnation of Buddha, as expressed in his poem, The Hymn of Asia:
Everywhere you are
I can be addressed
But in your temples best
Address me and you address
Lord Buddha
And you then address
Meitreya.
Hubbard writes that Christianity is simply an extension of Buddhism:
And the parables of Gautama Buddha were re-expressed with some differences and additions to spread westward again as Christianity. [LRH, from PABS, Book 3]
And then Hubbard teaches that the goals set by Christ find their fulfillment in Scientology:
DeleteThis science [Scientology] is formed in the tradition of ten thousand years of religious philosophy and considers itself a culmination of the searches which began with the Veda, the T'ao, Buddhism, Christianity and other religions.... Scientology can demonstrate that it can attain the goals set for man by Christ, which are: Wisdom, Good Health, and Immortality. [LRH, from PABS, Book 1]
In a curious piece of writing, Hubbard states that he has been to "heaven" three times in his past lives. Heaven, according to Hubbard, is an implant; and in one course he draws the pattern of the implant in something called a Line Plot:
Well, I have been to heaven.
Yes, I've been to heaven. And so have you. And you have the pattern of its implants in the ... Line Plots. It was complete with gates, angels and plaster saints and electronic implantation equipment. So there was a Heaven after all -- which is why you are on this planet and were condemned never to be free again until Scientology.
For a long while, some people have been cross with me for my lack of cooperation in believing in a Christian Heaven, God and Christ. I have never said I didn't believe in a Big Thetan but there was certainly something very corny about Heaven et al. Now I have to apologize. There was a Heaven. Not too unlike, in cruel betrayal, the heaven of the Assassins in the 12th Century who, like everyone else, dramatized the whole track implants....
The symbol of the crucified Christ is very apt indeed. It's the symbol of the thetan betrayed. [LRH, Routine 3 Heaven]
According to Hubbard's son, Hubbard considered himself to be Crowley's successor. When Crowley died in 1947, Hubbard believed that he had taken on the "mantle of the Great Beast," and that he was in fact the anti-Christ.
He makes this claim in a late writing:
DeleteNo doubt you are familiar with the Revelations (sic) section of the Bible where various events are predicted. Also mentioned is a brief period of time in which an arch-enemy of Christ, referred to as the anti-Christ, will reign and his opinions will have sway ... this anti-Christ represents the forces of Lucifer (literally, the "light-bearer" or "light-bringer"), Lucifer being a mythical representation of the forces of enlightenment.... My mission could be said to fulfill the Biblical promise represented by this brief anti-Christ period. [LRH, Student Briefing, OT VIII, Series 1]
In this same essay, he also predicts that after his death, he will return as the anti-Christ of the Bible. He also states that the so-called "Second Coming" of Christianity will actually be an invasion of earth by a race called the Marcabians from outside the universe. But Hubbard, as the anti-Christ, will return to save us:
I will return not as a religious leader but a political one.... I will not be known to most of you, my activities misunderstood by many, yet along with your constant effort ... I will effectively postpone and then halt a series of events designed to make happy slaves of us all. [LRH, Student Briefing, OT VIII, Series 1]
When new people are inducted into Scientology they are often told that Scientology is non-denominational, and that there is no inherent conflict between Scientology and any religion, including Christianity. But it is common for Scientologists to be less than truthful to the public at the outset. By calming the new person's misgivings, they know that by the time the person has become fully indoctrinated into Scientology, these misgivings will no longer matter.
I hope that it is now clear that there is no compatibility between Scientology and Christianity; in fact, as a belief system based on satanic principles, Scientology is diametrically opposed to Christianity. The truth is that you cannot be both a Christian and a Scientologist.
The choice is up to you.
Although Scientology's religiosity presents a vast amount of questionable ground, saying its a "fact" that it based on satanic principles is a wild exaggeration full of the hype spewed by Hubbard's son who's credibility & motivation is just as questionable as his father.
ReplyDeleteYes there is a tiny little whiff of indirect correlation to itty bitty pieces of Crowley & Blavatsky style mentality, all of which were popular in pop culture to a far larger extent when Hubbard possibly mimicked it. But aside from those faint traces, there is no solid evidence of any sort Hubbard past involvement Jack Parson's way of life had any influence on what he wrote later as a new science and retooled into a religion when it suited his earnings.
Nonetheless, there's no need in this day and age to spin a load of "it's satanic" hype to made up for the lack of real evidence that Scientology's religious nature is indeed questionable for a mountain of other legit reasons. There has been a flood of their materials unleashed for all the world to evaluate and it can easily demonstrated that Scientology's belief system is a farce in innumerable ways. Similarly, there is ample evidence that Hubbard made it all up as he went, and systematically introduced totalitarian control mechanisms to preserve the profitability of pseudoscience quackery that can seemingly cause serious damage to it's adherents over time.
FWIW, there is currently an informal and independent study of sorts underway to catalog what Scientology *claims* it's religious doctrines teach vs. what Hubbard actually preached and promoted to his followers. Many of the discrepancies on just the basic Scientology principles are heinous as-is, as the author points out so well in the above blog post. But it apparently gets even more twisted the farther up "The Bridge" you go.
This blog post makes a great primer, but for those who want to further evaluate Hubbard's teachings for themselves and decide if a dangerous cult or harmless new age or NRM sect - you should check out our work in progress in the "Scientology Religiosity?" series and related works collection on scribd at the following url:
http://www.scribd.com/collections/3084764/Scientology-Religiosity