Scientology (#2)
We began looking at Scientology last week in light of the fact that they have been distributing brochures in the Orlando area. Be sure to read the comments about their “Oxford” personality test. This article resumes where last week’s left off—with their promises to raise your IQ, etc. Again, if something seems too good to be true, it is probably neither good nor true. We continue to examine the claims made in L. Ron Hubbard’s book, Dianetics.
Another person who sought to mess with the mind was Mary Baker Eddy, who made claims similar to those of Scientology a few decades before L. Ron Hubbard came along. Her book was even more difficult to read and digest than Hubbard’s. But concerning Dianetics, we are not going to try to thoroughly define Hubbard’s “cycle of action.” One begins to get confused very easily from this point in the book. Among other things, he says:
“Actuality tells us that there is no such thing as destruction” (20).
“Reality is the way things appear” (21).
“The wrong way [to stop a creation, gws] is to start a new creation to counter the old creation.” For example, if a man has a bad leg, “Something is creating a bad leg.” With treatment from doctors, he is trying to create a good leg. “The result is confusion and a bad leg.” The problem, it seems, is trying to create a good leg while something is creating a bad leg. Hubbard advises: “Have him create (by a certain Scientology process) bad legs until the counter-creation of bad legs is wiped out and the original creation of a good leg will appear” (22). What??? This chapter on basic principles closes with the observation: “Lying is the lowest order of creativity” (23). One wonders where self-deceit fits in.
From here it gets complicated because Hubbard has his own vocabulary, such as:
Preclear—one who through Scientology is finding out more about himself and life.
Valences—false identities that a person assumes unwittingly (28, 32).
Thetan—what is odd is that, although this word is used a multitude of times throughout the book, beginning with page 87, Hubbard defines it briefly in the text but not at all in the 18-page glossary at the end of the book. According to the Internet, it is similar to the soul. It is “the authentic spiritual identity of an individual.”
Now that we have our vocabulary enhanced, we are ready for thrilling adventure to follow; buckle up for a wild and bumpy ride.
The 8 Dynamics
These are urges, impulses, and motivations.
1. The urge toward existence as one’s self.
2. The urge toward existence as a sexual activity.
3. The urge toward existence in groups of individuals.
4. The urge toward existence as mankind.
5. The urge toward existence of the animal kingdom
6. The urge toward existence as the physical universe.
7. The urge toward existence as or of spirits.
8. The urge toward existence as infinity (40-41).
The ARC Triangle
The reader may not have absorbed the last section yet, but it is time to move on to the ARC triangle, which is defined below.
A – Affinity. It refers to love or any other emotional attitude. From high to low they are tranquility, enthusiasm, conservatism, boredom, antagonism, anger, hostility, fear, grief, apathy (45).
R – Reality (46). Reality is that which appears to be. What we agree to be real is real. Here is a clear departure from the Scriptures. Two atheists can agree all day that neither God, the judgment, or hell exist, and it will not change one thing. They can both agree that they can fly, also, but when it comes to jumping off the roof, each would have the other go first. Many people today are living as if perception is reality, and it is dangerous. How did the majority of people perceive Jesus on the day He was put to death? He was crucified like a common criminal. To the chief priests He was always perceived incorrectly as an impostor or a false prophet.
James Cameron, director of The Terminator and The Titanic, had a TV Special on The Discovery Channel. Cameron contends that an excavated Jerusalem tomb may have contained the remains of Jesus of Nazareth, Mary Magdalene, a son named Judah, and other family members. This perception is false. Believing it to be true is fatal (John 8:24). Appearance is not reality. If it were, a woman would have been sawed in half and put back together, and the Statue of Liberty would have actually disappeared, as magicians would have us think.
C – Communication; it is the most important of the three (46).
If the reader wanted to learn new vocabulary words, he came to the right place, and if he were searching for a new value system, bingo! He found it. One must wonder where is the evidence for any of the things claimed above. But hold on; we’re about to learn even more about the beliefs of Scientology.
The Reason for Man’s Existence
…the reason for existence is the same reason as one has to play a game—interest, contest, activity and possession (51). Freedom, barriers, purposes, and power of choice are the guiding elements of life (60). The Bible presents us an entirely different view; it teaches that man was created to honor God (Isa. 43:7; Rev. 4:8-11; 5:11-12).
The Parts of Man
Hubbard says that the parts of man are the spirit, mind, and body (63)—only he calls the spirit the thetan. He describes it as having no mass, no wavelength, no energy, and no time or location in the universe except by consideration or postulate. The usual residence of the thetan is in the skull or near the body (64). The thetan is you, the person (74). The Bible teaches that the human being consists of the spirit, soul, and body (1 Thess. 5:23). From this point on it gets really weird.
Axioms
There are 200 axioms in connection with dianetics (the same number as in the Personality Test). Many of them leave the reader wondering what the meaning is, such as number ten: “The highest purpose in the universe is the creation of an effect” (83-84). To be sure, when God spoke, there was an effect—a powerful effect, but God did not just create the universe for an effect—but for a spiritual purpose.
The Purposes of Scientology
The goal of Scientology is making the individual capable of living a better life in his own estimation and with his fellows, and the playing of a better game (103).
A civilization without insanity, without criminals and without war, where the able can prosper, and honest beings can have rights, and where man is free to rise to greater heights are the aims of Scientology (103).
Sounds like John Lennon’s “Imagine,” doesn’t it? It is a combination of idealism, New Age-ism, and “self-help” philosophies. The fact is that Jesus came to give mankind a better—a more abundant life (John 10:10). He does more than promise, however; He delivers. He died for our sins and rose again. He can remove guilt and the stain of sin, provide a clear conscience, and give purpose and meaning to life.
One other major difference between Christianity and Scientology is that in Christianity Jesus only saves when we agree to give up sin; then He, having made us holy, expects us to live a holy life. There is nothing in Scientology that speaks of living a holy life or even being moral. Anyone can come along and promise a better way of life; that doesn’t take any skill. We all have a vision of Utopia. Only God can give us a better life.
Reincarnation
The remainder of the book is mostly uninteresting. We do, however, want to deal with an obvious anti-Christian doctrine, and that is reincarnation.
…the thetan is separable from the body without the phenomenon of death, and can handle and control a body from well outside it (75).
…the thetan does not care to remember the life he just lived, after he has parted from the body and the mind (75).
The thetan usually returns to a planet and procures, usually, another body of the same type of race as before (75).
a thetan is immortal and…he himself cannot actually experience death and counterfeits it by forgetting (75).
Now Scientology claims not to infringe upon anyone’s Christian beliefs; so here is Hubbard’s rationale on reincarnation.
There is no argument whatever with the tenets of faith since it is not precisely stated, uniformly, by religions that one goes immediately to heaven or hell (76).
The Bible on Reincarnation
1. Solomon observed in Ecclesiastes 9:6: “Also their love, their hatred, and their envy have now perished; nevermore will they have a share in anything done under the sun.” Nevermore seems long enough to exclude the possibility of any future lives.
2. Luke 16:19-31 contains an actual account of what happens at death. Jesus explains what happens to two men when they die. Both go to Hades—one in torments and one in the Paradise portion. Neither man is permitted to leave the realm in which he abides—not even for a good or noble purpose. Notice what Abraham says to the rich man: “Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented” (v. 25). Abraham did not say, “Don’t worry. In future lifetimes you will fare much better.” One life is all that we have prior to eternity. The Bible consistently teaches this truth.
3. Hebrews 9:27. After this lifetime is the judgment. At death, God separates the righteous from the wicked; later the degree of reward or punishment will be given to each person on the Day of Judgment. The Bible never allows for the notion of reincarnation and constantly affirms one life with a judgment to follow. Any doctrine of a second chance (purgatory, premillennialism, reincarnation) contradicts the Word of God (to be concluded).