CHALLENGING SCIENTOLOGY

WITH THE GOSPEL OF JESUS CHRIST

Scientology is a 20th Century religion that saw a gap in our society and tried to fill it. The Church was founded by L. Ron Hubbard (1911-1986) in 1954 after a successful career as a science fiction writer of the 1930s and 1940s. Hubbard changed his focus and his audience in founding the Church of Scientology. No longer was his main interest science fiction, but the paradigm shifted to philosophical and religious content that established one of the fastest growing religions among young and affluent people in our society during the last century. Second-generation Scientologists are on the rise, as children born to the early members have now matured to adulthood. Many of these people have not heard of the genuine gospel of Jesus Christ, which then, creates a new mission field in America and worldwide. Those in Scientology need to hear the saving gospel message of Jesus.

Mr. Hubbard’s primary book in Scientology is entitled, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health (New York: Hermitage House, 1950). Today, sales of Dianetics has topped 16 million copies world over.

In general terms, Scientology’s belief system is not easily reduced to a few paragraphs. This is due mainly to the prolific hand of Mr. Hubbard, who wrote over 25 million words under the name of the church. Much of this is restricted to advanced levels of teaching and is rarely seen in public. The church claims about six million members, although this has not gone undisputed by former members, who place the membership figures much lower.

One of the first principles taught to the Scientologist is that you are not your body. According to them, you are a Thetan. A Thetan is a spirit-being (similar to the soul) that has supposedly existed for some 300 trillion years. The Thetan is subject to reincarnation on this planet and other planets in the universe.

The problem for the Scientologist is that each past life had aberrations and painful experiences, called Engrams, which attached themselves to the Thetan, like barnacles to a ship. The presence of Engrams is what makes the individual react so overtly in society. Scientology’s solution is to remove the Engrams from the Thetan.

The only provision for removing Engrams in Scientology is through “Auditing” and technical courses. These can become very costly, sometimes into the tens of thousands of dollars. Once the Engrams are totally removed, then the Thetan is pronounced “Clear,” which produces two main benefits among others. The first is that the Clear Scientologist is an actualized Operating Thetan (OT), with control over Matter, Energy, Space, and Time (MEST). Clear Scientologists can access total recall of their memory and takes charge of their MEST world. The second major benefit of being Clear is freedom from the endless cycle of birth and death (reincarnation).

This summary, as complicated as it may sound, is the simple version, but not oversimplified. Scientology has volumes of literature to expand upon this, including information on “implant stations” on other planets, like Mars, where the Thetan must go after the death. Once there, the Thetan must wait to be “zapped” down to another body. Thetans supposedly recall everything from former lives on other planets as well as former lives on earth. Among some of the earthy lives, Hubbard taught that mankind was once a clam, bird, sloth, pilthdown man, and finally the arriving at the human race, but not to stop there, the next evolution of man is to become godlike, Homo Novis.

Scientology addresses many of the issues and problems of life on earth. Present troubles are due to past Engrams. The traces of recall from Engrams produces a number of sociological and psychological problems. Mr. Hubbard taught that people smoke cigarettes is because they recalled seeing volcanoes belching smoke in past lives. Similarly, he reasoned that some people are vegetarians is because they got tired of being eaten by other animals, still others have psoriasis from recall of digestive fluids after being eaten in former lives. The riddance of Engrams in the “pre-clear” (the person not yet clear), sometimes produces physical releases, such as a sneeze, cough, sweat, vomit, urination, gas, or a bowel movement. Removal of Engrams may take years.

In relationship to Christianity, what do the writings of Scientology say about the Bible, God, Jesus, and salvation? Most Scientologists will say that Scientology does not define God. We look at this issue differently, though. If the writings of any group denies what the Bible says about God, then they have, in fact, defined God to certain degrees. Our question for this analysis is whether L. Ron Hubbard spoke of God and in what sense does this agree or disagree with the Bible.

In one place Hubbard appears to monotheism, but in other places he appears to embrace polytheism, then again, he makes reference to the Christian God has being rooted in Hinduism. He once wrote, “There are gods above all other gods . . . there is not argument here against the existence of a Supreme Being or any devaluation intended. It is that amongst the gods, there are many false gods elected to power and position.”^[1] The Bible, though, clearly teaches monotheism, that there is only one True God (Deut. 6:4; Isa. 43:10, 44:8). Furthermore, God abhors the teaching of polytheism, or that many gods exist (Josh. 24: 23; Judges 10:13; 1 Cor. 8:5-6).

In what seems to be Hubbard’s critique of Christianity, he wrote, “The Christian god is actually much better characterized in the Vedic Hymns [Hinduism] than in any subsequent publication, including the Old Testament.”^[2] In Christianity, God is personal, to whom we pray, but Hubbard portrays this differently, “The curse of the past has been a pretense of knowledge. We have had a worship of the fable. We have had prayers sent up to a myth.”^[3]

Christianity did not borrow its theology about God from Hinduism, but rather, the Old Testament abounds with references to what the New Testament reveals as the Trinitarian nature of God. In the Old Testament we find God the Father (Isa. 63:16), God the Redeemer (Isa. 41:14; 43:17; 47:4), and God the Spirit (Gen. 1:2; 2 Sam. 23:2-3), all through the Old Testament, which is in perfect harmony to the New Testament understanding of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as one God (Matt. 28:19; 2 Cor. 13:14). For a good study on the Trinity, see Why Christians Believe in the Trinity (Jude 3 Mission, P. O. Box 1901, Orange, CA 92856).

Mr. Hubbard made unfounded statements about Jesus Christ. Basing his claims upon unnamed sources, Mr. Hubbard states, “It is believed by many authorities that Jesus was a member of the cult of the Essenes, who believed in reincarnation . . ..”^[4] In contrast to Hubbard, we find that Jesus lived in Nazareth all during his life, visiting Jerusalem every year (Lk. 2:39-42). As for the notion that Jesus believed in reincarnation, we find the opposite in His teachings. Rather than supporting the preexistence of all souls, Jesus separated Himself as the only one who preexisted, and it was not in a reincarnated state: “You are from beneath, I am from above. You are of this world, I am not of this world.” (John 8:23) Man did not come from an implant station on another planet, he is from this world—the earth alone. The human race began on earth with the creation of Adam.

Jesus is placed at a lower level of spiritual achievement than what Mr. Hubbard himself was or to other Scientologists can obtain. Hubbard wrote, “Neither Lord Buddah nor Jesus Christ were OT [Operating Thetan] according to the evidence. They were just a shade above clear.”^[5] To Hubbard, Christ and the cross are a legend and implant in preclears, “You will find the cross as a symbol all over the universe, and the Christ legend as an implant in pre-clears a million years ago.^[6] The Bible condemns Hubbard’s teaching by stating, “Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ. He is the anti-Christ who denies the Father and the Son.” (1 John 2:22). Jesus and His crucifixion on the cross are well attested as historical events, not only within the New Testament record, but in external sources beyond comparison. Hubbard has nothing historical upon which to base his assertions.

Man, according to Scientology, is “Basically Good.” Mr. Hubbard rejects the concept that man is evil, “It is despicable and utterly beneath contempt to tell a man he must repent, that he is evil.^[7] Contrasting this to the Bible, we find that Jesus not only called men evil (Matt. 7:11), but when he began his earthly preaching, “Jesus began to preach and to say, Repent” (Matt. 4:17).

In reference to the aforementioned Scientology belief that “you are not your body,” this does not tell the complete story, biblically. James 2:26 tells us that the body without the spirit is dead. The composition of man, from the creation of Adam in Genesis, requires a body as well as a spirit for him to be a living soul, Genesis 2:7. One purpose for future resurrected body of the Christian is to reunite the body and spirit to make a complete human being, though in resurrected form. Aside from that, man is not complete.

Salvation, according to Scientology, is to be released from reincarnation, “...personal salvation in one lifetime [is] freedom from the cycle of birth and death [reincarnation]...”^[8] Salvation, according to the Bible, is to apply faith in the person and work of Jesus Christ (Rom. 10:9-10; Acts 4:10-12). The sacrifice of Jesus Christ cleanses us from our sins if we believe upon Him (1 Jn. 1:7; Rev. 1:5).

Reincarnation is a doctrine rejected by Jesus and the inspired words of Scripture. Jesus taught that He alone is from above (Jn. 8:23) and that we are from this world. He taught that we all die only once (Lk. 20:36) and that there is no return to earth after death (Lk. 16:27-29). The book of Hebrews (9:27) says, “It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment.” If reincarnation was true, then why did Jesus resurrect [instead of reincarnate] on the third day (Jn. 2:19-21)? The entire biblical message stands against the doctrine of reincarnation.

Every Scientologist needs to hear the message of the saving grace of the Lord Jesus Christ. They can leave behind their works of trying to get out of a hypothetical past life and turn to the cross of Christ instead. Scripture triumphantly tells us, “For by grace ye have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Eph. 2:8-9)

Jude 3 Missions

P. O. Box 1901, Orange, CA 92856

^[1] L. Ron Hubbard, Professional Auditor’s Bulletin #130 (All of L. Ron Hubbard’s writings and copyrights are owned by the Church of Scientology, Los Angeles, California).

^[3] L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology: A New Slant On Life, page 52.

^[4] L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology: A World Religion Emerges in the Space Age, page 15.

^[5] L. Ron Hubbard, Certainty Magazine, Vol. 5, No. 10.

^[6] L. Ron Hubbard, Professional Auditors Bulletin, #130.

^[7] L. Ron Hubbard, Professional Auditor’s Bulletin, #130.

^[8] L. Ron Hubbard, Scientology: A World Religion Emerges in the Space Age, page 16.