Reason 21 / 5
The Creed of the Church of Scientology (1954) states that Man is basically good. Dianetics teaches that what goes wrong in us comes from engrams: recordings of painful moments in the reactive mind.
Reason 2: We are not basically good: we need a Saviour
Reason 22 / 5
21For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts, 22covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. 23All these evil things come from within and defile the man.”
Mark 7:21-23 (WEB) · context
Reason 2: We are not basically good: we need a Saviour
Reason 23 / 5
23for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God;
Romans 3:23 (WEB) · context
Reason 2: We are not basically good: we need a Saviour
Reason 24 / 5
26I will also give you a new heart, and I will put a new spirit within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.
Ezekiel 36:26 (WEB) · context
Reason 2: We are not basically good: we need a Saviour
Reason 25 / 5
8But God commends his own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Romans 5:8 (WEB) · context
Reason 2: We are not basically good: we need a Saviour
Reason 31 / 4
Scientology teaches that a person is a thetan: an immortal spiritual being, the true self, who in Hubbard's teaching (The Factors, 1953) took part in creating the physical universe of matter, energy, space and time.
Reason 3: You are not the source of the universe: God is
Reason 32 / 4
24Yahweh, your Redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb says: “I am Yahweh, who makes all things; who alone stretches out the heavens; who spreads out the earth by myself;
Isaiah 44:24 (WEB) · context
Reason 3: You are not the source of the universe: God is
Reason 33 / 4
16For by him all things were created in the heavens and on the earth, visible things and invisible things, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things have been created through him and for him. 17He is before all things, and in him all things are held together.
Colossians 1:16-17 (WEB) · context
Reason 3: You are not the source of the universe: God is
Reason 34 / 4
3Know that Yahweh, he is God. It is he who has made us, and we are his. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.
Psalms 100:3 (WEB) · context
Reason 3: You are not the source of the universe: God is
Reason 41 / 5
Hubbard taught that the thetan has lived many lives over a vast span of time, the "whole track", and that painful incidents from past lives still affect us now (Have You Lived Before This Life?, 1960).
Reason 4: One life, then the judgment: not endless past lives
Reason 42 / 5
27Inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once, and after this, judgment,
Hebrews 9:27 (WEB) · context
Reason 4: One life, then the judgment: not endless past lives
Reason 43 / 5
43Jesus said to him, “Assuredly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.”
Luke 23:43 (WEB) · context
Reason 4: One life, then the judgment: not endless past lives
Reason 44 / 5
2His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3Jesus answered, “This man didn’t sin, nor did his parents, but that the works of God might be revealed in him.
John 9:2-3 (WEB) · context
Reason 4: One life, then the judgment: not endless past lives
Reason 45 / 5
25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will still live, even if he dies. 26Whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”
John 11:25-26 (WEB) · context
Reason 4: One life, then the judgment: not endless past lives
Reason 51 / 4
Dianetics traces our trouble to engrams in the reactive mind. Scientology also speaks of overts, harmful acts, and withholds, which are confessed and handled in auditing sessions.
Reason 5: The problem is sin, and only God forgives sin
Reason 52 / 4
4Against you, and you only, I have sinned, and done that which is evil in your sight, so you may be proved right when you speak, and justified when you judge.
Psalms 51:4 (WEB) · context
Reason 5: The problem is sin, and only God forgives sin
Reason 53 / 4
5Jesus, seeing their faith, said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” 6But there were some of the scribes sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7“Why does this man speak blasphemies like that? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Mark 2:5-7 (WEB) · context
Reason 5: The problem is sin, and only God forgives sin
Reason 54 / 4
9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 (WEB) · context
Reason 5: The problem is sin, and only God forgives sin
Reason 61 / 5
Auditing and training on the Bridge to Total Freedom are given for fixed donations. In Hernandez v. Commissioner (1989) the US Supreme Court held these payments were not deductible gifts, because members received services in return.
Reason 6: Salvation is a free gift: it cannot be bought
Reason 62 / 5
20But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money!
Acts 8:20 (WEB) · context
Reason 6: Salvation is a free gift: it cannot be bought
Reason 63 / 5
18knowing that you were redeemed, not with corruptible things like silver or gold, from the useless way of life handed down from your fathers, 19but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish or spot, the blood of Christ,
1 Peter 1:18-19 (WEB) · context
Reason 6: Salvation is a free gift: it cannot be bought
Reason 64 / 5
8for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not of works, that no one would boast.
Ephesians 2:8-9 (WEB) · context
Reason 6: Salvation is a free gift: it cannot be bought
Reason 65 / 5
17The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” He who hears, let him say, “Come!” He who is thirsty, let him come. He who desires, let him take the water of life freely.
Revelation 22:17 (WEB) · context
Reason 6: Salvation is a free gift: it cannot be bought
Reason 71 / 4
The Creed of the Church of Scientology says the spirit can be saved and that the spirit alone may save or heal the body. Progress comes through the thetan's own rising ability on the Bridge.
Reason 7: The spirit cannot save itself: Jesus saves
Reason 72 / 4
5I am the vine. You are the branches. He who remains in me and I in him bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.
John 15:5 (WEB) · context
Reason 7: The spirit cannot save itself: Jesus saves
Reason 73 / 4
12There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven that is given among men, by which we must be saved!”
Acts 4:12 (WEB) · context
Reason 7: The spirit cannot save itself: Jesus saves
Reason 74 / 4
5not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but according to his mercy, he saved us through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
Titus 3:5 (WEB) · context
Reason 7: The spirit cannot save itself: Jesus saves
Reason 81 / 4
The Operating Thetan (OT) levels are given only to advanced members. Their content has been described in court filings and by journalists; the Church keeps it confidential and objects to outsiders publishing it.
Reason 8: God's truth is open, not locked in secret levels
Reason 82 / 4
20Jesus answered him, “I spoke openly to the world. I always taught in synagogues and in the temple, where the Jews always meet. I said nothing in secret.
John 18:20 (WEB) · context
Reason 8: God's truth is open, not locked in secret levels
Reason 83 / 4
19I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness. I didn’t say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I, Yahweh, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right.
Isaiah 45:19 (WEB) · context
Reason 8: God's truth is open, not locked in secret levels
Reason 84 / 4
2But we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.
2 Corinthians 4:2 (WEB) · context
Reason 8: God's truth is open, not locked in secret levels
Reason 91 / 5
In Scientology, spiritual freedom comes through auditing and training. It does not teach that Jesus is God the Son, that his death pays for sin, or that he rose bodily from the dead.
Reason 9: Jesus is not one teacher among many: he is Lord
Reason 92 / 5
58Jesus said to them, “Most certainly, I tell you, before Abraham came into existence, I AM.”
John 8:58 (WEB) · context
Reason 9: Jesus is not one teacher among many: he is Lord
Reason 93 / 5
3For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
1 Corinthians 15:3-4 (WEB) · context
Reason 9: Jesus is not one teacher among many: he is Lord
Reason 94 / 5
28Thomas answered him, “My Lord and my God!” 29Jesus said to him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and have believed.”
John 20:28-29 (WEB) · context
Reason 9: Jesus is not one teacher among many: he is Lord
Reason 95 / 5
6Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.
John 14:6 (WEB) · context
Reason 9: Jesus is not one teacher among many: he is Lord
Reason 101 / 5
Hubbard's 1950 book was titled Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health and promised relief from psychosomatic illness. No scientific study has confirmed the existence of engrams or the reactive mind.
Reason 10: Test every teacher: Hubbard's claims did not hold
Reason 102 / 5
After the US Food and Drug Administration seized E-meters in 1963, a 1971 federal court ruling allowed their use in religious counselling only with a disclaimer that they are not medically or scientifically useful for diagnosing, treating or preventing disease.
Reason 10: Test every teacher: Hubbard's claims did not hold
Reason 103 / 5
1Beloved, don’t believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
1 John 4:1 (WEB) · context
Reason 10: Test every teacher: Hubbard's claims did not hold
Reason 104 / 5
21You may say in your heart, “How shall we know the word which Yahweh has not spoken?” 22When a prophet speaks in Yahweh’s name, if the thing doesn’t follow, nor happen, that is the thing which Yahweh has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously. You shall not be afraid of him.
Deuteronomy 18:21-22 (WEB) · context
Reason 10: Test every teacher: Hubbard's claims did not hold
Reason 105 / 5
15“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravening wolves. 16By their fruits you will know them. Do you gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles? 17Even so, every good tree produces good fruit, but the corrupt tree produces evil fruit.
Matthew 7:15-17 (WEB) · context
Reason 10: Test every teacher: Hubbard's claims did not hold
What Scientology teaches1 / 3
In Scientology you do not have a spirit, you are one: a thetan, immortal, the true self behind mind and body.
The thetan: you are a spirit
What Scientology teaches2 / 3
7Yahweh God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
Genesis 2:7 (WEB) · context
The thetan: you are a spirit
What Scientology teaches3 / 3
13For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. 14I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well. 15My frame wasn’t hidden from you, when I was made in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth. 16Your eyes saw my body. In your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them.
Psalms 139:13-16 (WEB) · context
The thetan: you are a spirit
What Scientology teaches1 / 2
Hubbard taught that moments of pain and unconsciousness are recorded as engrams in a reactive mind that later drives fears, irrational behaviour and illness.
Engrams and the reactive mind
What Scientology teaches2 / 2
21For from within, out of the hearts of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, sexual sins, murders, thefts, 22covetings, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, and foolishness. 23All these evil things come from within and defile the man.”
Mark 7:21-23 (WEB) · context
Engrams and the reactive mind
What Scientology teaches1 / 2
An auditor guides a person (a preclear) through exact questions and procedures, often reading an E-meter, to find and handle charged areas of their past.
Auditing and the E-meter
What Scientology teaches2 / 2
9If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
1 John 1:9 (WEB) · context
Auditing and the E-meter
