Reason 10 of 10
Test every teacher: Hubbard's claims did not hold
Hubbard presented Dianetics as a science of the mind. Scientists found no evidence for engrams or the reactive mind, and a US court allowed the E-meter only with a warning that it does nothing medically. The Bible tells us to test every teacher.
What was claimed
Hubbard did not present Dianetics as faith but as a breakthrough science: The Modern Science of Mental Health. He said clearing the reactive mind would bring relief from many psychosomatic ills and raise ability. Scientology later grew out of Dianetics and was organised as a church.
Psychologists and physicians found no evidence that engrams or a reactive mind exist as Hubbard described them, and these ideas have no place in mainstream science.
Scientology's own words
“Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health”
Title of L. Ron Hubbard's book (1950)
The E-meter
Auditing often uses an E-meter, a device that measures small changes in electrical resistance through the body. In 1963 the US Food and Drug Administration seized E-meters over health claims. After years of litigation, a federal court in 1971 allowed the Church to keep using them in religious counselling, provided they carried a warning that they are not medically or scientifically useful for diagnosing, treating or preventing any disease.
What the Bible says
Scripture does not ask anyone to believe without testing. It tells us to test the spirits, to examine everything and hold fast what is good, and to judge a prophet by whether his words come true. Jesus said false prophets are known by their fruit.
The Bible also submits itself to that test. Its central claim is public and historical: Jesus was crucified under Pontius Pilate and rose again, and the apostles invited anyone to check it with the eyewitnesses.
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
21Test all things, and hold firmly that which is good.
1 Thessalonians 5:21 (WEB) · context
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
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. 18A good tree can’t produce evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree produce good fruit. 19Every tree that doesn’t grow good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20Therefore by their fruits you will know them.
Matthew 7:15-20 (WEB) · context
14If Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith also is in vain. 15Yes, we are also found false witnesses of God, because we testified about God that he raised up Christ, whom he didn’t raise up if it is true that the dead are not raised. 16For if the dead aren’t raised, neither has Christ been raised. 17If Christ has not been raised, your faith is vain; you are still in your sins.
1 Corinthians 15:14-17 (WEB) · context
What Scientologists often say
Scientologists say Scientology is a religion and should not be judged as a medical science, and that the E-meter is a religious artifact that helps the auditor, not a medical device.
A Christian answer
That is exactly the shift the record shows: Dianetics was introduced as a science, and its central claims did not survive scientific testing. When a teaching makes factual claims, it must answer for them. The Bible's claims are tested the same way, and the resurrection of Jesus has stood up to two thousand years of examination.
Where accounts differ
- Former members and the Church give very different accounts of how auditing and the E-meter are used in practice; we report only the published court and agency record here.
Sources
- Scientology source L. Ron Hubbard, Dianetics: The Modern Science of Mental Health (1950).
- United States v. Founding Church of Scientology, US District Court for the District of Columbia (1971 ruling on E-meter labelling, following the 1963 FDA seizure).
- The Bible, World English Bible (public domain).