Thursday, July 17, 2008

Scientologists - What Do We Believe About Hell and Earth?

I was at the post office the other day. It was pretty quiet, but a gentleman who had survived the Vietnam war was talking to the teller in front of me and saying that earth is heaven. The teller smiled and nodded until the gentleman left, then said to me, "I wonder what he thinks happens to him after he dies?" I said I didn't know and the teller went on to say that he'd heard of various religions believing various things, mentioning the Scientologists believe that earth is Hell. I thought that was pretty funny, since I'm a Scientologist and I don't believe that one bit. However, I figured out where that nice teller at the post office may have gotten the idea from.

It could have been from this excerpt from a Scientology policy:

"If you were looking for hell and found earth, it would certainly serve. War, famine, agony and disease has been the lot of man."

This is policy goes on to say that Scientology can change these conditions by helping individuals rid themselves of the reactive mind. Nothing about the earth actually being hell.

Anyway, I just wanted to debunk any ideas that Scientologists think the earth is hell. If we were in hell, we wouldn't be able to change conditions, there would be no good in the world and we'd all be getting tortured constantly. Nothing beautiful like art, religion, nature, etc would be around and life would generally suck. This is not the case. World conditions can change and I'm betting that they will change for the better. So there you go. :)

I'd be interested to know if there are any other things that seem strange about Scientology that you've encountered. Comment and let me know.

8 comments:

SomethingNice said...

I'd heard that in Scientology Churches you weren't allowed to go to the bathroom. That worried me a lot, but when I went to a Scientology Church they had several bathrooms and it really wasn't an issue.

Julia said...

LOL. I'm sorry, that totally cracked me up. Who comes up with these things? That's so ridiculous - I mean who doesn't have bathrooms? This is a civilized nation, isn't it? That's on par with the Scientologists can't eat mint thing my coworker had heard. Anyway, I'm sorry it caused you anxiety and I'm glad that it all turned out okay.

SomethingNice said...

It's funny (and a little embarrassing) that I don't even remember where I heard that, but I must have accepted it at the time.

Having taken several Scientology services and read all the basic books, I wouldn't let a rumor go unquestioned like that anymore. I don't just mean about Scientology. I sometimes hear rumors about other people, religions, cultures, countries, etc. and I look for the facts now.

Julia said...

I'm glad you do. It's much better to find out the facts for yourself than to listen to all the balderdash people come up with. :)

GRHnDC said...

Please explain why it costs so much to cross the bridge? The God I know isn't short of cash...

Please share your opinions on the Xenu mythology that is part of the Wall of Fire indocrination at OTIII. I've heard the same story from too many COS members (active & non-active) for it to be made up.

Thanks for your informative blog!

Julia said...

Hi GRHnDC, I wrote a post to answer your questions here.

J.R. LeMar said...

Something I considered a bit "strange" is that I wonder why alcohol isn't forbidden by Scientology? Certainly, that's just as "mind-altering" as any psychiatric drug that you're all opposed to. More folks kill others in car accidents while driving drunk than while driving under the influence of Prozac. It just seems to me that it would be more consistent to oppose alcohol as well.

Julia said...

You're right that alcohol isn't forbidden by Scientology - honestly I don't know of anything that can be consumed which is "forbidden" so to speak. People are encouraged to Be Temperate by The Way to Happiness, which goes further to say "Do Not Take Harmful Drugs" and "Do Not Take Alcohol to Excess".
Does that make sense?