How can I persuade my Scientology friend that he is being deceived?

Question

He seems so close-minded to this deceit. How can I reach out to him?

Answer 1

I would say don't. If you replaced the word Scientology for Christian can you imagine how easy it it would be to persuade him of this deceit? not very, and many would criticise you for trying. Everybody is entitled to believe what they want however stupid it may be. If your friend is intelligent then he will probably see that he is being duped eventually.

Answer 2

Make him sit through 'Battlefield Earth'. If he still believes...it is a lost cause.

Answer 3

pray for him,talk to him,but above all,respect his wishes.

it's a sad fact that most religions have a dark side with skeletons in their closets,even the church of england.

good luck

Answer 4

Think you can best do zat by putting him in touch with websites zat expoze scientology coz its a scam. Direct him to

http://www.bernie.cncfamily.com/sc/scam....

and

http://www.xenu.net

Answer 5

xenu.net

forums.enturbulation.org

show him these sites, get him to talk to people in the forum, then he'll see the con.

as for those who say people have the right to believe what they want to, i agree. thing is, scientology is not a regualr belief, it's a scam and a con and you pay fortunes to find virtually nothing out. compare that to christianity or islam or any number of other religions, you don't pay to find out it's teachings, or if you do cost is minimal.

@ Affinity Warrior: i am very educated on scientology thank you very much. i know that your cult are exceptionally intolerant (fair gaming those who disagree with you {wait, you don't call it that anymore do you? but you still do it}, you seem to think that homosexuality is something that is wrong with people and you claim to be able to fix it) you have a mistaken belief that psychology is evil, and thus try to make facts up to back this claim up (a certain university in germany which you claim is responsible for hitler's vile experiments, yet did not exist until 10 years after the war had finished), totally forgetting that L. Ron himself had been treated by shrinks. Your Cult is one of the worst things to ever appear on this planet, and it disgusts me. What disgusts me even more is that you send your voluntary missonaries out to 'help' after major disasters, yet all they seem to do is proselytize unless a tv camera is pointed their way. At least the other religions genuinely help out before spreading their beliefs.

Answer 6

Let him be. He has a different belief to you, and he is entitled to it, just like you are entitled to yours.

Answer 7

Its not really your responsibility or your business what he believes. If you try convice him you will probably make him more stubborn.

Answer 8

you wont be able to... just make loads of jokes at his expense and tell him you wont stop until he decides to understand. He will get all upset and you can tell him to eff off.

Answer 9

Research the origins of it, and show him.

Answer 10

Live and let live! Now although I disagree with the religion I still would respect a friend or a family member if they converted to it but i would also try and explain to them WHY I disagree with it and show them why I think it is flawed. But other than that the only other thing you can do is pray/hope to god,goddess,Thor,Zeus,Odin,etc... that they realize what they are doing is not only expensive but just plain stupid.

EDIT: He said SCIENTOLOGY not science you morons Scientology is a fake religion science is...well science anyhow there are quite distinct differences.

Answer 11

All right. Here's what you do:

You must urge him to be critical and not take things at face value, even from "revered figures"! Urge him to demand proof and evidence of things before accepting them. That's the rational way. If Scientology "really works", wouldn't evidence-based thinking make it work better and improve the methods? Tell him to always ask where are the results? If scientology works then there should be mountains of them (from other sources than Scientology itself which makes it up by the bucket).

And what about contradictory evidence? The machine used in "Auditing" is really just an electrical resistance (ohmic) meter (you can open it and show him. It's nothing special). When he accuses you of attacking scientology (trust me, he will), just say calmly that you're asking legitimate questions. You're not being offensive. You're being inquisitive.

Also, you could get him to read "The Road to Xenu" which is a story of a 12-y journey into scientology or some similar testimonies from ex-Scientologists.

Read it yourself too. Do that before engaging him in any of this discussion. That way, you'll understand what goes on behind those closed walls of Scientology. You'll understand what you're up against. You'll understand the mindset (like the absurd notion that everyone who criticizes Scientology must be evil to the core). You can prove that particular notion wrong by being pleasant and nice.

Be aware that communication to and from scientology premises is censored as much as they can. And whatever you do, don't alienate him.

Good luck bringing rational thought into your friend's life.

Answer 12

U cant, let him belive what he wnats.

And Science is always correct and true, religion is just a lie, do u have any proof that God exists??

Answer 13

Well apparently the guy hubbard wrote a book before creating the whole mess.

  It was all about how to make millions out of creating your own cult.. erm.. sorry... religion and brainwashing people

Answer 14

Your can't if someone has the mindset to get involved in any religion they have to find out for themselves what a lot on nonsense it is or that they are being conned. If you are friend all you can do is to stand by to catch the pieces when he falls apart  

Answer 15

im gonna be totally strait. you will NEVER change there veiws about religeon no matter how strong the argument. Imagen walking into a church and telling them all god is fake?? you would have some pissed of old people on you hands... take my advise, just leave things be

Answer 16

Sorry but we all Scientology belief in scientology because it works. Maybe you should get educated.

Scientology is a religious applied philosophy.

“It is possible to know about the mind, the spirit and life”

Scientology states that man is a Spiritual being that controls a body through a mind. To represent this life force, the Greek symbol for though: “Theta” was selected to avoid confusion with any prior practice.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=ncBcbVtEwU...

The mind (we are not talking about the brain that is just the center of the nervous system) is a bank of mental image pictures. This bank is what the spirit uses to make decisions; it is composed of the analytical mind and the reactive mind. The analytical mind is clear; it doesn’t have any hidden influences and is fully accessible by the Thetan. The reactive mind is a collection of bad mental image picture that include pain, unconsciousness and command value. The reactive mind is the hidden influence that aberrates reason. The reactive mind is the cause for all human aberration, insanity or evil purpose.

Scientology’s approach to solve human aberration: Auditing.

- “Communication is the Universal Solvent.”

- “All problems of the mind are created by the mind.”

- “The mind can solve all the problems of the mind”

To solve the problem of the reactive mind Hubbard developed Auditing; a verbal therapy that uses questions to help the individual address what is bothering him. So the person by his own volition can solve his own problems. The big difference between Auditing and Psychoanalysis is that the Psychoanalyst evaluates for the person and tells him what to think. In Auditing you just ask and listen and let the person make his own mind about things.

There are no suggestions involved in Auditing, all conclusion are done by you by your own intelligence. Auditors are bound the Auditor’s Code to never evaluate for the preclear (preclear is a person receiving Scientology processing).  Never get in a relationship with the preclear.  All information released during auditing is protected by law and not even the police can gain access to that information. Enforcing this code of conduct is the Scientology Ethics Officer and Scientology law. Any violation to the Auditors code is considered a high crime in Scientology and will result removal of any Auditing Certificates and/or expulsion from the church. I have seen this happen and is a very serious matter.

Any friend or family member can audit you for free. Or you can take the courses and get your Auditing with other students. Taking Scientology courses is no more expensive than taking courses at your community college. Scientology also offers correspondence courses for a little as $30.00.

Professional auditing is also offered by highly trained specialists. An auditing team is composed of the Auditor, Ethics Officer, Quality Assurance (the person that tells the Auditor what to do), Corrections (the people that constantly train the Auditor on how to do the process) and the rest of the administration of a Church of Scientology. These are not one on one services, these are a whole team working to better you. It is expensive because is expensive to create, train and maintain the team.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=kwK1byq0nd...

How Scientology evolved?

Scientology evolved from Dianetics when it was discovered that man is a spiritual being. Scientology differs from Dianetics in that Dianetics deals with the mind and the rehabilitation of mental image pictures and Scientology deals with the rehabilitation of the human spirit itself.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=FhrlHU0W9U...

We don’t ask for your faith in Scientology. There is no faith needed, when you can observe and experience it working by your self.

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=XUXR0XgmDN...

“Self confidence alone is security. Your ability is your security. There is no security but you. Let's make the best possible you."  L Ron Hubbard

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=dziK04-9qq...

Cult status?

All great religions have been misunderstood, persecuted and attacked. Jesus was sentenced to death by a lynching crowd; his only crime:  to teach Love and forgiveness. Christians were KILLED for centuries for their beliefs and they were accused of performing cannibalistic rituals (didn’t they ate and drink the body of Jesus?).

Scientology is a worldwide religion that claims 10 millions of members. It has centers in almost every mayor capital in the world: Washington, London, Berlin, Johannesburg, Tokyo, Sydney, Tel Aviv Israel and Moscow to name a few. And for a church that is barely 40 years old this is great. Scientology is not a small sect based in a small town in Texas isolated from the rest of the world. Scientology thrives in the center of mayor cities, its member are community leaders, doctors, teachers and workers from all sectors of society. The fact most Scientologists have a college education says a lot.

http

Answer 17

deceived? I'm guessing you're the ned flanders character. you are being deceived.  

Answer 18

Research it as much as possible and study scripture as much as possible so you can show him why from a biblical perspective  it's against the bible. Also pray for him and ask God in prayer to give you the right words to speak to him. Also I will post a web page pointing out what Scientologist believe and how it contrast with the bible.

http://www.gotquestions.org/scientology-...

Answer 19

Only through Jesus and such and the like

Answer 20

You will never be able to do that.  Do not argue with anyone about their religious or policitacl beliefs.. you will never get anywhere, they will try to show you where you are wrong.

Answer 21

It's too late.  Run away from him as fast and as far as you can.  

Answer 22

Let him find out for himself. He is being tested. You yearn for instant change in your freind, but our perception of time is not always as clear. Let it go and let him see your strength in your faith of God.  

Answer 23

In the same way that you can convince christian that they have been and are being decieved.

Answer 24

Firstly, maybe he isn't being deceived.

Secondly, if you're sure you're in the right, read a couple of anti-Scientology books (from the library, probably) and see if you can find out a few facts he would be impressed by. Then have a long discussion about it with him.

It won't be a quick job, and of course the Scientologists will try and persuade him you're wrong, but you are at least giving him the alternative view to theirs.

Answer 25

some people just don't listen till its to late.

Answer 26

The science fiction author, John Sladek, wrote a book called "the New Apocrypha" (ISBN 0586 03974 0), which gives a good critique of Scientology and other strange beliefs. It is anexcellent read, and very clearly written. If you can get a copy, see if you can get him to read it.

The founder of Scientology, the late Lafayette Ron Hubbard, was a scince fiction author before making the bet with a friend that he could start a new "religion".