Hey there - just wanted to say hi and see if any of you all wanted to compare experiences from both religious groups/cults. I was involved in scientology for about 15 years...I finally "woke up" a few years ago & realized I was in a cult, I got disconnected from by certain family members and most of my so called friends. I'm looking at ways to try and get them to see the light... I also want to compare what Mormonism does versus scientology to keep their people in "line". Looking forward to comparing notes & getting to know you all.

Welcome to the exmormon forums.

When I first researched Scientology, I was surprised at what people are told and choose to believe. When I left Mormonism and looked at it from an objective view I realized that I was believing in things that are just as outlandish if not more so.

Mormonism is like Scientology with a bit of Bible and and Jesus sprinkled in. You pay some money to have good standing in the church. I've heard that the sums of money paid in scientology are significant, but you only pay a one time fee per level. Is that correct?

Where as in Mormonism you pay every time you get paid.

Hi and welcome.

I imagine there are a lot of similarities. We have a huge problem with being shunned by our family and friends once we leave 'the Church.' It's more like a tribe, really.

There is a very definite 'Us vs Them' mentality, where you're either a part of the elite organization, or you're not. In Mormonism, if you have a new friend, or you're dating someone new, the first question out of someone's mouth is, "Are they a member?" The world consists of members and non-members. Non-members are simply people who have yet to become a member.

If you leave, they figure you're screwing up your entire eternity. There's so much pressure to be perfect, and yeah, the money. 10% of our gross income, plus fast offerings goes to the organization. You pay a lot of money to be a member of their exclusive club and you really get nothing in return.

It's pay, prey and obey, and don't ever question. Don't even look at materials which are not friendly to the organization. Only read church-approved stuff. And if an outsider asks a question about the Church, lie. Don't tell them anything which might make us look bad. Only they don't put it that way. They just say that they're not spiritually prepared to hear the truth.

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"A mind stretched by a new idea can never go back to its original dimensions." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Hey ExScientologist! Welcome! I don't know anything about Scientology, so I am interested to learn something from you too.

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"Doubt, indulged and cherished, is in danger of becoming denial; but if honest, and bent on thorough investigation it may soon lead to full establishment of truth."
Ambrose Bierce

Yes! Some new material! Please post your 'exit story' so we can see the similarities. If you google mormon exit stories you will find a ton.

Thanks for the warm welcome. Yes OJoyO - we pay per level but it's alot of money per level, plus on top of that we are constantly hit up for donations for this castrophe or that earthquake etc.. we are drained financially all the time. They come over at all hours of the day and night unannounced and won't leave until you make a financial commitment. Sounds like the Mormon church gets a steady stream of cashflow from everyones paycheck each week. Which is just as bad as Scn.. cause you can never have any kind of savings.. god I was soooo frickin stupid for so many years!

Yes Scientology definatley has the "us versus them" mentality - our biggest enemies are the psych's - the whole mental health field is what they fight to stop on a regular basis. It's crazy, how each religion is so similar, just the scriptures are way off.

Hey Ex.! Welcome...its really good to see you here and get other perspectives...John Sweeney, who did a documentary on Scientology made the comment to me, that Mormonism is just more sophisticated than Scientology.

As we go back and forth with our sharing here, we may find that to be more truth than fiction.

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"When authority masquerades as a power, a simple question will unmask it."

"Just because you think, feel, or believe something is true, doesn't make it true!"

"The doubt of your faith, is not God testing you, but truth trying to emerge and free you."

Don't worry ExS. I feel EXACTLY the same way

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"Doubt, indulged and cherished, is in danger of becoming denial; but if honest, and bent on thorough investigation it may soon lead to full establishment of truth."
Ambrose Bierce

They did that to us too. On top of all the money you already pay, they'll tell you that you can donate a little extra for a specific disaster relief fund, and then they go out and brag to the world about how much money they gave to a certain cause. Yeah, it didn't come out of their pocket at all. It came out as extra from ours. They sacrificed nothing at all.

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"A mind stretched by a new idea can never go back to its original dimensions." - Oliver Wendell Holmes

Hi ExScientologist,

Welcome to the group.

I suppose that if you start comparing cults you will find many common traits. If you have not yet, try googling the characteristics of a cult and you'll find sets of common traits. People tend to do what people tend to do.

Peace

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I resigned from the Church of THE Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints (Feb 2011)

"For nothing is secret, that shall not be made manifest; neither any thing hid, that shall not be known and come abroad." - Luke 8:17

Welcome! My first encounter with a scientologist was a good one. But, after following Stu Wyatt on youtube for awhile I became more and more intrigued and appalled.

One of the biggest jokes of mormonism is how the people act. That's how they got me to join. They act like there lives are perfect, they have no faults(because everyone else is wrong). Once you lose the spirit(or transgress or ask questions) you are ousted and no longer apart of they're circle. The tell tale signs of an bad member in mormonism is not being able to take the sacrament, being able to pray openly in church, giving talks, having a calling(unpaid church job), sharing your opinion during meetings, voting on callings, no temple recommend(kind of like an ID to get into the temple), and more.

I think over the years the lds church has had to try and make the church seem more like other christian churches by saying they are christian and believe in Jesus and God and the Holy Spirit more than preaching their Joseph is a prophet, we have a living prophet today(1st presidency), we have living apsotles today(quorum of the twelve), you can become a God of your very own planet; the churches real basis comes from alot of the rites(rituals) in freemasonry(the moron temple is all about similar rituals). Since the advent of the internet, one can find what goes on in there for the most part. I have personally been through all of the temple rituals(that I know of).

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SELF APPOINTED MODERATOR

ExS., a question for you. Are Scientologists encouraged to pray for truth like the Mormons are?

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"Doubt, indulged and cherished, is in danger of becoming denial; but if honest, and bent on thorough investigation it may soon lead to full establishment of truth."
Ambrose Bierce

Were you able to determine the distribution of the funds raised for disaster relief? Or were you required to trust that the leaders were doing everything correctly? The annual Mormon conference has a "report" from an accounting service. All it amounts to is, they say the church is following basic, proper accounting principles in the way it manages its finances.

The Moonies, I think, put a little pressure on their members for some pretty high donations - $700 or $1000 at a shot, a couple of times a year, for a conference, or to "liberate their ancestors", and things like that.

I give my money to established charities now. The Church of Independent Decisions on how to Donate to Needy People and Organizations, that's me. I donate to SmileTrain and other children charities, and a couple of organizations researching cures for diseases like leukemia and cancer.

Welcome, ExScientologist
Care to elaborate on "the scriptures"?

Hey Ex, they didn't find you and kill you did they? Hope not.

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SELF APPOINTED MODERATOR

Ex-scientolgoist - Joseph Smith set up a group called the Danites. One of their duties was to "cut off" apostates. So our background, coming out of Mormonism, as we learn more about the actual, unsanitized history, is to face up to the fact that our church elders, our prophets and apostles, thought low enough of us that if we tried to get out from under their thumb, they would like to see us dead. I am not entirely convinced that none of them currently still have that attitude.

Yes that's correct we pay each step of the way and in the beginning steps it's very affordable, $50 or $100 for a course but as you go "up the bridge to total freedom" this is just the language for moving up & becoming more spiritually "free" (haha yeah right) it gets more expenssive, alot more expenssive. In addition to paying your way for their so called spiritual freedom, you are also constantly hounded to make donations for building renovations, or for whatever else they can pull out of their butt and sell people on.

No, there really isn't any praying involved in scientology as we do not view L.Ron hubbard (the founder) as our god or god like. This is more of a self help cult, and if you are looking for answers to life you simply look at self, if you are looking for reasons why things aren't going your way, you look at yourself. We are encouraged to write down our "sins" often so as to keep our lives clean and ethical, we are also encouraged to send in these written up sins so they can go in our personal file, which are suppossed to be confidential.. yeah right!!

yeah we deifnately did NOT see any financial statements at any time to verify where donations were going. It was an unspoken truth that your money was being used for the betterment of man kind. As to your example of the Moonies and their "high" donation amounts.. that is in actual fact pennies compared to what some scientologist donate. I've known people who've gotten a 2nd mortgage on their home to give money to the church for their next service or just to outright donate it to whatever "cause" they were pushing that week. I'm talking 10K, 20K, 30K and up. No joke!