Anyone else seen these Tom Cruise videos?

[Scooter]

I don't believe everything I read or see on the internet, but this video pretty much sums up the way I view this guy.

http://gawker.com/5002269/the-cruise-indoctrination-video-scientology-tried-to-suppress

This video is apparently one of a few out there.

[the]

Sounds pretty much just like any other religion.

Just check out the "Is there a God" thread, and you'll see posts pretty much like that.

Or this, for example:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=303e6Cn65Ko

[RickM]

Pretty painful to watch him talk about a whole lot of nothing....you know what I mean?

[kang]

I want to see an interviewer ask Tom Cruise point blank if he believes the whole Xenu store. Did Xenu bring billions of people from a distant galaxy, 75 million years ago, stack them around volcanoes, and blow them up with a hydrogen bomb? Yes or no?

Also ask: Do you believe that these people became “thetans,” and are “still clinging to and adversely affecting everyone except those Scientologists who have performed the necessary steps to remove them.“ Again, this is a yes or no question.

Read this. It is bizarre beyond anything you can imagine:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenu

[the]

Originally Posted by kang

I want to see an interviewer ask Tom Cruise point blank if he believes the whole Xenu store. Did Xenu bring billions of people from a distant galaxy, 75 million years ago, stack them around volcanoes, and blow them up with a hydrogen bomb? Yes or no?

Also ask: Do you believe that these people became “thetans,” and are “still clinging to and adversely affecting everyone except those Scientologists who have performed the necessary steps to remove them.“ Again, this is a yes or no question.

Read this. It is bizarre beyond anything you can imagine:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenu

Is people being brought to Earth 75 million years ago on this:



really that much more crazy than some guy spending 120 years building this:



and then putting 2 of every living creature, including the dinosaurs, on board, and floating around with them for over a year?

http://www.christiananswers.net/q-eden/edn-c013.html

There is a good website that outlines all of the wacky factual and historical claims of the major (and minor) religions (I can't find it now). They all share a lot in common, how we supposedly got here, some controlling forces, rules to follow, etc. Scientology doesn't seem hugely less credible or plausible than any of the others, it's just one mythology v. another.

[RickM]

Actually, there are different, historical interpretations of Noah and the Ark. Some seem quite plausible. Really. I saw it on the History channel

Sounds like Hubbard took advantage of HIS trekies and ran with it. You suppose he initially intended to create this "religion" or was it a reaction to the attention his stories drew?

[9elf]

Is the video playing from that first link?

I can't get it.

[the]

Originally Posted by 9elf

Is the video playing from that first link?

I can't get it.

Try this link:

http://www.southparkzone.com/episodes/712/All-about-the-Mormons?.html

[URY914]

Add him to the list of mega stars that think they can do anything. My wife and I will never see another one of his films.

[legion]

Scientology treats its members different based on who they are.

Celebrities are offered "classes" free of charge. They see only a very clean, sanitized version of the religion.

Average members are given their classes at sea on boats and are charged around $30,000 per class. They are beaten and isolated until they are totally brainwashed. They are encouraged to beg money from friends and family to pay for classes years in advance. Each class reveals a "secret". I know one of the later secrets is that you can levitate. Average members are made to feel that it is their own personal failings that are causing them to not attain the "powers" Scientology promises.

[the]

You won't see anymore movies because of his genuinely held religious beliefs and faith, which he wants to use in an honest attempt to help people?

[WI wide body]

Originally Posted by the

Sounds pretty much just like any other religion.

Just check out the "Is there a God" thread, and you'll see posts pretty much like that.

Or this, for example:

http://youtube.com/watch?v=303e6Cn65Ko

Better yet, simply read "The Age of Reason" written by Thomas Paine over 200 years ago. Just read the intro if nothing else. He speaks more truth in a few paragraphs than almost anything I've ever read over the past 50+ years per organized religions . Check it out.

[Flatbutt1]

My understanding is that scientology isn't a religion in that they don't profess any belief in Christ or God or any such like. It seems more like a nutty social/spiritualist club. But they call it a church in order to legitimatize it?

[legion]

Originally Posted by Flatbutt1

My understanding is that scientology isn't a religion in that they don't profess any belief in Christ or God or any such like. It seems more like a nutty social/spiritualist club. But they call it a church in order to legitimatize it?

They call it a church for the tax-free status. There was a long battle with the IRS in the 80's over this. Scientology members harassed the agents working the case (phone calls in the middle of the night with heavy breathing, killing family pets) until they gave in.

[WI wide body]

Originally Posted by Flatbutt1

My understanding is that scientology isn't a religion in that they don't profess any belief in Christ or God or any such like. It seems more like a nutty social/spiritualist club. But they call it a church in order to legitimatize it?

Umm........I doubt that were worried about trying to "legitimize" it. Methinks that the prime motivator for getting it called a church was the tax thing. .

[Flatbutt1]

ahh yes the tax thing. OK thats my "Duh" moment for the week!

[Scooter]

Originally Posted by 9elf

Is the video playing from that first link?

I can't get it.

Check out Fox News, they have a link to the video. I can't see it either, but I am on my cell phone right now.

[9elf]

here it is.

http://www.jossip.com/today-asks-the-tough-tom-cruise-questions-good-morning-america-never-got-around-to-20080115/

[sjf911]

"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian, or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit."

Thomas Paine

[Moses]

Originally Posted by WI wide body

Better yet, simply read "The Age of Reason" written by Thomas Paine over 200 years ago. Just read the intro if nothing else. He speaks more truth in a few paragraphs than almost anything I've ever read over the past 50+ years per organized religions . Check it out.

You can read it here. Simple. Brilliant.

http://books.google.com/books?id=gnfo3FGMXs8C&dq=thomas+paine+the+age+of+reason&pg=PP1&ots=hG7HVpE5BP&sig=p1dK4uFPvFyqWpLDyZYBoVyDIjo&hl=en&prev=http://www.google.com/search?q=thomas+paine+the+age+of+reason&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-USfficial&client=firefox-a&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail#PPA23,M1