How Scientology Made Me Honest After a Life of Crime was originally published on the website of STAND (Scientologists Taking Action Against Discrimination).
It is also the subject of this TEDx video.
And when it comes New Year’s resolutions, what Gason did to change his life takes the prize.
Gason was born and raised in New Zealand to Samoan parents. He owns and operates two companies. Working with at-risk youth is his passion. He he has devoted more than 5,000 volunteer hours to help them escape negative lifestyles.
“This is my story,” writes Andrew Gason in a blog at www.standleague.org
He was abandoned when he was a baby. Left in a hospital to be put up for adoption. His mother was ashamed to have conceived him by adultery. This was the start of his life.
When he was 14, his adoptive parents decided to divorce. His mother was moving overseas. And it was only then that he learned he was adopted.
He was devastated.
A life of crime
Gason describes how he started with petty theft and progressed to more serious crimes. By the time he was 20 he was “living the life of a full-time criminal who was always on the run and never able to rest or sleep for too long.”
“One day I trusted the wrong person,” he said “and the International Police were tipped off. An armed offender police unit was sent in to secure the streets where I lived and to box me in. They found me in my house. And took me to jail. But had only enough evidence to get me on one crime—the passport fraud. This was a maximum sentence of 15 years. After some negotiations, I managed to get off on 6-month probation.”
A life of crime was not the life for him, he decided, but what could he do?
He decided that there had to be knowledge out there. There must be a way to navigate life successfully. In an honest way. So he decided to start looking. And that’s when he came across the Church of Scientology.
A personality test found his weakest point was in the area of integrity.
Changing from a life of crime to one of helping others
There’s only one way to fully appreciate what came next. That is to read or hear it in his own words or voice.
Read his blog: “How Scientology Made Me Honest, After a Life of Crime” or watch Gason’s talk TEDx Melbourne or
For more information on what Scientologists believe about crime and ethics, watch “Honest People Have Rights Too” by L. Ron Hubbard on the Scientology Network. You may also like “Scientology Beliefs: Ethics Are A Personal Thing” on the Patheos Scientology Beliefs blog.
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