Recently I have had some exposure to a book titled "The Secret". It was originally recommended to me by one of the salesmen at the gym where I work out. I bought it last year and had not read it until this past week. At the time I had about 5 books ahead of it in the queue. It took me a while to get there.
The secret of "The Secret" is simple. That would be what they call the Law of Attraction. At its most basic level the law says that 'what you think about, you get.' I do not have much problem with that in and of itself. But I do have one with this statement on page 10: "Thoughts are magnetic, and thoughts have a frequency. As you think, those thoughts are sent out into the Universe and they magnetically attract all like things that are on the same frequency. Everything sent out returns to the source. And that source is you."
As a Christian I don't think much of this idea and my response here is to attempt a rebuttal based on my world view.
Problem 1: What do they mean when they say "the Universe". I do not know, but our thoughts go there, and come back somehow. I noticed that they capitalize the term every time they use it, like it is supposed to be some kind of deity. The Bible clearly tells us there is only one Deity, God. We know from Exodus 20 that God hates idolatry. Anything that is worshiped which is less than God is abomination. We also know that the universe itself is a created thing. It is not personal, it is a work of art and engineering. It is finite and will ultimately wear out. The universe is not God. What becomes of thoughts that are sent to 'the universe?' They go nowhere. As a friend of mine said: Who's there to listen to them?
Maybe I am being a bit harsh by saying this. Maybe the writers are simply using the term 'universe' as a euphemism for God in order to reach the largest possible audience. I still have a problem. There seem to be a lot of people these days who have this idea that if you just believe something, it's true. And I believe that the moon is made of green cheese! Is it? Of course not. People can believe a lie. Beliefs, even religious ones, have to be tempered by reality. The implication here is either that god is created by my belief: Or that somehow, someway the true God will hear my thoughts, even if they are directed the wrong way. Both of these are incorrect. If I am going to send my thoughts anywhere, it will be to the true God, and in the form of prayer. Only He can hear prayer. Only He can answer prayer.
Problem 2: That wealth and material success can be attained by anyone who uses this technique. On page 4 we have this: "Religions such as Hinduism, Hermetic traditions, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, and civilizations such as the ancient Babylonians and Egyptians delivered it through their writings and stories." Christianity? Really? The comparison is lost on me.
We do know that several of the great people in the Bible were rich. Abraham, Job, Moses, David and Solomon to name a few. But many were not. The founder of Christianity, Jesus drew large crowds and some of his followers were quite well off, but Jesus personally was not rich. He may not have even carried cash. Jesus' message was not one of wealth. It was one of salvation. The way to a right relationship with God was (and is) through faith in Him.
It's quite a stretch to imply that Jesus was some sort of 'prosperity teacher'. In fact Jesus exhorted his followers to 'deny themselves'. When a rich guy came to Jesus to inquire about eternal life he was told to 'sell everything and give to the poor and follow Me' (Jesus) . The man went away disappointed. He couldn't come to grips with giving away his money. Jesus also exhorted his followers to 'take up their cross'. The understanding for this was 'take up your cross and die'. This is quite different from the message of these 'life coaches' et al who exhort their followers to 'attract a new car, home or success', through sending happy thoughts out to some disembodied universe.
Jesus was the most personal man who ever lived. He dealt directly with anyone and everyone's spiritual condition. This was unsettling for a lot of people. Many believed, of course, but not all. Even when He was hanging on the cross, in extreme pain and near death he responded personally. On one side of Him was a man who had obviously not sent out very many happy thoughts in his life. He was a thief, probably a murderer too and in every sense of the word, a worthless individual. He, knowing his condition asked Jesus to remember him. Jesus responded personally, "Today you will be with me in paradise." Is there anything in this world that is better than that promise?
To be fair, there are some things in the book that are quite good. In my next article I will address some of them as well.
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