FALSE DOCTRINE: ‘The Secret’
The Secret is a film and corresponding philosophy that stems from the ‘law of attractions’ which is defined by wikipedia.com as:
“The phrase Law of Attraction, although used widely by esoteric writers, does not have an agreed-upon definition. However, the general consensus among New Age thinkers is that the Law of Attraction takes the principal “Like Attracts Like” and applies it to conscious desire. That is, a person’s thoughts (conscious and unconscious), emotions, and beliefs cause a change in the physical world that attracts positive or negative experiences that correspond to the aforementioned thoughts, with or without the person taking action to attain such experiences. This process has been described as “harmonious vibrations of the law of attraction”, or “you get what you think about; your thoughts determine your experience”. The phrase is closely associated with New Thought beliefs and practices, from which its most common definition arises, but it also has a long standing (and more complex development) in other esoteric fields such as Hermeticism and Theosophy. Recently, the New Thought version was popularized by the 2006 film The Secret. The more materialistic interpretations of The Law of Attraction have been criticized in the media, the scientific community, which cites what they believe to be the deliberate misuse of the scientific term law and the lack of any scientific evidence for the claims made by advocates for the Law of Attraction, and by some proponents of the New Age Movement and spirituality in general.” End of Wikipedia’s excerpt.
Some people claim that the Bible completely supports this philosophy.
Refutation
Romans 1:18-25 (HCSB)
18 For God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against all godlessness and unrighteousness of people who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth, 19 since what can be known about God is evident among them, because God has shown it to them. 20 From the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what He has made. As a result, people are without excuse. 21 For though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or show gratitude. Instead, their thinking became nonsense, and their senseless minds were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man, birds, four-footed animals, and reptiles. 24 Therefore God delivered them over in the cravings of their hearts to sexual impurity, so that their bodies were degraded among themselves. 25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served something created instead of the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
1. The biggest problem with ‘The Secret’ and ‘The Law of Attractions’ is that this philosophy takes glory away from God and gives it to a fictional law of the universe. It exchanges the glory of the immortal God for a fictional law of the universe. It exchanges the truth of God for a lie and makes people worship and serve something (not even created) instead of the Creator. Truthfully, it is idolatry and is no different from what Aaron and the Israelites did that greatly angered God a long time ago:
Ex 32:1-10 (HCSB)
1 When the people saw that Moses delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us because this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!” 2 Then Aaron replied to them, “Take off the gold rings that are on the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters and bring [them] to me.” 3 So all the people took off the gold rings that were on their ears and brought [them] to Aaron. 4 He took [the gold] from their hands, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made it into an image of a calf. Then they said, “Israel, this is your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!” 5 When Aaron saw [this] , he built an altar before it; then he made an announcement: “There will be a festival to the Lord tomorrow.” 6 Early the next morning they arose, offered burnt offerings, and presented fellowship offerings. The people sat down to eat and drink, then got up to revel. 7 The Lord spoke to Moses: “Go down at once! For your people you brought up from the land of Egypt have acted corruptly. 8 They have quickly turned from the way I commanded them; they have made for themselves an image of a calf. They have bowed down to it, sacrificed to it, and said, ‘Israel, this is your God, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.’ ” 9 The Lord also said to Moses: “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people. 10 Now leave Me alone, so that My anger can burn against them and I can destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
2. ‘The Secret’ and ‘The Law of Attractions’ is simply not real. The Bible is filled with stories of people who lived before us and these many stories do not at all support anything even resembling ‘The Secret’. Job had many bad things happen to him, not because he entertained negative thoughts, but rather because God was allowing Satan to test him so that ultimately God would be glorified. The apostle Paul did not go through all of the things he went through because he was a negative thinker, but because God allowed him to go through these things. Jesus Christ suffered throughout the course of his entire life and then died the worst possible way someone could die not because He attracted those sufferings into his life through negative thinking, but rather because God willed it. One may say, but ‘The Law of Attractions’ attracts the ultimate good into one’s life, so in the case of Jesus, the ultimate good was accomplished through the cross. To this, I say to look at point 1 above again. God is the one who brought about the ultimate good by sending His son to die on a cross for our sins, not a non-thinking law of nature. For that matter, how could a ‘law of nature’ be able to determine what the ultimate good is? How could a law of nature do any determining whatsoever. The ultimate good is not the exact same thing as positive energy. For that matter, not all positive energy is good and not all negative energy is bad. They are both necessary but both completely under the control of The One True God of the Universe.
3. The logical conclusion that is derived from this false teaching is that bad things happen to people because of their own bad thoughts. The Bible has a different explanation for why bad things sometimes happen to people:
John 9:1-7 (HCSB)
1 As He was passing by, He saw a man blind from birth. 2 His disciples questioned Him: “ Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 3 “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” Jesus answered. “[This came about] so that God’s works might be displayed in him. 4 We must do the works of Him who sent Me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. 5 As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” 6 After He said these things He spit on the ground, made some mud from the saliva, and spread the mud on his eyes. 7 “Go,” He told him, “wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means “Sent”). So he left, washed, and came back seeing.
4. ‘The Secret’ and ‘The Law of Attractions’ also makes us gods! It says that we can create realities by just thinking about them.
5. Some say that the following passage supports ‘The Secret’:
Gal 6:6-10 (HCSB)
6 The one who is taught the message must share his goods with the teacher. 7 Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows he will also reap, 8 because the one who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit. 9 So we must not get tired of doing good, for we will reap at the proper time if we don’t give up. 10 Therefore, as we have opportunity, we must work for the good of all, especially for those who belong to the household of faith.
The reality is that this passage has nothing to do with the law of attractions or attracting things in one’s life by thinking about them. The passage is talking about the battle between living by the flesh and living by the Spirit. If we sow sin, we will reap sin. If we sow to please the Spirit, we will reap righteousness.