It is all the buzz, the #1 seller on Amazon and featured twice on Oprah!
So, what is The Secret? It is the Law of Attraction.
In the film, Bob Proctor says, "Everything that's coming into your life you are attracting into your life. And it's attracted to you by virtue of the images you're holding in your mind."
So what is a Christian to think of this?
In the Christian sphere, we hear similar messages in the prosperity gospel, name it and claim it, your best life now, and the power of positive thinking.
Are there useful principles and truths that are applicable to a believer's growth and maturity? Sure there are. Learning to take thoughts captive, to have our minds renewed according to the truth of God's Word, to overcome doubt and fear, these are all valuable concepts to understand.
Will this be a tool for bringing truth to spiritual seekers?
Is The Secret really Truth?
Is Spam really meat?
Is Velveeta really cheese?
I don't think that we can present a message of self-will and expect that people will find the truth of Jesus and the gospel in the midst of that.
The promises of The Secret seem antithetical to taking up one's cross. Based on its enormous popularity, we can see that people want answers. Or maybe they just want easy answers.
People are hungry.
Can we give them something better than Velveeta and Spam?
10 comments:
Great post! How the devil must laugh to see people caught up in this "think it, claim it, and it's yours" stuff. And how it must hurt the Lord when we demand the velveeta and Spam instead of accepting the meat of His Word and the Living Bread of His Presence.
Kat
Gnosticism - repackaged.
Wow. And people said my can o' worms pix were gross. Worms got NOTHIN' on whatever that abomination-on-a-plate might be...
Although it's a fitting pictorial metaphor for the "Secret Bull****" that you're referring to. Me got no time for "name it and claim it", "blab it and grab it", or "need it and greed it".
I know this is a tertiary point ... but where on earth did you find that abominable photo? and the fork has bits on it ... gah!!! That is soooo horrifying ....
Like, wow... robby mac and your picture says it all. Ugh!
People are hungry. The fields are white unto harvest. So... what is wrong with the harvesters?? Or, are the ones actually harvesting serving something other than God?
Could we have warnings on posts where there is gross food. Robby got me last week and I was eating dinner this week when I saw this. Actually this might work as a good diet for me, read blogs with gross looking pictures on them. Grace good post though. This kind of thinking isn't just in the Pentecostal realm any more.
Great post - gross pic! But the pic goes great with the post :)
I am glad you brought this up. I've just started hearing about "The Secret"
Kat,
Yes, you would think we might at least understand that it's not all about us.
sue,
Yes, I've heard it described as gnosticism, buddhism, karma, even wiccan.
robby,
You don't like my meatloaf?
sonja,
You can google almost anything. I take it you didn't have any spam and velveeta in the pantry? Think of the meals you could have had!
bryan,
Sometimes it is good to be reminded how hungry that people are and then to consider how we can present the Bread that we have in a way that looks more appealing than Spam. The real tragedy is that over the years, Truth has been presented in a way that is disgusting to those who are hungry.
pj,
That's true. I wonder how I would feel about the idea if I hadn't already been so exposed to it through the WofFaith teaching and PMA teaching like Peale and Schuller. It is certainly not new.
barbara,
My hairdresser brought it up yesterday also. It lead to some good conversation about prayer and belief (from me) and visualization and energy (from her).
For gross food pics along with humorous commentary on same, try the gallery of regrettable food section of James Lileks' site.
http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/
I was reading in Colossians 2 in the Message Bible. Amazing, it looks like Col 2:3 or 4 is where it starts and read on til it says, "I don't want anyone leading you off on some wild-goose chase, after so-called mysteries, or "the Secret". I kid you not!!! Also I don't mean to be anonomous I just don't know how else to do this, my name is Marcy!!!
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