Rhonda Byrne’s wildly popular book The Secret is clearly aimed at the entitlement culture of America. It’s core message is that you can will all kinds of success into being. The book (and DVD) asserts that you shape your future not so much by learning and hard work as by the thoughts you project. These thoughts create reality.
Some wonder if these concepts are in agreement with Christianity. After all, the Bible says, “as a man thinks, so he is.” The author refers to scripture occasionally, but out of context. Even the thought mentioned here is a reference to character and not to the power to call future realities into existence through the power of your own thought.
The Secret teachignes that everything is God. This is nothing more than pantheism in new clothes. It also produces a cruel and non-Christian view of reality. If you live in suffering, it’s because your thoughts put you there. So a child with lukemia is ultimately repsonsible for her physical condition, according to this logic.
Our culture teaches us to scream, “I want, I want, I want!” The Secret turns this selfish cry into a virtue, asserting that if you shoult it long enough and with enough faith (?) you can make it happen. This mantra fits the narcissism of the modern age, but has little to do with the teaching of Christ and the apostles. In fact, it lures followers of Christ into a materialistic fairy land that is antithetical to the pursuit of God.
