The Christian church in recent decades has unfortunately been infiltrated by many New Age/New Thought practices and beliefs including the Law of Attraction. It holds that we can attract what we want into our lives by simply having a high energy level or high energy vibration. In other words, if we are always thinking positive thoughts. But if we allow ourselves to think negatively, if we live at a low energy level, then this will attract bad things and events into our lives.
Is there anything in the Bible that supports this? Some have pointed to Matthew 7:7-11 as proof of the Law of Attraction:
Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened. Or who is there among you, who, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, who will give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
Sounds like God will give you anything you want, right? All you have to do is ask. However, this interpretation of the above passage contradicts what Jesus said elsewhere. In Matthew 16:24-26, John 16:33, John 15:20, and 1 Peter 2:21, Jesus says that his followers will be persecuted. He would not have said this if there was a magical method that would prevent this from happening. Jesus also never encouraged us to seek worldly success. Instead, he told us to focus on building treasures in the next world.
So how then should Matthew 7:7-11 be interpreted? The challenge is that Jesus often spoke in an exaggerated manner. Therefore, we should not take his words here literally.
What we “ask” for will be given to us if it is God’s will, but this often will not be the case. The word “seek” indicates that what we desire may not be immediately granted to us even if we are meant to have it. Effort and struggle may be required to attain it. “Knock” can also be interpreted the same, as we may have to knock more than once.
The phrase "For everyone who asks receives" is also referring to prayer. When we pray, God always responds, but not necessarily in the way we hope. This is why, instead of praying for something specific, we should simply pray for assistance without specifying the form it will take. We should pray for the highest good. God will always deliver the highest good, although it may not be something we desire. But what is agony for the ego is often elixir for the spirit. (Hawkins, 2001, p. 138)
My own life is an example of this. For almost all of my adult years, I struggled in every way imaginable. I couldn’t succeed at any endeavor I tried. I often questioned why God didn’t intervene in some way to help me.
However, looking back now, I can see that I was always on the perfect path. God was taking me down a path that would lead to something truly amazing, something far greater and far more important than material or worldly success. It was a path that led to me attaining an advanced spiritual state (the high 500s) and having the opportunity to share this path with the entire world.
So now let’s tackle the most important question: Is the Law of Attraction at all true? Well... somewhat. It is true that everything in the universe is connected to everything else. And there is something that exists that could be described as the Tendency of Attraction. If you hate yourself, you are likely to receive hatred from others. If you live in a constant negative state, you are more likely to attract negative things and events. But it is a tendency, not a law. Bad things can still happen when you are in a positive state of mind (and vice-versa). And the idea that you are just going to effortlessly manifest your dreams into reality by being at a high vibrational level or thinking positive thoughts is absolutely false. Therefore, constantly reciting mantras like “I am wealthy, I am attractive, I am enough” is a waste of time.
Are there people who are able to have things easily come to them? Yes. However, when this happens it is not due to their “energy vibration” but other factors. For example, attractive women often get showered with money and other luxury items, but when it happens it is because of their looks, not their thoughts. Yes, if you can find a sugar daddy, you might just manifest a Ferrari for yourself. But only attractive women will be capable of doing this.
Some people who attempt to manifest their goals wind up making them a reality through hard work and effort. Mind power had nothing to do with it. The most important thing you can do in regard to this “Tendency of Attraction” is to not allow yourself to wallow in negativity for long periods of time. Because if you do, you will be more likely to attract negative events into your life. So it’s more about making negative events less likely to occur than it is about creating positive events. But this is not to say you should never allow yourself to feel negative or that you should try to repress all of your pain. If you are going to use the tools in my book Christianity 2.0, there will be many times when you will need to let negative emotions come up so they can be released via the Letting Go method.
The Law of Attraction is in direct conflict with the idea of karma which holds that bad events that occur are sometimes due to negative things we’ve done in previous lifetimes. If you have a karmic debt to pay off, a high energy vibration is not going to shield you from the negative consequences of your karma.
The Law of Attraction claims that we have the ability to create anything we want just by controlling our thinking and our energy level. It holds that we can essentially command the power of God for our own purposes. If this is true, then why do we need to adopt Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior? Wouldn’t this make Jesus completely unnecessary?
Holy Christianity holds that this world is a purgatory and that our main purpose for our being born into it is to grow and evolve and ultimately attain salvation. But if the Law of Attraction is true then there is no need for salvation. For why would we need to be saved when we possess the power to command the universe itself? Why would we need to be saved when we have the power to save ourselves? And if this world is indeed a purgatory, then why would we be given the power to create anything we desire? (This would be the equivalent of prison inmates being housed in a first-class hotel.) It really makes no sense.
Hopefully, you can see that the Law of Attraction is in direct conflict with Christianity itself. The Bible does not promise us happiness. It does not promise that our dreams will come true. It says mostly the opposite, that we will be hated and persecuted if we follow Jesus Christ.
Again, we are here to grow and evolve. This means looking at ourselves in ways that are often not pleasant or fun. It means doing difficult work. But the Law of Attraction holds that we already possess the power inside ourselves to create absolutely anything we want. This makes us believe that we don’t need to change (except to always be in a positive state of mind). But forcing yourself to always wear a happy face is not going to make you an enlightened individual (you will probably build up a lot of anger deep inside). It is not going to lead to true spiritual growth which only occurs when we acknowledge the darkness that lies deep in our unconscious. We need to experience this darkness, this repressed pain, in order to release it. It’s not fun. The process doesn’t always make you feel good or upbeat. But it is the true pathway to freedom.
Finally, it is very easy to demonstrate that the Law of Attraction cannot work as intended. We are told that it works equally for everyone and that anything can be manifested into reality. Well, imagine if every young woman were to use the Law of Attraction to try to manifest an alpha male husband. Could it possibly work for every single one of them (assuming they all did it correctly)?
The answer is no. The reason we can say this is because only about two percent of men fit the standards that women desire (extremely tall, handsome, wealthy). There are simply not enough of these men for every woman who wants one. Therefore, the Law of Attraction must fail in this scenario. It is a mathematical certainty.
Sadly, many women actually believe in manifestation. They believe they can manifest the perfect husband, and so many of them refuse to settle for a man who doesn’t meet their perfect ideal. Thus the Law of Attraction is partly responsible for the huge collapse in marriage rates and the explosion of loneliness that has enveloped our society.
In conclusion, it is human nature to want success to come easy, but nothing that is worthwhile in life ever comes easy. Again, we should not indulge in negativity. We should not allow ourselves to always be in a negative state of mind. But this doesn’t mean we should never allow ourselves to experience anything negative. While we shouldn’t indulge in negative emotions when they come up, we shouldn’t suppress them either, as this will only lead to great pain in the long run.
So the Law of Attraction is really just the Tendency of Attraction. Therefore, we must reject the idea that God and the universe will bend to our every whim and that all our dreams will effortlessly come true if we just will it. We must not only reject the Law of Attraction, but the Christian church needs to reject it as well.
***
On an aside, your beliefs and your energy level do have an effect on your physical body. For example, negative emotions make the physical body go weak, and this can make you more susceptible to illness and disease. Believing that you are susceptible can also make getting sick more likely. I offer an example of this in Christianity 2.0. When I was very young, my parents told me that when you reach the age of 40, you start to have all kinds of problems. I believed this, and so when I turned 40, I began to suffer from physical ailments. Once I rejected this belief, these ailments immediately disappeared.
Hawkins, David R. The Eye of the I: From Which Nothing Remains Hidden. Sedona, Veritas Publishing, 2001.
Is there anything in the Bible that supports this? Some have pointed to Matthew 7:7-11 as proof of the Law of Attraction:
Ask, and it will be given you. Seek, and you will find. Knock, and it will be opened for you. For everyone who asks receives. He who seeks finds. To him who knocks it will be opened. Or who is there among you, who, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, who will give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!
Sounds like God will give you anything you want, right? All you have to do is ask. However, this interpretation of the above passage contradicts what Jesus said elsewhere. In Matthew 16:24-26, John 16:33, John 15:20, and 1 Peter 2:21, Jesus says that his followers will be persecuted. He would not have said this if there was a magical method that would prevent this from happening. Jesus also never encouraged us to seek worldly success. Instead, he told us to focus on building treasures in the next world.
So how then should Matthew 7:7-11 be interpreted? The challenge is that Jesus often spoke in an exaggerated manner. Therefore, we should not take his words here literally.
What we “ask” for will be given to us if it is God’s will, but this often will not be the case. The word “seek” indicates that what we desire may not be immediately granted to us even if we are meant to have it. Effort and struggle may be required to attain it. “Knock” can also be interpreted the same, as we may have to knock more than once.
The phrase "For everyone who asks receives" is also referring to prayer. When we pray, God always responds, but not necessarily in the way we hope. This is why, instead of praying for something specific, we should simply pray for assistance without specifying the form it will take. We should pray for the highest good. God will always deliver the highest good, although it may not be something we desire. But what is agony for the ego is often elixir for the spirit. (Hawkins, 2001, p. 138)
My own life is an example of this. For almost all of my adult years, I struggled in every way imaginable. I couldn’t succeed at any endeavor I tried. I often questioned why God didn’t intervene in some way to help me.
However, looking back now, I can see that I was always on the perfect path. God was taking me down a path that would lead to something truly amazing, something far greater and far more important than material or worldly success. It was a path that led to me attaining an advanced spiritual state (the high 500s) and having the opportunity to share this path with the entire world.
So now let’s tackle the most important question: Is the Law of Attraction at all true? Well... somewhat. It is true that everything in the universe is connected to everything else. And there is something that exists that could be described as the Tendency of Attraction. If you hate yourself, you are likely to receive hatred from others. If you live in a constant negative state, you are more likely to attract negative things and events. But it is a tendency, not a law. Bad things can still happen when you are in a positive state of mind (and vice-versa). And the idea that you are just going to effortlessly manifest your dreams into reality by being at a high vibrational level or thinking positive thoughts is absolutely false. Therefore, constantly reciting mantras like “I am wealthy, I am attractive, I am enough” is a waste of time.
Are there people who are able to have things easily come to them? Yes. However, when this happens it is not due to their “energy vibration” but other factors. For example, attractive women often get showered with money and other luxury items, but when it happens it is because of their looks, not their thoughts. Yes, if you can find a sugar daddy, you might just manifest a Ferrari for yourself. But only attractive women will be capable of doing this.
Some people who attempt to manifest their goals wind up making them a reality through hard work and effort. Mind power had nothing to do with it. The most important thing you can do in regard to this “Tendency of Attraction” is to not allow yourself to wallow in negativity for long periods of time. Because if you do, you will be more likely to attract negative events into your life. So it’s more about making negative events less likely to occur than it is about creating positive events. But this is not to say you should never allow yourself to feel negative or that you should try to repress all of your pain. If you are going to use the tools in my book Christianity 2.0, there will be many times when you will need to let negative emotions come up so they can be released via the Letting Go method.
The Law of Attraction is in direct conflict with the idea of karma which holds that bad events that occur are sometimes due to negative things we’ve done in previous lifetimes. If you have a karmic debt to pay off, a high energy vibration is not going to shield you from the negative consequences of your karma.
The Law of Attraction claims that we have the ability to create anything we want just by controlling our thinking and our energy level. It holds that we can essentially command the power of God for our own purposes. If this is true, then why do we need to adopt Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior? Wouldn’t this make Jesus completely unnecessary?
Holy Christianity holds that this world is a purgatory and that our main purpose for our being born into it is to grow and evolve and ultimately attain salvation. But if the Law of Attraction is true then there is no need for salvation. For why would we need to be saved when we possess the power to command the universe itself? Why would we need to be saved when we have the power to save ourselves? And if this world is indeed a purgatory, then why would we be given the power to create anything we desire? (This would be the equivalent of prison inmates being housed in a first-class hotel.) It really makes no sense.
Hopefully, you can see that the Law of Attraction is in direct conflict with Christianity itself. The Bible does not promise us happiness. It does not promise that our dreams will come true. It says mostly the opposite, that we will be hated and persecuted if we follow Jesus Christ.
Again, we are here to grow and evolve. This means looking at ourselves in ways that are often not pleasant or fun. It means doing difficult work. But the Law of Attraction holds that we already possess the power inside ourselves to create absolutely anything we want. This makes us believe that we don’t need to change (except to always be in a positive state of mind). But forcing yourself to always wear a happy face is not going to make you an enlightened individual (you will probably build up a lot of anger deep inside). It is not going to lead to true spiritual growth which only occurs when we acknowledge the darkness that lies deep in our unconscious. We need to experience this darkness, this repressed pain, in order to release it. It’s not fun. The process doesn’t always make you feel good or upbeat. But it is the true pathway to freedom.
Finally, it is very easy to demonstrate that the Law of Attraction cannot work as intended. We are told that it works equally for everyone and that anything can be manifested into reality. Well, imagine if every young woman were to use the Law of Attraction to try to manifest an alpha male husband. Could it possibly work for every single one of them (assuming they all did it correctly)?
The answer is no. The reason we can say this is because only about two percent of men fit the standards that women desire (extremely tall, handsome, wealthy). There are simply not enough of these men for every woman who wants one. Therefore, the Law of Attraction must fail in this scenario. It is a mathematical certainty.
Sadly, many women actually believe in manifestation. They believe they can manifest the perfect husband, and so many of them refuse to settle for a man who doesn’t meet their perfect ideal. Thus the Law of Attraction is partly responsible for the huge collapse in marriage rates and the explosion of loneliness that has enveloped our society.
In conclusion, it is human nature to want success to come easy, but nothing that is worthwhile in life ever comes easy. Again, we should not indulge in negativity. We should not allow ourselves to always be in a negative state of mind. But this doesn’t mean we should never allow ourselves to experience anything negative. While we shouldn’t indulge in negative emotions when they come up, we shouldn’t suppress them either, as this will only lead to great pain in the long run.
So the Law of Attraction is really just the Tendency of Attraction. Therefore, we must reject the idea that God and the universe will bend to our every whim and that all our dreams will effortlessly come true if we just will it. We must not only reject the Law of Attraction, but the Christian church needs to reject it as well.
***
On an aside, your beliefs and your energy level do have an effect on your physical body. For example, negative emotions make the physical body go weak, and this can make you more susceptible to illness and disease. Believing that you are susceptible can also make getting sick more likely. I offer an example of this in Christianity 2.0. When I was very young, my parents told me that when you reach the age of 40, you start to have all kinds of problems. I believed this, and so when I turned 40, I began to suffer from physical ailments. Once I rejected this belief, these ailments immediately disappeared.
Hawkins, David R. The Eye of the I: From Which Nothing Remains Hidden. Sedona, Veritas Publishing, 2001.