"The Secret"

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I presume everyone knows about the book “The Secret”, and that ridiculous DVD which is also available. Well, it’s seemed to have caught on around here, and I am looking for some resources on how I could refute the rubbish that it preaches, as some people I know are seriously believing what it teaches. Does anyone know of any sites, videos, or anything I could look at?

God Bless :signofcross::byzsoc:
 
I presume everyone knows about the book “The Secret”, and that ridiculous DVD which is also available…] I am looking for some resources on how I could refute the rubbish that it preaches…]
A problem you may encounter is that “The Secret” has already addressed the possibility of some one trying to refute it. The people to which you present refutation may take your actions as a confirmation of something that “The Secret” told them would happen. You may be seen as an entity that is trying to discourage them.
 
I presume everyone knows about the book “The Secret”, and that ridiculous DVD which is also available. Well, it’s seemed to have caught on around here, and I am looking for some resources on how I could refute the rubbish that it preaches, as some people I know are seriously believing what it teaches. Does anyone know of any sites, videos, or anything I could look at?

God Bless :signofcross::byzsoc:
I didn’t know about it, but having looked into it now, I’d ignore it. People get caught up in these things, but then it passes when their problems just keep manifesting over and over. It’ll go away of you don’t feed it.

After all, no one’s going around saying “I’m ok; you’re ok” anymore and talking about warm fuzzies.

And aren’t we grateful!
 
Did you read the comments from this readers post? Someone is claiming to be “Marcus’s brother” and defending him, promising vengeance. I can’t believe Amazon is allowing those posts to remain there.
 
I didn’t know about it, but having looked into it now, I’d ignore it. People get caught up in these things, but then it passes when their problems just keep manifesting over and over. It’ll go away of you don’t feed it.

After all, no one’s going around saying “I’m ok; you’re ok” anymore and talking about warm fuzzies.

And aren’t we grateful!
A few years ago someone kept bugging me to read it; I haven’t. It’s too New Agey.
 
I can’t believe Amazon is allowing those posts to remain there.
Typically Amazon allows it’s users to police the review content. But unless something is blatantly offensive, deceptive, or goes way across some other line it’s going to be left alone. Though users do have the option of down-voting reviews that you see as being unhelpful.
 
Did you read the comments from this readers post? Someone is claiming to be “Marcus’s brother” and defending him, promising vengeance. I can’t believe Amazon is allowing those posts to remain there.
It’s a level. Just like the original story. Amazon once had a l kind of cheesy-looking t-shirt on sale with, iirc, three wolves on it. Bunch of people started coming in saying how wearing the shirt brought them the favor of some Native American god, poker players started showing up in the shirt, it was all a big joke, a “level” as they say. The shirt got to be very popular!

These things in comment boxes are sort of like online graffiti and they are “tagging” each other. Sometimes they are very creative and funny.
 
A few years ago someone kept bugging me to read it; I haven’t. It’s too New Agey.
Well, we already know the real secret, and that is: it’s not a secret! Though often told in parables. 😉
 
All you really need to know is that this guy is behind “the secret”… the rest is an argumentum ad hominum
 
Why would you want to “refute” it?
It’s about positive thinking and “ask and you shall receive”–its main theme is akin to a well-known lesson taught in the bible…why do you call that “rubbish”?

There are a zillion negative things out there to worry about…it may be more useful to concentrate your energies ridding the world of those things, instead of a book that tries to help people not to give up hope.
Having seen it, I’d say it teaches more that people should become self-centred, selfish, materialistic idiots. It focuses almost entirely on getting more material possessions and that will make you happier - completely contrary to a Christian way of life. It completely ignores that not all things are within a persons control - for example, by ‘the secret’ if someone gets cancer it’s because they attracted the cancer to them, which anyone with a modicum of intelligence or common sense should know is idiocy. It teaches you to completely ignore being considerate or kind of charitable to other and to only think about oneself - again completely contrary to a Christian way of life.
I presume everyone knows about the book “The Secret”, and that ridiculous DVD which is also available. Well, it’s seemed to have caught on around here, and I am looking for some resources on how I could refute the rubbish that it preaches, as some people I know are seriously believing what it teaches. Does anyone know of any sites, videos, or anything I could look at?

God Bless :signofcross::byzsoc:
Honestly, I’ve seen part of the DVD (I had a class about self-help literature) and I fail to see how anyone can take it seriously. It is the most clearly ludicrous piece of trash I have seen in a long time.

I haven’t actually had the time to read it but I scanned it and this may help you.
 
DaddyGirl,

Your signature…
Wherever you go, there you are."
🤷
But up here-yah in Maine, we say…
“You can’t get there from here.”
“Where does the road go? Nowhere. Stays here all the time.”
“Been here all my life? No. Not yet.”
“Our town has the roads that will get you somewhere.”
“For decades to come, centuries will pass.”
“Where’s Camden? Go down two miles, turn right, take the first left, find the red house, knock on the door and ask for Bob. He’ll tell you.”
 
Fr Benedict Groeschel for one has written about it and even discussed it on his program, start googling past EWTN shows, or his books
 
Why would you want to “refute” it?
It’s about positive thinking and “ask and you shall receive”–its main theme is akin to a well-known lesson taught in the bible…why do you call that “rubbish”?
I can understand wanting to refute it given how I’ve seen some people implement it. I’ve got three associates who after seeing the Secret started to think that the mishaps they encountered were the result of insufficient positive thoughts being thrown out instead of the consequence of personal decisions. If something didn’t go right instead of examining the causes of an outcome and making an adjustment the reaction was to think more positive thoughts. Had the message they took away been something like “I need to keep a positive attitude!” I might have had no problem with it. But that’s not what was taken away.

In all fairness that’s more of a problem with their interpretations and implementation than the message.

For the associates that were following it I just let it run its course. In two out of the three cases the associates moved on.
 
LOL…all that’s going on up there in Maine?
Ayuh! We don’t just hang around waiting for the potatoes to grow. We philosophize. 😃

Ain’t no such thing as an empty head:
“An empty head is not really empty; it is stuffed with rubbish. Hence the difficulty of forcing anything in to an empty head.” – Eric Hoffer
Sounds very Stephen King-ish! (He lives in Bangor, as I’m sure you know).
I was at the Univ of Maine at the same time as King. He had a gossip column in the school newspaper called, “Steve King’s Garbage Truck”. I think he still writes garbage. Ghosts, poltergeists, psychokinesis and time travel? I can’t take it seriously.
 
Hey everyone, my first post here. I didn’ t thought of “the secret” as much as a self help book, but after watching the videos of Sharon Lee Giganti on CatholicAnswers about this topic, I completely changed my mind. (dont know if I am allowed to link, but you can find it on the homepage in the video section).

Unfortunately my cousin is reading this book and is having a difficult time at the moment. Just, a while ago, I myself had a life changing experience, but I had to suffer a lot. But in that moment I was able to find God. My cousin though believes that the solution to her problem lies in the secret. Instead of believing that God is in control, she believes that she is in control

Nevertheless, I myself would not encourage reading this. One can argue that it’s teaching is not bad at all, if the “right” things are extracted and applied correctly, but why even bother with it? I would rather recommend a christian book, tackling lifes questions and struggles from a christian point of view.

I believe that we Christians don’t need “the secret” when we have the Truth.

GB
 
fyi “The Secret” isn’t about not believing in God or anything…it’s about using the same principles as most religions teach. Not everyone is affiliated with a specific religion, so if someone is not officially “christian” or “Jewish”, they are likely not going to tackle a problem from a specifically christian or jewish pov using specific religious ideas–knowingly, anyway.
Probably… this for me though is like saying:“better than nothing”. I just believe that we as christians are obliged to show them not a better way but the best way. 🙂
It doesn’t teach that one is “in control” in a* bad *way…it shows that we do have the ability to help ourselves and be *pro-active *about it, not just wait around for fate to step in or something. Not just wait for someone to offer us the job we want…or wait for the love-of-our-life to show up on our doorstep.
Doesn’t religion teach this?
God helps those who help themselves?
“Pray as though everything depended on God. Work as though everything depended on you.” - is i guess, a more christian approach and is what i suggested my cousin 🙂

I dont know if you watched those videos on the catholicanswers homepage, but I recommend you to, because there it is pointed out, that it is actually sin.
 
fyi “The Secret” isn’t about not believing in God or anything…it’s about using the same principles as most religions teach. Not everyone is affiliated with a specific religion, so if someone is not officially “christian” or “Jewish”, they are likely not going to tackle a problem from a specifically christian or jewish pov using specific religious ideas–knowingly, anyway.

It doesn’t teach that one is “in control” in a* bad *way…it shows that we do have the ability to help ourselves and be *pro-active *about it, not just wait around for fate to step in or something. Not just wait for someone to offer us the job we want…or wait for the love-of-our-life to show up on our doorstep.
The Secret quotes the bible and many followers believe that it’s bible based or at least compatible with the bible, but it is not.

I don’t think your understanding is correct. I know some people who are followers of the Secret, and FYI, they sound exactly like the folks on the The Secret forum. They won’t say anything realistic (negative) because they don’t want to attract something negative. They believe if something bad happens, e.g. if they are in a car accident or if their spouse has an affair, it’s a manifestation of their negative thoughts. It’s also sad when they won’t contact a dying family member because the disease was brought on by negative thought and they need to stay away from any manifestations of this negative thinking.

I’m not kidding or exaggerating. And the people I know? Have been involved in this for years. I used to be close with them but it appears this program causes them to lose empathy with others. The only “support” they seem to offer is pushing “The Secret” or selling vitamins from their home based business. Not giving, but selling.
Doesn’t religion teach this?
God helps those who help themselves?
Not, it really doesn’t. We are to look to God to provide, but this does not mean being passive or lazy (off the top of my head Proverbs 31).
Although you didn’t say that the bolded is from scripture, I just want make clear to anyone reading that it is not.

I also wanted to add that the Secret sounds a lot like the Word of Faith movement. Word of Faith/Prosperity Gospel isn’t biblical either. And the followers sound the same as The Secret folks.
 
Daddys Girl~ I have watched the Secret and the reason people on this website who are Catholic don’t like it is because it is new age. It teaches about energies and a supernatural way of looking at things that does not put God first. We are meant to live in wanting to do Gods will , not seeking first those things we want to attract to ourselves.
 
I hasten to guess you didn’t read the book? Because then you’d know that one of it’s main focuses is gratitude, not greed…and also, it’s not just on “how to get rich”…but on how to improve one’s money situation, health and relationships–the *exact *same things people on this site need help with and constantly ask others to pray for, for them, every day, dozens of requests per day.

I see many people here–many posts–about people who are in financial distress and wanting to improve it and asking others to help them to improve it. I wouldn’t say that’s greed.
Prayer is a very uplifting, positive force…prayer and positive thinking both help a person.

If you think about a problem but you think about it positively, it helps to solve it. That is all. There’s nothing to refute and no hocus-pocus–it’s common sense, really. And it helps so many people to think positively about a problem, rather than negatively and feel it is hopeless. Positive visualization, as the book suggests, helps a person think of positive ways to attack a problem instead of being flattened by it.

So I would* encourage* people to read this book.
If the Secret does not confess Jesus Christ then there is no truth in it.
 
Not sure what you mean…how does a book confess Jesus?

If you pick up any history or psychology or math or philosophy or…most books, they don’t usually “confess Jesus” if they are not specifically linked to or about a Christian religion…would that mean they have no truth in them?

Not sure what you mean here…
Wisdom of the world perishes in the light of Christ. I take it you deny Christ (off-the-record). This stupid book called the Secret claims to have spiritual answers to spiritual questions. It claims to be a book of truth yet it does not confess the spirit of Truth, the Holy Ghost; nor Father, nor Son. How could a book of Truth that confesses neither Father nor Son be anything but a book of lies?

Little word of advice. Try to see the living one while you are living lest you die and are unable to see him. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

note: Jesus is the Living one.

The Parable of the Ten Virgins
1 “At that time the kingdom of heaven will be like ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. 2 Five of them were foolish and five were wise. 3 The foolish ones took their lamps but did not take any oil with them. 4 The wise ones, however, took oil in jars along with their lamps. 5 The bridegroom was a long time in coming, and they all became drowsy and fell asleep.
6 “At midnight the cry rang out: ‘Here’s the bridegroom! Come out to meet him!’

7 “Then all the virgins woke up and trimmed their lamps. 8 The foolish ones said to the wise, ‘Give us some of your oil; our lamps are going out.’

9 “‘No,’ they replied, ‘there may not be enough for both us and you. Instead, go to those who sell oil and buy some for yourselves.’

10 “But while they were on their way to buy the oil, the bridegroom arrived. The virgins who were ready went in with him to the wedding banquet. And the door was shut.

11 “Later the others also came. ‘Lord, Lord,’ they said, ‘open the door for us!’

12 “But he replied, ‘Truly I tell you, I don’t know you.’

13 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.
 
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