“The Secret” And The Balance of Good And Evil
“The Secret” has really caught on. It seems like you can’t watch news programs and daytime talk shows without someone bringing it up. The teachers from the movie are showing up everywhere from The Ellen Show to Larry King Live.
As I listened to people asking some hard questions about Darfur and 9/11 during the Larry King Live show, I just had to chuckle. It’s not that the problems we face in this world are anything to make light of, because they aren’t. The world is full of horrible suffering that is not going to be solved with wishful thinking. In order to change the world, we will have to not only think positively, but we will have to think and act compassionately.
For years I have seen Christians maligned and ridiculed because people have looked at all the problems in the world, the suffering and the pain, and believed that the existence of these evils was proof that God doesn’t exist. They reasoned that a good God wouldn’t allow such things to happen, therefore there must not be a God.
But thanks to “The Secret” they now have something else to blame, because the Law of Attraction says that it’s the victims themselves who are causing their suffering. If you listen to Dr. Joe Vitale he will tell you that people attract everything that happens to them. So the people who are suffering around the world are creating their own problems, they just don’t know it. At some unconscious level the victims are really the perpetrators, because they must feel that they deserve to be beaten, starved, and murdered. After all, that is what they are “attracting” into their lives.
Not all of the teachers from the movie share Dr. Vitale’s sentiments. Their answer to the world’s ills is: They don’t know. The “universe” has good and bad in it, and that’s just the way it works out. The events in Darfur or the attack on 9/11 just happened, and we don’t understand why.
And then there are those who teach that the universe is a perfect balance between positive and negative, good and evil. If you take that thought to an extreme, you might begin to believe that bad things happen because of the good. For every person who is doing well in life, there would have to be someone, somewhere, who is suffering.
When I look at the world from a Christian point of view, I recognize that there is evil in the world. It got its power from the rebellion of Adam when he disobeyed God and ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The world started going downhill from that point on and all the problems we see today are not because some cosmic balance has to be maintained, but because men are sinners. They don’t understand the blessings and goodness of God, so they cause pain and suffering.
It is Romans 12:21 that tells us we can overcome evil with good. With God all things are possible, and there isn’t some universal balance that needs to be maintained. As we learn to live and love in the way God wants us to, we can change the world. We can bring the truth of God’s love to a suffering world and tell them that He wants the absolute best for them. There isn’t some capricious universe that punishes some and blesses others, there is a God who died so that all men could be forgiven and freed from the power and consequences of sin.
As we learn to live in God’s abundance, fully recognizing that there is no limit to His goodness, all greed and competition will cease. Those who live in His blessings know that they can only enjoy more when they become loving, giving servants. The promise of scripture is so much greater than anything “The Secret” has to offer, because it puts everything in the proper perspective. And our faith in God will do more than put money in our bank accounts; it will fill the world with God’s love and blessings.