What Is Law of Attraction | Bite – Sized

Law of Attraction. LOA, for short. What is it? What does the Bible say about it? Should Christians participate in LOA?

What Is It?

Law of Attraction is the belief that every single thing we do in life has a reaction, either good or bad. LOA can be as simple as the desire to manifest things to happen through positive thinking alone, the fear of attracting bad things, and/or it could be more intricate, people are consumed with every little thing they do to make things happen. They become fearful and obsessive about making wrong choices, causing bad things to happen to themselves or those they love. LOA is often connected with the idea of karma. There’s good and bad energy idea. If you think of bad stuff, bad stuff happens. If you think of good things, then good things happen.

Origins

The origins of LOA are from New Thought. Founders such as Emmanuel Swedenborg, Anton Mesmer, and Phineas Parkhurst Quimby influenced and shaped New Thought. Practices with crystals to purify vibrations, for use in LOA, is from the occult. (More On The Secret, Occult: Brief Explanations)

Is It Biblical?
Law of Attraction is not Biblical. LOA requires legalism in order to work. We are not gods. We do not have the power of God to manifest things into existence. Sadly, there is a lot of scripture twisting regarding this topic. The only One who manifests anything in scripture is God.

LOA is selfish, it’s purely about getting what we want, when we want. “I want it now, daddy!”

Excuse – “Well, if God doesn’t want me to have it, then He won’t allow it.”

Or, God will turn us over to our sin. LOA is not of God, but demons, and demons do not care if we get external things. Darkness only cares that we remain corrupted internally.

Christ tells us that the life of a Christian will be hard, but nothing is in vain. The renewal process strips Christians of flesh desires and struggles of our old way of life. Whereas, LOA encourages to remain in serving self above anything else. Ironically, when trials happen for the Christians, it is not actually a bad thing. God can use hardship to help us grow. Energy has nothing to do with it.

Doreen Virtue describes LOA in this way. She says even when LOA works, if we go against God’s will, what we gain will not last. We will not be happy. What we have will never be enough. (See: Doreen Virtue- Why Christians Should Avoid Vision Boards, she grew up with learning LOA techniques, and LOA worked for her, but it never was enough.)

Legalistic Life Style

Often, people who believe they can manifest things in their life will surround themselves with positivity and attempting positive “vibes.” The term “positive vibes” actually relates to the idea that because there is energy all around us, there are vibrations. People believe we can “positively charge” our vibrations around us. These positive vibrations will then manifest what we desire.

Law of Attraction is part of New Age, Progressive Christianity, Prosperity Gospel/Word of Faith Movement and more.

LOA shows itself through use of vision boards. The pure goal is to manifest what we desire to happen in our life.

Note: This does not mean having a healthy practice of routine, time management, etc is bad. If you want a job, if you want to work on priorities better – there are healthy practical practices we can do. But trying to will yourself to get what you want, using objects to purify the vibrations around you, surrounding yourself in positivity for the goal of getting what you want, using positivity and objects like supernatural magnets etc, this is not what God tells us to do in the Bible.

To Dive Into The Topic Check Out:

Inside Cup – Law Of Attraction Works & I’ll Never Use It Again (Nastasia Grace)
Inside Cup – Visionaries & Vision Boards: Warning To Christians
Got Questions – What Is The Law of Attraction?
Got Questions – What Does The Bible Say About Visualization?
Berean Research – The Moment You Speak Something You Give Birth To It?
Melissa Dougherty – Why I Think The Law of Attraction is Garbage | Stop Calling It Christian
Melissa Dougherty- Why Law of Attraction, Oneness, Universalism, Mysticism, and Religious Pluralism aren’t Christian
Alisa Childers – Law of Attraction & Hyper-Charismatic Movement w/ Melissa Dougherty
Allen Parr (The Beat) – Christians Stop Manifesting What You Want
Doreen Virtue- Why Christians Should Avoid Vision Boards
Marcia Montenegro (Christian Answers For The New Age) – Secret: A Cosmic Dream Machine
Marcia Montenegro (Christian Answers For The New Age) – More On The Secret: Chicken Bones for the Hungry Soul
Marcia Montenegro (Christian Answers For The New Age) – New Thought: Making The Straight Ways Crooked – A Warning For Christians (Pg. 1)
Marcia Montenegro (Christian Answers For The New Age) – New Age: What Is It?
Marcia Montenegro (Christian Answers For The New Age) – Occult: Brief Explanations of Various Terms (Pg. 1), Occult: Brief Explanations of Various Terms (Pg. 2) – Use of objects, energy, and crystals is covered.

Bite-Sized is a series covering topics that will be helpful for Christians to identify. The goal is to share a quick summary and then resources for your own research to learn more.

References

Montenegro, M. (n.d.). More on the secret: Chicken bones for the hungry Soul. (n.d.). Christiananswersforthenewage.Org. Retrieved January 18, 2022, from http://www.christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_SecretMore.html

Montenegro, M. (n.d.). Occult: Brief Explainations of Various Terms And Concepts. Christian Answers For The New Age. http://www.christiananswersforthenewage.org/Articles_OccultTerms2.html

Virtue, D. (n.d.). Why Christians Should Avoid Vision Boards. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ccsTSlO63s&t=2s

Scripture To Memorize/Meditate On – (ESV) John 16:07-08, “Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.”

To learn more about what Jesus did on the cross and why His atonement sacrifice is so needed please see: Why Did A Loving God Kill His Son? (Does God Hate?)
*If you do not know the Gospel, do not turn away. If you think you know the Gospel, check out these questions and see how prepared you are for the day someone might ask you why you believe: The Gospel Challenge (30 Question Quiz) – Are You Ready To Defend Your Faith?

Community Prayer – Community Prayer – January ’22

Christian Topics/Series Covered
Believer Handbook
Personal Blog: Peeking Beneath
Blog For Christian Women: UnAshamed Christian Housewife
Godly Men & Women I Recommend: Link To List
Resources For False Teaching: Recommended Websites For False Teachers/Teaching
Video Playlist: Christian Questions, Topics, False Teachers, Insights
Video Playlist: New Christian Believer
Video Playlist: Understanding False Teachings
Video Playlist: Sermons To Grow From