"The Secret"

Unless you live at the top of a mountain without any connection to civilization and what’s current in the news, you’ve heard of “The Secret” by Rhonda Byrne. I, like a good majority of people, picked up a copy of the book after seeing it – and the people involved – featured on Oprah. Then, what seemed like all of a sudden, several people I knew were talking about it.

Don’t worry; I’m not going to get into a long, drawn out book review – negative or positive – about The Secret. What I do want to get into; however, is why so many people – uh, read Christians – are criticizing this book (yes, I know it’s also a DVD). Some say it’s not telling us anything new, but has taken all the principles from the Bible and put it into a book just to make money. Others say it’s discounting God. And still others are saying they’re concerned about The Secret replacing or becoming bigger than God’s word and the Bible.

My question: What do you say?

I’ve found The Secret to be filled with basic, tangible principles that anyone can easily apply to their lives. I’ve discovered that it doesn’t discount God although it is trying to be all inclusive and non exclusive by terming most things as The Universe. But, as with anything, we must take the bitter with the sweet and the good with the bad. As Christians when we read books, magazine articles, blogs, newspapers, etc., – whether written by Christians or not – we must take what we read and compare it to the biblical principles we know to be true. We must realize there is validity in other written works and, to be honest, we must admit that if the author of this book started off by saying that she was led by God to reveal it to the people in this way then we wouldn’t have anything negative to say.

Oh, but then we’d have to contend with the people of other religions and faith that would say something negative about that. It’s never-ending criticism.

So, again, my question to you is what do you think about The Secret? Have you read it? Seen the DVD? Share your opinion… I’m anxious to hear it.

Don't forget to check back soon; my next post will be some excerpts from The Secret that I find particularly interesting.

Sexual Sin

I am in the midst of doing some research for a magazine article when I came across this article, written by Dr. Creflo A. Dollar who is the bishop of World Changers Church International. It's part one of a series so you'll have to check back for the other articles.

Pastor Dollar has spoken at our church (Word Of Faith Family Worship Cathedral) and I know his beliefs are in line with the word of God. So check him out and let me know what you think.

http://www.worldchangers.org/monthly.html

Complain, complain, complain

I don't normally get a chance to watch live television so I record different shows that I like to watch everyday including Oprah. Well, about a week ago I had the chance to watch the show where Oprah had a pastor on there talking about a bracelet his church distributes to help people stop complaining. Forty-five minutes hadn’t passed since I watched the show and I wrote the website in my journal so I could get a bracelet thinking that I will stop complaining!

It’s funny how I didn’t think I complained a lot until I realized I spent almost 10 minutes – not long after watching the show – telling a friend about something my husband did. When I got off the phone I felt like such an idiot! Not complaining at all is harder than you think.
This got me to thinking about my days as a single and celibate person. As I recall, I would complain about not having a husband, complain about wanting to have sex, complain about doing everything alone… oh, how the grass seemed greener on the other side. :-)

What we must realize – and what that pastor told Oprah – is that what we say and the passion in which we say it can be a complaint. For instance, if you say, “I’m single and celibate” without attitude and annoyance in your voice then it can be a simple statement. But if you say it with annoyance and a measure of anger then it’s a complaint. I’m sure you get the point.

No matter what our status in life we must remember to give thanks. There are quite a few scriptures that tell us to be thankful. (Check out I Chronicles 16, I Chronicles 29 and II Chronicles 5 – to name a few.) And, truthfully, if we’re being thankful then we have nothing to complain about. Right?

(To get your bracelet, go to www.acomplaintfreeworld.org. It's free. It may take up to five weeks to receive it, but hey "who's complaining?")