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Summary
- Manifesting, as the law of attraction teaches it, trusts your thoughts or “the universe” to bring what Scripture says comes from God, so Christians treat it as a sin.
- The idea comes from the 19th-century New Thought movement. A 1906 book by William Walker Atkinson carried “the law of attraction” in its title, and Rhonda Byrne’s The Secret (2006) spread it widely.
- Cambridge Dictionary made “manifest” its Word of the Year for 2024, after 130,000 page views for the word.
- Mark 11:24 is a promise to people who pray with faith in God, and 1 John 5:14 adds, “if we ask any thing according to his will, he heareth us.”
- In Gethsemane Jesus asked for the cup to be taken away and ended, “nevertheless not my will, but thine, be done” (Luke 22:42).
- Planning, gratitude and thinking about good things (Philippians 4:8) are not sins. They become superstition when you expect them to make things happen.
- Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran and Reformed teaching all describe prayer as bringing our desires to God and accepting his will.
Bibliography (Click to show)
- The Bible, King James Version: Psalm 37:4-5; 42:5; Proverbs 18:7-8, 21; Matthew 6:10; Mark 11:22-25; Luke 14:28; 22:42; Romans 4:17; 1 Corinthians 12:7; Philippians 4:6-8, 11; Hebrews 11:1, 6; James 1:17; 4:3, 14-15; 1 John 1:9; 5:14.
- Cambridge Dictionary, “Cambridge Dictionary Word of the Year 2024,” About Words blog, 20 November 2024. dictionaryblog.cambridge.org
- Cambridge Dictionary, “manifest,” sense “imagine achievement.” dictionary.cambridge.org
- Encyclopaedia Britannica, “New Thought,” revised by Brian Duignan, 18 March 2024. britannica.com
- Bryn Donovan, “Prosperity gospel,” Encyclopaedia Britannica, 20 May 2026. britannica.com
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2110-2117, “You shall have no other gods before me.” vatican.va
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2629-2633, “The Prayer of Petition.” vatican.va
- Catechism of the Catholic Church, 2734-2741, “Filial Trust.” vatican.va
- Prayer of the Optina Elders, St. Paisius Orthodox Christian parish. sppoc.org (PDF)
- Martin Luther, Small Catechism (1529), Part III, The Lord’s Prayer, Book of Concord. bookofconcord.org
- The Westminster Shorter Catechism (1647), questions 98 and 103, Orthodox Presbyterian Church edition. opc.org
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