Ed Gungor - There is More to the Secret: An Examination of Rhonda Byrnes Bestselling Book The Secret

THERE IS
MORE
TO THE
SECRET

Copyright 2007 by Ed Gungor

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Gungor, Ed.
There is more to the secret : an examination of Rhonda Byrne's bestselling
book "The secret".
p. cm.
ISBN-10: 0-8499-1978-9
ISBN-13: 978-0-8499-1978-7
1. Byrne, Rhonda. Secret. 2. Success. 3. Intentionalism. 4. Success
Religious aspectsChristianity.
I. W Publishing Group.
BJ1611.2.T44 2007
248.4dc22

2007012354

Printed in the United States of America
07 08 09 10 11 RRD 5 4 3 2 1

Dedicated to:

Dr. Bahri and Lilly Gungor
and
Gerard and Elizabeth Griesbaum
Thank you for always loving, supporting, and believing in your kids.
You are deeply loved and appreciated!

Contents

Introduction
There Is More to the Secret

Of late, the Secret seems to be on everyones lips. It is a belief that has been discovered and rediscovered all throughout historyand it is transforming. Understanding the law behind it changes everything. In her book The Secret, Rhonda Byrne and her team of contributors do a brilliant job of pulling together fragments of the great law that has been tucked away in oral traditions, in literature, and in religions and philosophies throughout the ages. They give us a life-transforming glance at this ancient truth.

But there is more to be told than this recent best-selling book has revealed. In fact, without a deeper look into the more I speak of, I fear that heartache may outweigh what help has been realized in peoples lives.

That is the why of this writing. Though it is not my intention to tear down the good that has been communicated, we must proceed with caution. There is more to this story that must be toldthere ismore to the Secret.

Ed Gungor

Gods and Genies

OK. Before I get started, I have a confession to make. Im an apprentice of Jesus Christ, and though I am a fan of Rhonda Byrne and her teams treatment of the law of attraction, I am a critical fan. I am very excited about what Byrne has communicated in the 2006 best-selling self-help book The Secret, and the film documentary of the same name. But at the same time, I do not start or end in the same philosophical place that the book does. For example, I do not believe that human beings are evolving into gods; we will always need God. Neither do I believe that humankind can self-save; we need a Savior. I believe that Jesus Christ knew this so-called secret, but he still had to diethe concept alone will not save us. Further, I feel that Byrne and company left too much room for material greed, social apathy, and the blaming of victims for the horrific events that occur in their lives. (Im not suggesting that was their intention, but it is still a problem.) This does not mean, however, that I dont think the book has many good things to sayit does. In fact, I want to spend the bulk of this writing expanding on the treasure that it explores. Well talk about the problems as we go along.

What Is It?

We only have one shot at life. Consequently, I think we should write our lives largewe should decide to matter. This idea helps us do that. It touches every aspect of our livesfrom our finances to our health to our relationships. When understood, it unearths the hidden, untapped power within each of uspagan or saint.

This is not some complex, hard-to-grasp idea. It is simply the law of attraction. This law, plainly stated, is: Everything coming into yourlife is the result of what you have been attracting to your life. Your life is not the way it is by accident; it is the product of cause and effect. In a sense, how you live your life is a magnet, which draws the events that occur into your lifeboth good and bad.

Though this may sound scary at first (everything is my fault? ), what a great discovery it is! This means that you and I have a lot to say about how happy our lives can be. When we learn how the law of attraction works, we can work it to keep the good things we enjoy coming into our lives while refusing access to the bad things.

But is that really possible?

There are many who believe that whatever is destined to be, willbe. They think that humans have nothing to do with the future; that is Gods sphere. Things only happen, these folks contend, because of Gods sovereignty, and human beings dont really cause anything to happen that God wouldnt have done anyway. This group would argue that our thoughts, beliefs, and actions are more of an aside, because God will do what God will do, irrespective of what humans do.

But if God had really wanted to create a world where humans couldnt control things, then why did he create a world filled with lawslaws so specific and predictable that we can send a person to the moon and predict within a fraction of a second when he or she will land there? What if God created laws precisely so that we humans could have more control over our lives? The great apostle Paul claimed, All things are yours, whether... the world or life or death or the present or the futureall are yours.

These texts assert that the way we participate in the world God created is much the same way a farmer participates with the laws of nature. A farmer who wants the earth to yield a corn crop must learn to cooperate with nature to get it. Nature does not select the kind of harvestit waits for the farmer to decide. The farmer makes that choice. He predicts the fields future by the kind of seed that is sown there. To attract corn, the farmer simply plants corn seed. This is the way the law of attraction works.