Is Manifesting a Sin? Manifestation and the Law of Attraction

Manifesting, as Wallace D. Wattles stated it in 1910, says a thought impressed on a formless thinking substance creates the thing imagined. The Bible says God created the world, and that the Word who was God made all things. Asking God for daily bread is not the same act as claiming that one’s own thought creates the thing.

Key points

• Wattles, The Science of Getting Rich, says, “A thought, in this substance, produces the thing that is imaged by the thought.”
• He says a person “can cause the thing he thinks about to be created” by impressing thought on formless substance.
• John 1:3All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.John 1:3 · King James Version says, “All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.”
• Genesis 1:1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.Genesis 1:1 · King James Version names God as the one who created the heaven and the earth.
• Matthew 6:9–11^6:9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. ^6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. ^6:11 Give us this day our daily bread.Matthew 6:9–11 · King James Version has Jesus teach disciples to ask, “Give us this day our daily bread.”
• What is the New Age movement? is the overview. Angel numbers is the related practice of reading signs.

What Wattles wrote

Wallace D. Wattles, The Science of Getting Rich (1910), states:

There is a thinking stuff from which all things are made, and which, in its original state, permeates, penetrates, and fills the interspaces of the universe. A thought, in this substance, produces the thing that is imaged by the thought. Man can form things in his thought, and, by impressing his thought upon formless substance, can cause the thing he thinks about to be created.

Wallace D. Wattles, The Science of Getting Rich

Later teachers repeat that pattern. This page quotes Wattles because his book is public domain and states the claim in his own sentences. It does not quote later copyrighted books.

What the Bible says

Genesis 1:1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.Genesis 1:1 · King James Version (King James Version) says:

In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Genesis 1:1 · King James Version

John 1:1–3^1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ^1:2 The same was in the beginning with God. ^1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.John 1:1–3 · King James Version (King James Version) says:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

In Matthew 6:9–11^6:9 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. ^6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. ^6:11 Give us this day our daily bread.Matthew 6:9–11 · King James Version Jesus teaches prayer to the Father:

After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread.

Matthew 6:9–11 · King James Version

The one who asks is not the one who creates the bread. James 4:2–3^4:2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not. ^4:3 Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.James 4:2–3 · King James Version says people ask and receive not, because they ask amiss, to consume it on their lusts. Exodus 20:3Thou shalt have no other gods before me.Exodus 20:3 · King James Version says, “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”

The Christian claim

Wattles assigns the creating act to a human thought. John 1:1–3^1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ^1:2 The same was in the beginning with God. ^1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.John 1:1–3 · King James Version assigns it to the Word, who was God. Christians confess that this Word is Jesus. Prayer in Matthew 6 asks the Father for his will and for bread. That is a different sentence from “impressing his thought upon formless substance.” The confession is the deity of Christ. Does God exist? is the page on the God who gives life.

Frequently asked questions

Is every hope a sin?

Matthew 6:11Give us this day our daily bread.Matthew 6:11 · King James Version tells disciples to ask for daily bread. The sentence Wattles wrote is that a person causes the thing to be created by impressing thought on formless substance. Those are two different claims.

Where does the “law of attraction” sentence come from on this page?

From Wattles, 1910, in the three sentences quoted above. This page does not quote a later book that uses the phrase “law of attraction.”

Who made all things?

John 1:3All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.John 1:3 · King James Version says all things were made by the Word, and John 1:1In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.John 1:1 · King James Version says the Word was God. Colossians 1:16For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:Colossians 1:16 · King James Version says all things were created by him and for him.