A proper definition of the subconscious mind would help at the outset. According to Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, the subconscious mind is “the part of your mind that notices and remembers information when you are not actively trying to do so, and influences your behaviour even though you do not realize it.”
Who is God? According to the Bible, a simple explanation would be: God is the Creator and Ruler of the universe—the Supreme Being.
The above definitions help us make a proper distinction between our mind and God: Our subconscious mind is part of us and it is us. While God is altogether another Being with His own mind existing outside of us. Books are great if we pick the right ones. Anyone can write anything and self-attest them. We need to find out on what these truth claims are founded or based on. Stating that the human subconscious mind is God doesn’t make much sense when we understand who God really is. As the Creator of all things, He is beyond all created things and cannot be contained within His creation. The book’s statements about prayer must be tested before they’re accepted. There are several claims about prayer, mind, subconscious mind & God that are problematic and even contradictory.
Consider this claim: “we trust and pray to our subconscious mind which is very powerful”
Response: The author seems to generalize the concept of prayer as if everybody prays to their own subconscious mind. In prayer, people often tend to reach out to a “higher power” for help and clarity. As Christians, we pray to the eternal God knowing and believing that with Him, all things are possible. We don’t pray to ourselves (subconscious mind).
Claim: “we make them God because we humans can’t trust in ourselves”
Does this not contradict the previous claim? Why do humans pray to their own subconscious mind when they can’t trust themselves? Since humans can’t trust themselves and are fallible (from the author’s own statements), our only safest and trustworthy option is the infallible Word of God— the Bible! We would encourage you to take God’s Word over man’s word. Many worldviews have their own theory about prayer. According to Bible, prayer takes many forms. But prayer at its simplest is “talking with God.” Prayer can go beyond this but it is never less than this. In the Bible, Jesus promises to answer the prayers of those who put their faith in Him because He is loving and almighty!
Here are few other ideas from Joseph Murphy’s book, “The Power of Your Subconscious Mind,” which are not logically correct:
1) You Receive Answers To Prayer Because Of Mental Acceptance About What You Pray
‣ We don’t receive answers to prayer by accepting what we pray for. We receive answers by putting our faith in God who alone is capable of helping us with our needs. For example, I mentally accept that my body has a sickness but I am in no position to heal it. My brain cannot heal it. Or what if our brain also has a sickness? Then who will provide the answer? So my faith must be based on Someone beyond my physical limitation—God, my Creator!
2) Your Subconscious Mind Has The Answer To All Your Problems
‣ No, it does not. If that were the case, we should be having our problems solved in our sleep. But in reality, we end up with many issues in life when we work with our conscious mind, our behaviours get deposited into our subconscious mind which in turn converts those behaviours into habits. In this way, our subconscious mind gets influenced and corrupted. Now, do we want to put our trust in something corrupt?
3) Faith Is The Only Universal Healing Principle Operating Through Everybody
‣ Murphy says in the book “faith is created by accessing and harnessing the power of our subconscious minds. Illness, physical ailments, and even traumatic experiences can be healed by repeatedly submitting thoughts of healing to our subconscious minds. “It is very important to understand the foundation of our faith—what is our faith based on? On God who is infallible or on our fallible self? Murphy points us inward. But we are not the source of our healing. Even with the best of medical science, humans are still desperately struggling with various sicknesses from Cancer to Covid.
‣ But in the Bible, God declares in Exodus 15:26 “…I am the Lord who heals you.” In fact, one of the other names of Biblical God is ‘Jehovah Rapha’ (the God who heals). We are called to put our faith in God for your healing. When we understand the evidence and facts that show us the validity of the Bible, it can help us trust what the Bible says about prayer better. Everyone can have different opinions about it, everyone can have their own convictions and self-made truths. However, this doesn’t affect the quality of the truth. And of course, truth is not affected by our surroundings, traditions, cultures, or social trends. It is constant. Truth is exclusive, and it cannot be altered with time. Prayer is a conversation with our Creator God and not a mind game. It’s a dialogue and not just us constantly talking to our minds without any response from the other end. God witnesses Himself to us through miracles and wonders in life so that our faith in Him is strengthened. He is not a figment of our mind but rather the One who created it along with everything else we see and beyond.
Claim: “The laws and rules we follow can be of social conditioning too??”
Response: This is a very broad statement. Yes, there are laws and rules that we have created for ourselves in society (social conditioning). Ex. Legal laws (Indian Penal Code), Labour laws (work ethics), Traffic rules etc. Can you imagine a society without these in place? As history has proven, a lawless society will break down into chaos. So God allows these rules to be instituted to help regulate human behaviour. These laws help people understand what is right and wrong. But these laws can vary across societies. However, there are also moral laws given by God in the Bible which is universally binding and unchanging just like His nature (Ex. the 10 commandments in Exodus 20). The problem with mankind is disobedience to God’s Laws. God is the ultimate Law Giver and His Laws reflect His perfect character. We are by nature lawbreakers as history repeatedly proves. In the Garden of Eden, God gave only one commandment to Adam and Eve and they broke it (first sin). Then God had to give 10 more commandments because sins have already begun to multiply. In total, the Old Testament contains 613 commandments (Mosaic Law). God considers breaking one commandment as amounting to breaking all of it (James 2:10)! So, is there any hope for us? Thanks be to God! He has provided His Son Jesus Christ who lived a perfect life on our behalf and taken up our own punishment upon Him on the cross. If we put our faith in Him, God has promised to forgive us of all our lawlessness (sins).
In conclusion, prayer must always involve at least two persons—there is the one who prays (us) and there is the other who receives the prayer (God). Just as conversations with people help build our relationship with them. Prayer helps us to connect with God intimately. This is the chief purpose of prayer—to grow in our relationship with God.
Laws and rules have good purposes and are meant to maintain order in society. Human laws are imperfect. But God’s laws are perfect. They provide light to our path and life to our soul. In Matthew 22:37-40, Jesus summed up the entire Old Testament Laws in these two statements: 1-Love your God with all your heart, soul and mind. 2-Love your neighbour as yourself. Humans have the habit of breaking laws. And we always tend to find a way to escape punishment for breaking civil laws in society. But we cannot escape from God for breaking His commandments in the Bible. God has fixed a day in the future (2 Corinthians 5:10) to justly deal with all lawbreakers. But for now, God is extending a lifeline, offering mercy to all lawbreakers who believe in His Son Jesus Christ.
Thank you for writing to us with your questions. We hope this clarifies some things for you. You are always welcome to reach out to us in your continued pursuit of truth.
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