My wife and I recently attended a service at one of Houston's finest uber-churches - Second Baptist. It's a sprawling, ginormous campus with several satellite churches in the Houston area, and it holds a special place in our hearts. It's the site of our first date (a safe place to meet someone you only know from the Internet).

On this particular Sunday the topic was "The Secret." If you haven't heard of it, there's an international craze going on right now about the film and the book by Rhonda Byrne. I was introduced to it by a friend a few weeks ago (having never heard of it myself) and since then I've done a great deal of deep digging to find out as much as I could about "the law of attraction" and the roots of "The Secret." I've read a lot, including the original inspiration for the film (a book titled "The Science of Getting Rich" by Wallace D. Wattles, written in 1910) and books, essays and papers by the scientists, philosophers and thinkers used as sources in the film. I've listened to the audio book twice now, and watched the film twice. And I've discussed it at length with others who have read or watched it.

I say all of this to make it clear... I've done my homework on this thing. And my conclusion is that as far as it goes, it's true. It jives with Biblical teachings (very important for me) and in fact has given me a better understanding of Christ and the Bible than I had before. It has also improved my relationships with my wife, my family and friends, and most importantly with God. That's a tall order for any film or book, even an international phenomenon.

Now back to the service...

The pastor of Second Baptis, Dr. Ed Young, had announced that we would be learning "the REAL Secret" on this particular Sunday and I for one was excited to hear his take on it. My wife and I decided, though, that we would go to the contemporary service instead of Dr. Young's more "traditional" service, and so we would be learning "the real secret" from his son, Ben Young.

I should make clear that I was well aware that this was going to be a "tear it down" kind of sermon. But I'm an open minded guy. I like to hear even dissenting opinions on a topic and I'm a big fan of "listen to learn." So I was prepared to hear whatever these gentlemen had to say on the subject. I value the opinions, ideas and knowledge of educated men, especially those with Christian values.

That said, I cannot express enough just how utterly, totally and completely disappointed I was to hear Ben Young say, "I've listened to about half of the audio book." Followed, of course, by "Don't waste your money buying it."

The remainder of the service was a series of jokes about the author's Aussie accent (which I've made more than once to my wife, so I can appreciate 'em), and some frankly true-but-irrelevant statements about the Holy Spirit. By the time it was all said and done I had a hard time recalling what, exactly, tied this sermon to "The Secret" and in what way it was arguing "the other side."

"The other side" is something of a misnomer, by the way, because if Mr. Young had bothered to dig any deeper than half the audio book he might have discovered that the entire idea of "The Secret" is predicated on Christian principles and teachings. So, in fact, there is no "other side." There is only half-done research.

During the sermon, Young quoted a Biblical passage that was used in "The Secret" as support for the "creative process." The passage comes from Matthew 21:22 and reads:

"And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive." (KJV)

So the "creative process" as outlined in "The Secret" uses this scripture to form three points: Ask, Believe & Receive. It may sound familiar because it's been taught for 2000 years by men such Dr. Young, and has become somewhat of a cliche, "Ask and ye shall receive."

But the use of this passage was disputed by the younger Young (I couldn't resist), cast away as an attempt on the part of the author to legitimize her work by quoting from the Bible. I admit, I had thought of this too. When I'd first heard this I thought that it was a little too pat. I thought it might be like those people who take Ephesians 5:22 ("Wives, submit to your husband") out of context and distort it into some sort of anti-femmenist statement. But that fear was assuaged by a little more research, from which I discovered that Wattles himself was a Christian and had based his book on Christian wisdom and teachings.

Of course, the roots of "The Secret" go beyond Christian teachings and that may very well be where there's a problem for theological thinking. There's an element of "New Age Thinking" involved (the interview of the Feng Shui designer comes to mind). And New Agers tend to say things like "You are God." I don't take this literally, though others might.

But there's also a great deal of Quantum Physics discussed in both the film and the book. Say what you will about New Agers but it's hard to dispute scientific fact. Science has revealed that we are constantly effecting the environment that surrounds us by observation and thought alone. If you can't accept "The Secret" as your source for that information I suggest you Google "Quantum Physics" and start from there. I have. Pay particular attention to Quantum Entanglement.

Now, in all fairness I'm going to point out that this series on "The Real Secret" is a 3-week program. We're on Week 1. I haven't heard all of what Young has to say on the subject, so I'll be hearing him out over the next two weeks. Hopefully by then he will have at least listened to the rest of the audio book if not done a little more digging.

And I should make it clear that I'm not in any way disputing anything that was said in the service. On the contrary, every single bit of it was the absolute Gospel truth (pardon the pun). I believe and know that the Holy Spirit is a living entity, capable of thought, emotion and action. I know that we can invite the Holy Spirit into our lives for guidance, strength and power over sin. But I also know that even though these things are completely true they are also completely irrelevant to the argument that "The Secret" is "snake oil" (to use Young's term). The existence and meaning behind the Holy Spirit does not, in any way, preclude the information taught in "The Secret." They are, in fact, supportive of each other.

I'm not outraged by this. And I'm certainly not saying that Dr. Young and his son are wrong. I'm just vastly, greatly, overwhelmingly disappointed in the fact that this "anti-secret" crusade seems to be based on half-done research and a general "fear of divergent thinking." And the fact that they get a large platform upon which to state their opinions means that many people will simply follow blindly and avoid something that could ultimately help them improve their relationship with God, family and mankind in general.

I'll be listening to learn. And since I'm the type of guy who likes to comment on just about everything, I'll document what I learn hear. And anyone with a dissenting opinion or facts that support or disprove any given point I bring up is welcome to post comments. Please do.

See you next week.

J. Kevin Tumlinson is the Editor of ViewOnline Magazine and a producer with Hat Digital Media. He has his own "secret" but everyone knows it already.