Happy Lies: How a Movement You (Probably) Never Heard Of Shaped Our Self-Obsessed World. Melissa Dougherty. 2025. 272 pages. [Source: Library] [5 stars, christian nonfiction]
First sentence (from the introduction): The year was 2011. I had a sweet, energetic one-year-old girl, and I wanted to have spiritual answers ready for her when she grew up.
I have been counting down the days until this book released. I watched her announcement video on YouTube and I knew I *had* to read the book. This book is about NEW THOUGHT, not to be confused with NEW AGE. Once you start learning about what New Thought is, you see traces of it literally anywhere and everywhere. Because it is so pervasive, because it in some ways likes to fly under the radar, because it is easy at masking itself, cloaking, if you will, I think everyone should read this book. One thing I appreciated about this one was the Melissa wasn't just using straw man arguments, she was going out meeting people, attending church services, talking to pastors and leaders. She was letting 'the other side' if you will have a voice too. She also seemed to be doing it in a compassionate, genuine way instead of a mockery ha, ha, ha way.
The chapter titles:
- What You Don't Know Can Hurt You: How New Thought Hides in Plain Sight
- New Thought, Old Lies: The Roots of Today's Toxic Positivity
- The Teachings: Some Terminology and Beliefs of New Thought
- True for Me: Relativism and New Thought
- Identity Crisis: What Do You Do When You Don't Feel Like You?
- Loving Ourselves to Death: Self-Help and New Thought
- Dreams Come True: Toxic Affirmations and the Law of Attraction
- Prosperity Now: New Thought and the Word of Faith Movement
- A Different Gospel: New Thought and Progressive Christianity
- The Schuller Secret: New Thought and the Church Growth Movement
- Beyond the Happy Lies: Finding True Wholeness in Authentic Christianity
- Call to Action
Quotes:
- Love and truth go hand in hand. To love Jesus is to love truth. He testifies in John 18:37 that this is why he was born: 'to testify to the truth.'
- Deception isn't supposed to be obvious. It's supposed to be beautiful. New Thought is incredibly adaptable to its hosts. It looks enticing, feels good, and tricks people into pursuing their own glory, thinking it's God's will.
- This is the purpose of false gospels: make evil look good and good look evil. We should wholeheartedly oppose these false gospels.
- Charles Spurgeon is often attributed with saying, "Discernment is not knowing the difference between right and wrong. It is knowing the difference between right and almost right."
- If we want to grow in our ability to spot counterfeits and lies, we need to read God's Word regularly so we can develop a solid theological and biblical foundation.
- New Thought makes itself look like the more open-minded, tolerant, loving, and true way to view Jesus, the gospel, and the Bible.
- New Thought also equates "God" with "love." "God is love" (John 4:8) is taken quite literally.
- New Thought also equates what's true with what's loving. The term fundamentalist is often used as a derogatory term referring to those who believe in what they would consider negative attributes of God mentioned previously.
- In New Thought, the Bible is just one of many spiritual books containing truth....The Bible was written with the ancient, limited perspective of the original authors. We've grown and spiritually progressed, meaning we can understand the deeper significance of the Bible far better today. A core belief is that Christianity tries to suppress spiritual truths, especially about our divine potential. They keep people captive to only one perspective on Christianity and humanity and one proper way to interpret the Bible.
- [a Prayer] Lord, in a world filled with distractions, doubts, and deceptions, help me to anchor my faith in your unchanging truth. Grant me discernment to recognize falsehood and the courage to reject it. In moments of doubt, remind me of the words of Jesus and your love for me. Strengthen my faith so that I may never waver but instead hold fast to the truth revealed in your Son, Jesus Christ. I ask for your protection against the lies and deceptions that try to lead me astray. Help me to be vigilant and steadfast, knowing that the truth you offer is the source of my hope and salvation. Empower me to share this truth with others, that they, too, may come to believe in you, the one true God.
- New Thought strips sovereinty from God and hands it to humanity. God wants to humble us. Satan wants to put us on a pedestal. God says die to yourself. Satan wants you to live for yourself. God alone says he is the Great I Am. Satan says you are the Great I Am.
- We ought to call out bad theology. It's not divisive to do so. It's divisive to teach bad theology.
- True freedom lies in submitting to what God says, not in shaping God to fit our preferences.
- Scripturally speaking, the church is to: 1. Pray (Acts 2:42). 2. Teach biblical doctrine and equip the saints for ministry, helping them discover and utilize their spiritual gifts for the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11-12). 3. Provide a place of fellowship for believers to encourage and love one another (1 Thessalonians 5:11; 1 John 3:11). 4. Help those in need (James 1:27). 5. Spread the gospel. In Matthew 28:19-20 we are given the famous Great Commission. Jesus instructed his followers to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey his commands. In Philippians 1:18, Paul says he is grateful that the gospel is being spread, even when it's done with false motives.
- New Thought makes your enemy look like your best friend. The devil is full of dark schemes designed to look like false light. Be strong in the Lord and wear his armor to stand against the devil's schemes.
- Know your Bible and speak the truth. When a massive group of people believes in lies that comfort them, the only explanation is that the Father of Lies is behind it. Satan's ultimate weapon isn't power. It's deception. If Satan's primary tactic in spiritual warfare is spreading lies, then our most effective defense in the battle against him is the opposite: spreading truth.
- Truth is not simply whatever works. This is a philosophy of pragmatism--a concept New Thought is in line with.
- Truth is not simply what the majority believes. The majority of people can believe potatoes are secretly undercover aliens that are going to take over the world, but that doesn't make it true.
- Truth is not what makes people feel good. Bad news can be true.
- Truth is not simply a belief. A lie believed is still a lie.
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