Creationism vs Manifestation

A Comparative Analysis of Christian Creationism and Spiritual-Not-Religious Manifestation: From Divine Fiat to Human Co-Creation

Core Argument

Christian creationism (particularly in its Young-Earth and Old-Earth variants) asserts that the universe, life, and human consciousness originate exclusively through the sovereign, unilateral act of a transcendent personal God as described in Genesis 1–2. By contrast, the modern spiritual-but-not-religious doctrine of “Manifestation” (popularized in the New Thought movement and contemporary Law of Attraction teachings) posits that human consciousness, through focused intention, emotion, and belief, directly participates in co-creating reality—often with an impersonal “Universe,” “Source,” or “Higher Self” rather than a personal deity.  

While both systems claim that thought/reality are intimately linked, creationism locates creative primacy in the will of God (humanity as receiver), whereas Manifestation locates creative primacy in the human mind (humanity as transmitter). The historical trajectory reveals a reversal: early Christianity absorbed Hellenistic and Jewish ideas of divine Logos, while 19th–21st-century Manifestation secularised and democratised the same Logos concept, stripping it of theistic hierarchy.

Historical Development of Christian Creationism

The foundational text remains Genesis 1:1–3 and John 1:1–3.  

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth… And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” (Genesis 1:1, 3, KJV)  

“In the beginning was the Word [Logos], and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… All things were made by him.” (John 1:1–3, KJV)

Early Church Fathers reinforced instantaneous creation ex nihilo (out of nothing):  

- Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 180 CE): “God… needed no one else to make what He had Himself determined to make… He made by Himself, that is, by His Word and Wisdom.” (Against Heresies, Book II, 1.1)  

- Augustine of Hippo (c. 400 CE): “For Thou didst create heaven and earth, not out of Thyself, for then they would be equal to Thine only-begotten Son… but out of nothing.” (Confessions, Book XI, xiii)

The Protestant Reformation and later counter-reactions to Darwin produced modern Young-Earth creationism:  

- John Calvin (1560): “Moses wrote in a popular style things which, without instruction, all ordinary persons endued with common sense are able to understand… he does not speak with philosophical acuteness… but relates what God did.” (Commentary on Genesis)  

- Henry Morris (1961), founder of modern creation science: “The Bible… teaches that the earth is only a few thousand years old… Creation was accomplished in six literal days.” (The Genesis Flood)

Historical Development of Spiritual-Not-Religious Manifestation

The direct antecedents appear in 19th-century American New Thought:  

- Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (1860s, the healer who influenced Mary Baker Eddy): “Man’s happiness is in his belief… Disease is what follows a belief… Change the belief and the disease disappears.” (The Quimby Manuscripts, ed. Dresser, 1921)  

- Warren Felt Evans (1870s): “Thought is the primary force… Mind builds body and circumstance.” (Mental Medicine, 1873)  

- Emma Curtis Hopkins (1880s, “teacher of teachers”): “Your word is the power that says what shall appear.” (High Mysticism)

20th-century Formalisation  

- Napoleon Hill (1937): “Whatever the mind of man can conceive and believe, it can achieve.” (Think and Grow Rich)  

- Neville Goddard (1930s–1960s): “An assumption, though false, if persisted in will harden into fact… Feeling is the secret.” (The Power of Awareness, 1952; Feeling Is the Secret, 1944)

21st-century popularization stripped remaining Christian language:  

- Rhonda Byrne (2006): “Thoughts become things… The law of attraction is always working, whether you believe it or not.” (The Secret)  

- Abraham-Hicks (Esther Hicks, 1980s–present): “You are the creator of your own reality… There is only a Source of well-being, and you are allowing it or not.” (Ask and It Is Given, 2004)

Comparative Table

|     Aspect      |      Christian Creationism      |      Spiritual-Not-Religious Manifestation     |

Source of creative power | Transcendent personal God (Yahweh) | Immanent human consciousness + impersonal “Universe/Source” |

Mechanism | Divine fiat (“God said… and it was”) | Focused thought + elevated emotion + belief |

Direction of authority | Top-down: God → creation → man | Bottom-up: man → vibration → Universe responds |

Time scale | Instantaneous or six literal days (YEC) | Variable; “speed of manifestation” depends on alignment |

Moral framework | Creation is good but fallen; obedience required | No inherent sin; resistance = negative manifestation |

Role of faith | Faith receives what God has already decreed | Faith/belief literally causes reality to conform |

Scriptural parallel | “God said, Let there be…” (Gen 1) | Misapplied: “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he” (Prov 23:7 KJV) |

Anthropological implication | Man is creature, image-bearer, but not co-equal creator | Man is divine spark, co-creator, “little god” |

Key Divergence: The Inversion of the Logos

Christian orthodoxy insists the Logos is Christ, the second Person of the Trinity (John 1). New Thought and modern Manifestation teaching effectively relocate the Logos to human consciousness itself. Neville Goddard explicitly stated: “Everyone is you pushed out”—a pantheistic reversal of “in Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28). Thus Manifestation is best understood as the democratization and secularization of the Christian doctrine of imago Dei taken to its logical extreme: if humans are made in the image of a Creator, then humans must themselves be creators.

Conclusion

Christian creationism safeguards the ontological distinction between Creator and creature, preserving worship and humility. Spiritual-not-religious Manifestation dissolves that distinction, enthroning the human psyche as the functional deity. The historical arc is one of gradual transference of divine prerogatives from God to man, beginning with orthodox Christianity’s high view of the imago Dei, passing through 19th-century metaphysical Christianity (New Thought), and culminating in the theologically evacuated, consumer-friendly Law of Attraction of the 21st century.

Index of Sources 

1. The Bible (King James Version)  

2. Against Heresies – Irenaeus of Lyons  

3. Confessions – Augustine of Hippo  

4. Commentary on Genesis – John Calvin  

5. The Genesis Flood – Henry M. Morris & John C. Whitcomb  

6. The Quimby Manuscripts – Phineas Parkhurst Quimby (ed. Horatio W. Dresser)  

7. Mental Medicine – Warren Felt Evans  

8. High Mysticism – Emma Curtis Hopkins  

9. Think and Grow Rich – Napoleon Hill  

10. The Power of Awareness – Neville Goddard  

11. Feeling Is the Secret – Neville Goddard  

12. The Secret – Rhonda Byrne  

13. Ask and It Is Given – Esther & Jerry Hicks (Abraham-Hicks)