Expert: Phillip Senn - 8/11/2005

Question
Hello. My question is about hypnotism. I have recently been reading ‘Power of the subconscious mind,' you're probably not familiar with it, but it is all about persuasion of the subconscious. Isn't that hypnosis? Which is against God? 1 Peter 1:13 (NIV) reads, "Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed." This is the verse used to explain why hypnosis is bad; what if you use this power of suggestion on yourself? That way you are still in control. As you can see I'm really quite confused. I would really appreciate it if you could explain how you feel about hypnosis, and the power of the subconscious mind, and why.  

Answer
I appreciate the opportunity to deal with this question. It is one that I haven't ever done any serious study on, and it gives me a reason to exercise my obligation to "study to show thyself approved..."

The term "self-control" actually deals with temperance or holding back unwanted deeds in one's life. When we consider all of the implications of that, it would deal with being "God-controlled". The Holy Spirit controls our actions to the extent that we yield our members to Him. I do believe that we have desires "within" that should never be "tapped into", but rather we should yield ourselves to His control. The danger of hypnosis is that we either yield ourselves to another's control or we seek to find that "hidden power" on our own. When we say we are doing it "on our own", we must have someone to guide us through the process. We must have someone defining that process of self hypnosis so that we will know how it is done. We are yielding ourselves to their instructions.

Scriptures indicate that we are to allow God to be our guide in all things. I find Scriptures that indicate that our inward man is to be renewed day by day. This occurs as we yield to the direction of the Holy Spirit and as David wrote, "Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee".

Our responses should always be based upon the Word of God, and not upon some "hidden power within". There are some powers in the subconscious that should never be tapped. I have many things that have intentionally been suppressed to the subconscious because of the danger of the lack of self-control. When we open those areas to re-examination, we sometimes can open the proverbial "can of worms". Sometimes it is best to simply confess that we have a past that God dealt with on the Cross of Calvary through His Son Jesus Christ. When our confidence is in Him Who is infinite, we can have more power than anything within our finite mind. Through hiding His Word in our hearts, He is able to utilize that Word in us to glorify His matchless Name.

I hope this has answered your question. Please rate this answer when given the opportunity. Also, if you have further questions, please don't hesitate to utilize allexperts.com.

With Love In Christ,
Phillip Senn