Emotion vs. Christianity

This is a topic the director here has addressed a couple times and has helped me put more of a finger on one of my foundational frustrations with the form of Christianity I’m most familiar with.

How often do you say “I feel…” in a day? How often do you use it when referencing God’s presence (i.e. at church)? How often do you act on feelings (i.e being at peace about a decision)? The problem is that you are equating feelings with truth, as if feelings are something you can trust as an indicator to what is right, what is true, and what is Christian… or God speaking to you.

And the one thing I certainly have experienced in my life is that most of the feelings I have are not right, true, or Christian.

I’m sure some would respond by saying, “Oh, sure. Obviously there is a difference between bad feelings/impulses and good ones.” But, is it really that simple? Are they that easy to distinguish when they’re in your own head.

I would ask if you can really trust feelings. Should you equate Christianity with feelings? What about Christianity (biblically) is based on a feeling? Isn’t it about a belief based on evidence, what I would call faith (and thus based on logical confidence, as opposed to blind belief which is more about feelings and psychological needs… and definitely not what I would consider to be faith!).

Thus far this has been a bash on feelings (and a quick jab at “blind faith”), which it is not entirely. Certainly I think feelings are a good thing in the proper context. But as our director has been emphasizing, they have their place alongside rationale, community dialogue, experience and imagination. In fact, any of these 5 alone shouldn’t be trusted. They are not valid indicators of truth by themselves, as they are so often used.

So how should we respond to feelings? Recognize them, but with an open mind question them, think critically, reflect on your experience, and dialogue.