Emotions -- friend or foe? You may be surprised.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009 at 1:08PM Emotions can't be trusted.
Strong emotions will lead you into sin.
Believing the right things is more important than feelings.
Just do your duty, whether you feel something or not.
Love is a 'verb.'
Reason and the intellect are more trustworthy than the heart.
What do you think of these typical typical responses to emotions and their place in the Christian life? Are these statements true?
I've discovered a book called, Feel -- the power of listening to your heart, by Matthew Elliott. His claim is that much of what the Christian community has taught about emotions, is in fact, not biblical. The Church has bought into secular psychology and philosophy rather than a biblical position on the place of emotion in our lives. It's actually a bit surprising.
The author claims,
I realized this idea [the suspicion and villification of emotion] was the prevailing Christian view of emotions - and this "Christian" view was essentially platonic [from Plato], a secular perspective in line with the view of Descartes, [William ]James, and - if you can believe it - none other than Charles Darwin." p.20
What have you been told about emotions and their place in the Christian life?
I'll be following up this conversation on emotions in upcoming posts.