The heart of man is deceitful
above all things,
and Desperately wicked;
who can know it?
I, the LORD, search the heart,
I test the mind,
even to give every man
according to his ways,
according to the fruit
of his doings.
Jeremiah 17:9
Any ideology can be misused and distorted bringing misery upon multitudes, and those who misuse or distort an ideology justify this bizarre behavior making this extremely dangerous. Those who are misusing an ideology often believe that they intend goodness and their motivation is to restrain evil but this motivation often causes this misuse to become an instrument of that which it intended to restrain. Look at history and this will be evident; those virtues, such as liberty, and patriotism become twisted, and this is true when they are separated from Authentic Biblical Faith. The Inquisition is one example, but all one has to do is look a Islam and see that this is true for they will do anything to give cause in promoting their religious views, those views they state are to bring people closer to God, Allah. Therefore, it is not unthinkable that such misuse can be found in the Church and be guilty of the same actions.
Any excess that has become part of the religious culture needs to be examined beyond surface behavior to come to know the subsurface motivation. This is important due to the fact that it is easy to put down a certain behavior because you think it to be in "poor taste." When that behavior is investigated, that is the one exercising this action, you might discover a purity of heart. Men and women who avail themselves of the Spirit's activities have so often in their heart a love of Jesus Christ. They have an ardent and active zeal in their service, prudence, meekness, courage, and a quiet consistency, this does not need any argument for a defense.
This begs a question: "What is the role of emotions in Authentic Biblical Faith?" Our involvement, that is, our relationship to Jesus Christ does have an element of an emotional response, but does that mean that we must abandon rational thinking? While I speak against the misuse of emotional religiosity, the misuse of Scripture to give credence to activities that are not to be found in Scripture, and as a critic of such emotional faith, I must not believe that religious emotion is always unreasonable or that faith must not contain emotion, that it should not play a role. Yet, we must look at the possibility that there is misuse, excess of emotion that does not belong in Christianity and to not have a relation to Jesus Christ.
Some Churches have abandon the idea that there is a place for emotional response to the Gospel, that emotions should be in check when it comes to the issue of faith. Part of this reasoning is that a healthy emotional response to faith has almost ceased to exist and has been replaced by one that is a matter of the head and not of the heart. Therefore, we must come to an understanding of what is the role of healthy emotions in regard to faith. Is it not true that men and women are emotional beings? Yes! So who can say that emotions do not play a role in our faith? It is apparent that God has created us this way, a capacity for emotions to play a role in our lives.
Philosophers over the many years have contemplated this subject and have come down on two sides: 1. There needs to be a system of rules to control emotions so that they do not get out of hand. 2. They other system is that emotions must be put to death, exterminated. Authentic Biblical Faith does not need to approach this issue in either way. Those who have Authentic Biblical Faith understand to approach this issue that one beauty of Christianity is that Christianity integrates all dimensions of true humanity and to bring appropriate subordination and dependence upon the whole of man to use all his faculties, and that they can be transformed by the power of God ins such a way that all of who man or woman is can be used in the service and glory of God. God wants our hearts as well as our minds: "Jesus said to him, 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37). God desires that we relate to Him with love, warmth, tenderness, and zeal. He hates lukewarmness in His children. Yet, there are some clergy who do advocate this lukewarmness, especially when it comes to emotions in exercise of faith.
Next blog I will speak about the use of emotions in real worship. Let us not be as the Church of the Laodiceans: "And to the angel of the church of he Laodiceans write, 'These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: 'I know your works, that your are neither cold nor hot. I could wish you were cold or hot. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth. Because you say, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing' -- and do not know that your are wretched, miserable, poor, and blind, and naked" (Revelation 3:14-17). Let us then follow the words of Jesus Christ: "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the Churches" (Revelation 2:29).
And He said to me, 'You are My
servant, O Israel, in whom
I will be glorified.' the I said,
'I have labored in vain, I have
spent my strength for nothing
and in vain; yet surely my
just reward is with the LORD,
and my work with my God.'
Isaiah 49: 3-4
Think upon everlasting life: it brings chills
Richard L. Crumb
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