Faith and emotions

I’m taking a break from my series on Church to address an issue raised by Dorsey in an article he wrote about emotionalism. His reflections prompted a response from me far to lengthy for a comment, maybe even to lengthy for this blog! How do emotions and faith relate? Is there a proper relationship? I say most definitely, however I suspect we often get them reversed. I would like now to offer my understanding of thoughts and feelings in general as they pertain to our beliefs. I hope this proves helpful to some.


I have stated often that regardless of what we think or how we might feel at any given moment we ultimately act on what we believe. Our decisions as to what we do and say are based on our beliefs. One might then presume that emotion is only a stumbling block to making good decisions. This is often the case when our faith is not grounded and established in the Truth. When our faith is tried and found weak it is possible for the emotions such as fear, desire, shame and even grief to overcome us. Our understanding becomes dim and our beliefs become vulnerable to the thoughts provoked by these emotions. When this occurs we then act on the erroneous assumptions caused by those thoughts rather than reason based on truth. Our behavior then becomes sinful. So why do we have emotions at all? Our emotions are a consequence, not of what others say and do, but of what we have said and done. They are a consequence of our own actions. Being born of a sinful nature we tend to blame others for our feelings instead of accepting responsibility for the things we’ve said or done. I offered this example in an article on trust and communication:

“A prime example of this is the woman who enters a marriage with a man and trust that above all he will do the impossible in that nothing he ever says or does will result in her feelings being painful in any way. When the man then communicates some necessary but painful truth to her she believes her trust in him has been violated and immediately terminates communication as she refuses to accept any more hurt from him. Plainly put, she won’t hear the truth. Now add to this the method she uses to communicate this perceived breach of trust. The woman will likely retaliate in kind with an equally painful violation of his trust in order to communicate her hurt to him. She will turn away and show no regard at all for him, only resentment and disdain. This only necessitates that he provide more painful truth. The cycle starts again with sadly predictable consequences.”

This poor woman had imposed her feeling of insecurity on her husband rather than trusting in God for her security and accepting responsibility for her own hurtful actions but as our favorite commercial says, “but wait, there’s more”!

Many people, by either evil intent or nature, take advantage of this knowledge of the reversed emotional process and use it to establish a belief, false or otherwise, in the heart of others in lieu of proper reason and understanding. This is one of the primary tricks used by, not only cults but also, many professing Christian ministers. In an article on teaching versus manipulation I offered this thought:

“As a person learns about God they are able to alter their beliefs concerning Him so that their actions result in feelings of contentment and peace with God. This reinforces their beliefs and they grow in the faith. One of the cruelest methods of manipulation is practiced by every religion of the world. This is the way that seems right unto man. Feelings are provoked through associative means for the purpose of reinforcing a proposed belief. The belief, once accepted, is acted on and positive feedback reinforces the belief even though it may well be to the detriment of the person being manipulated.”

By now I’m sure you’re wondering why God even allows us to feel anything. Our heavenly Father has wonderously made us and our emotions play a key role in our ultimate happiness. After all, what about joy and feeling at peace? What about the wonderful feelings that result from true love?

In a previous article I offered my understanding on the emotion of fear. Every emotion has an appropriate response and when we learn to identify our feelings and respond appropriately our actions begin to reflect our beliefs and what once was our greatest weaknesses becomes one of our most powerful weapons against the deceiver.