Emotionalism - Is this a lie of Satan or are emotions something Jesus addresses

[PeterJens]

I worked with a very nice lady. She was shy and hide her ups and downs. I knew her husband. I suggested she opened up more to her husband about how she felt. I then realised one very sad reality. Without Jesus to pick up the pieces, to be the safety net, what happens when the person you need lets you down, when the hurt shown just becomes deeper. All this emphasises is do not open up again it is dangerous.

But you are these hurts, they shape you, they limit you, they take away your life. By acknowledging them, working through them with Jesus and getting healing, being made new, you are transformed.

Loving your enemy becomes possible. Knowing your psycho boss is a psycho and you can side step it, empowers you.
But it is dangerous, because if Jesus is not real and his promises do not work, they you will sacrifice everything and be in worse state. But do you understand what you are saying by going there. Jesus did not die for you, and his love is not enough. But I know it is, and it is only the fear of dealing with these situations is holding your back, literally. It is your inheritence to claim this love, so go and claim it.

 

[Blain]

Well I can understand where emotionalism is coming from but at the same time it's not really the same. See I am an emotional person I am very tender hearted and God knows that so he often times uses emotions to speak to me. I am often times overcome with great love and compassion, or I am overcome by great sadness usually because I am concerned about the well being of others but it's a good sadness it's like a loving sadness. The thing is I have this sadness for Jesus a lot too, I care very deeply for him and I am so sick and tired of him having to hurt and be sad.

He loses many children everyday because they refused to accept his loving arms and died. a parent loses a child and has unimaginable sadness and pain like you can't ever pretend to understand unless you yourself have lost one and he loses many every so can you imagine the pain and sadness his heart endures all the time?

 

[Miri]

We all have emotions and there is nothing wrong with that, it's completely normal!

if we try to deny this, keep them hidden, repress them then it can lead to depression, illness, and all manner of problems.

if we mis use them and are constantly in a state of heightened emotions that is just as bad as the above.

emotions can show us something needs dealing with, or they can provide a release.

I would add that in creating us God gave us emotions and we are made in his image. The bible talks of Jesus being angry, sad, weeping etc etc.

I read a book ages which explained people need to feel
significant: gen 1 v 28 man had a devine purpose
safe and secure: gen 1 v 29 all man's needs were provided for
belonging: gen 2 v 18 mankind had a sense of belonging

but all this was lost after the fall and was replaced with spiritual death, lost knowledge of God, dominant negative emotions,
too many choices both good and bad and there consequences.



most of what we do is an attempt to feel significant, safe, secure and have a sense of belonging and we can often find
ourselves on an emotional roller coaster trying to reach that goal from day to day.

jesus was fully God and fully man, he experienced all the same emotions we feel but I would suggest he used them correctly in the way it was always intended and they did not dominate or cloud his thinking.

I would suggest matthew 5 beatitudes is a demonstration of the correct use of emotions but that would all flow from a person knowing they are significant, safe, secure and belong to Jesus.

its a hard goal to reach isn't it, maybe we all need to pray for each other that we will attain a mind set on Jesus and that in him we will all overcome all things and obtain a full sense of significance, being safe and secure and have a strong sense of being a
child of God.

A prince or princess knows they are a child of a king/queen without question.

but we so often question our position as a child of the king of kings.


1 Peter 2:9-10 NKJV
[9] But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light; [10] who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy.


Incidntally i think if we all were more secure, safe, felt significant and belonging then that true agape love would flow freely.

 

[eternally-gratefull]

I worked with a very nice lady. She was shy and hide her ups and downs. I knew her husband. I suggested she opened up more to her husband about how she felt. I then realised one very sad reality. Without Jesus to pick up the pieces, to be the safety net, what happens when the person you need lets you down, when the hurt shown just becomes deeper. All this emphasises is do not open up again it is dangerous.

But you are these hurts, they shape you, they limit you, they take away your life. By acknowledging them, working through them with Jesus and getting healing, being made new, you are transformed.

Loving your enemy becomes possible. Knowing your psycho boss is a psycho and you can side step it, empowers you.
But it is dangerous, because if Jesus is not real and his promises do not work, they you will sacrifice everything and be in worse state. But do you understand what you are saying by going there. Jesus did not die for you, and his love is not enough. But I know it is, and it is only the fear of dealing with these situations is holding your back, literally. It is your inheritence to claim this love, so go and claim it.

Amen, We love because of what Christ did.

He loved us when we were his enemy, and he declares we are to love our enemy as he loved us.

When we realize this, People can not hurt us, for our identity is not in what people think, but in what god thinks.

its positional sanctification. Our identity is in Christ. This is not easy, and takes some time, we must grow and learn to trust Christ.

 

[Breeze7]

In response to the first thing PeterJens said

It is sad that more text or scripture does not talk about Jesus in his times alone, just he and the father. It doesn't speak enough about Jesus prayers to his father and when he was with just one disciple in the quiet times. Jesus did have appropriate emotions. Our task is discerning when our emotions are running away with us and we( the loving true personality) isn't there any longer. I've always found fortunately if I call out to god soon enough power comes to help me or I find a depth in myself I was unaware I had. I send my prayers. Please pray for me too. God bless.

 

[Nick01]

I think often, in several denominations, we are really bad at dealing with emotion. We shut it out, or we try to tame it, or quench it. I think that's a bad way to go about things, not only psychological, but also in terms of worship - I think it was Jonathan Edwards who talked about emotions (or affections) needing to be directed in their correct way, towards God and his service.

It may well be wrong to allow your feelings about something to override your mind or your perception of what is real or true, but similarly I think it is also wrong and perhaps (a little more literally) half hearted of us in our service of God if we allow our minds and actions to be moulded into his service, but not also our emotions and feelings.

My response to emotionalism is - no emotion is or should be off limits as long as it a) is twinned with an alert and aware mind - being 'emotional' does not mean switching your brain off, and b) is, like the rest of the Christian life, subjects itself to potential loving and humble correction. Can't go wrong if you have those two things in mind.

 

[PeterJens]

The acceptable side of life verses the beast.
One problem we all face is emotions we have not owned up to and repress, bury. They become stronger and more assertive and when shown are bigger than they should be because they are like an untamed beast let loose. The problem is we get scared of this beast and therefore deny it exists and then close it down.
Jesus calls us to be honest about all our emotions and own them, to admit everything we feel and accept we do not understand or know why or how these happen, but they do, and it is ok, we are safe. They are just feelings, indicators of our reactions to life and situations, not dangerous things which will overwhelm us. If we let them run away with us, take our thinking and amplify them inappropriately into other places, then that is wrong, but if we know we are safe and feeling these things is ok, then we are learning to let emotions and our selves have space, being real, learning to be alive.
In a good family, which functions well, when you grew up, this is what should have happened, a practice safe area of highs and lows, of anger, of joy, of sadness, of love, of caring, of loss, but realising these things are just feelings, expressions.
These are like colours in a painting, what matters is the painting, not one colour, but if you can only paint in one colour, with bursts of explosive other colours, out of context, you get a very messy painting.
Jesus gives us the safety and power to learn.
This is though just the first steps, but the foundation of self knowledge is part of learning maturity.

 

[PeterJens]

Emotionalism at work

I saw a video of a christian group outside a Benny Hinn meeting talking about the reality of Jesus and the failure of finding healing at such meetings. Now near the end a couple of christians walk up to him. They are literally intoxicated is some kind of emotional state, as if on drugs. The problem biblically with this behaviour is it is not normal life, it is not a good functioning human being. You would not put a person in this state in charge of driving a lorry.
The bible talks about calm reactions, dealing with difficulty with joy and peace. It emphasis appropriate behaviour, but these "believers" claim by there emotional state they have reached some special spiritual experience.

The difficulty with this, is it stops normal empathy or how we deal with life. Take away this over the top emotional reaction and do you have anything left? It seems very similar to people having an LSD trip and believing they can fly, it is just simple delusion, a dis-functioning of the brain. Do these people talking about "fire" equally cause extreme caution in you, because it is something without proper meaning or context.

 

[secularhermit]

Hmm!

I just can't live like a Venusian.

Yet I don't follow Benny Hinn neither the pentecostal movement.

 

[Willie-T]

Hmm!

I just can't live like a Venusian.

Yet I don't follow Benny Hinn neither the pentecostal movement.

You mean, a Vulcan?

 

[Utah]

the mindstate in which people are led by their emotions instead of reason or the Holy Spirit.

The trademark of American liberals.