The Tyranny of Feelings

Feelings are not inherently good or evil. They are not inherently true or incorrect. They can be any of those.  Sometimes Christians get a bad reputation for being against feeling anything. While that generalization is not accurate, it may appear that way to the world because Christians are not to become slaves to our feelings, or to the feelings of others.

In our relativistic culture, personal feelings have become the ultimate truth or reality. If someone feels a certain thing, then it is true to them and is to be encouraged, unchallenged,  and that is all that really matters. This is how our world operates. Christians rightly refuse to bend the knee to the cultural obsession with feelings. This  causes us to appear stoic to a world obsessed with feelings. 

Why is this important? Our culture has rejected absolute truth as the standard to live by. Despite our culture’s claim of not having an ultimate standard, it in fact does. When you remove one standard something has to fill the void. Since everything has become hyper-personalized and truth matters not, the feelings of individuals have supplanted truth. Feelings are absolute. They are not to be questioned. They must be accepted and listened to, even if they have no basis in reality or truth. The problem with the rise of feelings to prominence is that our feelings are a terrible taskmaster who rules with an iron fist.

Sadly, our culture is experiencing this tyranny everywhere we look. We have safe places on campuses where students are free from all “threatening ideas” so that they feel however they want. We see the feelings of an immoral and perverse culture played out in our national media, entertainment, and politics constantly. In no uncertain terms American culture is reaping what it has sowed when it bent the knee to personal feelings as the ultimate standard.

As I look out at this culture one other thing becomes painfully clear—all this emphasis on our feelings has left us not feeling very good at all. Feelings are not ultimate; they can be and often are wrong. If I feel that I can fly like superman that does not make it so. Christians are not to be driven by feelings alone, rather our feelings must be shaped by the truth.

The Problem of Inaccurate Feelings

In Christian ministry, whether preaching or counseling, I am constantly faced with helping people shape their feelings so that they align with the truth rather than allowing their feelings to tell them what is true. This is a monumental task in our current culture.

Just a few weeks ago a man came into my office convinced that the Holy Spirit had abandoned him. When I asked him how he knew this, he replied, “I Just know it. I can feel it.” I empathized with his predicament, but I did not stop there. I walked him through Scripture (truth) where it is rather clear that when you are “sealed” by the Holy Spirit that you are indeed sealed forever. No matter how much truth I gave the man from Scripture, he would not turn away from his incorrect feelings. For him, feelings were ultimate, not truth, and not Scripture.

This line of reasoning, the unquestionableness of feelings, is the false gospel of our culture.  To even suggest that someone's feelings can be incorrect is modern-day cultural blasphemy. How often does the phrase, “I feel like God wants me to be happy,” or something similar get thrown out as a trump card in modern evangelicalism? The problem is we have absorbed so much of our culture that we do not even recognize that we have allowed this false gospel impact the way we think, live, and feel.

One of the major problems I face in my own life is that I am tempted to feel something which is rooted in a lie. Sometimes my feelings are deceptive. My feelings are also constantly changing, God’s truth doesn’t. And if I embrace these deceptions then I am need of repentance because I have sinned. I do not have the right to feel whatever I want, however I want, whenever I want. To do this is idolatry at the altar of the self. There is no enlightenment or salvation found in how I feel. But Scripture reminds us that the truth will set us free.

This is important to remember, you do not have the right to feel however you want. Such thinking not only ignores the gospel but it is anti-gospel. This is a major battleground of growing in personal godliness. You will not grow to be more like Christ by chasing your feelings, but changing them to align with the truth of Scripture.

Our culture tells us to “follow our heart” to our own destruction. Our culture tells us we need “safe places” to feel whatever we want. Our culture tells us feelings are ultimate. But the gospel says repent. The gospel says your heart is treacherous. The gospel says the truth will set you free. The gospel says we are to renew our minds with the truth. The gospel says we are to put off the old self and to put on the new. We need more  gospel and less "safe places."

The Cancer Spreads to the Church

There has been discussion lately about the church being a safe place for people to feel without being confronted with arguments or truth. While we do not want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, we must not adopt the attitude and reasoning of the world. Feelings are not inherently bad, but they must align themselves with the truth.  While it is true there is a time for silence and a time for weeping with those who weep, none of this should be done out of a respect for the unalienable right to feel whatever you want. That is not the gospel. We must not make arguments that appear to protect our culture's idolatry to feelings by labeling the church a "safe place to feel" without any consideration for the truth.

The church is not a safe place to feel whatever you want. While the church should be a place where you can express your feelings, but you should be doing so in order to examine your own heart. We are called to repentance and this includes repenting of incorrect feelings. God’s Word, the gospel, is sharper than any sword and it should cut us to the heart, including our feelings. This means the church is not a place where we can emote whatever we want while neglecting reality and the gospel.

When I bend the knee to my feelings alone this leads me to wandering away from God and toward sin. But when God’s truth shapes my feelings, then I draw near to him. If the church adopts a list of feelings from the world which are not able to be questioned, if we transform the church into a “safe place” where feelings reign supreme, then we forfeit the gospel. If we do this, then we are bending our knees to the false gods of this world instead of God of the universe.

The Irony of it All

This is where things get a little crazy. Our culture which rejects absolutes, which rejects morality, is constantly telling us how we should feel about the latest event or tragedy. They claim no absolutes exist and then when something happens which offends their (im)moral standard they demand that everyone feel as they do! If you do not feel as they do, then your feelings are incorrect and must change, otherwise you fall short of their (un)holy code. And so the feelings of the (un)holy majority take their place as dictator on the throne demanding that there be no challenge to its reign! Our cultural feelings will suffer no rival. So our culture which claims no absolute morality ironically has a very strict (im)moral code.

The problem is too often Christians line-up to show the world they can feel exactly the same things in pretty much the same way as the world does. If there is something which should cause us to not feel very good, it is the eagerness many Christians possess to appear righteous  according to the unrighteous standards of our society.

Christians must remember that feelings alone are a terrible tyrant which will never be satisfied. Feelings without the truth of the gospel will be controlled by our sinful desires. We must remember that we cannot serve two masters;  the truth is important and it must inform how we feel.

Christians are only to bend the knee to Lord of Lords and the King of Kings, Jesus Christ. And his call is for us to renew our minds, to repent of incorrect feelings, and to follow him no matter the cost. If we find our identity in Christ, and not the tribes of this world, our feelings will look a lot different than the abject tyranny our culture tries to pass off as freedom.

No, the church is not a safe place to feel whatever you want. It is not a place where feelings reign supreme. But the church is the only place to find true peace and true rest in the light of the truth of God’s gospel. In his kingdom feelings take their proper place and form. That truth is the foundation for how Christians should not only feel, but also how we think, act, live, and love.  

How Jesus Thinks About False Teaching

The letters to the churches in the book of Revelation are like tests, they tell us what a church should care about and what dangers a church must avoid. These seven lettersshows us how Jesus wants his churches to behave, what they are to value and what they are to reject. There is a lot we can learn by reading what Jesus rebukes churches for and what he praises them for doing.

In his message to the church of Ephesus (Rev. 2.1-7) Jesus warns the church because it has forgotten its first love. This is generally what we think of about the letter to Ephesus. Recently as I was preparing for fall Sunday School, I reread this portion and what jumped off the page was what Jesus praised the Church of Ephesus for doing. Jesus says in verse two, “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false.” He then elaborates in verse six, “Yet this you have: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.”

Jesus praises the church of Ephesus for not tolerating false teachers and he praises them for hating the works of those false teachers. Why does Jesus praise them for hating false teaching? Part of the reason is that Jesus hates false teaching.

In our culture it is considered a virtue to be accepting,  this is even true in the evangelical church, so much so we are very accepting of aberrant and even false teaching. We accept false teaching but we often reject those who stand against false teaching. But Jesus in his letters to the other churches rebukes those churches who accept, tolerate, and endorse false teaching (2:14; 2:20). It is not a good thing to be indifferent to or accepting of false teaching.  How a church responds to false teaching, whether they accept it or reject it, is one of the major tests of its faithfulness. Why?

False teaching is not just being in error about any belief or doctrine. False teaching is a corrupting of the core of the Christian message, the gospel, how we are saved. If a corrupted message of salvation is believed, those who believe in it will face destruction. In other words, false teaching is not neutral, it brings harm to people who accept it. Therefore Jesus hates it and he calls his people to hate it as well.  

The danger does not stop there. If a church allows false teaching to go unchallenged it weakens the entire body of believers leading to spiritual decay and even spiritual death. False teaching is spiritual cancer and it only spread if the church does not oppose it.

If we desire to be faithful to Christ, we must examine what teaching we approve of, which teaching we tolerate, and which teaching we hate. If there is no teaching which you respond to with a firm hatred of its evil, then you need to reexamine what you believe. Far too often we accept,  invite and even promote false teaching in America today. We do this to our own harm, as well as the harm of others. Jesus hates false teaching, we must as well. The question becomes, “Do we?” This is one question Jesus asks his churches.  We must be prepare to answer it.

Survival of the Fittest (Except for Gorillas)

The big news over the Memorial Day weekend was not remembering those who served, but the outrage over the Cincinnati Zoo shooting and killing a Gorilla in order to protect a four year old who fell into the gorilla’s enclosure. In response to the Zoo’s actions, many are outraged and are demanding justice for this gorilla, Harambe. The fact this is such a big deal is rather odd, but not surprising. 

This event presents Christians with a unique opportunity. As conversations continue about this event, whether it is around the watercooler, the backyard, we should seek to use this event as a test case. What I mean by this is we must not ask and answer the questions our society wants us to, but rather it is time to be shrewd by challenging our cultural assumptions in the hope of exposing our need for the gospel. Why? Because the contradictions of our society are on full display in our reaction to this event, and by asking the right questions we may help others to see clearly. Jesus often did this, people would approach with an agenda or question, and he would not answer play their game. Rather, Jesus would get to the heart of the issue. We should try to do the same. 

With that in mind, I suggest asking two questions to anyone who is upset, or even outraged, by the death of Harambe the gorilla:

1. "Isn’t this just a display of survival of the fittest in action?" Our culture accepts Darwinism as ultimate truth. If Darwinistic evolution is true, then this universe is governed by and even improved through the process of natural selection and survival of the fittest. Only the strongest, most adapted survive, if a species does not adapt in accordance with this world, then they are to die off. In this situation at the zoo, the gorilla was not the fittest species, in fact he was posing a threat to a species that is fitter than he is. So the gorilla died by the hands of the fittest—a man with a gun. So what’s the big deal? Is it survival of the fittest or not? Does this ethic not apply to gorillas? Is this not how the universe works? Humans supposedly are just highly-evolved primates, while gorillas are slightly less evolved primates, so who cares that the more evolved one won? This is how it is supposed to work in Darwin’s universe. The follow-up question to ask to this is, “Would anyone be so upset if a lioness killed an endangered Cheetah to save her cubs?” No, of course not. If Darwinism is true as our society claims it to be, then there is nothing to get upset about here as it is just one animal killing another animal which occurs daily in the wild. Moreover, such an action is supposed to be the means through which the universe improves. Our society has no right to say, “Survival of the fittest, except when it comes to gorillas and humans.” But of course, deep down our evolution believing society knows humans are different than gorillas, no matter how hard they pretend otherwise. The very fact that our society is so upset about this gorilla dying at the hands of the stronger species displays clearly the hypocrisy of our society. Deep down our culture cannot help but acknowledge that humans are different than gorillas.
2.  "What is justice anyways?" As people begin to scream for “justice” for this gorilla, we must insist that they define for us what justice actually is. You cannot have justice without some form of moral understanding, some moral foundation. Again, assuming that Darwin is correct, the moral ethic/foundation of the universe is survival of the fittest. If this is indeed what is true, then must be our judge of what is just. So justice, in a Darwinistic world, belongs to the strongest, the most adaptive, and Harambe the gorilla got his justice. He was weak and he lost to the strong—that is justice in a Darwinistic universe. In Darwinism this is good. Our society tells us every day that there is no universal morality, which necessitates that there is no true justice either. Our society has no foundation to talk about justice in any other terms. So as silly as it is to call for justice for a gorilla, it is downright absurd to do so from the position of Darwinism and moral relativism. Why should we demand some punishment upon the strong for killing the weak? Would not such actions just be fighting against the universe? Isn’t it morally good to further natural selection by killing off the weaker species? I mean, why care about endangered species anyways, shouldn’t they learn to adapt and evolve in order to survive? If not, then that is just the way of the universe.  

These are the questions we must ask our society. We do not ask these question in order to win an argument, but in hopes that others may begin to see the foolishness of our culture’s current false religion. Deep down we know what justice is, and we especially know it when we are wronged. The problem is the worldview of our society has no business talking about justice, let alone demanding it. It at these tension-points of our culture that we need to apply pressure in order to expose our culture’s insanity.  And once they see this insanity, it is time to point them to true morality, the Christian faith. If you want to know what justice is, and what it is not, you need a universal, Creator God. We have him, and our culture needs to meet him. 

Slavery, Abolitionists, & Compassion: Part 2

In the first part of this post we established that all unrepentant sinners are slaves to sin as Jesus points out in John 8:34. Slavery to sin is far worse than any physical slavery mankind has ever employed. Jesus as the true abolitionist, is the one who fights against slavery and he is the one who ultimately brings true freedom (John 8:36). As Christians we also work in this ministry of freeing people from slavery, a slavery we were under once. 

We also saw that Jesus combated slavery to sin by calling some slaves the “sons of the devil” and this action was an act of compassion on his part.. Jesus’ compassion took the form of opposing slavery in every facet he encountered. To those entrapped by sin and who hated their slavery he showed tender mercy pointing them to freedom via repentance and belief in him. To those who were arrogant in their slavery, who claimed to be free, he took out his verbal baseball bat and started to swing also calling them to repentance and faith. The method changed, but his heart motive, compassion, remained the same.

So this leads us to the question, as little abolitionists who are working for the true abolitionist, “How do we show compassion to those enslaved by sin?” Let’s start with a list of what would not be compassionate:

• It is not compassionate to walk up to a slave and to affirm him in his slavery. Our world tells us we are to accept and affirm people for who they are, in bondage and all. By this world means to affirm them and encourage them to continue on in their sin, no matter the consequences. If we view sin correctly, as Jesus did, we would recognize that affirming someone in their sin is like approaching a slave on a plantation and saying to them, “Slavery is good for you. It is the core of your identity. I accept you as a slave. Carry on.” This is a far cry from compassion.

• It is not compassionate to approach a slave and to say their slavery brings out that person’s true self. We as a culture are told to place ultimate confidence in our own view of ourselves. The finest shifting sand around. To be holy in this culture, it is our job to build up other’s in their pride by seeing them primarily by their own self-identification. But if this self-identification is actually slavery, if it will actually lead them to death, how should we respond? We must not approach the slave to sin and say, “Those chains around you really bring out the colors in your eyes. They make you look so beautiful, they display your strength and that you are true to yourself.” This again is not compassion, this is in fact the opposite, this is hatred toward the slave.

• It is not compassionate to accept or support the laws and societal forces which are arguing for and enforcing slavery upon the masses. Can you imagine if the abolitionists of the 1800s walked into Congress and said the laws put in place to further slavery were good things? Can you imagine if the abolition movement had turned a blind-eye to the legal forces in place in America that legalized slavery? Would such actions be compassionate? Would such actions have helped those trapped in slavery? But yet we are told time and again to do just that. Love would dictate that we oppose all the forces which seek to further slavery in our society.

• Finally, it is not compassionate for a former slave who is now free, who knows the way to freedom, to refuse to show those in bondage the way to freedom. The success of the Underground Railroad, and of people like Harriet Tubman, is displayed as people, even former slaves, cared for those who were suffering so much that they risked life and limb to lead them to freedom. We too are former slaves to sin, we have been set free by Christ, and in turn we are to lead others to freedom.

The analogy of sin as slavery is important to keep in our minds. As we war against this wretched form of slavery there are many battlegrounds we must fight upon. We must expose the forces of this world which argue for slavery for what they are—lies which lead to bondage and death. We must oppose the laws of the land which seek to normalize and promote slavery and which at the same time seek to prevent true freedom. We must also look with sympathy on those trapped in slavery and show true compassion by pointing them to freedom, even when they are so deceived they think they are already free. This is the example Christ gave us. This is true compassion. 

Slavery, Abolitionists, & Compassion: Part 1

As the sexual revolution continues to spin out of control before our eyes, Christians are faced with a dilemma, “How do we oppose this evil and remain compassionate to people?” Much of the online dialogue has divided Christians in two camps: those who want to speak out against the action and those who think we should instead focus on showing compassion to individuals. Interestingly enough, those arguing for compassion often do not show that very compassion to their fellow Christians they are disagreeing with. 

As I have thought on this I am more and more convinced that this idea that both opposing the sexual revolution and showing compassion is not opposed to each other, but rather that opposition to this wickedness is true compassion. How did I come to this conclusion? The words and actions of Jesus Christ. Jesus is our example of love and compassion which we are to follow.

Jesus hung out and ate with some sinners, but he also rebuked and fought with other sinners. What was the difference? Why did he respond differently to different people? It is safe to say that in both scenarios Jesus was acting out of love and in both responses he remained compassionate (even if to our politically correct eyes it doesn’t appear so) even though his tactics changed depending on the context. 

The main factor for Jesus’ different actions appears to be how the sinner views his sin. To those who were under the burden of sin, who were oppressed by it, and who saw no hope for change, to those Jesus shows tender mercy by welcoming them and showing there is hope in him through repentance and faith. 

But there is another type of sinner, the one who loves his sin and thinks there is nothing wrong with his actions. To those sinners who call themselves righteous, those who celebrate and embrace their own wickedness and who call it ‘good,’ to those who further wickedness and its oppression of others,  Jesus’ compassion takes the form of hard rebukes in an attempt to get them to see their sin and to find healing through repentance and faith in him. His tactics changed, his goal did not. 

The difference between these two types of sinners is that one is humble and the other is proud. And this makes a world of difference. Jesus tells us as much in the story of the tax collector and the Pharisee who go to pray at the temple. The tax collector is humble and admits he is a sinner, the Pharisee is proud and he thinks he is notsinful. In the end, the humble one is forgiven, and the prideful one is not (Luke 18:9-14). Your relationship to your own sin makes a world of difference.

In our culture, the attitude of the Pharisees is found in the secular left. They believe themselves and their actions to be inherently good, even unquestionably good. They are proud and even celebrate their wickedness as something which is to be accepted, praised, and advanced. Moreover, they ostracize and marginalize anyone who lives out true righteousness by labeling them immoral, uneducated, bigoted, and simpletons. The parallels between the actions of the secular left in adherence to their holiness code and that of the Pharisees of Jesus’ day are rather striking.

So how do we show compassion to the prideful sinner? We must be like Jesus and rebuke him. That is compassion. We must oppose that which is wicked all-the-while remembering that these people are people whom we are trying to direct toward salvation. In rebuking them we must maintain the attitude of humility by refusing to become prideful ourselves knowing that we are saved by God’s grace alone. We are must not come to think of ourselves as righteous in ourselves as they do. Humility is important. This does not negate that compassion dictates that we oppose evil and slavery and we do so vehemently even as Christ did himself. 

So what does this have to do with slavery? Jesus in John 8 has an interesting encounter with a bunch of prideful Jews who believe they are righteous because of how they were born (in Abraham’s line). Jesus will have none of their thinking. This exchange is even more interesting because this group of Jews is said to have initially “believed” in Jesus (8:31), though it was not a genuine belief. 

Jesus says to these Jews they need to know the truth because it will set them free (8:31-32), but they object because they believe themselves to be free already (8:33)! Jesus is talking about spiritual freedom from sin, as he says, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin” (8:34). These Jews were enslaved to sin, yet they refused to acknowledge  they were in slavery.  These slaves were so full of pride and their love of sin that they thought they were free. They thought they were morally right, sinless, and that Jesus was in the wrong! This leads Jesus to tell them they are of their father (8:38)  who is not Abraham as they claim, but in reality is the Devil (8:44).

See the form Jesus' compassion takes—he says to a bunch of sinners, who are slaves to sin, that they are the children of the Devil. This is how his compassion worked itself out in this situation. Jesus was willing to publicly call a spade a spade. Why did he take this tactic? Surely one reason was because this group of Jews was self-righteous, they denied they were sinful and thought they were morally justified because of how they were born! Couldn't Jesus just get in line  and treat them with more civility and affirm how they were born? But Jesus says, "You are not free, and you will never be free as long as you serve the Devil and reject the truth that freedom is only found in me." His compassion is found in that Jesus offers these slaves freedom by point out the truth of their situation. 

Jesus is the true abolitionist offering passage from the plantations of the South to the free states of the North, but these slaves love their slavery more than freedom. In their arrogance think their bondage is freedom. They thing right is wrong and wrong is right. This leads them to oppose true freedom (Jesus) and to promote slavery for themselves and for others!

The compassion of Jesus acts in such a way as to call out this wicked nonsense and be bluntly honest that they are so far gone that they are working for the ultimate slave master—Satan himself. It is here that Jesus throws his verbal punches in hopes to shake them to the core so that they may repent and find true freedom and that others may not be captured by this slavery. 

If your conception of Jesus is not large enough to include Jesus as he is found in John 8, then you have fallen prey to a false Jesus. He is our model of love and his love had a backbone and it had teeth. Jesus hates slavery to sin, and so should we. Slavery to sin is far worse than any form of physical slavery mankind has ever dreamed up. 

Jesus is the great abolitionist, and we are under his charge to continue the fight for freedom from sin by following his example and preaching the gospel, even when the sons of the Devil don’t want to listen  because they think  they are already free. Humility reminds us that we were once there as well and we are only free because someone confronted us about our own slavery. 

In part 2 of this blog post I will apply what this means for us today as we seek to battle the slavery of our day—the sexual revolution which promotes promiscuity, homosexuality, transgenderism, gender fluidity and others forms of wickedness. This ideology is enslaving millions of people around the world and yet it has the audacity to masquerade around as freedom. The Christian must be able to respond to this slavery with compassion of Christ and not mere sentimentality.