what is a Christian by feeling? A dictionary defines the word "feeling" as "related to the senses or sensory objects and easily influenced by the senses." A Christian by feeling is a person who lives by feeling, not by understanding the word of God. A Christian who feels will only serve, pray or study the Bible when he feels, otherwise he will not do it. The effect of his Christian life is directly proportional to the intensity of his current feelings. When he experiences spiritual joy, he is a whirlwind of godliness; When he is depressed, he is mentally incompetent. He constantly seeks fresh spiritual experiences and uses them to determine the meaning of the myth. His "inner feeling" became the final check of truth.
A Christian by feeling thinks that he doesn't need to study God's Word, because he already knows God's will by feeling. He doesn't want to know god; He wants to experience God. Christians by feeling equate "childlike faith" with ignorance. He thinks that the Bible calls on us to have "childlike faith", which means a kind of confidence without content and a kind of confidence without knowing anything. He doesn't know that the Bible says, "Be a baby in evil, but always be an adult in mind" (1 Cor. 14: 2). He didn't realize that Paul told us again and again, "Brothers, I don't want you to be ignorant" (see Romans 11: 25, for example).
A Christian who feels happy lives until he encounters the pain of life, which is not a happy thing. At this time, his spirit collapses. He usually ends up accepting a "relational theology" (which is the most terrible curse of modern Christianity), in which personal relationships and experiences are more important than God's words. If the Bible calls on us to take actions that may threaten some personal relationship, then the Bible must give in. The supreme law of Christians by feeling is that bad feelings must be avoided at all costs.
The Bible mainly (but not exclusively) speaks to our understanding. Understanding means rational mind. It is difficult to convey this to modern Christians, because modern Christians live in an era that may be the most irrational in western civilization. Note that I didn't say anti-academic, anti-technology or anti-learning. I'm talking about anti-rationality, anti-intelligence. There is a strong aversion to the role of the brain in Christian life.
indeed, this reaction has its historical reasons. Many laymen felt what a theologian called "betrayal of reason". Too much skepticism, cynicism and negative criticism gushed out from theologians' rational world, so that laymen lost their trust in rational pursuit. In many cases, people are afraid that faith can't stand the rational examination, so that defense becomes a rejection of human rationality. We turn to feeling instead of reason to build and maintain our beliefs. This is a very serious problem faced by the church in the twentieth century.
Christian belief is very rational, of course, not only involving rationality. In other words, the Bible speaks to human reason and reason, and at the same time, it does not emphasize rationalism, nor only speaks to human reason. Christian life is not a life of subjective speculation, nor is it a cold rationalism; It should be a dynamic and emotional life. The Bible calls on us again and again to have strong joy, love and joy. However, these strong feelings are a response to what the mind understands to be true. When we read in the Bible, "You can rest assured that I have conquered the world" (John 16: 33), it is not an appropriate response to be tired of indifference. We can be happy because we know that Christ has indeed conquered the world. This rejoices our souls and makes our feet dance. What is more precious than experiencing the sweetness of Christ's presence or the closeness of the Holy Spirit?
May God not let us lose our enthusiasm or finish our Christian journey without experiencing Christ at all. But what happens when there is a conflict between God's word and my feelings? We must do what God says, whether we like it or not. This is the whole meaning of Christian faith.
think it over. In your own life, what happens when you do what you feel you want to do instead of what you know and understand what God says you should do? At this time, we face the cruel reality that happiness and pleasure are not the same. How easily the two are confused! The pursuit of happiness is regarded as our inalienable right. But happiness and pleasure are not the same thing. Both are very comfortable, but only one of them will last for a long time. Sin can bring happiness, but it can never bring happiness. If sin was not so pleasant, it would not be a temptation. However, although sin often "feels good", it cannot produce happiness. If we don't know the difference between them, or worse, if we don't care about this difference, we will make great progress towards becoming Christians by feeling.
It is precisely at this point of distinguishing pleasure from happiness that biblical knowledge is so crucial. There is a relationship between God's will and human happiness that cannot be ignored. Satan's most fundamental deception is the lie that obedience to God will never bring happiness. From the initial temptation to Adam and Eve to Satan's temptation to you last night, this lie is the same. "If you do what God says, you won't be happy; If you do what I say, you will be' liberated' and experience happiness. "
Under what circumstances does Satan's argument hold? It seems that for Satan's argument to hold, God must be one of the following three things: ignorant, malicious or deceptive. Only in this way can God's word not work for us, because it comes from God's nonsense and nonsense. God's knowledge is simply not enough, so that he can't tell us what we need to do to get happiness. Maybe he wants us to have happiness, but he doesn't have enough knowledge to teach us correctly. He wanted to help us, but the complexity of human life and human situation confused his mind and made him at a loss.
Maybe God is infinitely wise and knows better than we do what is good for us. Perhaps he really understands the complicated situation of people better than philosophers, moralists, politicians, school teachers, priests and American spiritual associations, but he hates us. He knows the truth, but he still leads us astray so that he can be the only happy person in the universe. Perhaps his law expresses his desire to rejoice in our suffering and look at our suffering and gloat. In this way, his malice towards us makes him a big liar. Ridiculous! If this is true, then the only conclusion we can draw is that God is the devil, the devil is God, and the Bible is the devil's handbook.
is it ridiculous? Is it incredible? I hope so. In fact, in thousands of pastor's study, people are being instructed to act against the Bible because the pastor wants them to be happy. "Yes, Mrs Jones, although the Bible doesn't allow it, you can still divorce your husband! Because I'm sure you'll never be happy if you stay married to such a person. "
If there is a carefully kept secret about the happiness of human beings, it is a sentence in a question and answer in the 17th century, "The primary purpose of life is to glorify God and take pleasure in him forever." The secret of happiness lies in obedience to God. How can we be happy if we don't obey God? How can we obey if we don't know what to obey? So, in the final analysis, as long as we are ignorant of God's Word, we can't really find happiness.
It's true that knowing the word of God does not guarantee that we will do what he says, but at least we will know what we should do in the pursuit of human satisfaction. The question of faith is not whether we believe in God or not, but whether we believe what this God says.
Excerpt from: Spauer's Understanding the Bible, Reformed Classic Publishing House.