Should Feelings be a Basis for Faith?

Perhaps you have come across religions who say something like this: "If you have a question about our faith and aren't sure it's really true or not, just pray and ask God to give you assurance. If you experience a burning in your chest through His Holy Spirit, then you know that these things can be trusted."

Or, perhaps, you have had some kind of heightened emotional experience connected with a religious belief and, though certain aspects of that belief seem to be contradictory, you are hesitant to question them because you do not want to dismiss the validity of that experience or admit that you could have been emotionally misled in some way.

Let me offer you these words of encouragement from the Bible: Test everything. Hold on to the good. I Thessalonians 5:21

God is a mysterious Being, to be sure, and our interactions with Him will undoubtedly be quite emotional from time to time; however, He wants us to have a faith based on knowledge, wisdom and committed love, not simply emotion. Psalms 119:66 tells says, Teach me knowledge and good judgment, for I believe in your commands. And, Proverbs 2:6 says, For the Lord gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. (See also: Proverbs 8:10, Proverbs 11:9, Proverbs 20:15, Proverbs 23:12, Proverbs 24:3-4, Isaiah 33:6, Phillipians 1:9-11, Colossians 1:9, 2 Peter 1:5-11)

It's important to note that, while emotion itself is not a bad thing (it was given to us by God, after all), it was never intended as a means by which to determine truth. Why? Because emotions are deceptive and can be easily swayed and manipulated by various outside forces, not the least of which is Satan himself. Jeremiah 17:9 tells us, The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

So, if our own hearts (i.e. our emotions) can be deceptive, how do we know if what the man behind the pulpit is saying is true or not? How do we know if someone is trying to deceive us? How do we know if our past emotional experiences were based on truth or on lies? We do some digging! We study and pray and then study some more. Then, once we determine that the Bible can be trusted, we use it as a lens through which we test everything else. The Bible itself actually tells us to do so through the example of the Bereans: Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. Acts 17:11

You may have also noticed that these same religions that encourage a reliance on emotion, rarely encourage deep, personal study of the Bible--even if they claim that the Bible is one of their accepted religious texts. Much more emphasis is given to other, extra-biblical writings, which invariably contradict the Bible (and, hence, lead to this need for emotional validation, since intellectual validation is unobtainable.) However, the Bible welcomes deep study and is fully capable of standing up under scrutiny. God also warns us in I John 4:1-3 to be wary of those who would seek to mislead us:

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ [as defined in the Bible--added by author] has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

Remember, don't trust in your emotions or in reason apart from study, but search out these things in God's Word. Proverbs 28:26 reminds us, He who trusts in himself is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be kept safe. And Proverbs 3:5-6 says, Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Also, II Corinthians 13:5 gives us some good advice: Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you--unless, of course, you fail the test?

Let me also share one more short passage with you, which is one of my personal favorites:

James 1:5-6

If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask of God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. But when he asks, he must believe and not doubt, because he who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.


Remember, God desires to speak to us--to our hearts, yes, but also to our minds. God, who created us, including every aspect of our beings--our emotions, our intellect, our sexuality, our spirits, our bodies, etc.--can, therefore, speak to every part of us, fill every part of us and fully sustain every part of us. We don't have to close off our minds in order to experience God--quite the opposite! And, when things don't make sense, He wants us to ask for wisdom--which He promises to give to us in abundance without finding any fault in us for needing it. What a wonderful promise!