I don't understand the need to relegate emotion into some necessary evil. We are created emotional beings. Why would our emotion not be an important part in worshiping our creator? I keep hearing the same old refrain "emotions lie". No they don't, they just are. It is our intellect that confuses what the emotions mean. It is our intellect that rationalizes the beating we receive from our spouse is just their way of expressing love. It is our understanding of emotions and love that needs correcting. That is why our minds need renewing. Not because the intellect is so much more superior to emotion, but because it is in our minds that emotions get turned into something they aren't.
Emotions are vital to us as we are created by a Creator. It is emotion that drives us to want to learn more about God. It is emotion that gives the Psalms their context. I have no idea what it is like to be a king or a nation that is surrounded by those bent on my death. But I do know what it feels like to be wronged. I do know what it feels like to be lied about. I do know what it feels like to have enemies. The Psalms are more than a history lesson. That is why I can find comfort in them.
Who we are as created by our Creator is irreducible. That is why we are to love God with all our heart, mind, body, and soul. That is why truly worshipping God does not depend on a place, but we worship in spirit and in truth. That encompasses our whole being, not just our body or our intellect.
Love is irreducible. Is love an emotion? I have no idea to what extent emotion is a part of love, but emotion is an important aspect of love. Try loving your wife without emotional content and tell me how long that lasts. Love is action, yes, but not just action. That is why Paul said in 1 Cor. 13, "If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing."
Eventually the discussion turns to physiology. I have no idea why, but it is inevitable. Yes physiology can affect our emotional capacity. But physiology can affect our mental and physical capacity as well. Do we shun those aspects of our being because of that? No, we work harder at things most people take for granted when faced with that adversity. But it doesn't make anything less important.
We use music in worship, whether instrumental or vocal. But emotional content is the very essence of music. Music is the original non-representational art form (for all you realist fanbois out there, you better check your credentials if you like music). There is nothing "realistic" about music. It communicates entirely emotionally, with or without words. That is what drew visual artists like Paul Klee and the others at Bauhaus to music for inspiration. You can harp about the doctrinal validity of words all you want, but if you have put them to music you have imposed an emotional carrier and/or lens to those words. Better get used to it.
Please understand I am not saying emotion is of primary importance and our minds are secondary. I am saying that one does not exist without the other, at least not as God has created us. One is not more important than the other. God is an emotional God. He laughs, sings, gets angry, is jealous, rejoices, weeps. We were created for his good pleasure. Why in the world would we think emotions should be suppressed, oppressed, or otherwise avoided?
For all you Christians out there, I've enjoyed the ride up until now, but I'm out. Now it is time to live life and live life more abundantly. I am positive that includes emotions.
Joe
P.S. If you read this Nate, while you guys at the Humanist Podcast may have been my most recent discussion regarding this topic, you are by no means the only ones. I wish that had been the case.
4 comments:
This is basically how I feel about Christianity. Thanks for writing.
i hear ya joe. just recently, due to some rather horrible experiences, i commented to andrew that i now get it why people walk away from the institutional church or even God altho i'd never do the latter. there seem to be certain words that really trigger some christians to go on the attack and i seem to use them: emerging church (well...not so much anymore but who does), postmodernism, christian feminism, mystics, psychology, philosophy, etc etc. i think the problem is people don't stop and ask how exactly those terms are being used and when they use them they tend to mean things quite different than i, and others, do so they are arguing against phantom opponents. but of course that is the irony of postmodernism that so many can't see.
to spell it out for anyone reading this that doesn't understand my last comment: one of the things postmodernism tells us is that because language is not fixed for all time but gains its meaning in local communities (no, not individually) that words do not have the same meanings to all people in all places at all times. the word "postmodernism" is ironically the perfect example of this: to some people, among them many conservative christian, it basically means moral relativism, but to many others of us it refers to complexity and a plurality of views. so, when someone in the emerging conversation talked about postmodernism they were not advocating moral relativism but acknowledging that yes, while christianity is the only way to God, there are fuller ways of understanding things, even within christianity, than we may have been taught: like how we do church or what church really is (hint: it really isn't something we do) or even what the gospel is.
sadly, too many want to read a one page article written by someone critiquing something and then think they know all they need to about said subject. doesn't it even occur to them to read things by the people who are a part of that position/movement/etc rather then just a second hand critic who may only know little of what they are actually speaking about?
didn't mean to hijack your post joe. i just am also quite frustrated for what passes for christianity in some circles and sadly those circles seem to want to dominate the discourse. i think your observations on emotion and art are spot on, so i don't at present have much to add to that but i'll think on it more. i too am tired of being attacked for things i don't even believe nor advocate because others can't be bothered to do their homework.
Hi Joe,
I came about this blog in an odd sort of way, but I wanted to comment on your post. You brought up an excellent topic. Recently, I was reading a book that touched on this subject as well. Unfortunately, there are many Christians who feel that emotions are “bad”. However, emotions are actually neutral. It’s the response to the emotions that is where the error lies. Take a brick for example. A brick in and of itself is neither good nor bad. It can be used to build a house, or it can be thrown through a window. It’s the reaction that is the issue. Jesus gave us many examples of this. We saw him angry in the Temple, sad at Lazarus’ death, and stressed at the Garden of Gethsemane. Did the fact that he had emotions make him sinful? No. I just pray that as you turn away from Christians, it doesn’t also cause you to turn away from God.
I, too, happened on this blog very indirectly. But Joe, you just need to know different Christians! My goodness!
I'm writing from Ravenna, a city filled with examples of Christians of emotion: You don't decorate churches like these people did without emotion. And visiting Dante's tomb today itself puts the lie to the idea that Christianity is against art, emotion, etc.
I teach at a Christian graduate school, Regent College, that celebrates the affective, the emotional, the artistic, the mystical, right alongside academic standards second to none.
So I'm sorry you've had such a tough time, but Christianity is a Very Big Phenomenon. Christianity hasn't acquired a history of mystics, activists, philanthropists, prophets, artists, poets, musicians, novelists, evangelists, and caregivers without there being emotion involved!
So find some other Christians before you chuck Christianity!
Post a Comment