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Growth in Grace: Transformation of the Feelings

December 20, 2016 by Geoff Leave a Comment

Introduction

Over time, our response to God’s grace will lead to a transformation of our feelings and emotions.

This is evident from two perspectives. First, from observation, we know that part of a long-term diet plan includes learning to like different foods. If this change does not take place, then evidence shows that people tend to end up heavier than they were before going on a diet. Secondly, from Scripture, we see that the ideal Christian life includes the experience of appropriate positive emotions regarding God, truth, goodness, and beauty and negative emotions regarding evil, sin, suffering, and so-on.[1]

The topic of emotional growth and transformation in the life of God’s grace is dangerous, though. It’s dangerous territory because emotions are pathologized in many ways. In this post, I do not mean to:

  1. Conflict with some actual medical diagnosis somebody may have. A genetic predisposition toward depression or a measured chemical imbalance is not to be scoffed at or treated as fake.
  2. Allow people who excuse their behavior because of the feelings.

But, despite the dangers of discussing feelings and emotions, this is an important topic. Besides, a life boat is a dangerous on the high seas, but it is better than sinking with a damaged vessel. Similarly, a Christian approach to our feelings is much safer than simply staying upon a sinking vessel in those same high seas.

Four Theses on Feelings

  1. People make major decisions based solely upon their feelings.
    This is almost an axiom, but if you need evidence use social media.
  2. Basing your choices on feelings is not ideal.
    Many people think that going against their feelings is inauthentic. I’ve even heard famous pastors define hypocrisy as obeying the Lord when you don’t feel like it. The Star Wars films use the phrase, “search your feelings” over and over as a call to seek higher knowledge than sense or reason can provide. Despite the popularity of this way of life, you can easily see how impulses and feelings lead us astray on a regular basis. For instance, many sweet foods are eaten too frequently and this has led to health problems on a national scale. Similarly, the sexual impulse of humanity misapprehended leads to children growing up in terrible and broken households.[2]
  3. The Biblical picture is that feelings are a good gift from God that have been distorted by sin.
    In Romans 1:18-32, Paul says that God gives idolaters (the human race) over to debased minds and shameful lusts as a punishment. In 1 Peter 2:12, Peter observes that our passions actually wage war against our souls. On the other hand, the Bible often uses positive emotions as motivations for living the good life with God. One need only read Proverbs 1-9 to see how frequently pleasant emotions are associated with growing in wisdom, maturity, and godliness.
  4. With our cultural acceptance of feeling as a prime source for authentic living (if it feels good, do it!), Christians must re-examine and re-accept the Biblical picture of human feelings and their place in life with Jesus Christ.
    If the first three theses are true, then this one is a matter of course. A non-ideal state of affairs based on a false belief should always be changed. This is part of the meaning of biblical repentance.

3 Myths about feelings

  1. Self-control means to directly go against your emotions all the time.
    Some people caricature stoicism and think that self-control is bad because it means turning off your emotions. Very few people put this in writing. This is more of an awkward conversation that occurs with people who are about to make a bad decision based on emotion. “There are five good reasons to never do what you’re describing.” “But that’s just who I AM.” We’ve all been there, so we might as well refute it here. Self-control, Biblically, is having a mastery over your feelings. It means crucifying feelings which make it easier to sin and encouraging feelings which honor God (Galatians 5:22-24).
  2. On the other hand, it is a myth that to go against your feelings to do the right thing is bad.[3]
    For instance, John Piper says that buying your wife flowers because you feel obligated isn’t actually love, therefore similarly obeying God out of duty is also not love. This is an interesting point and is helpful from a certain point of view, but it contradicts what the Bible says in several places. Paul says that we are under obligation to the Spirit, not the flesh in Romans 8:12. Now, where Piper is right is that our duty is to delight in God. But it is also our duty to act loving when we feel despondent, hateful, or angry with somebody (God included).
  3. All feelings are true/All feelings are false
    Some people treat their feelings as a totally accurate source of data. Other people treat them as routinely unreliable. An important step is to learn to treat your feelings as an important part of who you are and just like your thoughts and beliefs, they can be right or wrong.

Developing Grace Shaped Feelings

Dallas Willard, in Renovation of the Heart, offers excellent tools for experiencing the transformation of the feelings. What I say below will be partially adapted from his work as well as a collection of some of my own thoughts on the process.

  1. Have a vision of yourself transformed
    If you’re a Christian you want Christ-formed vision of who you are meant to be. This is true of the feelings as well. Few people can overcome their desire for an unhealthy diet because they refuse to imagine themselves as somebody who really doesn’t want the first bite of cake in the first place or at least as somebody who thoroughly enjoys a small piece and moves on with their life. Dallas Willard puts it this way, “If a strong and compelling vision of myself of as one who is simply free from intense vanity or desire of wealth or for sexual indulgence can possess me, then I am in a position to desire not to have the desires I now have. And then means can be effectively sought for that end.”[4] So imagine yourself as somebody who, upon not getting your way, simply makes a reasonable choice instead of being angry. Visualize this. Imagine the angry scenario and all of its physical results (increase heartrate, burning skin, red ears, etc). Then imagine the same scenario with a reasonable response. Which is better?
  2. Reason with your emotions
    Many of us believe that our feelings are deeps sources of knowledge about reality. That’s why believe that they must be satisfied. This can be true of sadness, anger, lust, hunger, and so-on. Part of dealing with these feelings is reasoning with them. “Will I really just die if I go for a walk instead of look at porn?” “Is it realistic to think that I must win this argument with my wife?” “Did my child really try to make me angry?” “Am I literally worthless?” If we ask these questions of our feelings and then dispute them, we may find ourselves slowly having transformed feelings. When you reason with your feelings, it’s important to focus on the positional elements of the Christian life. I’ve written more about this here and here.
  3. Learn the circumstances under which you experience your emotions and change them
    1. I mean two things here. The first is to recognize the bad external circumstances over which you have power, and change them. If you need more sleep, start going to bed early tonight. If you watch depressing or violent television, stop. If you read salacious literature, don’t. If you watch the food network and feel hungry all the time, stop watching it.
    2. There are also internal conditions of feelings. These can be beliefs and thought patterns. If you really believe that you are worthless, then you really will feel like a worthless. Repeat true, Biblical statements to yourself until your belief is changed. “I am in loved by God.” “I am made in God’s image.” “God is worth giving up my immediate desires.” “Self-denial for the sake of Jesus is good.” “With wisdom, I can have good success before God and man.” Other beliefs or processes can be important as well. I have several circumstances that opposed my life success that everybody I know says were the fault of others who took advantage of my niceness and problem solving ability. If I live my whole life thinking about how so-and-so messed me up, I will live my whole life weakening my resolve. So, I’ve chosen to believe that I am fully responsible for those failures and what comes next. This belief is only partly true, but I don’t know enough about those other people’s intentions to really believe that meant to take advantage of me. But I do know that I simply did not have a biblical form of self-love and put others interests before my own in an unbiblical fashion.[5] Learning to change this past belief to one of personal ownership of the result has helped me have way more peace about my current circumstances and to feel must more ownership over my course in life.
  4. Don’t repress your feelings, but change them (in the ways mentioned above) or use them constructively
    Many people, as I mentioned above, see self-control as an inauthentic attempt to repress or hide all feelings. While there are times to hide your feelings, repression is not the best way to have your feelings transformed. There is a time to ‘fake it’ till you make it. If you feel hungry, but don’t eat to train yourself to keep your new diet, that is probably good. But you have to own the fact that you felt hungry despite having eaten enough. If you do not own your feelings as an actual part of who you are , then it can be hard to change them over time. I’ve written about this in more depth here. Another way to approach this is to take potentially sinful feelings and use them to seek the good thing they were designed to point you toward. Examples:

    1. Anger: Anger is meant to tell you where your will is being thwarted. If you’re angry about something you currently cannot solve, go solve another problem.
    2. Lust: Use feelings of lust to motivate yourself to improve your marriageability, attractiveness, or marriage by going to the gym, being more romantic, increasing your earnings, praying more for your marriage/prospects.
    3. Sadness: Sadness comes from a sense of loss or demoralizing defeat. Use sadness to propel you to empathy with others or to motivate you to improve your chances of overcoming your circumstances. You could also use it to guide you toward repentance. Remind yourself that this feeling is the feeling that should accompany sin.

Conclusion

The point of this post is to give clear guidelines for transforming your feelings. The three biggest challenges for this are:

  1. The belief that we should base our lives on feelings.
  2. Our lack of vision about the Biblical picture of feelings formed in Christ (read the New Testament and Proverbs very thoroughly to solve this)
  3. Our inability to admit that our feelings are often the result of choices we make that are sinful at worst and foolish at best.

If we can get these things straight, then we can hopefully chart a clearer course through this aspect of growing in God’s grace.

May his Spirit help us.

Posts in the series

  1. What does “grow in grace” mean?
  2. Growth in Grace: Vision
  3. Growth in Grace: Intention
  4. Growth in Grace: Means
  5. Growth in Grace: Transformation of the Feelings

References

[1] For instance, Paul commands us to “abhor the evil” but also says that God’s spirit will work “joy” in our lives. And while I am quite opposed to the idea that love is an emotion, love is often accompanied by delight. Our sense of delight in those we choose to love (rather than only gravitating toward loving those in whom we delight) is an important sign of spiritual growth.

[2] The research on the difficulties children raised in single-parent homes face should make everybody more circumspect about one-night stands, but few people perceive future generations as worthy of respect, care, or concern unless it involves public decisions like driving a Prius. But people will rarely be choosy with sexual partners based upon their potential children.

[3] John Piper, Desiring God ([Sisters, OR]: Multnomah, 2003), 93, “Consider the analogy of a wedding anniversary. Mine is on December 21. Suppose on this day I bring home a dozen long-stemmed roses for Noël. When she meets me at the door, I hold out the roses, and she says, “O Johnny, they’re beautiful; thank you” and gives me a big hug. Then suppose I hold up my hand and say matter-of-factly, “Don’t mention it; it’s my duty.” What happens? Is not the exercise of duty a noble thing? Do not we honor those we dutifully serve? Not much. Not if there’s no heart in it. Dutiful roses are a contradiction in terms. If I am not moved by a spontaneous affection for her as a person, the roses do not honor her. In fact, they belittle her. They are a very thin covering for the fact that she does not have the worth or beauty in my eyes to kindle affection. All I can muster is a calculated expression of marital duty.”

[4] Dallas Willard, Renovation of the Heart, 119.

[5] Paul, in Philippians 2:1-11, teaches us to emulate Christ in putting others interests above our own. And we should, but insofar as the interests of the other involve the purposes of the gospel. For instance, Paul won’t put others interests above his own when it comes to his calling or responsibilities. Same with Jesus. Jesus tells would be apostles (people who want to go preach with him) that they can’t come because they want him to wait for their needs to be met first. This is important to remember. If somebody’s need involves you failing to feed your family, pursue your calling, or whatever then think very carefully about whether or not it is wise to do. For instance, in the parable of the good Samaritan, the Samaritan didn’t invite the guy into his home or offer to pay all of his bills. But he did help him in the moment and agree to pay for his care at an inn.

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Book Review Pt 1: The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis

December 20, 2016 by Geoff Leave a Comment

This is part one of a multi-part review of The Four Loves by C.S. Lewis.

The Four Loves: Introduction

Lewis, Clive Staples. The Four Loves. London: Fontana, 1964.

In Lewis’ book on the kinds and nature of love he starts the book by distinguishing between Need-love (like a small child for its mother) and Gift-love (like a man working to leave a legacy for his family which he may never see). Lewis had hoped to write the whole book based on this distinction saying essentially that Need-love is bad and Gift-love is good and Christian. What he found, though, was that this is impossible (7).

Lewis points out that while it is true that the Christian’s spiritual health is gauged by his love for God, “Gift-love” for God is the exception. He uses the story of the publican and the Pharisee from Luke’s gospel to make the point. The observation holds, it’s when the Pharisee assumes that his gifts to God, even his grace inspired gifts (he thanks God for making him good) put God in his debt, that he finds himself unjustified before God. Offering God purely “disinterested love” is impossible because spiritual growth includes a growing “awareness that our whole being is one vast need; incomplete, preparatory, empty, yet cluttered, crying out for Him… (9).”

Lewis makes one more very valuable distinction in the chapter. He distinguishes between likeness to God (by nature) and nearness to God by approach. Likeness to God, by nature, is something which every created thing shares to one degree or another. Rocks have being, animals have life, angels have intellect, will, and immorality, mankind has will, rationality, and so-on. Nearness to God by approach is the intentional conforming of the human will to the divine will. Likeness to God is a fact of nature, Lewis observes and can be received with thanksgiving or not acknowledged at all. Nearness to God by approach is what grace enabled creatures must do (11). This is similar to what I’ve written elsewhere about positional vs progressive elements in the Christian life. One of the best observations Lewis makes in the book is that since human beings have the incarnation to look to, “our imitation of God…must be an imitation of God incarnate: our model is the Jesus, not only of Calvary, but of the workshop, the roads, the crowds, the clamorous demands and surly oppositions, the lack of all peace and privacy, the interruptions. For this, so strangely unlike anything we can attribute to the Divine life in itself, is apparently not only like, but is, the Divine life operating under human conditions. (11)”

 

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The Christian Life: Positional and Progressive Elements

December 20, 2016 by Geoff Leave a Comment

Intro

In kinesiology class back in college, I had a professor tell me that since the triceps muscles functioned to extend the forearm, one only needed to do bicep curls to exercise the whole arm. Her reasoning was that lowering the weight extended the forearm, and therefore exercised the triceps. She had taken a basic fact and misapplied it because she neglected to account for simple facts like gravity being the force that lowers the weight as the lifter slowly relaxes his biceps.

Similarly, in the Christian life, we can easily misapply things. This is especially so in the case of the Bible’s language regarding Christian growth and God’s grace. For instance, some see the passages about justification by grace through faith is the ultimate or only expression of the Christian life. In so doing, they can actually believe/explain a version of faith that does not lead to good works or obedience in Christ. In fact, some might even disparage good works!

On the other hand, some look at the passages in Scripture about spiritual growth and the need for obedience and see these as the ultimate or only expressions of the Christian life. The danger here is teaching that one is saved by one’s efforts and not God’s grace and the progress is always obvious and linear. Such teaching may indeed lead to boasting in one’s works as the Pharisee in Luke 18:10-14.

As all imbalances in Christian teaching go, one can see both of these aspects of the Christian life in Scripture. They go by many names: the gospel/law distinction, justification/sanctification, and indicative/imperative distinctions. Well explained, all of these end up saying the same thing. I’m not a fan of the words used though. They create unnecessary confusion of vocabulary. Here are some examples: in Scripture the gospel includes commands, the law of Moses includes promises, indicatives result from imperatives, and sanctification is sometimes a state not a characteristic of a person.

I prefer to distinguish between the positional and progressive elements of the Christian life. I’m sure somebody came up with the language before me, but I haven’t seen it anywhere and it popped into my mind when I was teaching an introductory course on Christian theology. Below I’ll simply describe some of the positional and progressive elements of the Christian life.

Positional Elements

These are aspects of the Christian life concerning one’s identity in Christ. They are gifts of grace to be claimed as a certain possession by the faithful. Biblical examples include but are not limited to:

  1. Justification by faith (Romans 4:24-5:10)
  2. Adoption (Ephesians 1:3-23)
  3. Sanctification/being called saints (Romans 1:7, 1 Corinthians 1:29-31)
  4. Being beloved by God (all over the Bible)

The importance of the positional aspects of the Christian life included the fact that they are true (it is important to know true things), they depend on God’s grace and not necessarily our progress, and they supply us with an individual and communal identity.

Progressive Elements

These are elements of the Christian life in which growth and progress can be made. The confusing thing is that sometimes the Bible uses the same words for progressive and positional categories (sanctification, grace, live like children of God, etc). Biblical examples include but are not limited to:

  1. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the sons of God. Being a son of God here is a designation based on character, not a declaration based on grace received through faith.
  2. Matthew 6:33 (seek first the kingdom of God and it’s righteousness). Righteousness is not a courtroom declaration like in Paul’s letters, but a virtue to be pursued.
  3. Hebrews 12:14 says to strive for the holiness/sanctification necessary to see the Lord.
  4. Abiding in God’s love (1 John 3, John 14-26)

The importance of these aspects of the Christian life is that they speak of the goals toward which faith strives. While one does not have to be a perfect peacemaker to be justified by faith, one should have a faith of the sort that will lead to peacemaking. These aspects of the Christian life also speak of how one experiences life with God and approaches true happiness and Christian virtue.

Conclusion

When we understand the difference between the two ways the Bible talks about the spiritual life, we can have hope in our justification, but still ‘strive for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord (Hebrews 12:14)’ because faith that justifies is faith that seeks holiness (the holiness doesn’t justify).

 

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Why I am a Christian: Hell

December 13, 2016 by Geoff Leave a Comment

This is the first ‘pathos’ argument for my being Christian in my series of posts: why I’m a Christian.

This particular reason is usually treated as the least worthy reason to care about Jesus: the doctrine of hell. For instance, fear of hell is not a reason to think Christianity is true. Just like fear of werewolves is not reason to think that they are real. But it is a reason to consider that some religion, perhaps Christianity, may be true.

The doctrine of hell, that some experience of post-mortem divine punishment for misdeeds in the present life, is rejected by many intellectually and by even more in terms of their personal practice.

In fact, many people seem to reject the notion of God precisely because they find the doctrine of any sort of hell unconscionable.

I’m not writing this to defend the notion of hell. Remember, I’m writing about emotional reasons why I’m a Christian.

But think of it this way, instead of rejecting the notion of God because hell is a terrifying notion, consider the possibility that hell is real. Whatever it is: eternal destruction, eternal torture, fire, darkness, hanging out with all the losers, haters, and jerks you hate and who hate you for eternity, etc, it can’t be pleasant.

On top of hell clearly being terrible, versions of it have been believed by billions of people. Now, billions can be wrong and often are, but our instincts have a tendency to point us in the right direction if we consider them at the bar of reason.

The possibility of a post-mortem punishment for immoral behavior is worth checking out. Like Fight Club reminds us: on a long enough time line, everybody’s survival rate drops to zero. That’s why I care about hell. In real life, my normal motivation for doing the right thing is usually ease in the moment. My life is set up so that moral behavior requires little effort. I’m not sure how good of a person I would be if times got tough. But nevertheless my desire for ease does cause me to consider the possibility of hell quite seriously. If misdeeds are punished, then that conflicts with my desire for ease. Because of the possibility of hell there are three things I can think of to do just in case (these are not contradictory):

  1. Seek forgiveness from whoever invented or cares about my morality.
  2. Be as excellent of a person as I can (not just outwardly, but learning to desire goodness inwardly).
  3. See if some religion seems true and adhere to it.

We’re all going to die. This Johnny Cash song is a good reminder:

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Why I am a Christian: Tribalism

December 13, 2016 by Geoff 1 Comment

In the first post on pathos, I talked about the existential fear of ending up on the wrong side of an eternal power. Another aspect of Christianity’s appeal is its inherent tribalism. (This post is in a series.)

Now wait, isn’t Christianity a universal experience? Isn’t it available to all? Doesn’t Jesus say, “Make disciples of all nations…”?

And yes, Christianity is universalist in that sense. Paul, a Hebrew of Hebrews, said so:

Romans 3:29-30 Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, (30) since God is one–who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith.

On the other hand, Jesus said things like this:

Matthew 23:8-10 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. (9) And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. (10) Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.

Jesus’ call to priority in the lives of his followers is rather tribal.

The fact of the matter is that we all look up to leaders and even great leaders typically see themselves as carrying on a legacy, renewing a tradition, or filling the gap left by another. In the case of Christianity, there are lesser leaders: Peter, Paul, Moses, Augustine, Aquinas, Wesley, local pastors, parents, etc. But at the end of it all, the question every person has to ask is something like this, “Who is my leader, to whom do I give allegiance?” The first answer to most people is, “myself.” This is well and good everybody has a duty to seek the wellbeing of their soul. The other answers are probably good too. I’m loyal to my family, my boss, my nation, the traditions that made it, my school, favorite team, my church, and so-on. And again, these things can be good, but only some of them are steady and some can go sour and some can go evil. Moses himself said, “You shall not fall in with the many to do evil… (Exodus 23:2)” Tribal loyalties have limits.

For the Christian, the conversation goes further:

John 6:66-69 After this [some difficult to accept teaching] many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. (67) So Jesus said to the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” (68) Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, (69) and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.”

For the Christian, the answer of final allegiance boils down to this question: Do I live my life based on the example and teachings of Jesus?

When people have your back it’s a good feeling. Knowing, for instance, that my cousins or roommates had my back at times in life when things got ugly was comforting well beyond the time the situation was resolved.

Similarly, when the man out front is excellent and does all things well, one feels proud and excited to be a part. I remember seeing my karate instructor, at the time 41, best a much younger Brazilian jiu-jistu instructor in several practice matches to help the younger man get ready for a tournament (in which the young man placed first). Knowing that my karate instructor could easily defeat a younger expert filled me with pride.

Similarly, knowing that Jesus is simply the best and highest revelation of God, or rather seeing him as the most compelling tribal leader among the many is encouraging. This, coupled with the fact that he tells Christians to “love one another even as I [Jesus] have loved you,” means that in the church one has a community with a tribal leader of universal relevance and a concern for the group that helps you know that your needs won’t be trivialized.

So, I’m a Christian because I see Jesus as my teacher and my leader in this way and I see his people as my people. I am a Christian, Jesus is the best leader, and the church is the best tribe.

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Why I’m a Christian: The Cosmic Story

December 13, 2016 by Geoff Leave a Comment

I’ve slowly been writing summaries of my reasons for being a Christian using the three phases of persuasion: ethos, pathos, and logos. This is the third post under pathos (emotions).

When it comes to emotional reasons for being a Christian, this one might seem the most unusual, but here it is: The idea of a cosmos teeming with purpose imbued upon it by an infinite intelligence within which a conflict of temporal and everlasting significance takes place is just damned interesting. Worldviews with cosmic level conflicts this sort can be found in most ancient cultures.[1] That the Bible contains a worldview like those of the ancient shouldn’t astonish us, as it was written and compiled when the majority of people thought this way.

Image result for st. michael trampling satan

But what does astonish me about the Biblical version of the story is that mankind has a purpose other than slavery to the gods (image and likeness to God), that the gods didn’t spring from the world itself (one God made the world and the rest of the gods), and that the conflict in the Biblical story is about good and evil rather than about noisiness, disputes over authority and property, or some other such things.

On an emotional level such a worldview is satisfying. I love stoicism and see it as a powerful philosophical tool for controlling your emotions, gaining self-control, and enduring physical pain. But when the stoics counsel us to see everything which happens as good in itself, it falls flat for me. But the Biblical idea that “the god of this age” or “the ruler of darkness” is somehow in control of the earth or this section of the universe by some result of cosmic moral rebellion makes the evils of humanity much less excusable. Not only so, but imagining that God’s good world is under the temporary rule of a quasi-divine sociopath adds a degree of significance to our actions and some plausible deniability for inexcusable evils that happen for which a universe ruled merely by providence would offer no satisfaction.

Going further, the idea that I and those around me have some deeper purpose for existence than any individual temporal event could reveal is quite appealing. Indeed, it’s ennobling to think that we await the potential restoration of God’s glory to our bodies and minds in a way that is so unimaginably fantastic that ecstatic anticipation is the most reasonable emotional reaction. This constitutes a powerful stimulus to take life seriously, joy and sorrow, pain and pleasure, work and rest, etc. Even more so, helping the needy, hurting, and ignored is a rebellion against that great source of misery who prowls like a lion to engorge itself upon the souls of hapless creatures buried in their petty disputes and hatreds. And because I’m a bit of a natural anarchist, the idea of rebelling against a cosmic being gets me going. Now, the flip side to that is that obedience to God is obedience to a greater cosmic being, but we’ll take about that in another post.

Now, I’ve presented no logical arguments here. And in fact somebody could be standing next to me who believes in a purposeless universe watching a tragedy unfold and we could try to help together without ever considering our beliefs on this matter or bringing them up.

This isn’t to say that my belief is untrue or that it doesn’t matter either way. I’m just saying that the belief is part of the symbolic and intellectual scaffolding that makes Christianity emotionally attractive to me.

References

[1] Gregory A. Boyd, God at War: The Bible & Spiritual Conflict (InterVarsity Press, 1997).

Other Posts

  1. Pathos
    1. Hell
    2. Tribalism
    3. Cosmic Story
    4. Social Life
    5. Happiness
  2. Ethos
    1. The moral credibility of Jesus
    2. The moral credibility of Christianity’s best
    3. The power of Western Civilization
  3. Logos
    1. Why I think God exists
    2. Why I think Jesus was raised

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