5-minute read
Have you ever heard another Christian say, “You can’t base your faith in God and your trust in the Bible on feelings?”
What exactly does that mean?
In my experience, when Christians say the above statement to other Christians, it is often a way of telling them that on days they read or meditate on the Bible and then come away from their time uneasy, uncomfortable or with some doubts about something they read, it should not automatically mean that the Christian faith is all a sham or that the Bible can no longer be trusted.
For others, it goes a step even further. Some (and I was once one of them) say this to really drill in the point that the Bible is a perfect and holy revelation from God, is entirely without errors or contradictions and is “the absolute truth of God” from cover to cover. Everything in it is factually true, so if we are feeling uncomfortable that is really on us. We just need to calm down and let go of our temporary questions, doubts, wonderings and concerns and just know that ultimately “God knows best,” that whatever we just read in the Bible “is there for a reason” and we should just trust it (and God) is true and not question it. Just.
Did that validate your experience? Probably not.
Perhaps, the above myth was said to you by a well-intentioned minister, pastor, priest, elder, deacon or other Christian individual you know. They heard you are having questions and doubts about a commonly held belief, view or Bible interpretation that many Christians in your church have, so they offer to discuss it. Maybe you open up to them and share your concern kind of hoping or wanting them to empathize with you (at the very least) even if they disagree with your concern or doubt. Somewhere along in the conversation, it becomes evident that your concern, doubt or question is making them feel really uncomfortable. Which is ironic because your discomfort, concern or doubt about what you read in the Bible has now made them uncomfortable with you. Eventually, they say, “You know, you can’t ultimately base your faith in God or trust in the Bible on feelings?”
Don’t misunderstand. They likely mean well. They likely think they are trying to help. They probably think they are doing the right thing to say this to you.
But, the truth is, they are mistaken.
The underlying assumption about feelings and the Bible
In my over 40 years of experience in Christian community, often the underlying assumption behind Myth 8 (you can’t trust your feelings about the Bible) is that feelings and emotions are basically unreliable as sources or indicators of truth. They are unreliable (it is argued) because human feelings and emotions are so tainted by original sin and the sinful nature we inherited from Adam that we simply can’t trust how we feel on big matters of faith, like trusting what the Bible says about God and, well, everything else.
When all is said and done, Christians SHOULD continue to put our faith in God and completely trust that what the Bible says is true, accurate and reliable regardless of how we feel. Questions are fine, they say, but we should NOT let our questions blind us from complete allegiance to the Bible (sometimes they assert “God’s Word” or “Scripture” instead here). They may even add a line about how our questions and doubts are getting very close to the slippery slope (see article Bible Myth 4: Rejecting Biblical inerrancy leads us down the slippery slope to losing our faith).
Whether we have days when we feel good about what we read in the Bible or have days when we don’t feel good about it, we ultimately should not trust our feelings. Some Christians like to add the word “ultimately” somewhere in that statement. It’s as if by saying “ultimately,” they are making a small attempt to acknowledge that feelings (yes) are part of the human experience, they do matter, they may even at times match or correspond to reality, but they are not a reliable indicator and source on matters of ultimate truth (another place they insert ultimate).
The convenience of not trusting our feelings about the Bible
Can I suggest that if we should NEVER trust our feelings on matters of ultimate truth, like when we’re feeling super uncomfortable about something we just read in the Bible, then we probably can’t EVER trust our feelings about any truth or anything?
Think about it: Why claim that WE CAN trust our feelings in other situations that deal with everyday things in life, but when it comes to trusting God or trusting the Bible (which many see as the same thing) and what the Bible says, we really SHOULD NOT ULTIMATELY trust our feelings if and when our feelings are showing or telling us that something we just read in our holy Bibles seems a bit off base, perhaps questionable or flat out immoral and wrong? As I mentioned in Myth 2: The Bible doesn’t contradict itself, there is plenty that can and probably should make us uncomfortable when we read the Bible.
Doesn’t it seem awfully convenient to selectively distrust our feelings (or gut instincts) about the Bible but be ok with trusting our feelings about most other arenas and situations in life? Seems a bit strange, right? Even suspicious?
If you know anything about church history and the early Christian councils, it seems that this conflict over suppressing our feelings in situations involving BIG TRUTH TOPICS by generally having an uncritical and unquestioned faith is (quite frankly) by design. Not by God, but by people. Specifically, people in positions of authority and power. Just do some research into the Roman Emperor Constantine’s involvement in early Christian church councils, including his marriage of Christianity and the Roman Empire, notably his justification of using a Christian image on his soldiers armor as inspiration for his war campaigns, war victories and the empire’s dominance over other human armies.
Yes, that happened a long time ago, but the lasting legacy of Constantine’s uncritical and unquestioned faith by himself and others continues to our day. Both in Christian churches and even in the halls of the US Congress. People in high positions of power in American government, often supported by Christian conservative pastors and churches, who, like Constantine, routinely engage in a toxic combination of church and state. Or should I say church (American Christianity at least) and empire (albeit the American empire)? They and Christians like them routinely justify police brutality at home and war violence abroad, are resistant to change, are unwilling to give up control and eager to keep the status quo for reasons of power, prestige, access to wealth and resources, and their inability (or maybe resistance) to creatively see a way or world beyond what they are used to.
If we dare ask questions, voice our concerns or raise our doubts about conventional beliefs about the Bible, people in high positions of power who identify as Christians, both in church and in the public square, are willing to put up quite a fight with you, sometimes aggressively, sometimes violently. Your openness to change, your willingness to challenge the status quo, your honest and authentic doubts about certain stock answers that Christian churches and Christian individuals repeat over and over and over and over without question, well it threatens everything that has become so comfortable to them.
Why we SHOULD trust our feelings about the Bible
Once we begin to acknowledge that something about our currently held assumptions, spiritual beliefs or interpretations of the Bible are a bit off, odd, contradictory, unethical or even morally suspect, our nice neat theological certainty begins revealing its holes and cracks, and we begin wondering where our anchor is. Our foundation. Our hope. When what is comfortable and certain becomes uncomfortable and uncertain, anxiety and fear are quick to follow. Which is why some revert to regression, doubling down even harder with their earlier beliefs and assumptions rather than courageously moving forward into the unknown territory of an evolving Christian faith, a new kind of Christianity for a new kind of Christian.
Here’s a trustworthy statement that’s worth your time. It is just as inadequate to say that we should never trust our feelings because we might potentially be misled by them as it would be to say we should always trust our feelings because we might be enlightened by them. We can’t simply never trust our gut instincts simply because we may misinterpret something. That would be to not live at all. We also can’t simply always trust our feelings without question, critique or conversation simply because they’ve helped us navigate life in the past. We are human beings after all. We sometimes are right about situations and people and decisions, and we sometimes are wrong about situations and people and decisions. All in the same week. Sometimes all in the same day. Or hour.
When we discover that what we once felt very strongly about (like a spiritual belief, view or interpretation of Scripture) is mistaken and wrong, it’s far better to ask questions like “How did I miss this?” and “What can I Iearn from my mistake?” and “How does this new learning inform me and my faith as I move forward in life?”
In other words, when we discover that an interpretation of a Bible passage is not something we can buy into anymore, we acknowledge it. When a commonly held assumption about God, Jesus, life, death, salvation, damnation, violence, peacemaking that is rooted in the Bible or an interpretation of the Bible no longer seems likely, justifiable or humane, we acknowledge it. We don’t justify it. We don’t suppress it or pretend we aren’t rethinking things based on new learning. We own our new learning. We process it. Hopefully find some trustworthy people to process it with. If not, at times we have to go alone for a time until others join.
We stop being afraid of our questions. We start asking and affirming them. We stop being afraid of our doubts like the plague. We acknowledge and share them. When our gut is telling us something is off about what we are reading in the Bible or how we or others have misinterpreted what’s in the Bible, we acknowledge it. We speak up when it matters. And at times remain silent (remember what Jesus said about throwing pearls to pigs). If we were part of the problem in promoting an unethical or unjustifiable view and belief, we stop justifying it. We own up to our misconceptions with contrition. We ask forgiveness. We become part of the solution.
For all these reasons and more, this is why Myth 8 must be named, rejected and released. What’s going on on the inside of you matters. Don’t let anyone tell you any different.
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Next post: Bible Myth 9: Christians should be very worried about being deceived (so read your Bible)…coming soon
Previous post: Bible Myth 7: Truth is exclusively found in the Bible
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