Emotion" and "religion" appear to go together like bread and butter—or do they? Is emotion in worshipping God wrong? Is the alternative just cold, meaningless indifference? Some seek the extremes in both directions, but what is right in God's sight?

Emotionalism

Emotions are necessary. After all, God created them. Human emotion plays an important role in our lives. But we know that emotion can cloud people's thinking. It can be confusing, uncertain and even dangerous. Emotions do have a scriptural, and thus religious, role in our lives. But when emotions become emotionalism, beware.

As defined, emotionalism is "when emotion becomes an end to itself" or "an undue indulgence in or display of emotion." When "undue indulgence" is given to emotion, the result can be more like a carnival than a worship assembly.

Do feelings prove truth?

Many accept or reject their religious beliefs on the basis of emotion. One young adult said that she depends more on what she feels in her heart than on what she reads in her Bible and that "this feeling in my heart is the most awesome experience in the world!"

"It can't be wrong when it feels so right," a once-popular song intoned. Some today still seek feelings of rightness in religion rather than evidence from the Bible. They view faith as a "leap in the dark" based on those feelings.

After attending a "revival" with rhythmic music, hypnotic preaching, clapping and people claiming to "feel the Spirit moving," some have emotional experiences that convince them they've been "saved."

Some with guilt have prayed to God for help, then heard a religious teacher and assumed this was God's answer. They received a sense of peace and warmth, by which they "felt sure" they were saved. The experience has been described in such terms as "better felt than told, but if you ever feel it, you will know it," with such insistence as "I wouldn't trade this feeling for a stack of Bibles!"

This is the danger: Religious emotionalism can cause people to decide on doctrines of faith on the basis of feelings rather than on the clear teaching of the Bible.

Can we trust our feelings only?

Mankind's emotions have led to many mistakes and sins—sexual immorality is a classic example. Movies, books and songs urge people to "follow your heart." Star Wars characters said, "Reach out with your feelings" and "What do your feelings tell you?" It makes good entertainment, but in real life we often regret it.

The Bible teaches us to control our feelings because emotions can lead to trouble if they control us: "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9). And: "There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death" (Proverbs 14:12; 16:25). How can this be harmonized with the idea that "it can't be wrong when it feels so right"?

To believe that we can know right from wrong by praying for or following a feeling distorts the purpose of emotions.

God alone reveals how we determine right from wrong: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding" (Proverbs 3:5). And where do we gain this trust? "So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God" (Romans 10:17).

Faith—inner spiritual conviction and trust—doesn't simply come from feelings or by praying for emotional experiences. Rather, the Bible, which is God's Word to all mankind, imparts truth and faith. Christ's apostles reasoned with people from the Scriptures (Acts 17:2). Our emotions alone cannot teach us right from wrong. The Scriptures must be our guide.

Testing for religious emotionalism

Our emotions should not overrule our intellect. However, the Bible describes an intrinsic mind-heart connection combining both our intellect and our emotions. Emotions expressed in worship must be a balanced response to our mindful acknowledgement and acceptance of God and His ways. When we let our emotions overpower our thinking, then our worship is no longer praise to God but mere emotionalism. Emotionalism is intoxicating and, like drunkenness, puts us at risk.

We must choose to do what God says regardless of what our feelings suggest. As we obey God, we'll develop a true sense of joy based on the conviction that we love God and are pleasing to Him. This is completely different from religious emotionalism.

Emotions can enhance or cloud understanding at a worship service. If emotional response is the primary goal, many things will be done or said to excite and thrill—regardless of whether they are reasonable or lead to spiritual understanding. The interplay of clapping, shouting, strong musical rhythms and what some call "tongues speaking" arouse powerful feelings but fail to convey understandable truth from the Bible.

The repetition of "Amen!" and "Praise the Lord!" can lead to excitement with little thought to the meaning. The word "Amen" occurs less than 80 times in the King James Bible. It's not used in the middle of sentences or in ways that repeatedly interrupt a train of thought. Those 80 "Amens" amount to about one occurrence in 20 pages. Yet some teachers and audiences repeat it so much that it takes 10 minutes of a 20-minute sermon! Jesus warned against "vain repetitions" in worship (Matthew 6:7).

Singing and prayer must also be understandable at church services (see 1 Corinthians 14:15-17). True worship must be conducted and experienced decently and orderly (verse 40) because God is not the author of confusion (verse 33). When our emotions serve their proper role, then our ability to understand and believe God and His way is enhanced.

How to use healthy emotions to worship God

How we can express healthy religious emotions? Emotions do have a place in worship when kindled and handled properly so that worshippers and God are edified and glorified.

Worshipping God produces a variety of emotions in us:

- A fervent desire to be in His presence.

- A trembling awe of the glory of His presence and greatness of His power.

- Remorse and sorrow over sin.

- Thanksgiving for His blessings.

- Rejoicing and hope for the salvation that only He supplies.

Emotion is good, but it is not the basis of our faith and worship. Nor is it an end in itself. Working up emotions for the sake of being emotional is not sincere worship. It is just self-focused emotionalism.

But if we diligently study God's Word, worship and give glory to Him and encourage others, then good emotions will certainly be stirred. Those feelings will not come from human manufacture, but naturally from our desire to faithfully follow God and His truth.

Oh, what a feeling—when given and guided by God!