Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered- Proverbs 28:26 ESV

Views on feelings and the role they should play in our lives have changed dramatically in the course of my lifetime. When I was a child and young adult feelings were seen (for the most part) as irrelevant and inconsequential by the vast majority of individuals. Allowing one’s feelings to rule the day (or even a single decision) was seen as a luxury few could afford to indulge.   Parents rarely (if ever) took their children’s feelings into consideration when making an adult decision. Nor would any adult in their right mind have encouraged a child to follow their heart or just do what “felt right”. That sort of nonsense was for fools. Facts were king. 

For better or worse that ship has sailed.

 These days feelings are king. Feelings rule the day and are firmly in control of most situations. “Just follow your heart” is the gold standard for decision making. Facts are viewed with wariness and as a hindrance to personal happiness and even social justice.  In the realms of public policy and law how individuals feel about a given policy, law  or court case is seen as much more important than the facts surrounding the case, law or policy decision. Those who call for jail time or the death penalty in cases of murder are often accused of being cruel and insensitive towards the criminal. Dead victims are irrelevant compared to living perpetrators.  Parents worry endlessly about their children’s feelings and will go to great lengths to keep them from being hurt in any way. 

Feelings are not presented as evil or sinful in the Bible. David and other psalmists routinely shared the rawest, darkest, feelings imaginable. Sometimes even wishing harm and/or death would come to their enemies (Psalm 35, Psalm 55:15, Psalm 69:22-28, Psalm 109:6-15, Psalm 137:7-9). A good chunk of the book of Job is just Job venting his very angry feelings concerning the unfairness of his situation (Job 27:1-6, Job 30:1-31). Nowhere is any of this emotional venting condemned by God. However, it’s important to note that David always came around to the facts he knew about God (Psalm 35:28, Psalm 55:16-19) and the last part of Job is just God setting everyone straight on the facts of the situation (Job 38-41). The book ends with Job coming into agreement with God (Job 42:1-6) not his feelings. 

The biggest problem with feelings from a biblical perspective is that feelings come from our heart rather than the logic or moral center of our brains.   Modern people view “the heart” as the earnest, mooshy, noble part of humanity that always knows what’s best for everyone.

This is not how the Bible sees the human heart. The Bible teaches that while the human heart is not ALWAYS corrupt or wrong (Matthew 5:8, Matthew 22:37, Luke 8:15, 1st Timothy 1:5). It is just not to be trusted. Sometimes the heart wants what it wants. It can be very deceptive when it comes to getting what it wants or thinks it needs (Psalm 14:1, Matthew 9:4, Matthew 15:19, Jeremiah 5:23, Jeremiah 17:9). What the Bible calls “the heart” is probably what we know as the limbic part of our brain. The limbic is the section of our brain responsible for safety, comfort, sex and food. The limbic part of our brain is the most primitive part of us. It doesn’t care about morality, truth, God or even the long-term consequences of acting on our feelings. The limbic system just wants to protect us from undesirable feelings (like remorse) or from experiencing any discomfort, pain or negativity. This reality makes feelings a poor barometer of what’s right and wrong (Isaiah 5:20). We need a moral truth north for that and that’s where the Bible comes in. Following are three biblical principles to keep in mind where feelings are concerned:

We can be empathic and compassionate and still hold others accountable for their actions- 

It is possible to feel compassion for a person due to the circumstances of their life and still know that person must be held accountable for something they have done. The Ten Commandments do not take a person’s backstory into account when they forbid idolatry, murder or lusting after someone else’s spouse (Exodus 20:1-17). No one gets to commit idolatry just because their neighbor does it. Nor do adult children get to discard their parents because they are of no use to them anymore.  Committing adultery does not become acceptable because the neighbor’s spouse is hotter and nicer than their own. It doesn’t work that way because once we start making exceptions to the rules the rules become meaningless, society devolves into moral chaos and justice is lost to real victims (Proverbs 21:15, Isaiah 59:14). 

Christians must learn to run the consequences of acting on a feeling through the logic center of the brain (and God) before we act on anything- 

Anytime we choose to act on a strong feeling (lust, empathy, hate, compassion, disgust, anger, etc.) there will be a cost. Sometimes that cost is clearly worth it sometimes it’s not. Jesus taught that wise people count the cost of all things before they act (Luke 14:28). If train ourselves to use a combination of logic, biblical truth to discern right and wrong rather than our feelings we will rarely go wrong. 

And finally, 

Christians should never allow a godless society to lead us with their feelings- 

There are a lot of strong feelings “out there” in the world right now. Very few of those feelings are based on any kind of fixed moral truth or even common sense. It’s all about feelings and how one chooses to interpret a given situation. All these unfettered, unexamined feelings are literally and figuratively leading our world to hell. Christians should know better and must do better.