{"id":25721,"date":"2023-04-05T09:40:46","date_gmt":"2023-04-05T14:40:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/?p=25721"},"modified":"2025-12-18T16:08:30","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T22:08:30","slug":"emotional-religion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/emotional-religion\/","title":{"rendered":"Emotional Religion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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[NOTE: The following was written by A.P. board member Frank Chesser.]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sin moved from the mind of Satan to the heart of Eve, destroyed her purity and innocence, soiled her soul with consequences for life, and broke the heart of God.\u00a0 Sin is the soothing sound of religious error that blinds the mind and calms the heart with a false sense of security, paving the road to eternal perdition upon which the masses of the Earth will travel.\u00a0 Sin is a husband and father, sitting in the dark of the night, shackled with the chains of lust, as the eyes of the mind feed on pornographic images moving across the screen of modern technology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Sin is the subverted, seductive, insidious spirit of liberalism at war with the grace of God, defying law, eroding conviction, and driving the dagger of spiritual death into the heart of faith.  Sin is a small, helpless baby, a portrait of perfect purity, whose brief life comes to a violent and tragic end under the abusive hands of human depravity.  Sin is a perpetual stream of death that refuses to allow solace to inhabit a single moment of time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sin is man\u2019s problem.\u00a0 Calvary is God\u2019s remedy.\u00a0 Obedience to the Gospel is God\u2019s means of reaching the cross and appropriating its benefits.\u00a0 Since God is sovereign and His will is paramount, He alone has the right to specify the conditions that man must meet in order to enjoy redemption, provided by God\u2019s grace and the blood of His Son.\u00a0 Jesus said, \u201cHe that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that\u00a0 believeth not shall be damned\u201d (Mark 16:16, KJV). What is baptism?\u00a0 Baptism is faith refusing to be supplanted by emotion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 God designed man with an intellect, the ability to think and reason.\u00a0 The Bible addresses this aspect of man\u2019s nature.\u00a0 \u201cGod, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son\u201d (Hebrews 1:1-2, KJV).\u00a0 This text contains four great truths:\u00a0 God is; God has spoken; God spoke in the past by the prophets; God has spoken to us by His Son.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            These four truths embrace the whole of the Bible.  Hebrews quotes from or alludes to the Pentateuch, the prophets, Psalms, and Proverbs.  Jesus said He had fulfilled all things \u201cwhich were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, concerning me\u201d (Luke 24:44).  The Bible in its entirety is a revelation from God.  It addresses the mind.  It speaks to man\u2019s intellect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, presses this truth.\u00a0 With few exceptions, almost every verse uses some term that describes the Word of God.\u00a0 Repetitiously, the psalmist implores God to \u201cteach\u201d him and then uses words that pertain to the mind.\u00a0 God addressed the mind of Israel with the law He heralded from Mount Sinai.\u00a0 In his final sermon to Israel, Moses called upon the nation to hearken unto the statutes and judgments \u201cwhich I teach you\u201d (Deut 4:1).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Deuteronomy 6:4-9 is God\u2019s prototype for securing the faith of each succeeding generation.\u00a0 It entails parental discernment of God\u2019s oneness, loving God with the whole of one\u2019s heart or mind, storing up His word in the heart and diligent instruction until the mind of each child was fortified with divine truth.\u00a0 The Gospel speaks to the mind.\u00a0 It must be taught (Matthew 28:19-20).\u00a0 The process by which God draws man to Himself through Christ involves teaching, hearing, and learning (John 6:44-45).\u00a0 Christianity is a taught religion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The fourfold profitability of inspiration in doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruction in righteousness (2 Timothy 3:16) communicates to the mind of man, enabling him to be spiritually complete, \u201cthrougly furnished unto all good works\u201d (2 Timothy 3:17, KJV).\u00a0 All the principles by which God relates to man necessitates the mind being taught, instructed, and trained by divine revelation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Grace teaches (Titus 2:11-12).\u00a0 The teaching of grace is validated by blood.\u00a0 The instruction of grace in the Old Testament was ratified by the blood of animals (Hebrews 9:18-22).\u00a0 The tutoring of grace in the New Testament has been authenticated by the blood of Christ (Matthew 26:28).\u00a0 Genesis 3:6 closed the door to fellowship and communion with God.\u00a0 Genesis 3:15 opened the door with grace and faith reaching for the cross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Faith accesses grace and appropriates its provisions in Christ and the cross.\u00a0 Saving faith is dependent for its very existence on divine revelation.\u00a0 Faith needs instruction.\u00a0 Only the Word of God can provide the instruction that produces faith that pleases God and leads to heaven.\u00a0 \u201cSo then faith cometh by hearing, and the hearing by the word of God\u201d (Romans 10:17, KJV).\u00a0 Biblical faith is an act of the mind that has been taught and trained by divine revelation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Agape love is an act of the mind.\u00a0 Jesus speaks of loving God \u201cwith all thy mind\u201d (Matthew 22:37, KJV).\u00a0 Agape love shares no kinship with emotions.\u00a0 It is not dependent upon or affected by emotions. It is a commanded love that even embraces one\u2019s enemies (Matthew 5:44).\u00a0 It relies upon divine revelation for its actions.\u00a0 It cannot move until it hears God speak.\u00a0 \u201cIf ye love me, keep my commandments\u201d (John 14:15, KJV). Agape love listens to the teachings of grace.\u00a0 When it is fully educated on a given subject, it moves faith to obey God.\u00a0 That which avails in Christ is \u201cfaith which worketh by love\u201d (Galatians 5:6, KJV).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus summed up these truths and principles when he said, \u201cAnd ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free\u201d (John 8:32, KJV).\u00a0 The truth is the teaching of grace.\u00a0 This instruction of grace has been validated by blood.\u00a0 This education of grace produces faith and activates love.\u00a0 Emotions cannot know anything.\u00a0 Knowledge pertains to the mind. Only the mind can discern truth\u2014an open and receptive mind that loves truth and can perceive the truth, know the truth, obey the truth, and be liberated from the dominion of sin by the truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Contemporary religion has supplanted the mind with emotion.  It is no longer a matter of \u201cGod said,\u201d rather it is \u201cI feel.\u201d When the Bible is referenced, man responds by expressing his feelings about its meaning.  Human emotions have become the lens through which the Bible is viewed and the barometer by which its meaning is determined.  Emotion inheres in Christianity.  But these emotions issue from a mind that has been taught and trained by the Word of God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is a divine imperative for man to love God with all his heart, soul, and mind (Matthew 22:37).\u00a0 Mark and Luke add \u201cstrength.\u201d\u00a0 The soul is the depository of emotions.\u00a0 Jesus uses two terms\u2014heart and mind\u2014for the intellect, the thinking and reasoning part of man. There is a world of difference in fleshly emotions that emanate from a man\u2019s own self-centered will and spiritual emotions that spring from a heart that has been educated by divine revelation.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The religious world is drunk on distorted emotion.\u00a0 Claiming angelic visitation and divine revelations, Mohammed exalted himself to the status of a prophet.\u00a0 He rode across the sands of Arabia with a self-deceived mind and contorted emotions, constructing a religion with a blood-stained sword.\u00a0 Affirming Mohammed to be a false prophet and shredding the Koran in an assembly of Muslims would provoke a violent display of unrestrained emotions.\u00a0 Conversely, a Muslim\u2019s denunciation of the deity of Christ and rending of the Bible in a congregation of Christians, while heard and viewed with righteous indignation, would be met with intact and controlled emotions.\u00a0Only the Gospel can conquer, restrain, and govern human emotions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Oriental mysticism is the product of mental deception and emotional deformity.\u00a0 Siddhartha Gautama erected the religion of Buddhism on the sandy soil of emotion.\u00a0 He abandoned his family and commenced an emotional quest for peace and enlightenment.\u00a0 He rejected knowledge, paid homage at the idol of \u201cfeelings,\u201d and formed a religion that is the antithesis of Christianity.\u00a0 Hinduism can boast of no founder, date of origin, single guide book, or distinct body of doctrine. It is a self-willed, emotionally driven religion that allows each devotee to function as his own god and follow the leanings of his own feelings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Taoism is a Chinese religion that rejects the concepts of absolute truth and goodness and views all components of the universe as enjoying some form of mystical union or oneness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Jainism is the religion of asceticism.  Some six centuries before Christ, Mahavira, its founder, left his family, joined a monastic order and pledged to assault his body with neglect.  He wandered nude for twelve years across central India in search of Nirvana, a state of complete mental and emotional severance from physical desire.  In the ecstasy of emotion, he claimed victory over his body and spent the last thirty years of his life preaching the ascetic manner of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Confucianism is based on the humanistic philosophy of Confucius that stresses goodness, but not God, and encourages men to live together in harmony.  Shintoism is a Japanese religion that originally paid homage at the shrine of nature, but later Chinese influences broadened its scope of worship and reverence to include multiple gods, country, and the emperor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Sikhism is a religion of India founded by Nanak fifteen centuries after Christ.  Claiming an emotional experience in the presence of God, Nanak stressed constant repetition of the name of God, loss of individuality, and absorption into the one God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Catholicism is a corrupt, man-made religion that bears no semblance to New Testament Christianity.\u00a0 It has supplanted God with the pope, the Bible with the catechism, truth with error, and Gospel simplicity with pomp and ceremony.\u00a0 Rapturous emotions compel knees to bow at the feet of the pope.\u00a0 His presence is venerated, and the sound of his voice is perceived to be the voice of God.\u00a0 The presence, prevalence, and perversion of Catholicism bears witness to the power of error to deceive the mind, subvert emotions, and bar the entrance of truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Denominationalism and subjectivism are religious twins.  Adherents of denominationalism will seldom exchange their emotional experience for truth.  One such man was confronted with biblical teaching on baptism.  He acknowledged what Jesus said on the subject, then asserted, \u201cI would not give up my salvation experience for a whole stack of Bibles.\u201d  An advocate of denominationalism admitted that he could not point to a single example in the book of Acts of someone who was saved as he claimed to have been.  Thirty years after his religious \u201cexperience\u201d he was yet so enraptured with the feeling that his \u201cexperience\u201d  produced that he rejected the truth and declared his intention to go to the judgment with a few minutes of emotional excitement as the only evidence he could provide for his salvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The church is replete with people who have ceased to drink from the biblical well in order to drink from the well of emotion.\u00a0 Their minds have been conquered by the spirit of liberalism. Liberalism and emotionalism are inseparable companions.\u00a0 They wear the same clothes, walk in the same shoes, breathe the same air, and live by the same heartbeat.\u00a0 Emotionalism is liberalism\u2019s lifeblood.\u00a0 Sever them and both die.\u00a0 \u201cWhat man hath joined together let not God part asunder\u201d is their guiding principle of life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Liberalism had rather feel than think.  Thinking involves the mind.  Liberalism views the mind as its enemy.  Proper mental thought about God, self, sin, and all of their related parts strips liberalism of its influence.  Liberalism is concerned about the moment, the temporal, the superficial, and squeezing all the emotional excitement it can out of each humanly devised religious experience.  The light of truth and proper thinking about truth exposes the folly of liberalism.  Liberalism shuns the light of truth and sober thinking like roaches run from the light of day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

            Liberalism cannot comprehend controlled emotions, subservient emotions, feelings under the steady influence of a mind that has been educated in the school of divine revelation.  Man\u2019s emotional being needs the guiding control of divine law.  A law is a rule of conduct.  A mind properly instructed by the marvelous laws, precepts, and principles of God regulates emotions and enables them to be displayed properly.  A mind vacant of the discipling power and influence of the laws and principles of the Bible means the emotional aspect of a man\u2019s nature is virtually on its own.  There is no end to the folly that can result from ungoverned emotions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Liberalism possesses no appetite for the discipline offered by divine law.\u00a0 Liberalism loathes law.\u00a0 Its hatred for law knows no bounds.\u00a0 It views law as cold, staid, rigid, callous, and legalistic.\u00a0 In its consummate form, liberalism has decreed an end to law.\u00a0 It has constructed a pseudo-system of grace that totally excludes law.\u00a0 Having driven the stake of death through the heart of law, it stands triumphant over its grave, rejoicing over the end of prohibitions, restraints, and restrictions.\u00a0 Emotions are now free to pursue their desired course of conduct.\u00a0 The present apostasy of many in the church is a portrait of liberated emotions sailing on the sea of self-will. Even a transient expression of unrestrained emotion can have devastating consequences.\u00a0 God instructed Moses and Aaron to speak to the rock and water would come forth to quench the thirst of Israel.\u00a0 One can discern the uncontrolled emotion in the voice of Moses as he cried, \u201cHear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?\u201d (Numbers 20:10).\u00a0 God declared their emotional reaction to the murmurings of Israel to be an act of unbelief (Numbers 20:12).\u00a0 So serious was this sin that it barred the entrance of Moses and Aaron into the land of Canaan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            One of the great purposes of the Old Testament is to mold, shape, frame, and mature the mind into a state of deep reverence, soberness, contriteness, fear, and trembling at every thought of God, truth, and the ways of God in relation to self and sin.  It is a vivid portrait of the nature and traits of God with much emphasis upon the sovereignty, holiness, justice, and wrath of God.  Liberalism winces at this accentuation.  It refuses to be swayed by it.  It is so self-centered, arrogant, and defiant that it is incapable of perceiving the truth about anything external to itself.  Having been schooled in the university of emotionalism, liberalism views itself as self-sufficient and in no need of instruction from some outside source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus Christ is the personification of love.\u00a0 He is love in the purest and most complete form.\u00a0 The cross bears witness to the depth of this love for every accountable being.\u00a0 The love of Christ is so great it \u201cpasseth knowledge\u201d (Ephesians 3:19, KJV).\u00a0 Yet, relative to impenitent sin and error, there is anger in His eyes (Mark 3:5), wrath in His heart (Revelation 6:16-17), and warnings of hell from His lips (Matthew 10:28).\u00a0 The emotion of liberalism cannot abide this inspired depiction of Christ.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            The mind of liberalism is so full of itself there is no room for anything else.  Emotions reign supreme upon the throne of its heart.  Any truth inconsistent with its feelings is not allowed entrance.  In the theology of liberalism, if it feels good, it is right.  The emotions of liberalism scoff at the concept of biblical authority.  It views \u201cbook, chapter, and verse\u201d preaching as old-fashioned and incompatible with today\u2019s world.  It disdains the stringency in divine commands.  In liberalism\u2019s world the warm glow of contented emotions is evidence of divine acceptance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Satan knows if he can so influence an individual to cease thinking right about God, thinking that is formed and shaped by the Word of God, he can then tap into his emotions and win the war with his soul.\u00a0 The tragic status of the religious world and multiplied thousands in the church testifies to the success of his efforts.\u00a0 Emotions that are not under the supervision of a mind that affirms \u201cO how I love thy law! It is my meditation all the day\u201d (Psalm 119:97) are the devil\u2019s playground.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

            No biblical subject is set forth with more simplicity and clarity than the subject of baptism; yet the Bible addresses no subject that will provoke a more intense emotional response with more swiftness than when one presses the truth on this vital subject.  Fleshly emotions immediately rise to the surface, and the offended commence to express their feelings on the subject.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The concern of most people is not with what the Bible asserts about baptism.\u00a0 It is how they feel about it.\u00a0 They utilize their feelings as an emotional device to assess biblical teaching. They either accept or reject a biblical declaration based on how it relates to their feelings.\u00a0 They often respond on how it relates to their feelings.\u00a0 They often respond to a clear biblical statement with the proverbial \u201cbut,\u201d followed by an expression of their feelings as to its meaning.\u00a0 In all probability, there is no subject in the Bible that has been met with more \u201cbuts\u201d than baptism.\u00a0 \u201cHe that trusteth in his own heart is a fool\u201d (Proverbs 28:26).\u00a0 \u201cThere is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death\u201d (Proverbs 14:12).\u00a0 It may seem right, look right, and feel right, but if it is not the truth of God, it will lead to spiritual death.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Jesus firmly pressed that one must be baptized to be saved (Mark 16:16).\u00a0 He put water in the new birth (John 3:5).\u00a0 Inspiration avers that believers must repent and be baptized for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38).\u00a0 A penitent believer was commanded to be baptized so his sins could be washed away (Acts 22:16).\u00a0 Baptism saves us (I Peter 3:21) because it puts us in contact with the blood of Christ.\u00a0 What is human submission to biblical baptism?\u00a0 It is faith refusing to be supplanted by emotion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[NOTE: The following was written by A.P. board member Frank Chesser.] \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Sin moved from the mind of Satan to the heart of Eve, destroyed her purity and innocence, soiled her soul with consequences for life, and broke the heart of God.\u00a0 Sin is the soothing sound of religious error that blinds the mind and… Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":25722,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,11],"tags":[],"kids-category":[],"people":[296],"bible-book":[],"language":[168],"age-group":[172,173],"publication":[],"class_list":["post-25721","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-americas-culture-war","category-doctrinal-matters","people-frank-chesser-ms","language-english","age-group-teens","age-group-adults"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/Empty-pew-Emotional-Religion.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25721","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25721"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38473,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25721\/revisions\/38473"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25722"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25721"},{"taxonomy":"kids-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kids-category?post=25721"},{"taxonomy":"people","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/people?post=25721"},{"taxonomy":"bible-book","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bible-book?post=25721"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=25721"},{"taxonomy":"age-group","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/age-group?post=25721"},{"taxonomy":"publication","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/apologeticspress.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/publication?post=25721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}