As iron sharpens iron,
one person sharpens another. (Proverbs 27:17)
“I’d argue that loving God with our hearts just as much as our minds is a biblical principle that many churches need to be reminded of. However, I’d also contend that too many churches ride the wave of emotionalism, believing that the outward expression of these ‘worship experiences’ is God’s primary concern. It’s not.” - Richard Bargas
“We’ve been warned not to let our feelings define our faith. And fair enough—emotions are fickle. They’re shaped by bad sleep, awkward conversations and existential dread at 2 a.m. … But in the process of keeping our feelings from running the show, many of us learned to shut them out entirely.” - Relevant
“Worship is not simply right thinking, which computers can do. Worship is right feeling about God. That’s really crucial, unless we begin to think that artificial intelligence can take the place of human beings in accomplishing the divine purpose in the universe.” - John Piper
When Contextualization Becomes Compromise - TGC
“In simplest terms, divine impassibility means that God does not suffer…. God cannot be acted upon from without, neither can His inner state change for better or for worse.” - Kevin DeYoung
“Some people suppose happiness is uniquely human, unrelated to God’s nature: as He gave us a body and hunger, which He doesn’t have, He gave us a capacity for happiness, which He also doesn’t have. I believe something radically different” - Randy Alcorn
“God wants us to understand our anger by speaking to our souls, by contemplating the anger in silence, and then by doing the next right thing. And this will demonstrate by our acts that we trust in Yahweh, and not in our own devises.” - TGC
The use of the term passion has seen a huge uptick in conservative evangelical life in the past 25 years or so, roughly paralleling the sharp rise in influence of Reformed Charismatism in conservative evangelical theology and hymnody. The term passion is used in an overwhelmingly positive sense as the antidote to lethargy and ambivalence toward God and spiritual things—a problem that young, restless Christians seem perpetually to discover in previous generations.
“God created us with both intellect and emotion. Neither is meant to triumph over the other, but actively work together to pursue the heart of Christ.” - Kainos
“… the most troubling element in [contemporary American politics] lies beyond our mere partisan differences. It involves a distinctive politics of passion that could, if left unbridled, lead to the ruin of our experiment in republican self-government.” - Law & Liberty
Discussion