A Theology of Feelings

by  T. C. Pinckney                                                                                                                                       Vol. VII, No. 8, October 1994

Banner readers have seen several articles in past issues about the heretical "Re-Imagining Conference" paid for by several "main line" denominations, notably the Presbyterian Church (USA) and United Methodists. A short tape of excerpts is available from Good News (phone 606-858-4661, price unknown) and a full set for $60 from Resource Express (phone 612-891-3069).

That such an event could occur is heartrending, but even so there is a positive side. Flagrant abuses within the camp may cause us to think, to consider carefully their sources and consequences. Recently a copy of Presbyterians’ Pro-Life News came to me containing some thought provoking passages. Bold print has been added for emphasis. After summarizing the outrage within many Presbyterian churches, one article continues:

"What does the church see that church officials in Louisville (national headquarters) appear unable to see? What has stirred this unprecedented reaction in the church? Perhaps Presbyterian theologian John Leith summed it up best ... that the boundaries of Christian theology ‘have never been enlarged by those who take their starting point outside the faith... Christian theology is not the articulation of one's feelings.'

"In the assessment of another church leader, the decades of debate over the second tablet of the law (the commandments applying to our relationships with each other) have now escalated to a debate over the first tablet of the law (the commandments applying to our relationship with God).

"But in fact, the moral debates have never separated the two tablets. Clearly, from the beginning, we have been aware that our arguments about the morality of abortion and sexual practices are rooted in our views about the nature of God and where we derive truth.

"That is why lesbian Jane Spahr asserts, correctly: ‘Maybe we're talking about a different God.' We are."

Carefully think about the points emphasized in bold print above. "Christian theology is not the articulation of one's feelings." Have you ever sat in a Sunday School class or preaching service and heard a lesson that was essentially "the articulation of one's feelings?" I have. I don't know about you, but my mind is flawed. Left to myself, I can rationalize with seemingly impeccable logic literally anything I want to do. Being a simple fighter pilot I haven't learned much in life (finally something in the Banner our moderate brothers can agree with!), but I have learned this: I must not be my moral and spiritual authority. My mind, my feelings are not to be trusted, especially by myself!

"Our arguments about the morality of abortion and sexual practices are rooted in our views about the nature of God and where we derive truth." A man's faith, his spiritual belief system will determine his moral code, and his moral code will determine his actions. Where do you "derive truth?" Is it from our culture, the popular media, the government, elected officials, your pastor, school teachers, your family, your own desires? Or is it from God's perfect, inerrant Book. Does your pastor, your Sunday School teacher believe the Bible IS the written Word of God, or does he believe it only CONTAINS the Word of God? If you do not understand the distinction, you had better find out, for there is a wide and impassable gulf separating the two.

Finally, "Maybe we're talking about a different God." Those who only talk about the love of God are re-imagining God, rejecting what He has said about Himself, perhaps considering it as a primitive concept characteristic of early Middle Eastern culture but clearly inferior to our modern, civilized, highly developed ethical systems. They are all spiritual surgeons, because they amputate many of God's attributes. They start by excising His wrath and follow quickly with a neat removal of His justice. In effect they inform God that He was too ignorant and/or feeble to see to the writing of a Book saying exactly what He intended, so they have to examine it under the microscope of their minds and hearts in order to extract the truth He was unable to convey properly.

These are they of whom it is written, "There is a way which seemeth right to a man; but the end thereof are the ways of death." Proverbs 14:12, 16:25. Fashioning God in their own image, they focus solely on His love to the exclusion or near exclusion of His other attributes. Punishment disappears. Hell is outlawed. ("A loving God would never condemn anyone to torment for eternity.") Unfortunately with punishment and hell departs justice, Satan invades heaven, and the God of the Bible, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, existing from everlasting to everlasting, just, loving, Creator of all that was, is, or will be, is dethroned by some puny human with a seventy year life span and an M. Div. or Ph.D. !

As the current expression goes, give me a break!