Re: Rationality Versus Feeling

PS: In a recent discussion with a friend, we mused that there were two types of Christian: the 'happy clappers' (i.e. those who disproportionately stress the Holy Spirit above biblical teaching) and the 'Bible nerds' (i.e. those who disproportionately stress analytical rigour over the Holy Spirit). Why this needless division? To either prioritise the good feeling that the Holy Spirit imparts, or the logical stability that the Bible confers, is to focus on earthly wisdom and desire.

These two ways of living can be reconciled if the Word of God is both the inspiration for divine knowledge and the source of holy sentiment. Consider tongues. In the Bible, the first example of tongues being spoken on a wide scale occured at Pentecost. Was this a random, feel-good orgy of mumbo jumbo, as is sometimes the case at modern processions where tongues are spoken? No. Tongues were used for a specific purpose, which was so that the diversity of languages present at the meeting could all understand Peter's sermon. Paul in his letters outlines very specific guidelines for the instrumentalisation of tongues, as a gift to be used in order to communicate God's wisdom to the masses, and not simply as a means of getting one's 'Holy Spirit fix' in some hypnotic and incomprehensible high.

Similiarly, Jesus tells us that Love fulfills the law. So what is the point of academic rigour, even of God's word, if we are unable to live lives of Love? For this reason Paul tells the Church (see scriptural appendix) that he communicates to them through his actions, and intentionally avoids intellectual constructions, so that they can see the Word for what it really is - not a logical curiousum, but the ultimate reality.

John 6:63: "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life." Emotions without the Spirit will die with the flesh; logic without the Spirit will lead to dead-end conclusions.