Tuesday, August 16, 2016

The Drunken Sailor

When we lean into our emotions, thinking with feelings rather than rational thought, we are acting a little like a drunken sailor.

Someone who is drunk knows right from wrong, but ignores it to enjoy their momentary feelings. They may even see a pink elephant in the room where there are no animals.

The drunk choses not to see the sin involved or the consequences of their actions, because their discernment has been quenched while all inhibition to do evil is removed temporarily.

Those who say emotion is good, do not understand that emotions are "stimuli" rather than substance. They come and go most often without thought, while being amazingly inaccurate in terms of truth. Sometimes they are brought on by an imaginary thought life to keep the feelings current.

We know this is true because of our reactions to situations that aren't even real. In watching a movie last night, having seen it before in past years, called "Fiddler on the Roof", I was reminded of all the emotion that was generated by the events in the movie.

WAIT....but the movie was not real, it wasn't even based on the lives of real people, and yet I cried during some of the sensitive scenes.

Why did I cry even at a fictional account? I cried because my mind cannot tell the difference between fiction and reality when it comes to emotions. Emotions are fleshly and often not based on true or accurate information, they are based on stimulation.

Sometimes we cry when someone else is crying even if we don't know what they are crying about. Our empathy for the pain of others is based on how we see them responding rather than on the information we know about situations.

Anyone can work themselves into emotion by sitting in a chair and thinking thoughts that make them cry. Sometimes we are hurt by the comments of others because we have incorrectly interpreted their meaning, that's why we must assess things rather than roll with emotions.

I wonder how many relationships were destroyed because of inaccurate assessment of events based on emotions that ruled the day rather than rationale!

Christ never endorsed or commanded us to enjoy "feelings", just the opposite. That is not to say that if we cry something is wrong, crying can be a wonderful stress reliever for difficult times. However we cannot trust the emotions that cause the tears, we must evaluate them based on truth.

Romans 12:2
"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect."

Isaiah 26:3
"You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you (God)."

2 Corinthians 10:3-6
"For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete."

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