We have become very skeptical when emotions show. Mitt shed a tear when he recounted his emotion over hearing that his church had changed its official stance on African Americans several years ago. Some thought he had committed the Muskie mistake of 1972. Maybe he did. Hillary had a catch in her voice when she answered a personal question the day before the New Hampshire primary. Would it cost her votes? It appears in this case it made her seem more human and approachable. Just today T.O. (Terrell Owens) literally broke down as he defended his quarterback teammate from charges that it was his (Romo's) Mexican vacation and inattention to details that cost the Cowboys in their loss to the New York Giants. A tearful T.O. maintained that it was a team loss. Many will see it as just another of T.O.'s drama shows.
One of the books I read at the end of the year was Jim & Casper Go To Church. Jim was a pastor for many years and is a follower of Jesus, while Casper is the friendly atheist he hired to accompany him to visit a host of churches from mega church to medium-sized church to house church, all to determine if these churches were doing what Jesus intended. It is an interesting read, and Casper shows no mercy in his critique of churches and Christians in general. One of his most severe criticisms come against pastors and speakers who utilized emotion: the break in the voice, the escaped tear, the heart-wrenching story. Rather than seeing this as genuine, Casper saw it as manipulation.
Can we trust our emotions? When we tell the story that we are in...the story of what God has and is doing in our lives and in our world...what place does emotion play? Should our telling leave out emotion? What do you think?
At Last, He has Come
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I read it every year. It’s my prelude to Easter. It gets me every single
time. Tears well up when I read the story of the Troubadour who sings his
Star-Son...
7 years ago
3 comments:
Good thoughts, Gary. Since God made us as whole beings - spiritual, intellectual, physical, emotional - it only makes sense that emotions would play a part in what we do and say. A society without emotion becomes like Hitler's Nazi Germany or the 1970's Khmer Rouge rebellion that took over Cambodia. No feeling, no love. I don't think that's the way God intended the world to be.
Nice questions. I certainly can think of a few times I may have jipped people in my teachings. And a few times I've exuded authentic emotion as well.
Nice to read another reader.
I too have had those times when I knew my emotion was sincere, that it came from deep within. And to be honest there were other times when it seemed a little artificial. I believe if I am an authentic person, my passion, even my emotion will come through.
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