Why Christianity Makes Good Emotional Sense!

Dennis Edwards 

Some time ago I read a book called Unapologetic: Why, Despite Everything, Christianity Can Still Make Surprising Emotional Sense[1] by Francis Spufford. It’s not a book I’m suggesting to read. But it had some interesting points. The author wasn’t concerned in making an apologetic, an argument based on reason, to defend Christianity. He wasn’t going to give us any arguments for the existence of God based on the evidence found in the natural laws of science and logic, or found in the fine-tuning of the universe, or found in the presence of information in the DNA of every living creature. Nor was he going to argue that the irreducible complexity of the simple cell, or the law of causation point to a Divine Creator of life and the universe we see around us. Neither was he going to argue that God is the best explanation for love, consciousness, miracles, healings, and life after death experiences. Spufford was going to ignore all those arguments for the “Mighty Man in the Sky,” and take an entireably different approach.

To Francis, it doesn’t matter if we come from monkeys or mud. It doesn’t matter if the world is billions of years old or six thousand. It doesn’t even matter if God does or doesn’t exist. What does matter to you and me is that living life through a Christian belief system surprisingly makes good and healthy emotional sense. 

Let’s look at some of the difficult emotional situations in life and see how having a Christian outlook is healthy emotionally. 

Fear: God’s word tells us not to fear. Some 365+ times in the Bible, God says “fear not,” or a variation of that expression. Let’s read one for our encouragement. “Fear thou not, for I am with thee: be not dismayed, for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.”[2] Evidently God knows our spiritual enemy is going to attack us with fears, misgivings, discouragement, etc. God promises He is going to be with us and help us and deliver us, and supply all our needs, protect us and keep us safe, or help us to bear it. Many of the early Christians died as martyrs for their faith. God gave them power over fear even though they faced some very horrible deaths in the hands of their enemies. They were able to die with faith and not fear. Their Christian faith gave them hope of eternal life. Their own leader had told them “fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.”[3] By walking in the fear of God, Christians were able to keep His commandments of love and truth. Jesus had told them and showed them that the best choice was to live and die for those principles. Therefore, belief in the Christian God can and should give us victory over fear. 

Death: Same as the above. God promises to be with us “through the valley of the shadow of death.”[4] He offers to “deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage”[5] or “slavery,” as another translation has it. He offers us “eternal life,” and victory over physical death. At the death of Lazarus Jesus said to Martha, his sister: “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believes in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever lives and believes in me shall never die.”[6] Death is not to be feared, but to be embraced when it comes, because we who are Christians have eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus rose from the dead to prove He was telling the truth. The empty tomb was one of the greatest proofs of His resurrection. The Roman and Jewish authorities could have stopped Christianity in its tracks if they could have produced the dead body of Christ. But they couldn’t, because He wasn’t there. His resurrection transformed His formerly cowardly disciples into fearless propagators of His message of love and truth. The truth of His resurrection is the best explanation of all the circumstanial evidence we have of that event. 

Grief: Same as above. God promises to be with our departed loved ones and give every man a just judgment when life ends. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he has done, whether it be good or bad.”[7] Jesus promises to comfort us in our grief. He sends His Holy Spirit to us as comforter in times of trouble, not only to comfort us, but also to help us later to be able to comfort others with the comfort wherewith we ourselves have been comforted by God.[8]

Suffering: God promises to be with us in our in the suffering we confront in this life. He promises strength and endurance. He promises to reward us if we bear our suffering bravely without complaint, especially if it’s suffering for His name’s sake. Many passages in the Bible speak of the benefits of suffering. The book of Job deals with the problem of suffering.  Jesus Himself said, “I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”[9]

Concerning suffering persecution for His name sake He said, “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my name sake. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.”[2]

Anger: God has a solution for anger and admonishes us to flee from anger and the angry man.[10] Through confession and prayer[11] the Christian can get victory of uncontrolled anger as God gives us “self control” or “temperance” as one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit.[12] Then we can be slow to anger, and put it away with all clamor, and slander; and instead be kind one to another, tender-hearted forgiving one another.[13]

Bitterness: God strongly warns of the evil affects of bitterness and tells us not to go there. He says, “Follow peace with all men,…Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.”[14] He warns us that our bitterness can affect many others negatively and offers us the keys over bitterness: confession and forgiveness and kindness. Corrie ten Boom was a Dutch Christian woman who passed through the Nazi concentration camp in Ravensbruck, Germany during WWII for her activities of helping Jewish people escape from occupied Holland. She noticed after the war that the woman who could not forgive and forget the events of the war, as we are admonished to do in the Christian New Testament, could not get over their bitterness and became captured by negative emotions and thoughts. Bitternessse caused the woman’s lives to become a dead end after the war and they were unable to reenter into a normal life. However, those who could forgive, as Christ commanded, and forget, as Apostle Paul taught, were able to regain vitality and purpose in living. Forgiving unlocked the door from bitterness and set them free to live and love once again. 

Guilt: God offers us relief from our guilt. He says, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and cleanse of of all unrighteousness.”[15] In another verse, He says if we confess and forsake our sins we shall have mercy.”[16] So Christianity offers that relief from carrying the guilt we feel when we have done wrong. Jesus promised us freedom from guilt. We are all guilty because we have sinned or done wrong and we know it. But Christ died for the sins of the world and offers us a pardon. If we believe on Him, the pardon is ours. If we believe on Him, we follow in His footsteps and obey His commandments which are not grievious. 

Worry: Modern pyschology has told us that we are worrying ourselves to death and much of our sickness and psychological problems are related to our worrying. If we followed our Christian precepts we wouldn’t go there. Jesus told us specifically not to worry about tomorrow, to not worry about not having our needs met, because God would take care of us, just like He cares for the birds of the air and the flowers of the field. Faith and trust give us power over worry. Corrie ten Boom said, “Worrying is carrying tomorrow’s load with today’s strength – carrying two days at once. It is moving into tomorrow ahead of time. Worrying does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” Our Christian precepts teach us to live in the present. Jesus said, “Take no (anxious) thought for tomorrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficent unto the day is the evil thereof.”[17] 

Forgiveness: Christianity offers us a pardon for our failures, our sins, our mistakes. God promises if we believe Him He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Jesus forgives us and teaches us to forgive others. Christianity offers the highest moral code ever offered to man, the code of forgiveness and love. “And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.”[18]

Love: Christianity tells us the greatest behaviour is the loving one. The highest code of ethics is the one based on love. “And now abides faith, hope, and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”[19] Charles Dickens, the great British author from the 1800s said,“The New Testament is the best book that ever was or will be known to man, because it teaches you the best lessons that any human creature who desires to be truthful and faithful to duty could possibly be guided.”

Thankfulness and Prasie: Nick Vijucic said he never met a bitter person who was thankful or a thankful person who was bitter. Christianity offers a solution to many negative emotions with its admonishion to be thankful and walk in praise. The Proverbs teach that a merry heart does good like a medicine. Apostle Paul wrote, “In everything give thanks.”[20] He told his disciples that whatever happened in life, no matter how difficult it seemed, God would work it together for their good if they continued to love and trust Him[21] and rejoice in their tribulations. God’s word tells us the joy of the Lord is our strength.[22] There is something extremely powerful about facing the troubles of life with a thankful and positive, even praiseful attitude.

Positiveness: Closely related to the above, God’s Word tells us to be positive. Positive thinking can help us to overcome negative thinking. If we can control our thoughts and what we put into our minds, like one would control his diet if he were diabetic, we can help ourselves create positive thoughts which will affect our emotions positively. Apostle Paul tells us we are in a spiritual warfare and our minds are under attack. We must therefore bring every thought into obedience to God’s Word.[23] If it’s contrary to God’s Word, we want nothing to do with it, but to resist it. Apostle Paul wrote, “Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are puré, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virture, if there be any praise, think on these things.”[24] If we follow Christian precepts in our thinking and acting, we’ll probably avoid that visit to the pyschiatrist.

Peace: The whole world is looking for peace. Many countries are looking for internal peace. Families are looking for peace. Individuals are looking for peace of mind. We yearn for peace and for that day when there will be peace on earth and mankind will live in love and in peace with one another. Christianity not only offers the hope of peace on earth one day, but peace of mind today. Peace within families. Peace with God and one another. Jesus said, "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."[25]

Francis Spufford goes on to tell the story of Field-Marshal Montgomery the great WWII British commanding officer. Monty was 88 years of age and was having difficulty sleeping at night. He was thinking about all the young lads who had died in his command during the war. So in the middle of the night, he calls his best friend on the phone and asks him to come over to his house for a talk. Monty explained: “I know I’m going to die soon and I don’t know what I’m going to say to God about all those lads.” The guilt Monty was feeling about the death of those soldiers who died following his orders, that guilt was driving Monty to seek answers to the questions of life. His guilt was causing him to search for a pardon, a way out from having to be condemned. His guilt was causing him to search for the forgiveness, the mercy, the love found in the arms of His Savior. His emotional condition was driving him toward God, more than his reasoning. 

Another story of how our emotions lead us to God told by Ravi Zacharias is that of Oscar Wilde the author of the famous stories: “The Portrait of Dorian Gray,” “The Importance of Being Earnest,” “The Happy Prince,” and the “Iron Giant.” Wilde, who was nearing his death at the age of 46 from his promiscuous hedonistic lifestyle, asked one of his homosexual friends who was with him if he had ever loved any of those young lads they had had sex with for themselves. His friend responded that he hadn’t. Oscar replied, “Neither did I. Call me a priest.” The fact that he was dying caused him to analyze his life and he saw that he had been acting selfishly and not lovingly and he wanted to confess his sins and find forgiveness before dying. 

So, even if you cannot seem to accept the evidence and logical arguments for God presented by Greg Koukl[26] or Ravi Zacharias[27], William Lane Craig[28] or J. Warner Wallace[29], Christianity still makes sense emotionally and can bring you peace of mind, contentment of heart, and the hope of life eternal. Christianity offers the best solutions to the problems of life and the promise of life ever after where there will be no more death, or sorrow, neither will there be and more pain or crying, and the former things will be wiped away.[30] We won’t even remember the anguish and pain we passed through for the joys and pleasures that await us. “For eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him.”[31]

Notes:

[1] Spufford, Francis; Faber and Faber Ltd, Bloomsbury House, Great Russell Street, London; 2012.

[2] Isaiah 41:10

[3] Matthew 10:28

[4] Psalm 23:4

[5] Hebrews 2:15

[6] John 11:26

[7] 2 Corinthians 5:10

[8] 2 Corinthians 1:4

[9] John 14:18

[9a] Matthew 5:10-12

[10] Proverbs 22:24

[11] 1 John 1:9

[12] Galatians 5:23

[13] Ephesians 4:31-32

[14] Hebrews 12:14-15

[15] 1 John 1:9

[16] Proverbs 28:13

[17] Matthew 6:34

[18] Ephesians 4:32

[19] 1 Corinthians 13:13

[20] 1 Thessalonians 5:18

[21] Romans 8:20

[22] Nehemiah 8:10

[23] 2 Corinthians 10:4-5

[24] Philippians 4:8

[25] John 14:27

[26] http://www.str.org

[27] http://rzim.org

[28] www.reasonablefaith.org

[29] coldcasechristianity.com

[30] Revelation 21:4

[31] 1 Corinthians 2:9