Feelings and Faith: Cultivating Godly Emotions in the Christian Life
Weaves together biblical exposition and practical application to demonstrate how emotions relate to the Christian life.
Emotions are a vital part of what it means to be a human being made in the image of God and redeemed in Jesus Christ. But often our emotions confuse and mislead us. So what is the proper place for emotions in a Christian's walk of faith?
In Feelings and Faith Brian Borgman draws from his extensive biblical knowledge and his pastoral experience to help readers understand both divine and human emotions. After laying a biblical foundation he moves on to practical application, focusing on how Christians can put to death ungodly emotional displays and also cultivate godly emotions.
This biblically informed, practical volume is helpful for pastors, counselors, and serious-minded Christians who wish to develop a full-orbed faith that encompasses their emotional life.
Top Highlights
“In the Bible, emotions are not amoral. We are responsible for how we feel, and we are expected to exercise self-control and have certain emotions.” (source)
“The cognitive view of the emotions sees the emotions as based on beliefs, standards, judgments, evaluations, concerns, and thoughts. The emotions and reason are interdependent. The emotions are not simply impulses; they are the indicators of what we value and what we believe. ‘Our emotions can be considered to arise from our beliefs and concerns.’6.The emotions reflect and express the inner man, the heart, the soul, the mind. They have an object.” (source)
“We do a grave disservice to God when we say his love has nothing to do with feelings or the emotions. We diminish the dignity of God’s person when we unwittingly relegate love to mere actions of goodwill or self-sacrifice. Such a definition of love is absolutely excluded by 1 Corinthians 13:3. The Bible condemns noble, altruistic deeds apart from love, so how can love simply be noble deeds apart from feelings?” (source)
“The power of the emotion is based on our own personal evaluation and valuing of the object” (source)
“Both of these aspects (what man is and what man does, i.e., the ontological and the functional), require that man must be an emotional being. He possesses emotions because he is the image of God. He is called to express emotions because he is called to image God. Our emotions exist because we are made in the image of God who has emotions. This is a vital ingredient to biblical anthropology. It is foundational as we approach our emotional life.” (source)
Product Details
- Title : Feelings and Faith: Cultivating Godly Emotions in the Christian Life
- Author: Borgman, Brian S.
- Publisher: Crossway
- Publication Date: 2009
- ISBN: 9781433522413
Brian S. Borgman (DMin, Westminster Seminary California) is the founding pastor of Grace Community Church in Minden, Nevada. He is the author of My Heart for Thy Cause. He and his wife have three children and live in northwestern Nevada.
