Room For Logic and Emotion
Written by Rev. Dr. Scott Paczkowski
“But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,…” ”
For two thousand years, followers of Christ have been in a struggle for the soul. It isn’t between one religion over another or one leader over another, but the balance between logic and emotion. Some Christian groups define the saved from the unsaved by whether they adhere to correct theology. Reason, without emotion! Meanwhile, there are other Christian communities where proof of being saved is found in speaking in tongues and claiming intimate and unique experience of the Holy Spirit. Like most things in life, I believe the Christian faith has little room for one extreme or the other.
Those of us who call ourselves Presbyterians are one of the most educated Christian denominations in the world. We lean heavily on logic. We affirm our Creeds, study the history, original languages, and literary meaning behind the Scripture we affirm. Our worship services are orderly, as with our prayers, often written in advance and contemplated before being publicly shared. Rather than corporately waiting on the Spirit for inspiration, we write prayers in a formal bulletin, based on Scripture, that the congregation responds to verbally.
As a Presbyterian pastor, I appreciate the logical approach to the faith. So, I was surprised to hear about a book coming out in the middle of January entitled, Emotional: How Feelings Shape Our Thinking by Leonard Mlodinow. Mlodinow believes that logic needs to be informed and guided by our emotions. Mlodinow’s is not a religious book. Instead, Mldinow uses examples from the world of physics and evaluates assumptions of psychology. Shockingly, he finds including emotion in logical evaluation provides better judgment and truth.
Logic without emotion tends to lead to a harsh and uncompassionate faith. Emotion without reason leads to easy manipulation and embracing falsehood. Today, pray for the wisdom to affirm logic when appropriate and embrace emotion when possible. The Holy Spirit uses both logic and emotion to bring your faith alive. Learning how to balance both can only be found through the guidance of the Holy Spirit in prayerful reflection.
