Do Feelings/Emotions dictate if you are a close to God or not?

[Kunoichi]

hey guys,

I'm not one to usually ask this and I know people will probably have their different opinions, but do you feel that emotions and feelings dertermine how close you are to God?

For instance, I deal with depression and during a depression episode, I obviously deal with the emotional symptoms. That being said, I still pray, read the Bible and believe I still maintain a close relationship with God regardless of my emotions.

I just wanted to get others opinions or insight on this.

Thanks

Kuno

[Midori]

Sometimes. Not usually. That's my best guess.

Jesus himself shouted "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" when he died. That's pretty heavy.

[steenajack]

I don't think emotions REALLY dictate where you're at with God. I believe that emotions are involved, but they aren't a driving force. For example, do your emotions dictate how close you are with your friend? No they don't.
So what dictates how close you are with God? In my opinion, nothing. The word "dictate" means various things, but to me it tends to have a more negative sense to it. A real downer about being a Christian is the fact that people tend to get caught up in the "religious" side of things where it becomes more about what you do rather then where God is in your heart. Judging how close you are to God by what you do is not what it's all about....that constricts what being close to God really is in my opinion.

However, I do believe there is a driving force. How do you become close to a freind? Spending time with them and sharing yourself with them. That's how it is with God. Spend time with Him, talk to Him, share what's on your heart with Him, ask Him about stuff. But, even then don't be focused on "how close you are with God" so that it becomes a "task" in which you level and compare yourself and start basing your relationship by what you do.

The point is, I believe God is really focused on the heart of the matter. If the heart changes, so does the actions. How many of you can honestly say that you like yourself after you "sin"? Most of you probably don't do you? That's God changing your heart. Being around God has made you WANT to be better, rather than feel like you have to. You do things for Him and with Him because you are willing, not because you feel like you have to. And you know why that is? Because being around Him, spending time with Him, letting Him come into your heart....it has changed you. Or at least...that's something I personally believe.

Sorry if it sounds confusing at all. I'm just stating what I believe about this. In short: I don't believe that anything should "dictate" your relationship with God, but rather just embrace and persue it. Y'know? Don't force it into you, just let God lead you forward....can't go wrong with God leading the way right?

[Nate]

"Where is my faith? Even deep down ... there is nothing but emptiness and darkness ... If there be God—please forgive me. When I try to raise my thoughts to Heaven, there is such convicting emptiness that those very thoughts return like sharp knives and hurt my very soul ... How painful is this unknown pain—I have no Faith. Repulsed, empty, no faith, no love, no zeal, ... What do I labor for? If there be no God, there can be no soul. If there be no soul then, Jesus, You also are not true."

You know who said that? Mother Theresa. While I don't like her and think she's "overrated," I think many here believe that she was very close to God and one of the best examples of good that exists. And she said all that stuff.

Remember also the Bible states the heart is deceitful above all things. Emotions are definitely no indicator of spirituality or closeness to God, I can say that with complete certainty.

[SnoringFrog]

I would definitely say that they don't dictate your closeness to God, though they can affect it to some degree. Sometimes they may push you closer, sometimes they may push you away; but in either case you can work against that and go the opposite way that your emotions naturally push you. From experience, I know that depression can push either way. It can lead you to blaming God for it or it can lead to more complete reliance on Him to make it through. In the first case, it would be pushing you away, but you can realize that it's just your emotions doing that and work to spin it around the other way.

You can take hold of emotions and force them away or force them into being a different emotion. Sometimes it's a completely mental process, other times it might involving using various stimuli to coax your mind into the emotion you want it to have. Personally, I've done this several times. I'll be having a bad day so I'll seek out situations that I know will help spin that around so that I ignore the bad part of the day and end up having an enjoyable day in the end. Thus, emotions can't really dictate anything about your life: you dictate your emotions, in a sense.

It's like when you're having a bad day to any degree and you don't really "feel" like maintaining a close relationship with God that day, but you do it anyways because you know you should, or because you know that under that surface emotion you do truly want to maintain that relationship. I'll echo the verse Nate mentioned, "the heart is deceitful above all things"; it's not something you can trust to always be a true indicator of anything.

[Hiryu]

I agree with Nate's last sentence. Emotions can give us a skewed worldview. Just because you're depressed doesn't mean you're a million miles away from God.

[TheSubtleDoctor]

Least favorite bumper sticker/kitchy picture ever: "If you don't feel close to God, guess who moved?"

[Beau Soir]

Midori's answer- short, blunt truth.

A Christian's relationship with Christ is compared in the Bible as Christ being the groom and His church (as a people) being the bride. There's even an entire Wikipedia page on this subject.
What I'm meaning to say is that, while I'm not married or anything, from what I've learned... Do a husband and wife always "feel" as if they are in love? Do they always feel as if they are close, even though they are of one flesh? Love is so much more than simply one's feelings... If the husband and wife based their relationship on those "in love" feelings only, they might be very disappointed after some time into their marriage- I think the same could go for one's relationship with Christ. So I say no, I don't think feelings dictate if someone is close to God or not.
For another example, if a person lost someone they held dear to them, that person might be angry with and feel distant from God in their lack of understanding, yet in the Bible it says that God is near to the brokenhearted.

[Nate]

his church (as a people) being the bride

I always wanted to be a bride! I hope my wedding dress doesn't make me look fat. ;.;

[Beau Soir]

[quote="Nate (post: 1449038)"]I always wanted to be a bride! I hope my wedding dress doesn't make me look fat. ]Nate, I love that post. XD

[Nanao]

echoing Nate and Hiryu, feelings can be tricky. that's not to say that emotions aren't important, but i would hesitate to say that they are the deciding factor. emotions can tell me a lot of things that aren't true. that's where faith comes in. it's not an easy distinction to make.

[mysngoeshere56]

I'm pretty much in the same boat, Kunoichi. I've battled depression for five years now, but I still feel like it's not necessarily because I've done wrong. Sometimes things like this just happen to people, and everybody feels down at least once every now and then. We all go through times when we don't feel close to God, even though we actually haven't left Him or done anything wrong.

I pretty much agree with what everybody's said so far. Beau Soir's mentioning of losing somebody also brings something to mind...

Everybody goes through hard points in their lives. After all, what's the shortest verse in the Bible? "Jesus wept". So, that means crying is absolutely fine. After all, the one and only perfect human in all of history - the Son of God Himself - cried when His friend passed away.

I also think the verse Nate mentioned about the heart being deceitful is very a good indicator that emotions don't dictate how close you are with God. I always have trouble with people saying "follow your heart" and all the cute little sayings that go along with it, because I can't help but think of that verse whenever I hear it. I prefer to think of myself as "following the Lord's guidance in my heart".

Least favorite bumper sticker/kitchy picture ever: "If you don't feel close to God, guess who moved?"

I haven't seen that before... I like that even less than those "God is my co-pilot" bumper stickers...

[ShiroiHikari]

Remember also the Bible states the heart is deceitful above all things. Emotions are definitely no indicator of spirituality or closeness to God, I can say that with complete certainty.

This right here.

Your emotions can certainly drive you to do things that could push you away from God if you let them rule you. But the fact that you woke up on the wrong side of the bed one day doesn't mean you're suddenly far away from God. Sometimes people have bad days and feel angry, sad or depressed. That's life. God didn't promise us perpetual contentment or happiness, at least not in this life.

[Nate]

I like that even less than those "God is my co-pilot" bumper stickers...

Fun fact. In nuke school, though you could wear civilian clothes when you went into the school to study, there were restrictions on what type of clothing you could wear. One of the rules was "No visible swearing." So a guy standing watch told someone they couldn't come in because they were wearing a shirt that said "Satan is my f***ing co-pilot" and the kid tried to claim he was being discriminated against because he didn't believe in God.

My least favorite bumper sticker is political so I won't mention it here. I have always hated those stupid "Truth fish" things though.

[Kunoichi]

I really appreciate all your responses. It definitely has helped me have a more clear understanding that my mental health disorders do now have to separate me from God. Feelings aren't always fact and again really appreciate everybody's response.

[Nate]

No problem. Just remember that, feelings aren't fact. I mean if they were, then it'd be fact that I'm a pathetic loser with no life!

...wait. Maybe that isn't the best example.

[Sailor Kenshin]

hey guys,

I'm not one to usually ask this and I know people will probably have their different opinions, but do you feel that emotions and feelings dertermine how close you are to God?

For instance, I deal with depression and during a depression episode, I obviously deal with the emotional symptoms. That being said, I still pray, read the Bible and believe I still maintain a close relationship with God regardless of my emotions.

I just wanted to get others opinions or insight on this.

Thanks

Kuno

I get what you're saying.

Who could be closer to God than someone like Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta? Yet sometimes she still FELT far from Him.

Read 'Come Be My Light,' her personal letters. I think you're supposed to 'do it anyway' in spite of how you feel.

[Yuki-Anne]

Some of my closest moments with God were actually some of my darkest moments. When I was 19, I was dating this guy, and certain serendipitous circumstances led me to believe it was God's will and blessing in my life that he was in it. Well, he broke up with me, and that night I was so hurt, confused, and furious with God that all I could really manage to say to him was, "I trust you." It was a pivotal moment in my relationship with God that changed me forever, that moment of saying "I trust you" in spite of the fact that I was so angry and heartbroken. So I think that you can be close to God even in those times when all you can feel toward him is anger.