Feelings are great…in fact I have them all the time! But they are a lousy foundation for our faith. As our culture has shifted from a thinking culture to a feeling culture in the last 50 years, the under 30’s generation has been the most deeply effected. I think Nancy Pearcey is correct in her observation that “Young people whose faith is mostly emotional are likely to retain it only as long as it is making them happy. As soon as a difficult crisis comes along, it will evaporate” (Saving Leonardo: A Call to Resist the Secular Assault on Mind, Morals, and Meaning, 16-17). They need to be trained and challenged to think hard about their faith.
Learning to feel our emotions and be able to express them to others is vital for developing a healthy heart (and takes great courage! cf. Prov. 4:23). I’m not downplaying feelings and emotions. I just want to add reason to the equation as well. Imagine if students emerged from our churches equipped to understand what is going on in their hearts and able to use their minds to understand, defend, and commend a Christian worldview (Jude 3)? Why do we have to settle for one or the other? I don’t think we do. That is one of the reasons I wrote Welcome to College to help students (and those who love them) be prepared to walk with Jesus Christ during the exciting and challenging college years. Graduation is coming up and a new batch of students are heading off to college….are they ready? They can be…
