Subjective Feelings ≠ Truth

Subjective Feelings Are Not a Reliable Test of Truth

There's a lot of folk out there Who are putting the cart before the horse. Who are? Well, they're they're using the wrong tool for the Particular job, you know. Now listen. I am NOT much of a handyman in fact.

You know I can do the average level repair job, okay for instance clogged toilet. I'm there. You know there's you know there's certain odds and ends around the house hanging picture frames. You know things like that.

I'm on it. Okay. No problemo. Just the average repairs around the house. I'm okay, okay? I'm I'm not God's gift to handiwork like by any stretch of the imagination, but I Understand that there are right tools for right jobs for instance hammers or for nails.

You get what I'm saying. Pliers are there although I use them for just about you know the average catch-all type of grabbing Instrument. They do have particular things that they're best better at than other things so the idea is this is that when you Do a job, and it requires you to use?

Tools. You know power tools, or you know tools of any nature you want to make sure that you're using for instance I don't use a hammer when I'm trying to use when I'm trying to grab something that I know pliers would be the best Thing at you know I don't use tin snips.

You know when I'm you get what I'm saying, okay? Same thing here, okay? God gave us Brains. Yeah, I know I know it's just you know we live in a time where if you're Brainy, that's that's not necessarily a good thing I mean.

And you know because over and again in movies people with brains are people who are pictured who have No heart. You know the person that I'm talking about that cold Calculating nerdy person in fact it might even be like your boss.

Yeah.

The reason why he's your boss is because he's that guy that guy who studied in school. You hate that guy because while you were out doing okay? You were getting B's and C's and enjoying high school. This was the guy who is burning the midnight oil late into the night studying.

He got that outrageous score on his SAT. He got the scholarships and and now he's your boss. You know what I'm talking. He's cold.

He's heartless he's.

Smart right that's that you know that's how Our society portrays smart people as cold heartless calculating and things like that, but see Regardless of how the culture portrays smart people. Or you know worse there.

They're socially inept. They just don't have a life. You know things like that. Don't don't use that as an excuse to turn off your brain. God gave you a brain and he expects you to use it now today. There was some some young college folk type who attended passion 2013 who were taking issue with the things that I said and one in particular Got my attention.

We had a Limited exchange of ideas if you would on Twitter, which by the way a Twitter is the worst medium for Communication, I'm just saying okay. You know. Seriously, it's like trying to live in a shoebox.

You just it won't work the furniture is too small anyway. Twitter has some limitations to say the least but this.

This.

Young person Tweeted me and well We got a problem and the major problem is is that you know? I took all this time over these last few episodes of fighting for the faith to listen to Louie Giglio in Context to demonstrate from the biblical context that he was twisting God's Word.

This was not an exercise in reaching out with your feelings. I'm not a Jedi. I would be a horrible Jedi. I mean You know, first of all, I'm a guy okay, I have limited feelings as it is anyway. So yeah, I'm just saying but the last thing I don't decide truth based upon feelings and you need to not do that, too but anyway, so I challenged this college person to you know to objectively prove that Louie Giglio Rightly handled Ezekiel 37, you know that because that's like the most recent example, you know, and and you know.

Demonstrate it to me with evidence open up your Bible and show me you that kind of thing and.

Um, I.

Got an answer kind of along the lines of this Actually, this is the direct quote the power of the Holy Spirit who is God was felt at the Georgia Dome is Far too powerful to contain in a hundred and forty character tweet.

So this college person knows that what was going on there at? Passion 2013 was totally on the level and was and that God had approved of it because they had a feeling a Feeling that and they could feel the Holy Spirit there and because they felt The Holy Spirit at the Georgia Dome at the recently concluded Passion 2013 event.

Well, that meant that God the Holy Spirit was there and No, I wasn't trying to be glib, but I pretty much asked the question How do you know that you're feeling wasn't low blood sugar? Mm-hmm. I mean, it's it reminds me of the story that I tell semi regularly.

In fact, if you're a listener to fighting for the faith, you've heard the story before. I'm one of these apologists who learned Mormonism from Mormons, okay. That's who I learned it from and you know the long time ago in a galaxy far far away.

I Lived in Southern California and I was young I was skinny I had energy and I was in college I was it was my first year at Christ College Irvine, which then became Concordia University long story. But anyway, I was my first year and I was taking I was taking several Rosenblatt classes apologetics and and you know history of apologetics and I was taking first year Greek and.

Man.

Just don't know how I did it and you know, it's one of those things you look back and you think. Were you suicidal, you know? Because it was one of those things where I ended up doing a lot of studying if you wanted to do well, but anyway.

You know, so I didn't have a lot of time extra time anyway. But I came home from school came home from work and was sitting in my apartment with my bride Barbara and our son Joshua and our newborn baby Christina and there was a knock on the door and it was Elder so-and-so and so-and-so from the local Mormon Church there to tell us about the Book of Mormon and He's just thinking what are you thinking but I invited them in we had a cordial conversation and they really truly Deeply passionately wanted me to agree to read the Book of Mormon.

Okay, so I agreed to it why I don't know okay I didn't have any extra time, but I agreed to it. And what did I do? I read it. I told him it would take me a couple of weeks. It took me a couple weeks. I read it.

Hoy, that's a haul if you've never read the Book of Mormon. Good night. It's one of the most poorly written written documents in the history of human religions. But anyway, so I read it and sure enough a few weeks later They came back knocking on my door and they came into my apartment.

We were sitting down, you know What around our my coffee table and no sooner were we sitting down with the conversation started to get serious. You know one of these Mormon missionaries looks at me and you know He's really excited to talk to me and he asked me the question so when you when you read the Book of Mormon, how did it make you feel and No joke.

I Looked at him. I said funny that you would ask that. Because it was the weirdest thing. Every single time I would open the Book of Mormon. It was like the lights got darker the room got colder. I felt like I could it was so cold.

I can feel my breath. In fact, it felt like the the presence of sheer evil was in the room. That's what that's what I said. And this kid looks at me and he's horrified. He's absolutely beside himself going.

Well, then you're not reading it, right?

And and I basically said well, how do you know the Book of Mormon's true? And he says well, I bear you my testimony I know that the Book of Mormon is true because I prayed and asked Heavenly Father to show me that of the truthfulness of the Book of Mormon by giving me a burning in my bosom and my and I prayed that prayer in Sincerity and Heavenly Father answered me and I had a burning in my bosom telling me giving me testimony that the Book of Mormon is true.

I looked at him and I said well, that's weird because my subjective experience and your subjective experience regarding the Book of Mormon Completely contradict each other. Apparently this is no way to decide whether or not the Book of Mormon is true.

Therefore we're going to have to look at objective evidence like archaeological records and things like that to see if this document is actually what it purports to be a history of ancient peoples who came from Israel via boats to South America and.

And we embarked on that and we studied with them for good eight ten weeks. And this these are the people who taught me Mormonism, but in the process that whole objective objective evidence thing really became a stumbling block for them and It was clear that you know by about week seven or eight.

They were really having a hard time being honest Regarding the fact that they were believing it considering the fact that all the evidence that I was bringing to bear Objectively was disproving the Book of Mormon's claims.

All of that is to make this this point, okay. There are a lot of folk out there and a lot of Christian youth. Who are? Functionally Mormon now. I'm not saying they believe the Book of Mormon. What I'm saying is is that their Epistemology how you know what you know what you know what you know is very similar to Mormons.

How do we know that Louie Giglio preached the truth at Passion 2013 well according to this one college student. It's because They felt the Holy Spirit at the event. Now I don't even know what that means Felt the Holy Spirit at the event.

How how do you just determine the truth of something based upon a feeling that's Subjective but what I do know is that when I objectively opened God's Word and compared message to message. What Louie Giglio said didn't square with what the Bible says?

That's objective that has nothing to do with my feelings and In fact feelings are no way of determining truth that would be like using a hammer to brush your teeth. I don't recommend it wrong tool for the wrong job.

You don't use your feeler to determine the truth of something. You open the Scriptures and you use the brain that God gave you which kind of reminds me of a passage of Scripture that I was thinking about before coming on the air and Sure to put into my computerized Bible program 2nd Peter chapter 1.

I'll start at verse 16. I can kind of do a little bit of a setup here. You remember in the gospel accounts that? Matthew. Not Matthew. Peter James and John. Peter James and John were the three of Jesus's twelve disciples.

Who got to go with Jesus up on a mountain and see literally Jesus? Transfigured before their eyes. He became as white as lightning. Right, and it was quite the Experience and they even heard the voice of the father say this is my beloved son.

Listen to him right they heard that they that I mean as far as biblical Religious experiences go that's way up there. Okay way. Way up there. All right, and yet that's not what Peter put his trust in.

Listen to this 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 16 for we did not follow cleverly devised myths. When we made known to you the power and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. But we were eyewitnesses of his majesty for when he received honor and glory from God the Father and the voice Was born to him by the majestic.

Glory. This is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased we ourselves heard this very voice born from heaven for we were with him on the holy mountain and We have the prophetic word more fully Confirmed to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp Shining in a dark place until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts.

Knowing this first of all that no prophecy of scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man. But men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

You catch that? Here in 2nd Peter chapter 1 verses 16 through 21 Peter Argues that the written scriptures are more certain Than his own religious experience that he had on the Mount of Transfiguration.

And you know what?

Who am I to argue with the Apostle Peter? This is a man who spent years with Christ While Jesus had his earthly ministry. This is a man Who walked on water. This is a man who was an eyewitness to the resurrection.

He was an eyewitness to the very events that we see recorded for us in the gospel and Gospels. And he Basically Says that we are wise not to chase after religious experiences But to pay close attention To the written word of God.

That's where we go and see. Peter wasn't a subjective dude now was he? No, he understood that scripture is the objective measure of truth and that regardless of how an experience made you.

Feel if.

That experience and the teaching that went along with it contradicts scripture. Your experience.

Was false.

Yeah, I know it's kind of rough but that's just how it works. Don't be deceived and misled by your experiences because oftentimes those experiences were Contrived. They were concocted. They were Precisely engineered in order to create a particular feeling in you.

You don't believe me. Go to a movie. Okay, especially a movie that's designed to make you laugh and cry like a chick flick, right? One of those Vermont romantic comedies. Yeah, you go in there and you're laughing and then the next minute you're crying and then you're that kind of stuff.

Right pay attention to the music during the crying part. All of the the entire of that portion of the movie is designed on purpose to evoke emotion in you, right? Well, oftentimes a lot of these well religious experiences they're just as well synthetic in their emotional manipulation as a movie is again your experiences.

Your feelings are Subjective and no indicator as to whether or not something is true or false. Don't Listen to your feelings. Open the Word of God. Use your brain.