Faithful Feelings follow-up

Mary made an insightful comment about my post on Faith-ful Feelings. Take a look at it (scroll down to that post, then click on the comments line; Blogger doesn't permit copy-and-paste, so I can't reproduce it here).
Emotions are indeed affected by sin. We do not have the right emotions because we are sinful. We do not always experience the joy of being righteous in God's sight because of Christ--even though there is hardly anything that ought to produce more joy in us! We do not always weep with those who weep, because we are more concerned about our own circumstances (which may be good) than our sister's grief.
Yet, consider this: our thinking, our reason, is also affected by sin. We sing, "I once was blind but now I see." Once, apart from the work of the Holy Spirit, our minds were dead to the gospel. But once God opened our minds to see it, we marveled and embraced it in faith.
May God not in the same way regenerate, make new, our emotions? So that, as part of our sanctification, our emotions are made new, made more appropriate, more fitting to the gospel--just as our minds are? That is where holy affections come from--the same Spirit who opens our minds to grasp the gospel, may he transform our emotions to reflect the gospel.

Edward Kennedy

For folks of a more conservative or libertarian bent, Ted Kennedy often represented policies that they disliked. And often partisan warmongering leads to malice, Schadenfreude, joy at someone else's suffering (which, Col. 3:8, those in Christ must put away); so some may secretly or openly rejoice that he has passed on.
It has been good, therefore, upon Kennedy's death, to read several gracious reflections on his life. There is this obituary by John Broder in the New York Times that expresses both Kennedy's achievements and his failures; and there is this one by Peggy Noonan in the Wall Street Journal, about a speech Ronald Reagan gave at Ted Kennedy's home in 1985. Read them, and discover that even Ted Kennedy was in many ways a gift of God's common grace to our generation. And while common grace is not everything, it does count for something.

An Ordinary Pastor

I just finished this very excellent book by D.A. Carson, about his father, a pastor in French-speaking Canada. If you know who D.A. Carson is, he is no ordinary theologian/Bible scholar, it is safe to say. But his father was ordinary: he ministered in Quebec at at time when it was very hard slogging. He did not seem to have a lot to show for his ministry when all was said and done. He was often discouraged, and berated himself for not doing enough. But Carson especially highlights his faithfulness in ministering in small places, under great financial pressure, and his constant giving of himself for others. In many ways, in fact, his story reminds me of my own father, who ministered in Germany for 25 years as an "ordinary pastor." If you are tired of reading about "successful" people whose lives make you doubt your own, grab this.
As I got toward the end of the book, and the end of Tom Carson's life, I was crying as I read. You never know what God is going to do through ordinary people.
By the way, there is also a review of this book by Ben Westerveld, current OPC missionary in Quebec, in a recent issue of the New Horizons. unfortunately that review is not available online.

Faith-ful Feelings

Are our emotions (feelings, or what Jonathan Edwards called "affections") subject to, or influenced by, our mind, our thoughts, our intellect? Or do emotions just come and go, without regard for what we are thinking?
To put it another way, can we change what we are feeling (emotions) by changing what we are thinking? Does, for example, meditating on the truth of Scripture produce the emotions of hope, joy, peace, love, etc.? Or are hope, joy, love, etc. in Scripture non-emotional words--do they describe something that goes beyond emotion?
Emotions can be difficult for us. When we think of emotional Christians, we are probably thinking of someone who is weak in mind, perhaps; or someone given to emotional extravagance. Someone you might see at a Benny Hinn or Kenneth Copeland event (if you don't know who Benny Hinn or Kenneth Copeland are, count yourself fortunate). Someone distinctly un-Presbyterian.
And yet, we are emotional beings. And as such we are made in the image of God; and God, throughout the Bible, is described with emotional language (wrath, delight, love, etc.) . Recently I have been drawn to several studies on emotion in the Scripture and in Christian experience. Perhaps it is because I, too, wrestle with emotions--and long for my emotions to be more Christ-like. To know joy more; to grow in the compassion that is repeatedly ascribed to Jesus Christ while he lived on the earth; to love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength.
I am still thinking all of this through, and continue my study--and testing what I learn by God's Word and my Christian experience. But so far I have concluded that as part of regeneration God transforms our emotions as much as our minds. That God's purpose for us is not to make us unemotional, but to give us "holy affections," as Edwards calls them. Holy love--including emotional love--for all the right things; a holy hatred for the things God hates; joy--emotional joy, happiness--for the immense benefits of God's grace in Jesus Christ; hope--emotional hope--for the future.
Now let me ask you--the handful :) of readers: What do you think? Do you wrestle with your emotions? Or are you too busy to think about them? Let me know.

Health Care Reform

A lot is made presently about reforms that some in Congress, and President Obama, want to make in the health care "system" in this country. I will not pretend to know what is best by any stretch. Political ideologies are flying about; people on the left and right are weighing in--loudly!--on all sides. As in every political debate, many feel that the sky is falling--whether we do something, or do nothing.
Here are some of my thoughts on the matter:
1. I try to remember, in all political debates, what Paul wrote in Philippians 3:20: Our citizenship is in heaven, and we await from there a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. That means I am a citizen of heaven whether I live under capitalism, socialism, communism, Nazism, or whatever other political ism there is. That's not to say I don't have a preference (see point 2), but this is most primary, most basic. God's people have thrived under the most unjust political systems over the past 2000 years (even, and especially, when those systems persecuted them). I am exceedingly grateful for the benefits of being a citizen of this country, but my citizenship in heaven is not dependent on them. That gives me, at least, some perspective on political debates.
2. As I have a chance, I follow God's advice through Jeremiah to the exiles in Babylon (Jeremiah 29:4ff): seek the welfare of the city where God has sent you into exile. That's why I try to follow the debate (as much as is possible), and form opinions about it. It's also why I try to get true information (see point 3). My own influence over the decisions that are made is minimal; I have no soap box, I have no standing to make grand assertions in the debate, etc. In the final analysis the best I can do is cast a vote for or against elected officials. If I raise my voice I might be able to convince a handful of other people to vote as I vote. That's a lot more than Paul could do in his day, but it is still not a whole lot. I could become a political activist, I suppose--but that would to my mind prevent me from fulfilling my calling as a minister of the gospel of Jesus Christ (some pastors would disagree, I know, but I think they are wrong). If I was called to be a political activist, I would leave the ministry. I don't think it would be a good trade.
3. Good information is crucial. I have gotten a number of forwarded emails warning of the dire consequences of this or that aspect of health care reform. They are well-meaning, but I always check them against good sources of information. My favorite, still, is factcheck.org, which has already debunked most if not all of the most scandalous accusations. I understand that the bills floating around Capitol Hill are numerous, and very complicated. I hope our elected officials are reading them carefully. It appears that the rumormongers are not, and are doing us a big disservice.
4. Given where we are culturally, and the direction we are going culturally, I will not be surprised if something I severely dislike--either for personal or moral reasons--is passed into law. I wish it weren't so, but it probably will be. The already complicated paperwork I receive from doctors, hospitals, and insurance companies will probably get only more so. My tax dollars may well be spent on medical procedures I detest, like abortion. Probably it already is, I just don't know about it. I hope the biggest form my protest takes is to continue to preach God's grace in Jesus Christ to undeserving sinners. Ironically, I think that is the most powerful form of "protest." I will never, I hope, cease to marvel that God's answer to this idolatrous, evil world was love, in the form of his Son, Jesus Christ (John 3:16).