Does obeying the commandment to love Yahavah, first and to love your neighbor as yourself ; null feelings?

[MatthewG]

Do feelings matter, when it comes to a commandment which is given from Yahavah, or given from Yeshua?

If you are told to love your enemies, does that mean you love God, but you still hate your enemy, because of your feelings?

I understand we can be mad against the wages of sin, or irritated at a intense moment of time, there is nothing wrong with having emotions at all, but do commandments void them?

 

[Jack]

Do feelings matter, when it comes to a commandment which is given from Yahavah, or given from Yeshua?

If you are told to love your enemies, does that mean you love God, but you still hate your enemy, because of your feelings?

I understand we can be mad against the wages of sin, or irritated at a intense moment of time, there is nothing wrong with having emotions at all, but do commandments void them?

Ain't no "Yahavah" in the Christian Bible. Not even in the Complete Jewish Bible. And Yeshua did not BECOME the Lord God Almighty as YOU said. Why are you making this stuff up about God of the Bible?

 

[Wrangler]

Feelings matter. The command is better translated unconditional compassion.

You can have compassion as you walk with a murderer to his execution. Not liking him or anything he has ever done his whole life. While love is a natural affection, dependent on virtue, compassion is not.

Hope this helps.

 

[MatthewG]

In what way do feelings matter exactly?

I get if someone is feeling afraid, scared, maybe feeling angry, anxious, nervous, feeling sad or happy that is part of our emotional reaction, to a situation or ordeal which a person continues deal with throughout lift.

I also get perhaps allowing someone else to be right and we just decide to continue moving forward rather than back and forth, when it comes to notion of “feelings.”

A question comes to mind is was there ever a point where Jesus, when he reacted it was because “he felt like doing it” that would be contrary to the narrative of him, doing the things the Father taught him and lead him to do, wouldn’t it?

That is my focus, when it comes to say for example when Jesus shares about putting the LORD GOD first with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself — does that play out in a Christian’s life, despite their “feelings” at the time.

To forgive, to give water to your enemies, etc… People can feel the need to go and do things but love seems to go pass “feeling” because of it being an action verb.

 

[Wrangler]

In what way do feelings matter exactly?

That's a tough question, my friend. I've struggled with that for a long time.

One one level, feelings don't matter at all. My ethics professor in college presented this working definition of moral. Moral is when you allow a previously made decision to over-ride your present emotions. Facts matter. Choice matter. The wages of sin is death and sooner or later, the bill comes due - no matter how you feel about it.

On another level, we are not supposed to be partially devout. We are not supposed to be intellectually in line with the word of God but every fiber of our being opposes every moment. We are supposed to be fully devoted to God, including emotionally. One Pastor said that we worship an emotional God. Another Pastor said that with the grace of the Holy Spirit, the peace that transcends all understanding, we can go with God's will relaxing our muscles (physical, intellectual and spiritual) and accept. With acceptance comes great peace. I believe this is the context in which Jesus said his burden was light and yoke easy.

I was attacked this weekend and wrote about it here.
Aunt's Husband Died.

When attacked, you are most susceptible to the Adversaries machinations if you are not emotionally devoted to God. Remember, Emotions are merely automatic responses. They precede higher level thinking. And here, the Adversary strikes. With the grace of God, I am able to withstand the attack calmly, with the peace that transcends all understanding, knowing I am secure as a child of light.

Hope this helps.

 

[Bob]

1 Samuel 15: 10
Now the word of the LORD came to Samuel, saying, “I greatly regret that I have set up Saul as king, for he has turned back from following Me, and has not performed My commandments.” And it grieved Samuel, and he cried out to the LORD all night.

 

[O'Darby]

That is my focus, when it comes to say for example when Jesus shares about putting the LORD GOD first with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind, and love your neighbor as yourself — does that play out in a Christian’s life, despite their “feelings” at the time.

To forgive, to give water to your enemies, etc… People can feel the need to go and do things but love seems to go pass “feeling” because of it being an action verb.

I do think you've hit on the answer here. The love of God shows itself in actions that may be contrary to feelings. Your enemy doesn't care if you love him in an emotional sense. He cares about your actions. It does come down in almost every instance to understanding love in terms of merciful and compassionate action. Merciful and compassionate action despite internally conflicting emotions is love of God and others. As James 1:27 says, "Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.” Actions, not feelings.

I think it does create internal conflict and confusion if we think, "I'm supposed to love God - is that how I really feel? But wait, I really hate this guy. But wait, I'm supposed to love my enemy - how do I that? If I treat him well while internally hating him, is this fulfilling the command, is this loving God? Am I supposed to somehow change how I feel? Is my love of God somehow supposed to overcome my feelings?"

If we just approach all situations with the objective of showing mercy and compassion, I believe this satisfies both love of God and love of others apart from any emotions. The action is what counts.

Buddhist writings can be very helpful in informing one's Christianity in this regard. Buddhism is tremendously practical, with an emphasis on compassionate living. IMO, Christians do themselves a disservice by thinking only Christian writings are relevant to the Christian walk.

 

[MA2444]

In what way do feelings matter exactly?

Emotions are a funny thing. They can work for you or against you. Scripture does say, be angry, but sin not. So there is righteous feelings of anger, but don't sin.

Scripture also says...The fervant prayer of a righteous man availeth much...That's talking about feelings. Many things will cause us to feel this way or that way. And if we're praying to the Lord about someone we love then if we get emotional it seems to make God sit up and notice even more. So that would be a positive use of feelings and heart.

If you find yourself with an enemy in front of you...if you find yourself becoming afraid or fearful what you need to do is to, channel that fear into anger. The chemical compostion in our bodies which make us feel different ways. The chemical makeup of fear and anger are very similar, so that's a plus. Anger wins many more fights than fear does.

 

[Soyeong]

Do feelings matter, when it comes to a commandment which is given from Yahavah, or given from Yeshua?

If you are told to love your enemies, does that mean you love God, but you still hate your enemy, because of your feelings?

I understand we can be mad against the wages of sin, or irritated at a intense moment of time, there is nothing wrong with having emotions at all, but do commandments void them?

Two people who get married are not vowing to always feel love towards each other, but are vowing to always act in love towards each other. Likewise, God's commands to love Him and our neighbor are not commands to feel love, but to act in love.

The Bible often uses the same terms to describe aspects of the character of God as it does to describe aspects of the character of God's law, such as with it being holy, righteous, and good (Romans 7:12) and with justice, mercy, and faithfulness being weightier matters of the law (Matthew 23:23), which is because it is God's instructions for how to love, know, and testify about those aspects of His character, which is why the Bible repeatedly says in both the OT and the NT that the way to love God is by obeying His commandments. In other words, everything that God has specifically chosen to command was commanded in order to teach us how to love a different aspect of His character, so for example the way to love justice is by being a doer of justice in obedience to God's law, which is not in regard to how we feel.

 

[Hobie]

Do feelings matter, when it comes to a commandment which is given from Yahavah, or given from Yeshua?

If you are told to love your enemies, does that mean you love God, but you still hate your enemy, because of your feelings?

I understand we can be mad against the wages of sin, or irritated at a intense moment of time, there is nothing wrong with having emotions at all, but do commandments void them?

When you decide on the one you want to spend the rest of your life with, are you forced or do you choose...

 

[MatthewG]

When you decide on the one you want to spend the rest of your life with, are you forced or do you choose...

Hobie, do a lot of people ask that question? Some say God chooses the person and they had nothing to do with it, and forces the rest of all mankind to go to hell.

 

[Hobie]

Hobie, do a lot of people ask that question? Some say God chooses the person and they had nothing to do with it, and forces the rest of all mankind to go to hell.

Then why the struggle, why don't they just wait for their fate...because God gives all a choice...

 

[MatthewG]

Then why the struggle, why don't they just wait for their fate...because God gives all a choice...

Amen.

 

[MatthewG]

Two people who get married are now vowing to always feel love towards each other, but a vowing to always act in love towards each other. Likewise, God's commands to love Him and our neighbor are not commands to feel love, but to act in love.

The Bible often uses the same terms to describe aspects of the character of God as it does to describe aspects of the character of God's law, such as with it being holy, righteous, and good (Romans 7:12) and with justice, mercy, and faithfulness being weightier matters of the law (Matthew 23:23), which is because it is God's instructions for how to love, know, and testify about those aspects of His character, which is why the Bible repeatedly says in both the OT and the NT that the way to love God is by obeying His commandments. In other words, everything that God has specifically chosen to command was commanded in order to teach us how to love a different aspect of His character, so for example the way to love justice is by being a doer of justice in obedience to God's law, which is not in regard to how we feel.

Thank you for sharing some insightful information to consider here.

 

[Soyeong]

Thank you for sharing some insightful information to consider here.

You're welcome. Feelings generally follow what we do, so if we spend acting in love towards someone, then we will generally develop feelings of love towards them, but feelings can come and go like gas, so we need to still act in love even when we are not feeling it.

 

[Pearl]

There is a sort of love that has nothing to do with feelings and everything to do with caring. So although we can't feel love for our enemies we can care for them. Love is a verb, a doing word, which means we don't choose to love with our feelings but because it is commended of us. The sort of love that has deep feelings is for loved ones.