I believe that many people in our current culture follow their feelings more than rational thought. They hold fast to the popular saying: “Just follow your heart.” They base their religion, morality, and view of life based on their own personal perspective and feelings. And they don’t care if their own beliefs and morality are different from everyone else. For them truth is relative to each person. As a Christian I believe objective truth actually exists, and we need to believe what is true and live by that truth rather than our own feelings. But of course non-Christians may believe that as well and still come to very different conclusions about what the truth is compared to the conclusions Christians come to. But the starting point is to actually believe that real truth exists. It would be much easier for me to debate with someone about what is true and not true about God, and what is really right and wrong in this life, with someone who doesn’t believe the Bible is God’s Word, but still believes there is absolute truth, rather than to debate with someone who thinks all truth is relative and we just need to follow our own feelings and do what seems right to us. For example how can I debate the morality of crossdressing with someone who thinks morality is just a personal preference and there is no ultimate right or wrong? With someone who accepts absolute truth as something that exists, we can move on to discuss how we can find out that truth, whether its scientific, religious, or moral truth. Ultimately we would have to debate the reliability of Scripture. But the reliability of Scripture is a topic outside the scope of this article.
But for those of you who are Christians, who accept that absolute truth exists, and believe the Bible is God’s Word, let us keep in mind what God says about the truth. We must NOT just follow our hearts. We must NOT do whatever just seems good to us. We must follow the teachings of God’s Word, and obey his commands, even when it goes against our cultural sensibilities. As sinners we are often blind to the truth. Our reasoning is finite and flawed. Our feelings are flawed as well. Crossdressing or other sins might feel okay at times, but we need to have God’s Word as our authority rather than our own feelings. If we try to figure out everything on our own we will get lost. We need the light of God’s Word to give us the truth.
Listen to these powerful Scripture passages about our hearts:
Jeremiah 17:9 – 9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?
Psalm 81:11-12 – 11 “But my people would not listen to me; Israel would not submit to me. 12 So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts to follow their own devices.
Psalm 111:10 – 10 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise.
Proverbs 3:5-7 – 5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;6 in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord and shun evil.
Proverbs 12:15 – The way of fools seems right to them, but the wise listen to advice.
Proverbs 14:12 – There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.
Proverbs 16:25 – There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.
Jeremiah 7:21-24 – 21 This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: Go ahead, add your burnt offerings to your other sacrifices and eat the meat yourselves! 22 For when I brought your forefathers out of Egypt and spoke to them, I did not just give them commands about burnt offerings and sacrifices, 23 but I gave them this command: Obey me, and I will be your God and you will be my people. Walk in all the ways I command you, that it may go well with you. 24 But they did not listen or pay attention; instead, they followed the stubborn inclinations of their evil hearts. They went backward and not forward.”
Jeremiah 9:13-14 – 13 The Lord said, “It is because they have forsaken my law, which I set before them; they have not obeyed me or followed my law. 14 Instead, they have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their fathers taught them.”
Jeremiah 18:12 – 12 But they will reply, ‘It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; each of us will follow the stubbornness of his evil heart. ’
John 8:12 – 12 When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
2 Timothy 4:3 – 3 For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
Jude 18-20 – 18 They said to you, “In the last times there will be scoffers who will follow their own ungodly desires.” 19 These are the men who divide you, who follow mere natural instincts and do not have the Spirit. 20 But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit.
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