Feel: The Power of Listening to Your Heart

http://www.buzzardblog.com/buzzard_blog/2008/11/matthew-elliott.html Three weeks ago I walked into Borders, eager to spend my $50 gift card. First, I picked up a book on Switzerland (I recently discovered that I'm Swiss). Next, I grabbed a biography of Genghis Kahn (for some reason I find Genghis fascinating). By my calculations I had about 10 bucks left to spend, so I sauntered into the "Christian" isle to see if anything caught my eye and, something did, a book called Feel. This book surprised me. Not only did I think a lot, I also felt a lot while reading Matthew Elliott's Feel. Apparently, several years ago this fella Matthew Elliott did doctoral research on the role of emotion in the New Testament (wish I had thought of that). That research turned into Elliott's book Faithful Feelings, a book that examines the felt experience of Christian living, how emotion was viewed by the New Testament writers in their cultural context. That book was published in 2006. I hope to read it. John Piper calls the book, "The most thorough study on emotions in the New Testament." Published earlier this year, Feel seems to be a popularization/distillation/fleshing out of Elliott's earlier work. The book is aimed at two significant errors Elliott observes in American Christianity: 1. "we have made our relationship with God more about fulfilling our duty than expressing our passion. We make our spiritual lives into a list of dos and don'ts. We pursue this list more than we actually pursue Jesus. And this leads to a life that eventually becomes tired and numb, devoid of feeling, dead." 2. "we have become indoctrinated in the belief that emotions are unreliable, dangerous, and bad." From his study of Scripture, Elliott's book builds upon several key ideas: * "our emotions were given to us by God to drive us to our best" * "emotions are among the most logical and dependable things in our lives" * "emotions give us a window to see truth like nothing else" * "the true health of our spiritual lives is measured by how we feel" If some of those statements trouble you, note that Elliott's writing reads like a modern day Religious Affections--Jonathan Edwards' 1746 classic which examines the centrality of emotions in Scripture and in the Christian life. Elliott is careful to ground his ideas, proposals, and conclusions in Scripture. I really like this book. It affected me. It convicted me. It helped me. I'm celebrating God's providence, how he led me to peek into the "Christian" isle at Borders and spot Feel. Reading Feel has come with perfect timing. The thesis and thrust of the book hit a sanctification bullseye in me. I've already begun recommending this book to many of my friends. Like with any book I deeply enjoy, I have a few quibbles with Feel. Chiefly, I wish Elliott had included a brief section near the beginning of the book that clearly articulates and unpacks the gospel message, serving those who will read this book and get exc

"Philosophy, psychology, our scientific culture, and the church have taught us that logic and reason must reign supreme, while feelings are trivialized and seen as something to be suppressed or ignored." ~ pg. 3 Matthew Elliott presents a very personal account of what it means to acknowledge your feelings and allow them to flourish in a safe environment. Currently I've been feeling some kind of awakening where I feel love for God like I never did before. So this book could not have found me at a better time. This book is about living a more fulfilled Christian life. While emotions can take over your mind and body for days at a time it is important to know when a feeling is right and when it is wrong. Just think about how jealousy can at times drown out all other feelings. Then there is the emotion of love which is highly desired and appreciated as much when it is given as received. Negative emotions can seems destructive except in cases where you feel righteous anger or hate sin as God does. Can a truly spiritual person allow themselves to feel anger, jealousy and hatred? When we love God, is it a feeling or an action? Do we show our love by following God's commandments or is it a feeling? I believe it is both. Matthew Elliott seeks a balanced approach and shows how fear, worry, anxiety, bitterness, rage, love of money and jealousy have a dark side, while anger and hate can have a positive side in the right context. Reading this book gave me deeper insights into what it means to be human and what it means to reach for the divine. By weeding out the negative emotions you can come to a place of more peace and allow feelings like love to flourish in your soul's garden. When you strive for a balanced life and your feelings come naturally (vs. suppressing them) then I think you can be happier and more fulfilled. If you feel emotionally dead then this book can help to awaken feelings you have denied yourself. If you want to love God more then this book may also show you a way to a more pleasing and peaceful relationship with our Creator. ~The Rebecca Review

A few weeks ago I finished a book titled Feel by Matthew Elliott. Essentially the book is about debunking the myth that psychologists and now churches have put out that we need to follow reason or logic and not our emotions or feelings. The book was challenging for me. My entire life I had always thought back on my big mistakes as ones driven by emotions rather than a logical thought process. I have no doubt most of you have done the same. We think that it is because of our "heat in the moment" emotions that we make mistakes. Elliott has changed my thinking. If I were to try and summarize how Elliott goes about changing my thinking I am sure I would do a poor job. Elliott uses scientific data, psychological studies, and Biblical studies on how emotions are viewed in the Bible. These things were more than convincing to me that I am ruining my relationship with Christ by living strictly through reason and logic. I am a very organizational person, I do not color outside of the lines. But I think I've been missing God's ability to speak to me through my emotions. One interesting thing to note about the book is that it tries to incorporate blogging. At the end of each chapter their a section of personal responses and then include a link of where to join in the conversation. Often we think of blogging and books as two very separate things, but this book is trying to bridge the gap. I'm not sure if it liked it or not. Often, I found myself just skipping to the next chapter. Overall: Great book, recommend it to anyone who feels like they are living an emotionless life. [...]

I wish everyone could read this book to understand both the freedom and responsibility we have in our emotions! With passion and intelligence, the author opens your eyes to a fresh perspective of the importance emotion plays in our lives both physically and spiritually. His captivating voice uses stories and research to explain the deeper truth that feelings point to reality not distract from it. I am so thankful someone has written a book that encourages us see our emotional response to life as a good thing!