Tag: praise
Is Worship an Emotional Experience – Or Does It Reveal Our Theology of God?
Posted on February 24, 2016 in Theology by Nathan Cherry
Can we truly worship God apart from our emotions? The debate over what “worship” in churches should and should not be like confronts us with the idea of whether it is possible to be divorced from our emotions and truly worship.
That question has been on my mind as I rethink what it means to worship. We know that we are to “worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24) But it seems the practical application of worshipping God “in spirit and in trust” is what is up for debate.
Discussions and comment threads over the use of instruments (and the banning of others); the use of dance (and the sin of dance); and the use of traditional hymns versus modern songs (aren’t the Psalms the most “traditional” hymns?) has made the discussion difficult to learn from. Each side is convinced of their right-ness on the issue. And in many cases opposing sides are willing to “agree to disagree”; a nice change from the typical name-calling (“legalist,” and “hippie” come to mind). But this is important.
The worship of God is not like the disagreement of whether or not Christians should drink alcohol. Our worship of God the Father, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit is central to our lives as believers. Refusing to think critically about this topic could be spiritually deadening.