Search Your Feelings, You Know Them to Be True

Unless they’re being manipulated by the altar call

During the iconic scene in The Empire Strikes Back (spoilers for this 42-year-old movie), Darth Vader reveals he is Luke’s father. Never mind that the word Vader is literally the Dutch word for father. But in the exchange, Vader tells Luke to search his feelings; you know it to be true.

Throughout the Star Wars saga, the idea of feelings being a source of truth is pervasive. This idea is also mirrored in culture, more so now than ever before. In the past, you might have heard, “trust your gut” or “what does your conscience tell you?” Today, there is no shortage of memes on social media that say: “Feel your feelings; they’re not wrong.”

Whether this idea is good can be debated another day, but if you claim to be a Christian, the Bible teaches the exact opposite. Take these verses, for example:

The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it? Jeremiah 17:9

But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. James 1:14

Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered. Proverbs 28:26

Over and over, scripture warns us that our thoughts and feelings are deceitful above all things, do not trust them.

When you examine the early church in the first century, it appears they largely followed this teaching. Read the books of Acts, and you will find the disciples did not appeal to feelings or desires; they taught what they themselves had learned from Jesus Christ.

They taught the unabashed and unvarnished truth, they didn’t care how people felt about it because they understood this simple fact: truth stands above and apart from anyone’s feelings.

You may feel like the light was orange as you barreled through the intersection, but the stoplight camera reveals the truth. You may feel good about your chances of winning the lottery, but the numbers do not care.

The Apostles Paul, Peter, and all those guys held to the teachings of Jesus. They knew that people, and their feelings, skewed toward evil, and the truth of the Gospel was all that could save them. And yet, the evangelical church today has forgotten this and now appeals to feelings as a source of truth.