how do i know if i am mistaking "feeling god in my heart" and feeling human emotions?

Question

I think when people say they "know" for a fact that god is real and have felt him in their heart, they get confused.
while standing up during the praise & worship portion of a church service, hands protruded in the air and tears welling up in their eyes, they don't realize that they are simply feeling a series of human emotions

when people say that it is not just an emotion, because "it is beyond words" that kind of reasoning doesn't adequately justify faith at all.

WHEN I USED TO BE A CHRISTIAN, I would have answered just like that.
I would answer that “it all works out in the end and I, like other Christians, REALLY DO feel Christ in my heart” !!!!

I would swear with all my being that I was telling the truth. I believed and followed Christ on the same grounds as all Christians do. I guess the only real defense for that is try to single me out and say that i was one of those shallow and dumb followers but you are one of the real true Christians that REALLY DO feel god in their heart.

and now, looking back i know that it was all a matter of pride.
you don't want to have to think that your emotions were giving you a spiritual “placebo effect”
you don’t want to think that you were embarrassing yourself the whole time.
when a christian thinks he "knows” he feels god and all the other christians around you say they "feel" god, it becomes like that "emperor's clothes" story.
You don't want to be the only one to admit that your belief in Jesus might have been based on emotionally “telling” yourself it was real.


do you think that you have felt god in your heart and how do you know that it is not emotion

Answer 1

no such thing as feeling god in your heart... now there's one choice less.

Answer 2

In the beginning stages of Faith people often have an emotional experience of God very connected to atmosphere and crowd consciousness. Unfortunately a lot of people stay in that sort of Kindergarten level of spiritual practice. But the ones who learn about prayer and meditation as a practice will often over time have deeper and deeper experiences that go beyond the emotions.
This is different from revival type religion and it is true spiritual practice. It has less to do with looking outwards (at a preacher, a set of rules, a peer group) as it has to do with looking within (silence).

Answer 3

Emotions come and go. The presence of God in your heart( Actually your spirit) is something that stays constant with you regardless of your emotions. Sometimes people do get confused and think they know for sure God is telling them such and such only to later realize they were wrong. I've been there. I know. We are all just trying to find our way here and God is guiding us along the path. Little by little we learn everyday, often from our mistakes. That's what I think life's journey is.

Answer 4

Mormons talk about the "burning in the bosom" as evidence that the Book of Mormon is the word of God.
Christians talk about feeling God in the heart.

A common human experience is the feeling of the numinous.

So, my question (in answer to yours) is this: Does the commonality of human feeling and emotion in religious experience disprove the existence of deity?

The fact that "feelings" can be explained; the hypnotic experiences during some worship services; the relationship of the placebo effect and possible connection to miraculous healings; all of this explainable, still doesn't preclude the possibility that it might be sometimes real. What we see with our eyes can be instigated during brain surgery with electrical impulses placed at certain spots in our brain; might this mean that what we see is not real? Might we be lying in some 'matrix' and life be a dream?

The point is this: Some of us will choose to believe, some of us will choose not to. The argument over who is right cannot be proved by any means currently at our disposal. It is philosophical at best. The arguments of right and wrong can't be settled so why do we spend so much time and effort trying to prove each other wrong?

Answer to that one..... simple and awful human pride.

Answer 5

When I was a Christian, I felt the heart-swelling feeling that you're talking about. I realized what it was when I could also feel it listening to some of Mozart's music. That's when I realized that it was my own emotion and not any feelings of God.

Answer 6

Its like how I love my wife. Do I always feel the emotional love for her? No. But I always love her. I would die for her even after a huge argument.

I feel the same as you do. Many people mistake the holy spirit as a "warm fuzzy" feeling. But when these feelings fade away, I can still "feel" God.

I hope you understand what im trying to say.

Answer 7

How can you "use to be a Christian"? Are you meaning, youre just not "confessing" to be a Christian? It's not human emotions! Which, could be a sign "you" never was truley Born Again?

However, if you are, then you are in a backslidden stage. And God has not forgotten the promises you made to him. For we all have our chastizment of the Lord when were out of fellowship. Just a word of caution. Ive Been there!

http://gospel-wings-of-an-eagle4.com/The_McKameys_The_Realness_Of_The_Spirit.mp3

http://gospel-wings-of-an-eagle4.com/Walt_Mills_I_Was_There_When_It_Happened.mp3

Answer 8

the heart and emotions can you describe it?
there are good...there are bad...and also mixed emotions.and the heart it can guide you here and there sometimes in the wrong directions. so which would you consider is that from the Holy Spirit? the good? or the bad?

Answer 9

You have answered you question so sensibly that I am at the end of my wits searching for any worthwhile elaboration of same.

Answer 10

You are just an Atheist why are you coming up with all this crap trying to fool the Christions or something? xx