There’s plenty about action in the New Testament and plenty about feeling in the Hebrew Bible but the stereotype in my headline is generally true.
When the Hebrew Bible talks about loving God, it refers primarily to action, not feelings and theology.
My mischievous side just took over and I made this Facebook update: “Luke Ford got up in shul today and talked about what God had done in his life.”
I have never heard a Jew speak this way. We don’t speak about God acting in our lives. Our religion is not feelings oriented, it is law oriented. We don’t trust feelings and we don’t trust the heart and we don’t trust people to intuit what God wants and we don’t trust people to feel their way to God and goodness.
If I did get up in shul and speak about what God had done in my life nobody would notice because I would have nothing to say. I can’t get my head around talking with assurance about God acting in your life. How do you know? How do you know it’s not just your feelings acting in you? How do you know it is not a delusion?
