{"id":59484,"date":"2023-02-24T10:33:19","date_gmt":"2023-02-24T16:33:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/?p=59484"},"modified":"2023-02-24T10:33:19","modified_gmt":"2023-02-24T16:33:19","slug":"the-contagion-of-emotions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-contagion-of-emotions\/","title":{"rendered":"The Contagion of Emotions"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\t

by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n

At Ephesus, there was a stirring of emotions causing the idolatrous people to start a long series of chants and emotional outbursts of “Great is Diana of the Ephesians<\/em>” (Acts 19:34). This constant chant went on for two hours. There was a contagion of emotions, and perhaps the fervor for Diana had a “revival” in that city for a while.<\/p>\n

\"\"Emotions can be contagious and spread quickly, but the emotions are not proof of “truth” and they are not proof of “the pouring out of the Holy Spirit” or of “the Spirit moving”. It is only proof of the moving of human spirits into emotional hype. Attributing emotional displays to the “moving of the Holy Spirit” is easy to imagine, but it is not proof of the Holy Spirit at all. It is merely proof that emotions can get contagious.<\/p>\n

If every time a group of people got emotional and began to chant something, we assumed it was “the moving of the Holy Spirit”, then the Holy Spirit would be confirming every wind of doctrine taught in all those places. Charismatics of every variety, have the same emotional hype. It was emotional hype that led Joseph Smith to imagine angels and Spirit guidance. Emotional hype led 900 people to follow Jim Jones to their death. Can we truly call every emotionally hyped situation the “moving of the Holy Spirit?”<\/p>\n

I would call attention to what the Holy Spirit really shows us in the Bible. He never “moved” in that manner. In fact, the real Holy Spirit called for controlling your emotions and presenting His word with order and reason (I Corinthians 14:30-40). If emotions go uncontrolled and there is shouting at random, you can look at what the Holy Spirit said right here and know for certain that this emotional hype is definitely not anything attributable to the Holy Spirit.<\/p>\n

Maybe we should think about deceptive spirits cashing in on emotional contagion. If not, why not?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Terry Wane Benton At Ephesus, there was a stirring of emotions causing the idolatrous people to start a long series of chants and emotional outbursts of “Great is Diana of the Ephesians” (Acts 19:34). This constant chant went on for two hours. There was a contagion of emotions, and perhaps the fervor for Diana…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[143,727],"class_list":["post-59484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-charismatic","tag-emotionalism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":27273,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/all-feeling-no-proof\/","url_meta":{"origin":59484,"position":0},"title":"All Feeling, No Proof","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 10, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by Robert Turner via\u00a0Plain Talk, April 1970 The current rash or tongue-speaking, miracle-sanctioning, and the far more common errors concerning direct Spirit indwelling, that infects many institutional churches of Christ, was not brought to earth in the Apollo 11 moon dust. It sprang from causes within the ranks. Last month\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":61203,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/worship-the-emotional-component\/","url_meta":{"origin":59484,"position":1},"title":"Worship: The Emotional Component","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 8, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"by Warren E. Berkley \"God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth,\"\u00a0(John 4:24). Every element of true worship involves some emotional component. The emotional component is not driven by a direct operation of the Holy Spirit (as in Calvinism) or \"getting the Holy Spirit\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31772,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-romans-826-proof-that-people-still-speak-in-tongues-today\/","url_meta":{"origin":59484,"position":2},"title":"Is Romans 8:26 proof that people still speak in tongues today?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 14, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Kenneth Copeland uses Romans 8:26 as proof that people speak in tongues.\u00a0 I understand that tongue-speaking has ceased (I Corinthians 13:8-10). I don't know what Romans 8:26 is saying so I can't denounce it to a friend who believes she can speak in tongues.\u00a0 Separate from the question I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2564,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/dont-you-feel-sorry-for-the-animals\/","url_meta":{"origin":59484,"position":3},"title":"Don’t you feel sorry for the animals?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 17, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I just finished reading your self-justifications for killing helpless innocent animals. Let me ask you this and please be honest with your answer - Don't you feel any sadness, compassion or do you ever imagine the physical pain\/suffering the animal is feeling? Do you really believe that animals were\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6619,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/emotionalism\/","url_meta":{"origin":59484,"position":4},"title":"Emotionalism","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 21, 2003","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: Acts 20:18-38 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0When we look at the various denominations around us, it is hard to miss their enthusiasm and the emotional quality to the things that they do. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0They really get involved in their worship. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The bigger churches services are large productions. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0C.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A friend once\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Audio"","block_context":{"text":"Audio","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/audio\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":45750,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/my-relationship-with-god-has-always-been-a-roller-coaster\/","url_meta":{"origin":59484,"position":5},"title":"My relationship with God has always been a roller coaster","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello and thank you for reading, I am a 25-year-old man. I was born in a Christian family, my father being a pastor. My relationship with God has always been a roller coaster. There have been times when my faith has been strong and my will was aligned with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59484"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59484\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}