Questions
The letters presented and answered below have come from three widely separated places: the first is from Maryland; the second, from Wyoming; the third, from Texas.
Worship: Should It Be Emotional?
Dear Brother Douthitt: — Your answers to question; in the Gospel Guardian always merit respect and careful study. I appreciate them very much. I am frequently asked the question, "Should our worship be emotional?' In answering this I usually reply that our worship must be from the heart; that is, "in spirit and in truth." But we read nothing in the Bible about the saw-dust trait type of worship, nor about a lot of other things which modern churches perform under the guise of "heart-fell religion." It seems to me that a growing number of our brethren think that unless we "put on" a lot of something which they call emotion, then our worship is not from the heart. I would appreciate it if you would deal with this question in the Gospel Guardian.
Answer
The heart or mind of man is composed of three divisions of faculties: the intellect, the emotions and the will. Acceptable worship requires the employment of all three.
Believing (Rom. 10:10), understanding (Matt. 13:15) and reasoning (Mark 2:6) are exercises of that division of heart-faculties which we call the intellect. Praying and singing are acts of true worship, but they must be done "with the understanding." (1 Cor. 14:15) Therefore, out worship must be intellectual, since it must be done "with the understanding" which is an intellectual faculty.
Hating (Lev. 19:17), desiring (Rom. 10:1), despising (2 Sam. 6:16) and loving (Mat 22:37) are emotional exercises. Though love is classified as an emotion, it is more than that. Love must be the motive or actuating influence in all that we do. "Let all that you do be done in love." (1 Cor. 16:14) Therefore, acceptable worship is emotional, since it must be actuated by love which is an emotional faculty of the human mind.
Purposing (Dan. 1:8), devising (Prov. 6:18) and intending (Heb. 4:12) are operations of the will. Laying by in store is named as an act of Lord's day worship.
1 Cor. 16:2) Each must give as he "purposeth in his heart." (2 Cor. 9:7) Therefore, the will is employed in true worship, because purposing is an act of the will.
Though the entire heart is involved in true worship, yet every faculty of the mind must be guided and controlled by the intellect in order for deeds to be rational. When the emotions take possession of the intellect, many silly and absurd things are done. "Hitting the saw-dust trail," the "jerks" and "tremors" of the old fashioned mourners' bench, and the senseless ejaculations of the Holy Rollers are examples of emotional subjugation of the intellect and the will. The poor victim in this state of mental disorder loses self-control; he acts without reason and without judgment; his words and deeds are irrational and senseless; he goes wild. But such conduct is not of God, for "the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints." (1 Cor 14:32,33) The intellect must dominate the emotions and the will in worship, in all obedience to God, and in everything we do.
Questions Recently Answered
Dear Brother Douthitt: — I received your answer to my question and I thank you for it. It corresponded with the answer I have been giving but some doubted. But I feel sure they will accept it now.
One point of contention was where it says, "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face; now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." (1 Cor. 13:12) I feel that many are being benefited by your answers to questions.
Answer
This letter from Wyoming contains some other statements complimentary of my efforts to help in the solution of the problems that confront us in our spiritual endeavors, all of which I appreciate. Some of the letters I get contain brickbats.
A few weeks ago this brother sent a letter in which he asked some questions pertaining to the end of miracles and the coming of "that which is perfect." (1 Cor. 13) Similar questions had been answered in the Guardian a short while before, but I sent to him a copy of the questions and answers. Questions come frequently, which have already been answered in the Guardian, but copies of the paper are lost or misplaced sometimes only a few days after arrival. By obtaining a bound volume of the Gospel Guardian one can always refer easily and conveniently to any number of the paper for the past year. Bound Volume Five will be ready for distribution soon, and it should be ordered now. Prepublication price is only four dollars.
Origin Of The Devil And Sin In Heaven
Dear Brother Douthitt: — I have a couple of questions I hope you will explain through the Gospel Guardian. Who made the Devil? How come sin in heaven as mentioned in Jude 6 and 2 Peter 2:4?
Answer
The origin of the devil and fallen angels is not revealed as fully and clearly in the Bible as the origin of man and the material universe.
Jesus said, "I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven." (Luke 10:18) He was wicked before his fall from heaven, even from the beginning. "He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him." (John 8:44) "He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning." (1 John 3:8) He is called "the great dragon," "the old serpent," "the devil," "Satan," and "deceiver." (See Rev. 12:7-9.)
Peter says, "For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment" (2 Peter 2:4); and Jude says, "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." (Jude 6)
These passages from Peter and Jude present these facts: (1) Angels sinned; (2) they kept not their first estate; (3) they left their own habitation; (4) God did not spare them; (5) he cast them down to hell; {6) they are kept in chains unto judgment of the great day.
These things were written by Peter and Jude to warn the people of God against apostasy.