Have you noticed that people today are more likely to express what they feel than what they think? There’s nothing innately wrong with emotions—God designed them. The problem is that feelings are eclipsing facts. Consequently, people don’t just demand respect for their emotion-based choices and opinions, but full acceptance of them. They want affirmation without any regard for what’s actually true. In reality, this kind of thoughtless and impulsive validation is harmful because, in essence, it’s love without God. It’s mindless love.
A book that has recently caught my attention is A Toxic New Religion by Scott D. Allen and Darrow L. Miller. They write, “…feelings have largely replaced logic and reason. Postmodern relativism denies the existence of a real world “out there” that we must conform to. There is no God, no transcendent morality, no good or evil. Rather, reality is socially constructed. With truth, reason, and logic undermined, feelings and emotions are in the driver’s seat.”
What does mindless love reject and embrace?
Elevating feelings over facts is the product of rejecting God and the truth of His Word. “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper” (Romans 1:28). Many refer to this “giving over” as God’s abandonment wrath. In other words, He gives people what they desire to have. They live without God’s authority and, therefore, without His blessing.
It’s not just the truth of Scripture that’s under attack. Scientific truth—which works objectively regardless of political or cultural persuasion—is disregarded if it doesn’t fit the current narrative. This blind affirmation of feelings has given rise to personal truth over absolute truth.
Because mindless love is based purely on emotion, it is absent of sound reasoning. When personal feelings are the sole arbiter of truth, people are easily swayed by the winds of cultural reasoning, which denies the reality of biological gender and rejects God’s definition of marriage. And those who hold to biblical truth are seen as heartless and hateful.
Mindless love is also the result of rejecting the Light of Christ and embracing the darkness of the world. That’s why we see an influx of people calling evil good and good evil. Jesus warned about this type of love. “This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil” (John 3:19).
How should Christians express love and emotion?
Emotions serve us best when anchored in the truth of God’s Word and the guidance of the Holy Spirit. As believers, we’re called to yield to the Lord rather than to our feelings—to filter our emotions through the mind of Christ within us. “For who has known the mind of the Lord, that he will instruct Him? But we have the mind of Christ” (1 Corinthians 2:16).
The result is enduring hope, inexplicable peace, and genuine Christian love. Embracing the truth of God’s Word brings light into the dark corners of our mind. It frees us from deceptive thinking—thinking that says we need the world’s affirmation. Therefore, the love we express to others isn’t an impulsive burst of emotion, but the same steadfast and faithful love God shows to us.