A person who relies on his feelings when it comes to religion has no authority higher than himself and is therefore without the authority of God. This is subjectivism – “a doctrine that individual feeling or apprehension is the ultimate criterion of the good and the right.” Under this idea there is no verifiable standard by which to validate one’s claim. Therefore, one could claim “anything” based solely on “feelings” and others are expected to believe it. This is NOT the way God operates nor does the Bible teach it!
Feelings can be and may times are misleading. You can feel something so strongly that you believe it, but that does not make it so. Let’s say you receive news that a family member has died. You immediately are distressed and grieved. This is dictated by your feelings. But then you receive news that it was a false report. You are now relieved and comforted, again governed by your feelings. This simple illustration should show how feelings are totally out of order when dealing with the salvation of one’s soul. They can’t be trusted.
Many people claim they are saved because they “feel” it in their heart – “better felt than told” they say. But, as seen above, feelings are often misleading. There is only one way to be right in religion, that is through FAITH (Ephesians 2:8) and WORKS (James 2:24) according to what God has commanded in His word. When a person obeys (works) God’s commands to be saved: believe (John 8:24), repent (Acts 2:38), confess (Romans 10:10), and baptized (Mark 16:16), live faithful (Revelation 2:10), he “knows” he is saved, not because of how he “feels”, but because he has faith (Hebrews 11:6) that God will do as he promised (Matthew 7:21; Hebrews 5:8, 9). One knows he is saved when he has faithfully obeyed God’s commands to be saved.
An atheist feels there is no God. A Christian feels there is. By feelings alone, there is no way to tell who is right and who is wrong. Are both the atheist and Christian to go to the grave with nothing more than feelings? The Bible teaches one can “know the truth” (John 8:32). God wants all men to come to the “knowledge of the truth, not feelings” (I Timothy 2:4).
Feelings? What a weak and inadequate thing on which to stake your soul! I want more than feelings. I want God’s word on it!