Belief in God Emotional as Well as Intellectual
H. W. Beecher. John 14:1-4 Let not your heart be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in me.… Truth that touches a man not merely through a cold perception, but through some warm feeling, is the kind of truth the Scripture teaches to constitute belief. It may be intellectually conceived, but no moral nor social truth is ever presented so as to be believed, unless it be presented in such a way as to carry sympathy and feeling with it; and that is not the case with all kinds of truth. Physical, scientific truths, do not touch the feelings, and do not need to. Arithmetic deals with truths that have no relation directly except with the understanding. They never come with desire, sorrow, pity, or emotion of any sort. But all truths that relate to dispositions in men, to moral duties — they never stop with the understanding, but touch the feeling as well. A man cannot be said to believe a moral truth unless he believes it so that it carries some emotion with it. And, in this respect, it makes a great difference what a man believes. (H. W. Beecher.) Parallel Verses KJV: Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. WEB: "Don't let your heart be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me.