"The Ministerial Vs Magisterial Use of Feelings"-Guest Post by Pastor Wolfmueller
Here's a really informative and helpful article from Pastor Bryan Wolfmueller:
“In the fight about the authority of the Bible there was a helpful distinction made: “the Ministerial” versus “the Magisterial use of reason.”
The defenders of the authority of the Scripture noticed that the liberal movement in the church was letting their reason rule over the texts. This is the “Magisterial use” of reason.”
On this same topic, here's an interview with Pastor Wolfmueller on Issues, Etc:
“...Here are the two extremes that I think are probably most common. One of them is that emotions are always to be suspect and therefore, in kind of a Vulcan manner, to be suppressed or ignored as a Christian...and the other extreme is, no, they are the only real accurate barometer of whether or not the Holy Spirit is at work in my life. That’s how I know what God is doing by how I feel. Is there another option there?”
“I hope so. ...Those are such terrible options. They’re probably the two options that are pointed to us at least in a casual way by the competing pagan philosophies of epicureanism and stoicism that were duking it out when St. Paul came to Athens and preached his famous Mars Hills Sermon. And he spoke of something different ... letting your reason rule over the text rather than letting the text rule over your reason... ”
Steven Kozar
Steven Kozar started The Messed Up Church; he is an artist (StevenKozar.com is his art website), musician, blogger, and stuff. He makes videos, too, on The Messed Up Church YouTube channel.