In 1975, Morris Albert, a Brazilian singer, and one-hit wonder, popularized the song “Feelings.” 

Actress and performer Julie Andrews once stated that this song was too difficult to sing, simply because it had no meaning behind it. 

I agree, and may I mention, that the topic of “Feelings” is a big deal these days! The uniqueness of this moment in history is amplified by the current trend of thinking that feelings are all that matters. 

The problem is that stubborn and unwanted facts often get in the way of feelings. 

To complicate things further, feelings are now rising to the occasion of being perceived as more important that fact!

Tony Perkins observed, “Now, even Scrabble isn’t safe. You can forget the triple word score on at least 236 “slurs” the North American players association is stripping from the group’s lexicon. The goal, these gamers say, is to make the game “friendlier” for all types of people. Of course, no one has seen the official list of “potentially offensive” words — leaving many to wonder if this new vocabulary is just W-O-K-E. 

George Orwell used to say that if you control the language, you control the people. And the fringe has certainly taken that advice to heart, putting a bullseye on phrases as pedestrian as ‘peanut gallery,’ ‘no can do’ and the ever inflammatory “eenie meenie miney moe.” But is it working? New polling says no. ‘If anything, a growing number of Americans — including an impressive number of prominent liberals — think the cancel culture has worn out its welcome.” 

Mark Hemmingway said, “If you want to blame someone for this unrest, try academia. It’s our colleges and universities who created this chaos by allowing certain Marxist theories to take hold of U.S. campuses. In the last 20 years, it’s reached critical mass,” he pointed out. So much so that “the point of education [is now] to rectify injustice and to create activists, not to impart knowledge. And I definitely think that that has taken hold among younger people that haven’t really even, frankly, been that well educated on competing ideas regarding basic things like free speech or free enterprise. And that’s a problem. They’ve been taught that [only] one set of ideas only is correct.”

If I read the scriptures correctly, Eve had a feeling! 

The problem was, she was operating on fake news! 

In the book of Genesis, we find that after some persuasion she felt that she could follow those feelings and do what she liked. 

The problem was that God had the facts and regardless of how strongly she felt it would be a good thing to follow her feelings however the outcome was inevitable. 

Disobedience to God’s will and design for His creation always brings a separation from the creator himself.  

Paul McHugh, MD, University Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins Medical School writes, “In a way, it’s reminiscent of the Hans Christian Andersen tale, The Emperor’s New Clothes. 

In that tale, the Emperor, believing that he wore an outfit of special beauty imperceptible to the rude or uncultured, paraded naked through his town to the huzzahs of courtiers and citizens anxious about their reputations… He continues, I am ever trying to be the boy among the bystanders who points to what’s real.” 

There is an even more important aspect of this discussion worth noting concerning feelings and fact. 

The fact is that no one loves and cares more for each human being more than the one who lovingly created each man, woman, boy and girl! 

Listen to the Message paraphrase… “God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them reflecting our nature so they can be responsible for the fish in the sea, the birds in the air, the cattle, And, yes, Earth itself, and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.” 

God created human beings; he created them godlike, reflecting God’s nature. 

He created them male and female. 

God blessed them: “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge! Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air, for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.” 

You see, God made us each distinct and recognizably different from each other. 

There is no one else just like you. 

Think of that! 

God created you and he did so with a perfect plan in mind. 

You and I were not a knee jerk reaction, but were intelligently designed to experience a divine plan that God himself has set in motion. 

Any deviation from His design can only bring sadness and discouragement. Finally, God made us with a purpose in mind. 

Not only a plan he wants us to experience but also a real purpose for living that goes beyond our feelings and our desires but to realize a life our creator has wished for us to experience! 

The prophet Jeremiah described it this way… “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope.” 

And that my friend is more than a feeling… It’s a fact!

Tim Throckmorton is the national director of Family Resource Council’s Community Impact Teams.