"don't Follow Your Heart" By Jon Bloom

[ax345]

This was found on Facebook, but I though it deserved its own thread.

The post:

Don’t Follow Your Heart
Jon Bloom

“Follow your heart” is a creed embraced by billions of people. It’s a statement of faith in one of the great pop cultural myths of the Western world; a gospel proclaimed in many of our stories, movies, and songs.

Essentially, it’s a belief that your heart is a compass inside of you that will direct you to your own true north if you just have the courage to follow it. It says that your heart is a true guide that will lead you to true happiness if you just have the courage to listen to it. The creed says that you are lost and your heart will save you.

This creed can sound so simple and beautiful and liberating. For lost people it’s a tempting gospel to believe.

Is This the Leader You Want to Follow?
Until you consider that your heart has sociopathic tendencies. Think about it for a moment. What does your heart tell you?

Please don’t answer. Your heart has likely said things today that you would not wish to repeat. I know mine has. My heart tells me that all of reality ought to serve my desires. My heart likes to think the best of me and worst of others — unless those others happen to think well of me, then they are wonderful people. But if they don’t think well of me, or even if they just disagree with me, well then, something is wrong with them. And while my heart is pondering my virtues and others’ errors, it can suddenly find some immoral or horribly angry thought very attractive.

The “follow your heart” creed certainly isn’t found in the Bible. The Bible actually thinks our hearts have a disease: “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9). Jesus, the Great Physician, lists the grim symptoms of this disease: “out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander” (Matthew 15:19). This is not leadership material.

The truth is, no one lies to us more than our own hearts. No one. If our hearts are compasses, they are Jack Sparrow compasses. They don’t tell us the truth, they just tell us what we want. If our hearts are guides, they are Gothels. They are not benevolent, they are pathologically selfish. In fact, if we do what our hearts tell us to do we will pervert and impoverish every desire, every beauty, every person, every wonder, and every joy. Our hearts want to consume these things for our own self-glory and self-indulgence.

No, our hearts will not save us. We need to be saved from our hearts.

This Is the Leader You Want to Follow
Our hearts were never designed to be followed, but to be led. Our hearts were never designed to be gods in whom we believe; they were designed to believe in God.

If we make our hearts gods and ask them to lead us, they will lead us to narcissistic misery and ultimately damnation. They cannot save us, because what’s wrong with our hearts is the heart of our problem. But if our hearts believe in God, as they are designed to, then God saves us (Hebrews 7:25) and leads our hearts to exceeding joy (Psalm 43:4).

Therefore, don’t believe your heart; direct your heart to believe in God. Don’t follow your heart; follow Jesus. Note that Jesus did not say to his disciples, “Let not your hearts be troubled, just believe in your hearts.” He said, “Let not your hearts be troubled, believe in God; believe also in me” (John 14:1).

So though your heart will try to shepherd you today, do not follow it. It is not a shepherd. It is a pompous sheep that, due to remaining sin, has some wolf-like qualities. Don’t follow it, and be careful even listening to it. Remember, your heart only tells you what you want, not where you should go. So only listen to it to note what it’s telling you about what you want, and then take your wants, both good and evil, to Jesus as requests and confessions.

Jesus is your shepherd (Psalm 23; John 10). Listen to his voice in his word and follow him (John 10:27). Let him be, in the words of a great hymn, the “heart of [your] own heart whatever befall.” He is the truth; he is the way, and he will lead you to life (John 14:6).

 

 

My comment:
Wow, be afraid to trust yourself and follow your heart..? I'll trust myself enough to pass on this crap.

 

[♦ Fuego ♦]

See? That's why you deserve to be burned alive for all eternity and not allowed to die...because YOU have sociopathic tendencies. All makes sense if you just drink this kookaid...

[mymistake]

To me "follow your heart" means trust your emotions.  In my experience emotions are terrible for decision making.  I prefer the phrase "follow your moral compass" because that implies that you must think about ethics.  This pondering leads to better choices.

 

But let a book of Bronze and Iron Age myths do my thinking for me?  No way.  Never again.

[ax345]

You make a good point, mymistake, about distinguishing between emotions and your moral compass.  Emotions are indeed variable and can enhance good actions or impede them.

[DragonTheDruid]

No thanks, I'll keep listening too my pompous sheep-wolf heart. Sounds a lot cooler than a mindless sheep heart. I was actually intrigued at the beginning, wondering where he was gonna go with it. Then of course it went there. However I don't have sociopathic desires like he seems to have.... Maybe religion's a good thing for him so he can keep those desires in check! 

 

But I also agree that emotions are bad for decision making. I'm usually quite rational(Though I can be impulsive often), and the only times I do let myself make an emotion-based decision, I've already questioned it or it's something so trivial I 'let' myself make that decision knowing it will have no real consequences. (I'm an Aquarius. Logic and rationale beat emotions every time). I prefer to go with my intuition and instincts if I'm really stuck on a decisions.

 

And I'll pick the wolf over the sheep any day.

[moanareina]

I always thought following your heart is a metaphor for doing what you truly want to but everybody else is trying to convince would be an illusion...but doing it anyways. And to trust your gut feelings...no not emotions.

 

My self esteem jumped pretty high when I decided to trust in my "heart" (myself) instead of some entity from outside of me. Best thing I could ever do. And of course religious folks are afraid of that because it might lead them away from everything like it has done with me...

[Ravenstar]

Frankly, it scares me how often I hear about christians who have anti-social tendencies. Is this the norm?

 

Really frightening.

[mymistake]

Frankly, it scares me how often I hear about christians who have anti-social tendencies. Is this the norm?

 

Really frightening.

 

 

They follow a book that is half Bronze Age tribalism and half Iron Age cult.  So on one hand Gentiles are worthless scum that you can raid, rape, enslave or exterminate at will.  On the other hand God has this blood ritual so that everyone will be loved as long as they join, believe and obey.  And of course we all know the threat that awaits outsiders.

 

This drives the culture war.  Christians are so angry and frightened when outsiders won't submit to the Christian God.  Because God said these sinners are going to persecute the Christians and also God promised to destroy the world to punish the sinners.

 

The whole thing is anti-social to outsiders.

 

 

 

(edited for typos)

[yunea]

Frankly, it scares me how often I hear about christians who have anti-social tendencies. Is this the norm?

 

Really frightening.

This!

 

The text in the OP is puke-worthy, and indeed so many Christians seem to use themselves as an example of a totally horrible person who'd just destroy lives left and right if they weren't believers.

 

When I converted into Pentecostalism, I didn't have those sinful murderous/gluttonous/sexually risky behaviours or even urges to begin with, and yet I was supposed to thank Jesus for setting me free of them. I wish I'd have had more doubts then instead of feeling like my problems with understanding were because I was lacking in spirit.

[Justin]

You have to deny yourself and everything that makes you you. How else can you turn into a mindless robot?

[earthmama514]

Since I've started listening to myself and "following my heart" I have never been happier. I am dating a wonderful man, have a good job, am thriving in life. It's so much better than life was when a christian. I will keep doing what I'm doing Thankyouverymuch.

[FarflungWanderer]

Ech.

 

I don't understand why Christians feel like, without God, they'd be awful, awful people. It doesn't make any sense to me; I doubt everyone I know is a Hitler in disguise being held back by Jesus.