“As soon as the ark of the covenant of the Lord came into the camp, all Israel gave a mighty shout, so that the earth resounded… the Philistines fought, and Israel was defeated, and they fled, every man to his home. And there was a very great slaughter, for thirty thousand foot soldiers of Israel fell.” 
1 Samuel 4:5 & 10

Over the last few years, I have come to the strange realization that I have been fighting a personal crusade against an invisible enemy, a very elusive foe. This enemy of mine, I believe, is a danger to all who want their walk with God to be real, authentic, and having a true connection with the Divine. I am writing this blog post for two reasons: (1) to identify who I think may be lurking at the door of your heart in order to lead you away from a true walk with Jesus, (2) to warn you to run to the solid ground of faith built on biblical revelation so you won’t be found spiritually bankrupt.

This enemy is lethal primarily because she (I am borrowing from John Bunyan’s allegorical method in “Pilgrim’s Progress” where he personifies an idea to make it more understandable) is so alluring and beautiful. She appeals to your sense of sight and sound for the purpose of arousing warm feelings in your gut;  this feeling then convinces the heart that you have just experienced a “profoundly meaningful God moment” when it may be nothing more than an irregular heart palpitation or tear caused by a passing breeze. Or as Ebeneezer Scrooge says, “it may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato. “

This compelling woman I am naming “Mistress Sentimentality.”

Sentimentality defined means, “excessive tenderness, sadness, or nostalgia. A sentimental moment is one which exhibits an excess of emotion which does not proportionally correspond to the situation at hand.” My personal definition of sentimentality is that moment when an “anti-intellectual fog descends on a person because their heart-strings are so moved by something they have seen, a thought they have contemplated or music they have heard. When under this cloud, a person is easily persuaded to believe that their experience is ‘clearly’ a genuine encounter with God regardless of how illogical or embarrassing it is.” 

Sentimentality is at it’s most dangerous when the emotions that are felt are exchanged for biblical faith. I hate how sneaky this woman is, and let me tell you why…

MY PERSONAL ENCOUNTERS

(Sentimental Roman Catholic Roots, Saints & Shrine) I met this charming woman when I was a very young boy. She always went to church services with our family, and while attending liturgical services, her fingerprints could be seen everywhere in the mass. She was the one who had us singing syrupy sweet songs to the Blessed Virgin Mary as we lit votive candles under a large and ornate statue dedicated to her. She was the one who transformed the voice of the priest as he performed mass where his whole cadence and prose would morph into an ultra-pious chanting that had the congregation believing he was speaking a new heavenly language. 

She was the one who convinced me to wear medallions of saints around my neck believing I would be protected from evil spells and demonic catastrophes. One medal, in particular, was dedicated to my Patron Saint, Christopher. Mistress Sentimentality had me believing for well over 10 years that I was being protected by the strong arms of Saint Christopher because I wore his medal. I can remember looking in the mirror smiling that my golden necklace would shield me from bad guys hiding in bushes as I walked 7 blocks to elementary school. It wasn’t until I was 23 years of age that I read up on Saint Christopher and learned he was nothing more than a medieval legend, a storybook character created by church leadership to help fortify the timid hearts of the Roman Catholic faithful. 

Mistress Sentimentality wasn’t finished. The worst curse of all was when Sentimentality had my dear old grandmother completely deceived for most of her later years of life. Under the sparkle of rosary beads, giant life-like statues of saints, and a charismatic female prophetess; my grandmother moved with my grandfather to live next to a Shrine of the Virgin Mary in Necedah, Wisconsin. 

This shrine was a complete charade, where residents were asked to tithe most of their worldly income and attend mass three times a day believing that Mary herself would specifically appear to this noble remnant of faithful followers. The only problem, it was all another ruse set up by you know who? I can remember seeing my grandmother wearing a white-lace head covering bowing over a cherished set of beads praying intensely while believing she was going to save the earth from nuclear war and fire and hailstones poured out on American cities. It was all a grand lie propped up and accompanied by the sound of organ music, flickering candles, and manicured lawns surrounding the shrine to Mary.

It surely was a beautiful place, but the teaching and community life was deadly. They controlled every waking moment of your day. When the prophetess was finally found out to be a religious fraud, my grandmother moved back to Ohio, but her hope had been crushed – – her false faith built on Sentimentality was smashed. 

(Sentimental Sundays, Supertones & Shack) Watching this religious wreckage wrought from Sentimentality’s lies profoundly affected me. I wanted to know the truth, I was insistent, why did I believe what I was believing? Is something true because I cried a tear, or because the music I was listening to was hauntingly beautiful, or is reality what the Bible says it is? Scriptural corroboration became my new litmus test for everything I chose to give my life to. It is why I left the Roman Catholic Church in the first place. I will never forget a conversation I had in a college bible study. The priest leading the discussion was cool and relevant, knowing exactly what to say to get the students to like him and want to follow him.

A question was asked to him by one of the students, “Father, is hell real? If God is love how can he send anyone to hell?” Well coached by Mistress Sentimentality, the priest replied, “Hell really isn’t that big of a deal…let’s not discuss something that isn’t clear-cut and has caused a lot of people distress just thinking about it. Instead, let’s focus on love.” 

Tell me, how can hell not be a big deal? 

Remember, Mistress Sentimentality has an amazing gift – she can downplay things that really matter through the power of a tear or warming a heart through a flowery word;  which in turn gets you to focus on and believe things that are illusory at best and blatant lies at worst.

My desire for truth eventually led me into the ministry and so I began the living the life of a small-town Baptist youth pastor. I thought leaving the Roman church would set me free from the influence of Sentimentality and her wily ways – – but oh how wrong I was!

I found that she is everywhere!

She is present at the funeral services of people who never once claimed faith in Christ but somehow are believed to make it into heaven because of a mother’s tears, or a priest ‘s confident declaration, “in baptism you were buried in Christ, in death you will be raised in Christ!” She is present at special music presentations on Sunday when someone wants to sing a strange song or share an awkward liturgical dance or even a mime production that no one quite understands. Hey, if it is done in church, and a relative in the audience is proud, God must be pleased, right?

Two incidents early in my pastoral tenure revealed Mistress Sentimentality in all her persuasive charm. One was the emergence of Christian Contemporary music: students believed as long as something was labeled Christian it meant it must be Christian and good. At a youth pizza and potato chip party, a teen put on a tape of the group called the “Supertones.” At the time, they were a happening new Christian ska band, and the teens in my group loved jumping like crazy to their music. One extremely energetic song was about “Jesus suffering, bleeding on the cross, and bearing the wrath of God” which led many in the group to randomly form a mosh pit in the corner of the youth room. I asked the teens if they could try to find another song other than the death of Jesus as a basis for their mindless entertainment?  “They said I was taking the music too serious and I needed to lighten up.” 

Miss Sentimentality just wants them to have fun, and hey, they were listening to a Christian band after all? 

But aren’t there some things that should cause us to pause and reflect instead of party? Isn’t there something sacred and set apart when we consider the suffering of our Saviour? Mistress Sentimentality doesn’t think so. “Smile and Rock on, use the cross for whatever thing you want: Music to dance to, cool t-shirts to make a profit on, or jewelry to add a little bling to your bounce. And one thing you must never do with the cross is let it confront you, break you, and change you. Mistress Sentimentality likes you to stay just the way you are.

Oh yeah, and then there’s the book the “Shack!” Oh boy, talk about Sentimentality’s ability to use raw emotion to cover over a storyline riddled with horrible doctrinal errors. But you best not say that to those “whose hearts have been touched by this profound, spell-binding story.” Doctrinal purity is not allowed to be discussed when Mistress Sentimentality’s book club is in session. 

And to be on the safe side, I am not even going to mention “Shack” the movie. Mistress Sentimentality owns the rights to it!

(Theological Rot: Salvation, Sanctification and the Spirit) That leads us down to her most favorite playground of all, theology. This is where she is by far the most effective when it comes to fogging a person’s understanding:

• She loves a good altar call where 10 rounds of the same heart gripping gospel song are sung and a pastor pleads for sinners to come! She is more about the moment than whole life change.
• She loves Christian Praise and Worship concerts that feature beautiful people, perfect staging, skinny jeans, and crowds feeling the presence of God in the finely tuned and expertly programmed concert. This is where her little brother Hype can be found. He is present when a whole crowd of sentimental people feels the buzz of excitement all at the same time. Hype convinces you to believe the bigger the crowd, the louder the noise, the truer something must be. And if emotions are not riled up, God must not be present. (See 1 Samuel 4:5 & 10 to see how Hype got Israel slaughtered.)
• She loves highly charged dreams and nudgings as a replacement for leading of the Spirit.
• She loves tears, anytime, any place,

FINAL THOUGHTS

Now don’t get me wrong, there always is a place for strong emotion. In fact, God does stir our souls and arouse our delight. The difference between godly emotion and sentiment is tricky, that is why I needed to write this post. Sentimentality takes the will captive to do her bidding. Whereas, healthy emotion and feeling are servants to the intellect and will. Jonathan Edwards wrote a whole book on this subject called “Religious Affections” to help distinguish emotions that are produced from a righteous heart.

A final plea: Faith is designed by God to offer his rewards, promises and presence equally to all people. He has given us his word so if we want him, we all can approach him on level ground (2 Peter 1:2-5). God is no respecter of persons. The problem with Sentimentality is she makes people feel special and a cut above others when they feel heightened emotions. I have known whole second generations of families ruined by a parent who insists on Sentimentality being a sure sign of salvation. When a child doesn’t have as strong of feelings or doesn’t cry tears as easily as his parents it is often mistaken for a lack of faith. 

My other grandmother was a very emotional lady. Whenever she talked about her religion it was often with such passion you were not allowed to disagree or point out when her convictions were not even biblical. She would gush over things that were not necessarily true. Sentimentality, when given sway, has tremendous potential to shipwreck faith and harden hearts to true emotions and feelings toward God.

So remember, “Oh, oh here she comes…watch out boys she’ll chew you up. Oh, oh here she comes…she’s a man-eater!”