Just as T.S. Eliot had a problem with Romantic poetry as a sentimental expression of subjective feelings and that intellect and emotion need to be synthesized, the spirit of God and the Word of God need to be combined. Intellect, knowing something, drives the emotions. Likewise, the Word of God is what drives the spirit of God.

Emotion cannot stand on its own. Take the scene in Mel Brooks’ Robin Hood Men In Tights, where a boy comes out of the woods screaming, with nothing or nobody chasing him, and talks with the Merry Men. When he heads back into the woods, he continues screaming, for no reason.

Our joy, our reaction to the gospel must have a basis in fact. This is where Christian apologetics comes in. “Always be ready to give an explanation to anyone who asks you for a reason for your hope.” 1 Peter 3:15

Apologetics is the defense of the Christian faith; why you believe what you believe.

The Bible is a book to live by, giving us instruction on how to live and how to deal with our pilgrimage on earth. Proverbs is chalked with advice.

Purpose and Theme

1 The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:
2 for gaining wisdom and instruction;
for understanding words of insight;
3 for receiving instruction in prudent behavior,
doing what is right and just and fair;
4 for giving prudence to those who are simple,[a]
knowledge and discretion to the young—
5 let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance—
6 for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.[b]
7 The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools[c] despise wisdom and instruction.

Some specifics:

*A foolish son is the calamity of his father: and the contentions of a wife are a continual dropping. Proverbs 19:13.

*Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a stalled ox and hatred therewith. Proverbs 15:17

The Bible also tells us how God will help us overcome by coming to Him with any problem, confessing our sins, and delivering us.When we agonize over something we did that was wrong, and suffer from anxiety and depression as a result, God will heal us. Modern psychiatry doesn’t really help people. Back in the 30s, it was through Biblical teachings and group Christian counseling that a prominent businessman was delivered from the destruction of alcohol abuse.

As related on Wikipedia.com:
In 1931, an American business executive, Rowland Hazard, sought treatment for alcoholism with psychiatrist Carl Jung in Switzerland. Jung, who had broken away from Freudian psychoanalysis years earlier, coined the term synchronicity for “meaningful coincidences” that happen in life. Common references in AA deal with “Spiritual Awakenings” and “Spiritual Experience”. When Hazard ended treatment with Jung after about a year, he soon resumed drinking and returned for further treatment. Jung told Hazard that his case was nearly hopeless (as with other alcoholics) and that his only hope might be a spiritual conversion with a religious group.

Back in America, Hazard went to an Oxford Group meeting in New York, whose teachings were the source of such AA concepts as meetings and sharing witness (public confession), finding a higher power, making restitution, and rigorous honesty. Hazard underwent a spiritual conversion with the help of the group and began to experience the liberation from drink he was seeking. He became converted to a lifetime of sobriety while on a train ride from New York to Detroit after reading “For Sinners Only” by AJ Russell

More hope, from the Psalms:

*He lifted me out of the slimy pit, out of the mud and mire; he set my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand. Psalm 40:2

*For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; My vitality was drained away as with the fever heat of summer. Selah. I acknowledged my sin to You, And my iniquity I did not hide; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the LORD”; And You forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah. Therefore, let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found; Surely in a flood of great waters they will not reach him.… Psalm 42:4-6

The Bible equips us to resolve any problem life offers, explains the creation of the world and gives us meaning. All we need to do is trust and obey.

Source: by Jeff Drinnan | FaithWriters