Thinking AND Feeling

Exodus Chapters 28-30

Chapter 28 is God's instructions on making the clothes that Aaron (and his sons) should wear, since they are now going to be priests. Verse 15 says Fashion a breastpiece for making decisions. That's weird for us Western thinkers - shouldn't it have been a "helmet" for making decisions? Isn't that where your decisions are made? In your head? Again, for Western thinking people like me, the answer is "yes." However, the Eastern mindset says that the seat of emotions AND decisions is the heart. You see this in Mark 2:8 - Jesus knew in his spirit that this was what they were thinking in their hearts. Where did Jesus know they were thinking this? In their hearts. All this to say, there seems to be a dichotomy between thinking (rational) and believing/feeling (irrational). I feel as if I've been taught (and taught others) that we follow God with our minds (rational) only and our feelings/passions/blind-faith believing is secondary, at best. The problem is that so much of what one sees in the Bible is so amazingly irrational and from the heart and/or Spirit. How many Bible stories do you remember hearing and then walk away saying, "Boy, I LOVE that story because it was so by-the-book and made so much logical sense!!" No, we love the Prodigal Son story or the Good Samaritan because the heart overcame the head. I'm aware that there is another part of the Body that is too led by their heart and needs a bit of structure. I'm thinking about what my reaction would be if my kids, in an irrational attempt to obey me, did something crazy and got in way over their heads. Contrast that with my reaction if my kids gave me very logical, thought-out, rational reasons they could not obey me.