If a mad scientist were to replace your best friend’s brain with a computer, how would you know that something was wrong? One of the first telltale signs might be an absence of emotion. Emotion is a state characterized by arousal, plus changes in facial expression, gestures, posture, and subjective feeling. Have you ever waited until someone was in a good mood to ask a favor? If you have, you are aware that emotions have a powerful influence on motivation. People who are feeling happy are more likely to help others in need. It is equally apparent, however, that emotions can have a negative impact. Hate, anger, contempt, disgust, and fear all disrupt behavior and relationships. However, we ought to always thank God for being loved by the Lord because from the beginning, God chose you to be saved through the sanctifying work of the Spirit and through belief in the truth. May our Lord Jesus Christ, himself, and God our father, who loved us by his grace gave us eternal encouragement and good hope. The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs, and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing.

 They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason, God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned, who have not believed the truth, but have delighted in wickedness. The root of the word emotions means to move, and emotions do indeed move us. First, the body is physically aroused during emotions. Such bodily stirrings are what cause us to say we are moved by a play, an Aaliyah concert, or an act of kindness. Second, we are often motivated, or moved to take action, by emotions such as fear, anger, or joy. Underlying all this, perhaps, is the fact that emotions are linked to basic adaptive behaviors, such as attacking, retreating, seeking comfort, helping others, reproducing, and the like. Adaptive behaviors help our attempts to survive and adjust to changing conditions.  Again, we must realize that emotions can be disruptive, as in having stage fright or choking up in an athletic contest. However, more often, emotions are a survival tool. Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

 Do not put out the Spirit’s fire; do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good. Avoid every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.  May your whole spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it. A pounding heart, sweating palms, bubbly guts, and other bodily reactions are a major element of fear, anger, joy and other emotions. These physiological changes include alterations in heart rate, blood pressure, perspiration, and other bodily strings. (More on this in a moment.) Most of these changes in activity are caused by adrenaline, a hormone produced by the adrenal glands. Adrenaline enters the bloodstream when the sympathetic nervous system is activated. People who have had their adrenal glands removed for medical reasons displayed much less emotional arousal. Pray for us that the message of the Lord may spread rapidly and be honored, just as it was with you. And pray that we may be delivered from the unlovely people, for not everyone has faith.

 However, the Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect you from the ungodly one. We have confidence in the Lord that you are doing and will continue to do the things we command. May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance. Emotional expressions, or outward signs of what a person is feeling, are another major element of emotion. For example, when you are intensely upset, your hands tremble, your face contorts, and your posture becomes tense and defensive. Emotion is also revealed by marked shifts in voice tone or modulation. Such expressions are important because they communicate emotion from one person to another. Emotional feelings (a person’s private emotional experience) are a final major element of emotion. This is the part of emotion with which we are typically most familiar. Here is a trustworthy saying: If anyone sets his heart on being an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of but one wife, temperate, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not given to drunkenness, not violent, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. 

 One must manage their own family well and see that their children obey them with proper respect. (If anyone does not know how to manage his or her own family, how can he or she take care of God’s church?) One must not be a recent convert, or he or she may become conceited and fall under the same judgment as the devil. He or she must also have a good reputation with outsiders, so that they will not fall into disgrace and into the devil’s trap. For example, Pope Francis said there are limits to freedom of speech, especially when it insults or ridicules someone’s faith. If my good friend Dr. Gasbarri says a curse word against my mother, he can expect a punch, it is normal. You cannot provoke. You cannot insult the faith of others. You cannot make fun of the faith of others. Gossip, slander, lies, abuse, violence, harassment, and this game of telephone is all part of the devil’s trap to get you banned from Heaven, so that you may perish and burn in hell for all eternity. You should not be spying on your neighbors or minding their business. First of all, your life is not perfect, neither are you, and the only reason you are bullying others is take attention off the fact that you are a failure. Instead of trying harder to be a better person, you pick on others and that is the devil’s trap. Therefore, make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders and so that you will not be dependent on anybody.