Disciple Up # 167
Sentiment VS Sentimentality
By Louie Marsh, 7-8-2020
sentiment
noun
an attitude toward something; regard; opinion.
a mental feeling; emotion:
a sentiment of pity.
refined or tender emotion; manifestation of the higher or more refined feelings.
exhibition or manifestation of feeling or sensibility, or appeal to the tender emotions, in literature, art, or music.
a thought influenced by or proceeding from feeling or emotion.
the thought or feeling intended to be conveyed by words, acts, or gestures as distinguished from the words, acts, or gestures themselves.
sentimentality
1: the quality or state of being sentimental especially to excess or in affectation
2: a sentimental idea or its expression
Call a person sentimental if he or she is led more by emotions than by reason. If you have a sentimental attachment to a favorite stuffed animal, you’ll probably even bring it to college with you. Sentimental describes a person who relies on emotions more than reason, or a novel or film that is overly emotional.
– Vocabulary.com
The Dark Side of Sentimentality:
https://vancouversun.com/news/staff-blogs/the-dark-side-of-sentimentality
Oscar Wilde, the 19th-century British playwright and wit, summed up this edgier meaning when he wrote: “A sentimentalist is one who desires to have the luxury of an emotion without paying for it.
Irish poet W.B. Yeats wrote, “Rhetoric is fooling others. Sentimentality is fooling yourself.”
Supriya Sharma, works at Indian Space Research Organization
Answered September 2, 2017
It is great to be a sentimental person.
You experience everything. Even though you get upset at little things, you find joy in the simplest of things.
You understand what a person is going through. You want to celebrate when they are happy. And you try to fix it if they are not.
You are a great listener. You understand that everyone has feelings, and give importance to them. You want to make everyone feel secure and heard.
You have the deepest relationships. People feel secure in sharing their deepest feelings with you. Because you care. You understand that every bond needs to be nurtured. That is the crux of a positive relationship.
You can easily forgive. You look to repair relationships and let go of grudges.
You feel all of life. Everything is an experience for you. You sense the little changes around you. You experience them and embrace them beautifully.
Be proud. You are beautiful 🙂
God gave us a mind to think with and emotions to feel with, don’t reverse them.
Sentimentalist Followers of Jesus
3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” John 13:3-9 (ESV)
13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” … 21 From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. 22 And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” 23 But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” Matthew 16:13-23 (ESV)
36 And after some days Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us return and visit the brothers in every city where we proclaimed the word of the Lord, and see how they are.” 37 Now Barnabas wanted to take with them John called Mark. 38 But Paul thought best not to take with them one who had withdrawn from them in Pamphylia and had not gone with them to the work. 39 And there arose a sharp disagreement, so that they separated from each other. Barnabas took Mark with him and sailed away to Cyprus, Acts 15:36-39 (ESV)
Commands You Can’t Obey If You’re Sentimentalist
16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-21 (ESV)
9 I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people— 10 not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world, or the greedy and swindlers, or idolaters, since then you would need to go out of the world. 11 But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed, or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard, or swindler—not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? 13 God judges those outside. “Purge the evil person from among you.” 1 Corinthians 5:9-13 (ESV)
1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. Romans 12:1-2 (ESV)
15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever. 1 John 2:15-17 (ESV)
8 See to it that no one takes you captive by philosophy and empty deceit, according to human tradition, according to the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ. Colossians 2:8 (ESV)
The Bottom Line:
Disciples of Jesus thank God for the wonderful gift of sentiment, emotion and seek to live in the now and feel every moment of it. However, they reject sentimentality as dangerous and a tempting way to give into culture and our basest desires. Being sentimental is good, but sentimentality is bad!
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