There’s a line in John Mellencamp’s song “Small Town” which has always struck a cord in me. The line is “Taught to feel Jesus in a small town.” “Feeling Jesus is somewhat of a pentecostal form of view. Feeling vs. knowing. Churches of Christ have always been somewhat on the knowing end of things through Biblical evidence. Whereas others base their belief on how they feel about Jesus. Or how they feel in their heart.
Mellencamp commented on his religious upbringing on VH1’s Storytellers. He is/was Nazarene. From what I understand, Nazarenes are very conservative, especially entertainment issues. I don’t think they go to movies much. Mellencamp comments on his religious up bringing during Storytellers:
“We had the same religious bombardment. We were Nazarenes. Anyway for those of you who don’t [what] the belief of the Nazarene church was no dancing, no makeup. No wearing earrings, no wearing lipstick. No doing anything. And it sounded like not much fun.”
–John Mellencamp
Nazarenes have never struck me as the feeling type of religion. Moreso they were the knowing type of religion. At least that’s how I see them.
No one ever taught me to “feel Jesus” when I was growing up. Instead I was taught to know Him through His Word, rather than thinking what I felt was right.