Faith and emotion: you can reflect and discuss it for a long time. The proper sequence is decisive here: faith comes first, trusting the Lord in his Word. And then in its wake follow your feelings. Only when experience is a true faith experience are you able to really do something with it in your life with God. Then you can also cope with emotional limitations, no matter how hard it is for you. The Word is our anchor. That is what really gives you a good feeling!

Thinking about God’s election seems a tricky undertaking. It is one of the differences between Reformed and evangelical churches. But also within the Reformed circle a discussion has started and criticism has sounded about some aspects of the Canons of Dort. In fact, even when people subscribe to the Canons all the way, there can be a world of difference in how they are dealing with it. To give one example: both the “Gereformeerde Gemeenten” and the “Gereformeerde Kerken” (liberated) endorse the Canons of Dort. But they deal with the content in very different ways.