Christian commitment and a "Docetic" view of human emotions

This paper encourages people in the church to discuss the danger of equating Christian commitment with a denial of one's humanity, thus developing a "docetic" view of human emotions. The paper focuses on biblical passages which are susceptible to three forms of "docetic interpretation":denial of unpleasant feelings often in the name of Christian joy, with possible damaging emotional or physical consequences;denial of human development and the possible influence of the past on present emotional and religious experience; anddenial of human value through passive acceptance of what seems to be inevitable by saying, "Thy will be done."