My mother became a Christian when I was 2 years old, it took my father another year to make that choice. Why? Quite simply mum made a heart (emotional) decision, dad made a logical choice. But is one better than the other?
I don't think so.
Some people are extremely in tune with the supernatural, they feel the emotion and the presence of God quite readily in a church service. They tend to make a decision then and there, quite happy to give their lives over to a God they cannot see, but could certainly feel.
*On a side note, I'm speaking from a peticostal point of view. You know the "happy clappy", "lets make church fan and play rock music", and the whole "speaking in tongues" thing (weird I know, but hey each to his own, and it works).
Others can also feel the presence of God and then go away (without making a decision then and there), and think about what they have seen and heard and what they felt. They study, they read the Word to find out the answer to their questions, and then they make a decision.
Those who make emotional decisions can't quite seem to understand why it would take someone so long, everyone is feeling the presence of God, so why not just do it. And to the logical, making an emotional decision then and there can seem a bit weak minded, like they are just following the pack.
In my experience, there is room for both in churches, but each comes with it's positives and negatives.
If an emotional decision isn't followed up by study and a knowledge of "who" God is, it can make it difficult to carry on on emotion alone. These people soon find out that Christianity takes a lot of work, there are, after all, a lot of temptations in our everyday lives. If they aren't careful to surround themselves with God every day, they will soon lose that "happy, heart swelling" feeling and then rely on a church service to "feel" it each week.
On the positive side, if these people immerse themselves in God, spend worship time with him every day, they tend to not have to work so hard to feel the presence of God every day, and church is what it should be, a time of fellowship and teaching and corporate worship.
Logical decisions take longer than emotional ones, the problem here is, if an offence is caused during this process, especially if it comes from someone in power, they can become disillusioned as to what it really means to be a Christian. They get the attitude of, "if this christianity I don't want to be like that".
On the up side, by the time they are ready to make a decision, they are already well aware of God's character and who he is, they become, somewhat, unshakable in their faith because they know what they believe and why they believe it.
Me personally? Originally I was a heart decision, I could quite easily feel the presence of God and lived to feel it time and time again. Now, after walking away from God and returning to Him, it is logical. I can still easily feel Him, but this time I know what it is like in the "outside world". I know what it is like to live without feeling His presence every day. Coming back to God's heart, I have a better understanding of who he is, and frankly my life is better knowing Him than not knowing Him.
Whatever category you come under, the important thing is to know who God is. Study His character, know His desires for your life. If you know who God is, it makes it so much harder to walk away. By putting your faith in God not just the feeling you get when you are with Him, you will be in it for the long haul, and the only way is up from there.
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