The New Testament’s statements regarding the condition of sin
and the human body convinces readers of its truth. According to Paul, human flesh
is inherently sinful, and one can only be relieved of this through death and
union with the spirit. The notion of an afterlife is crucial to this concept:
only through death can we escape the burden of flesh, escape sin, and unite
with the spirit. This necessarily causes adherence to Jesus, because only he
can help one escape this suffering—what should be a universal desire--and proceed to the next life. Therefore,
if Paul’s knowledge of sin and humanity is true, people must love and obey
Jesus. This aspect is mainly tied to fear—if followers believe these
declarations of the New Testament, then they will be scared for their future
upon death and accept that they are fundamentally sinful until they escape
their flesh confines and embrace the spirit. Emotion, rather than logic, is the
principal device here for winning over readers. Additionally, desire is a
powerful emotion at play in convincing readers—desire to be better, to be pure,
and to gain eternal life.
It is interesting when you say that emotion, rather than logic, is the main principal used to vouch for Christianity. Throughout history there have actually been ontological proofs that employ deduction and logic to prove the existence of God, most popularly the Christian God. To name a couple, Anselm, Aquinas, and Descarte each have come up with famous proofs for the existence of a Christian God in a logical manner. This brings into the question of whether they were simply merely trying to defend their belief that God exists so badly because of this emotional connection you describe, or whether they truly can to this conclusion from a bottom-up approach. The former sounds more likely, which in a way, can symbolize emotion driving logic and reasoning. We reason those very things that we are emotionally connected to--if not, what good does that reasoning do us in the first place? Hence, I would say that emotion may be a prominent mechanism employed in the New Testament and in defense of Christianity, but that does not mean this defense is rid of logic or any other rational means.
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