Once again, weekends in Bellingham are amazing. I spent Friday, Saturday, and Sunday out hanging with friends outside. My body is really tired, and it'll take a few days of rest to get feeling solid again. Friday and Saturday I caught some incredible sunsets. May I never take another one for granted. I'm currently sipping on a cup of coffee and listening to music.
I've been thinking about this whole blogging thing. I have noticed a distinct lack of comments, which could mean a few things: One, my writing sucks. Two, I'm writing about things that aren't interesting to anyone. Three, I'm offending people. I'm guessing that it's a combination of all three things.
I want to apologize to anyone I've offended. I'm forever done talking about politics, at least on blogger. Things seem to stay a bit more cival when these discussions take place in person.
Awhile back, I discussed a bad habit of mine, specifically swearing. I am happy to say that while this habit persists, it's gotten MUCH better (I've been hanging out with a different crowd recently...funny what that'll do.) Within the context of this discussion, the issue of anger was brought up. I have since talked to a few individuals about this topic, and I get a general vibe that anger is "bad." Whether it's sin or not has not been pinned down. While the word "anger" has a negative conotation, I feel as though there are a few different elements to it that make it "right" or "wrong." The first: what are you angry about? The second: How long did it take you to get there?
I might take this moment to remind people that God himself, while DEFINITELY loving, merciful, and full of grace is capable of anger. There's a ton of evidence of that in the Old Testament. He leveled the earth with the flood and started over. When Korah rebelled against Moses in Numbers 16, Moses became angry, and God answered that anger by opening up the earth and swallowing Korah and his followers. As far as New Testament, Jesus took out his anger on the pharisees and merchants in the temple.
Anger is biblical. It's also an emotion. I would argue that to some extent it's healthy. But what makes it healthy? As I said previously, what are you angry about?
When Moses became angry with Korah, it was because the authority God had given him had been challenged. What's interesting about this is that Moses doesn't do much. He leaves it to God to say who's in charge. God responds to this by destroying all of Korah's family.
Jesus took out his anger on the merchants in Matthew 21:12-13 by casting them out and overturning their tables. Why? They were defiling his house. It was supposed to be a house of prayer, and it had been turned into a "den of thieves." I'd say that's a legitimate reason for anger.
A bad reason to be angry: being unable to complete a bouldering route while rock climbing.
Again, the other element involved here is how long it takes someone to get angry, and not only that, but how long they stayed angry. After Jesus cast out all the merchants and moneychangers in the temple, what did he do? In v.14, IMMEDIATELY afterward, he goes back to healing people.
We know that God himself is a "God of forgiveness, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness." (Nehemiah 9:17b)
Psalm 30:5 says "For His anger is but for a moment, his favor is for a lifetime..."
So God himself feels anger. He can't be in the presence of sin, so we can logically conclude that anger itself is not a sin. HOWEVER. What is the object of the anger? Is it the name of the LORD being defiled or questioned, or anger at the 6 year old kid screaming bloody murder at the sight of a garter snake at a lake, or something dumb like a rock that is hard to hang onto?
As a result, I feel as though anger should be a rarity, because it really isn't worth it to get riled up about the things that we do. I also feel as though the take home message is don't let anger control you, because that's when the line gets fuzzy. Anger's rise must be controlled, and if it doesn't fade quickly, the red-zone has once again been reached. Really dumb things have been said when anger is involved, and really dumb decisions have been made under it's influence as well.
About Me
- Brandon
- I work at a software company in Bellingham, love reading, writing, being outside, and studying the different cultures God has created to worship him. Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name.
4 comments:
I would comment more, but my I'm getting smoked by life in general. All is well, but there is just a lot.
Sweet thinking on this anger and swearing stuff. I have also come to the conclusion that swearing is generally produced by anger. I've noticed that lately I'm a pretty laid back dude about stuff. Things turn out so much better when you just step back and let the anger go away. Don't ignore the situation that caused it, but just don't react in the moment since you'll be blinded by your anger. I was reminded of this when I got cake smashed in my face last week. Fun times.
o sad... i like reading about politics... but they can offend people if taken too seriously and that kinda sucks.
but still... sad..
I, too, am thinking about anger. The bottom line question for me is not the anger itself, but the response to the anger. You talked a bit about that in your posting, and I think that's really a significant piece of the "is anger good or bad" question.
We are wired with emotions. We get happy when something is pleasant, we are sad when things are unpleasant, etc. Anger is an emotion that we sometimes experience when what we think is "right" or "deserved" doesn't happen, or when what is "wrong" or "undeserved" does happen. We see a man embrace pornography and watch his marriage crumble. Our sense of "rightness" is offended, and we might respond with anger. Someone cuts in front of you on the freeway. That doesn't seem right, and we respond.
OK, so the angry response to the freeway situation might be justified, but what do I do with the anger? Let it eat me up? Go flip off the guy just because I'm ticked? Or respond with Christ-like humility and let it go?
I think anyone would agree that anger is an acceptable response to the guy wrecking his marriage. So, at what point does that anger become sin? I think we know in our gut when the line between Spirit-controlled anger and self-controlled anger has been crossed.
Maybe that's the deal. Who's controlling the anger. Me, or am I leaving it squarely in the Lord's hands?
And maybe it goes back from there . . . who is in control of me when the "offense" takes place? Maybe I wouldn't be angry with the guy on the freeway if I was fully under the Spirit's control from the get-go!
Thoughts?
Had I realized you were hurting for comments I would have left you more! May your popularity spike like crazy!
I was going to leave you one a week or so ago when you mentioned your "hippiness" and mentioned the length of your hair as a hippy attribute that you had received some grief about. I just wanted to point out that I believe the Pirate and I may have made comment that it was feminine, not that it was hippy like! :)
Your anger reasoning was interesting and insightful. I think you're right that it's an emotion and not necessarily a bad thing. There are certain things that we should be angered by, such as sin.
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