I find that there is a common belief among Christians that while in general anger is to be avoided, there are times when “righteous” anger or “justified” anger is appropriate. After all Jesus was angry when he overturned the money changers tables right?
And what about that verse in Ephesians that says “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:” ? Other (mis)translations of the Bible go even further with this verse. The Message bible even says, “Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.”
Thats right. Go ahead and be angry – it’s all good!
Well, the Bible actually has a lot more to say about anger than is found in Ephesians 4:26, but I find that verse is singularly quoted in support of “godly”, “christian”, or “righteous” anger.
Can anger be amoral? Is it just a neutral emotion that God gave us that can be used for good or for evil? I think this is a silly argument.
COLOSSIANS 3:8: But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
Is anger amoral, but wrath, malice, blasphemy, and filthy communication are not? This is just the tip of the iceberg of what the Bible says about the topic of anger.
Anger is primarily a tool that the devil uses to destroys families. Above all else this is where the destructive power of anger is most evident. In most of our day-to-day living when we put on our show for everyone else, most people don’t have an anger problem. We don’t want people to see us as short-tempered or out of control. But inside the home, without the inhibitions of what others will think, anger will often rear its ugly head.
Personally, I do not have an angry temperament. At least I thought I didn’t. But as a man with his own home and a family, I am utterly shocked at how easy it is to become angry. The temptation of a quick fix makes anger look so appealing, but as I quickly discovered, the end of anger is always destruction.
This new discovery put me on a quest to find out exactly what the Bible says about anger, and whether or not it can be used in a righteous manner as I had previously thought.
In my next few posts, we will look at all the verses the Bible uses to teach us what to do with our anger. In the end I hope you will discover a few things with me:
- There is never any justification to become angry.
- Anger, when wielded by people, is never used appropriately and is always sinful.
- The only person who can be angry appropriately or have “righteous” anger is God himself.
Related posts:
June 30th, 2010
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