Being angry with God

[transientlife]

Many times I hear people saying that they are/were angry with God over a multitude of reasons:

-illness of a loved one
-death of a loved one
-illness of self
-unemployment
-'bad' luck
-familial strife

and so on and so forth.

Is there something wrong with me? I've been through 2 of my mother's divorces, multitudes of death of family and friends, cancer, alzheimers, etc. Never once have I been angry with God about it. Never once have I questioned Him why these things occurred.
My mother is a funeral director, I grew up with it, so maybe that explains why death doesn't quite affect me the way it does others. But illnesses? Divorces?
If anything these things reinforce my faith. I don't ask why, I just assume it all happens for some reason whether or not I comprehend it at that point. Or sometimes call it a 'fact of life'.

I just feel like the odd person out when I can't say I've ever been angry with God about bad things that happen.

Am I strong in my faith, or am I just a sheep (in the negative connotation)?
What are your ideas?

 

[kdet]

I don't know, I was angry at God for awhile because I couldn't understand why that even though I prayed and prayed my marrige still failed. It wasn't until later that I realized why. So I think people's anger at God comes from that kind of misunderstanding.

 

[Salvashen]

it is easy to be angry at God because it removes blame from ourselves. Why become upset at our actions when we could hate God? Makes sense. However, there are some things out of our control, such as mentioned in the original post, but I think the society, which ever we are from, has come to see death as the end. For some beliefs, it is, but does a short life make it incomplete? Does it make life less worth living? I don't believe it does. Just because one person lived 16 years before they died did not make their life worth less then someone who lived 89. In fact, when we experience a death or an illness, we should all value life, what we have left, as being more glorious then the second before.

Such losses should not lead us to question God, but to realize that without death, you can not know life. Without sadness can you appreciate happiness and so on and so forth.

 

[transientlife]

Exactly, Salvashen!

 

[Salvashen]

Many times I hear people saying that they are/were angry with God over a multitude of reasons:

-illness of a loved one
-death of a loved one
-illness of self
-unemployment
-'bad' luck
-familial strife

and so on and so forth.

Is there something wrong with me? I've been through 2 of my mother's divorces, multitudes of death of family and friends, cancer, alzheimers, etc. Never once have I been angry with God about it. Never once have I questioned Him why these things occurred.
My mother is a funeral director, I grew up with it, so maybe that explains why death doesn't quite affect me the way it does others. But illnesses? Divorces?
If anything these things reinforce my faith. I don't ask why, I just assume it all happens for some reason whether or not I comprehend it at that point. Or sometimes call it a 'fact of life'.

I just feel like the odd person out when I can't say I've ever been angry with God about bad things that happen.

Am I strong in my faith, or am I just a sheep (in the negative connotation)?
What are your ideas?

by the way, I do not consider you a sheep in the bad sense

 

[transientlife]

In fact, when we experience a death or an illness, we should all value life, what we have left, as being more glorious then the second before.

Such losses should not lead us to question God, but to realize that without death, you can not know life. Without sadness can you appreciate happiness and so on and so forth.

I dealt with death on a daily basis for the most part growing up. It's toughened my skin in a sense. At age 12, I was at my maternal grandfather's bedside, holding his hand when he died of acute leukemia, one week after diagnosis. Mom always taught me that death was a part of life, inevitable and usually unexpected. People lived as long as they were intended by God to, whether that be 7 years or 70 years. For the younger ones, it may be harder to accept (I know it was for most of the people in my office I work at when one of the girls' 7 year old daughter died suddenly of an aneurism.) but they accomplished what they were to accomplish, whether we realize it or not, only God knows the intents and purposes of our lives. Our job is just to enjoy it and cherish it every day that we can, because who knows when we'll accomplish what we're here for. You definitely cannot truly enjoy something if you don't know what it's like not having it.

 

[The Bellman]

If I believed in the christian god, I would certainly be very angry with him. If he exists, every instance of suffering that occurs could have easily been prevented by him. Yet he allows it to occur...that's simply sadism. A parent that treated his children the way the christian god (supposedly) treats us would be locked up...yet people praise him for it.

 

[nadroj1985]

Is there something wrong with me?

Absolutely not. It appears to me that something's "right" with you Blaming God for life's troubles is not a healthy way to go about living, so you are being healthy. Whether yours is the normal reaction or not doesn't seem to matter, as long as your reaction is favorable, right?

 

[revrobor]

I believe our loving God allows us to express our human emotions and probably understands better than we why we feel that way. I remember being fist-shaking angry with God over something I don't even remember now. When I was all done venting rather than chastizing me for my outburst He just lovingly carried on with His program for my life. Talk about feeling small!

 

[GMRELIC]

Many times I hear people saying that they are/were angry with God over a multitude of reasons:

-illness of a loved one
-death of a loved one
-illness of self
-unemployment
-'bad' luck
-familial strife

and so on and so forth.

Is there something wrong with me? I've been through 2 of my mother's divorces, multitudes of death of family and friends, cancer, alzheimers, etc. Never once have I been angry with God about it. Never once have I questioned Him why these things occurred.
My mother is a funeral director, I grew up with it, so maybe that explains why death doesn't quite affect me the way it does others. But illnesses? Divorces?
If anything these things reinforce my faith. I don't ask why, I just assume it all happens for some reason whether or not I comprehend it at that point. Or sometimes call it a 'fact of life'.

I just feel like the odd person out when I can't say I've ever been angry with God about bad things that happen.

Am I strong in my faith, or am I just a sheep (in the negative connotation)?
What are your ideas?

I was never angry with God until this last December when my son was killed.
it took about a month after his death but then I became furious, I was livid,
It lasted for around a month, but then I quit blaming God and ask God for direction, for healing, for mercey, and I feel alot better now, I still have days that a little anger tries to creep in, but I try and pray it away.

 

[kdet]

I was never angry with God until this last December when my son was killed.
it took about a month after his death but then I became furious, I was livid,
It lasted for around a month, but then I quit blaming God and ask God for direction, for healing, for mercey, and I feel alot better now, I still have days that a little anger tries to creep in, but I try and pray it away.

I'm so sorry Gmrelic. I can't imagine losing one of my children.

 

[GMRELIC]

I'm so sorry Gmrelic. I can't imagine losing one of my children.

Thanks

 

[jingwei]

I was never angry with God until this last December when my son was killed.
it took about a month after his death but then I became furious, I was livid,
It lasted for around a month, but then I quit blaming God and ask God for direction, for healing, for mercey, and I feel alot better now, I still have days that a little anger tries to creep in, but I try and pray it away.

Sorry, but how did any part of your son's death have to do with God?

 

[transientlife]

Well bless you GMRELIC and may He continue to heal you and direct you.

 

[transientlife]

It seems most anger comes from utter frustration (and like an earlier post, misunderstanding)...and why not point fingers at the one who is said to be all powerful? Seems to be a somewhat logical idea, I suppose. Especially since God can't directly come back at you and say "oh no you didn't! you didn't just blame me for that!" *that finger snap and head and neck twist thingy*

 

[GMRELIC]

Sorry, but how did any part of your son's death have to do with God?

actually I was angry at God that he allowed it to happen, he didn't stop it from happening, I never felt that God Killed my son, but felt he could have avoided it, kept it from happening, I felt cheated, for 15 years my son was with me, my fishing buddy, my traveling partner, my close friend (I have been a single father to him since he was 2) He and my daughter were my world. The in a second all of that came to a halt, my life ended as I knew it. yeah I guess you could call me selfish, I wanted him with me, not in heaven but with me, I was mad that God called him home. My heart was so broke (and still is)
we had so many plans, so much unfinished business, so I blamed God for him leaving me.

 

[Norseman]

If you expect god to do what he claims, you should be very angry with him. If you allow god poetic license, then you should irked. In my case, I don't believe in him, being angry at him would like being angry at leperchauns, it's just too weird to comprehend.

 

[artofwar]

wow for people that say they dont believe in God dont care if there is a God and dont care of Christian opinions there sure are a lot on this Christian forums how ironic

 

[Norseman]

It's kind of hard to argue with people when they agree with you. How would you know you were right if you never got a look at both sides of the argument?

 

[Salsa_1960]

I was never angry with God until this last December when my son was killed.
it took about a month after his death but then I became furious, I was livid,
It lasted for around a month, but then I quit blaming God and ask God for direction, for healing, for mercey, and I feel alot better now, I still have days that a little anger tries to creep in, but I try and pray it away.

I can so relate to this post. Like GMRELIC, I lost a child also. She was only 10. It hasn't been 2 years yet. I don't find myself as having a problem with anger toward God, and for me maybe anger isn't the right word for it. But ya, there's that "why me Lord" that pops up every now and then. It's a normal reaction, but it doesn't mean that my love for God is not there or that my faith (though maybe shaken) is gone either.

I know that if she can see me, she will want me to be happy and let me know that she's OK. I'm sure that she wouldn't want me to live in a state of anger with God. Maybe that's part of what's helped.

~Sandy