The Feeling of Anger

[AnglicanPeace]

I know it's not sinful to *feel* anger, only to lash out in anger. But I don't like the feeling. It's so terrible. I don't understand why God created it.

What does Christianity say about feeling anger?

 

[Southernscotty]

Be angry and do not sin is what the apostle Paul says.
Righteous anger is one thing, And is ok, Like abortion and such makes one angry naturally and even Jesus was angry when He braided the whip and ran out the money changers. It boils down to what you do with it and I suggest praying for the individual involved
Pro 25:22 [Heaping burning coals on their head] That causes them to see their mistake and hopefully repent :}

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

I know it's not sinful to *feel* anger, only to lash out in anger. But I don't like the feeling. It's so terrible. I don't understand why God created it.

What does Christianity say about feeling anger?

Anger is a secondary emotion. It has to be triggered by something. What you need to do is to ask yourself, "What is causing this anger?"

There are different things that can trigger anger:
* fear
* frustration
* jealousy
* hurt pride
* reaction to a threat
* stubbing your toe or hitting your thumb with the hammer

Who of us hasn't jumped around after dropping something on our toe, angrily shouting the equivalent of "gosh darn the blankety heck!"

 

[Southernscotty]

Anger is a secondary emotion. It has to be triggered by something. What you need to do is to ask yourself, "What is causing this anger?"

There are different things that can trigger anger:
* fear
* frustration
* jealousy
* hurt pride
* reaction to a threat
* stubbing your toe or hitting your thumb with the hammer

Who of us hasn't jumped around after dropping something on our toe, angrily shouting the equivalent of "gosh darn the blankety heck!"

Mine didn't used to come out so clean when I stubbed my toes. Now I just stand there and hold my breath. lol

 

[yeshuaslavejeff]

I know it's not sinful to *feel* anger, only to lash out in anger. But I don't like the feeling. It's so terrible. I don't understand why God created it.

What does Christianity say about feeling anger?

Many people get angry at Jesus.
That is sin.
It is a sin to stay around a man with a temper that's angry a lot. (probably applies to a woman with a temper that's angry a lot too)

As written "Man's anger does not work the righteousness of Yahweh(God)"
so
the 'natural' anger of man (or woman) must be crucified, and is crucified when a person is crucified with Christ.

Learning to be angry, correctly, without sinning is challenging, and not taught very often anywhere..... we thus have to rely on prayer and the Father in heaven working in us to accomplish self-control and all the character of Christ in us, as written/described throughout Scripture.

 

[Monna]

Anger is a secondary emotion. It has to be triggered by something. What you need to do is to ask yourself, "What is causing this anger?"

There are different things that can trigger anger:

One trigger may be seeing injustice being done to someone other than yourself.

This is one source of "righteous anger." Even this kind of anger needs to be channeled to be effective and without sin. "Be angry and sin not." Anger over injustice can be a great motivator for working long term with many structural prejudices and social wrongs in our societies. But even in this case, most often "losing your temper" over an injustice, also leads to a loss of respect and therefore of effective response.

 

[Just Another User]

Anger without cause is committing murder within your heart. That's how serious anger is. When we're angry for no reason all we do is lump judgement upon ourselves (Matthew 5:21-22). Remember this whenever you're annoyed at someone for a minor issue of the severity of such an action. Even when we're angry and it's with cause however, we're still never allowed to show violence to anyone even if such a person deserves it e.g. being a murderer. We reserve such things for God and God only.

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Mine didn't used to come out so clean when I stubbed my toes. Now I just stand there and hold my breath. lol

My thoughts weren't too savoury either! But I couldn't put them on here!
When I was with a crossfit gym we had an activity called the "stair run". This involved running half a kilometre to the local railway station, up and down the four stairways that went up to the overpass, and then back to the gym. The distance was 1.5 km. One day, the activity was a "conversational" stair run. One character was heard saying "F.." and "C..." and "B..." all the way there and back. That was his version of a "conversational" stair run, but his conversation was pretty assertive about what he felt while he was doing the run!

 

[Lost4words]

I am angry at neighbour for cooking late at night! Chopping and banging etc. I am on the verge of going around and venting my anger!!!!!!!

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

I am angry at neighbour for cooking late at night! Chopping and banging etc. I am on the verge of going around and venting my anger!!!!!!!

What I hate is a neighbor just over the fence talking loudly to someone first thing in the morning while I am still trying to sleep! I had a neighbor on the other side who would sit outside his door late at night and would clear his throat loudly and wake me up (if I had my upstairs bedroom window open in the heat of summer).

Talking about anger, when my daughter was unjustifiably dismissed from her gym job (and received a good settlement through the Employment Service) her boyfriend (now her fiance) threatened to go around set the gym on fire! He has a full-size Darth Vader costume and I said he could put it on, go down to the gym and scare the bejeezus out of them!

 

[Rescued One]

I used to say bad words when wasps stung me. I got over that by deciding to to bless them instead. I haven't been stung once since I changed my attitude. But prejudice and mistreatment of others (especially children), minorities, and foreigners makes me very angry (yet not violent).

 

[Dave-W]

Many from the Holiness community say it is sinful to feel angry

 

[Andrew77]

I know it's not sinful to *feel* anger, only to lash out in anger. But I don't like the feeling. It's so terrible. I don't understand why God created it.

What does Christianity say about feeling anger?

I'm not sure if G-d 'created' anger. I think G-d has the emotion of anger, and because he has it, and because he created us in his image, that therefore we being in his image have the same emotions he has.

I think that anger has a place in life. I think that too often the reason evil is allowed to continue in our world today, is specifically because people are not all that angry about it.

If people had as much anger towards rape for example, that I have.... there would be a ton fewer rapes going on, because a lot of terrible men would be 6 feet under the dirt.

That's how much I hate, and have a seething anger, over rape. But the reason a women in this country is raped every 2 minutes.... is because no has that much anger over rape.

The problem with anger, is that most of our anger is over our selfishness. So that is what you should be against, not anger. It's our pride. It's getting what I want, when I want it, and if I don't, then I'm angry. That is the real problem.

If people were as angry over child abuse, as they are over cold fries at the drive through, there would be a ton less child abuse, and fewer people spending hours complaining about the fast food joint.

 

[longwait]

Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speakand slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. James 1:19-20

 

[Brennenstuhl]

Hateful anger and righteous anger are two different things. Remember that Jesus himself hated the sins that the money changers were committing in the Temple by turning it into a house of commerce, to the point of flipping over their tables. Jesus was clearly angry, yet he was angry at the sin.

Have you ever watched a video about something like human trafficking and felt indignation. Makes you want to do something about it, right? Anger does have it's place, God himself has shown it. It's what anger is a product of, and how it's used that determines whether it's righteous or sinful.

 

[AnglicanPeace]

The feeling of anger is a miserable feeling and I'm not sure what to do with it,theologically. Thoughts?

 

[Brennenstuhl]

The feeling of anger is a miserable feeling and I'm not sure what to do with it,theologically. Thoughts?

Pray about it. I know it might sound like a rote and standard answer, but I can tell you from experience. A while back, I ran into someone who had bullied me back in middle school... but had clearly turned his life around in a big way in the years since. I thought I'd forgiven them, but was surprised to find I still felt a grudge. So I asked God to help me forgive. I outright felt the grudge melt away, praise him.

Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times." - Matthew 18: 21-22

My cousin, a retired Baptist preacher, once told me that praying the will of God is a powerful prayer. With a quote like that from the Lord, I could scarcely imagine that our heavenly father would refuse to answer such a prayer!

 

[Dave-W]

The feeling of anger is a miserable feeling and I'm not sure what to do with it,theologically. Thoughts?

PRAY.