If you are asking yourself 'What is Christianity' then you need to know what it isn't:
Step 3. Acting on your Anger
You will notice that I did not write simply ‘anger’; far to many Christians have come to the mistaken belief that anger is a sin. Often they refer back to Jesus’ sermon on the mount “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.” Matthew 5:21-22 But the interpretation that Jesus is saying that anger is a sin would be incorrect.
Paul addresses anger in his typical style – head on- Paul declares, “Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger” Eph 4:26. Paul clearly indicates that it is possible for us to feel angry without sinning. How can this be? Or consider in the book of Mark when figs were out of season, yet Jesus is hungry and in his very human response as he walked past a fig tree with no figs on it cursed the fig tree. Some look for deeper meaning in that verse, I find comfort in it, as I sit frustrated in traffic on my way to and from the office.
Jesus’ teaching isn’t that anger is a sinful emotion; rather that it is a dangerous one. It isn’t anger that is the sin it is what we do with that anger. Coming to accept that anger is a perfectly normal human response is the first step in eliminating the guilt that so many Christians impose upon themselves when they feel angry. It took me a long, long time to understand the chain reaction that believing anger by and of itself was a sin.
This point cannot be overstated or overlooked. If you believe like I once did, that your feelings of anger are sinful; then like me, you will be inclined to judge yourselves unfairly, even harshly whenever you feel angry. When I felt angry, I assumed that God was displeased with me, which made it that much more difficult to approach him for help. The end result was that I repressed my feelings of anger, with the entire psychological backlash that results. If you view anger the same, you have made yourself a sitting duck for the sort for just the type of emotional cycle that Satan seeks to use to separate us from God.
Anger when channeled in the right direction can be very beneficial, I doubt much would be done, or accomplished without there first being a seed of anger within someone. If I write a book because I am angry about how people view a subject or if you decide to start a program to help benefit someone else; because you’re frustrated that certain needs, are not being properly met. Then the anger we experience is the seed that creates and an energizing force that moves us to act.
Anger is not a sinful emotion but a human one. Anger is the most dangerous of all emotions, Anger expressed with hostility, and outrage can and often times is the most destructive of all emotions, destroying relationships, careers, families, friendships, and lives. Yet anger can be harnessed and directed in a manner and direction that results in reflecting God’s best intentions for us.
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