Should Christians get Angry?

[CoreIssue]

Is it okay for Christians to get angry?

[Jessie]

the bible says be angry and dont sin.

repressing anger gives one a HUGE HEADACHE! cause then you dont deal with it.

God gets angry.

[InTheWind]

Yes, got angry today in fact :nod: the key is to allow the Holy Spirit spank ya and get ya back in line. :D
That can only happen to a saved person. :):

[CoreIssue]

I agree we often get angry when we should not. Way too often.

But, I do believer their is righteous anger that is just.

[2scoops]

Proverbs 29
22 An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.
23 A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.

Ecc. 7
9 Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.

Eph 4
25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.

26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
27 Neither give place to the devil.

Prov 15
18 A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.

Prov 27
3 A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both.
4 Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy? 5 Open rebuke is better than secret love.

Col. 3
8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.

This is a good study, anger. Because I have always hear not to get angry, but I know in my flesh I do. But the verse that states to be angry and sin not, let not the sun upon your wrath. I take that if you are angry, don't go to bed that way, make ammends or forive those who have made you angry. I must admit I am a liitle confused about anger.

Mat. 6
14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Mat. 18
20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.


Anger should lead to forgiveness. I know holding on to that anger can to turn into bitterness, wrath, revenger, etc. Which can lead to another discussion of forgiveness. How do we truly forgive one another, I know sometimes we say we forgive, but we don't truly do it. Recently, I was moved from my sales position for not hitting my numbers. My sales manger's son worked beside me. He was given accounts from certain territories where orders were given to him, while I was struggling to bring in new accounts. I was angry, bitter and my mind and thought were not focused on God. I asked God to help me and I was doing good, but if I see him in the office since I was moved to a different dept, I still feel angry and bitter. How do you trluy forgive?

[CoreIssue]

The KJV gives many false impressions as to what is being said and meant. No where does the Bible say do not get angry. No where does it say forgive if no repentence is offered.

There is a very big distinaction between being angry and being vindictive.

Compare the KJV to the NIV. The NIV is actually gives superior meaning in MOST cases.


Proverbs 29
22 An angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.
23 A man's pride shall bring him low: but honour shall uphold the humble in spirit.

22 An angry man stirs up dissension,
and a hot-tempered one commits many sins.
23 A man's pride brings him low,
but a man of lowly spirit gains honor.
Dissension is not always a bad thing. Christ and the Apostles stirred up a lot of dissension. And they most assuredly got angry. Christ most assuredly lashed out physically at those he was angry with.

The issue is righteous anger, not angry anger.

When anger crosses into being hot tempered control is lost. Then sin comes in. Note it does not say the angry man causing dissension sins?

The proudful man is hot tempered. The humble man still gets mad, but does not do so in pride.

Ecc. 7
9 Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.

Don't loose your cool easily. That is hot tempered and will get you deep in trouble.

But, again, it does not say do not get angry. It says do not get angry quickly or easily.

Eph 4
25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another.
26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
27 Neither give place to the devil.

25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26"In your anger do not sin"[d (http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=eph%204&version=31#fen-NIV-29283d)]: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27and do not give the devil a foothold.
Note context here. This is speaking of a Christian neighbor, not any neighbor.

Don't let a demon get a lever to cause division in the Church.

Find a way to resolve the issue. The Bible lays out the methods. And it does not always result in forgiveness. But it does result in resolution.

Prov 15
18 A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.

18 A hot-tempered man stirs up dissension,
but a patient man calms a quarrel.
A hot head reacts with emotion. A patient man things before he acts, even when he is angry.

Prov 27
3 A stone is heavy, and the sand weighty; but a fool's wrath is heavier than them both.
4 Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy? 5 Open rebuke is better than secret love.



3 Stone is heavy and sand a burden,
but provocation by a fool is heavier than both.
4 Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming,
but who can stand before jealousy? 5 Better is open rebuke
than hidden love.
An angry fool is a dangerous man. It weighs heavily on all around them.

Anger is hard to bear from others, but their jealousy and envy is destructive. So, it is better for one to openly rebuke you when you do something wrong than love you in secret by hiding the harm you have done to them.

Col. 3
8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.

The context here is not any kind of anger, but anger meant to punish and harm. It does not include righteous anger.
This is a good study, anger. Because I have always hear not to get angry, but I know in my flesh I do. But the verse that states to be angry and sin not, let not the sun upon your wrath. I take that if you are angry, don't go to bed that way, make ammends or forive those who have made you angry. I must admit I am a liitle confused about anger.
A full study of anger shows there is righteous and sinful anger.

We are to avoid sinful anger and seek to resolve what causes righteous anger.

Righteous anger is resolved in the extremes of talking it out, achieving repentence and then forgiving or determining repentence will not occur and to continue will be destructive, thus putting aside or away those things or people causing the issues.

In either extreme one accepts toe resolution and moves post the anger. But that does not mean one moves past recognizing the issues, forgives the issues or does not take guard against the issues. One deals with and achieves a resolution about the issue.


Mat. 6
14 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Does God forgive the sins of those who do not repent? No. Should we? No.

Does God overlook sins and not hold some accountable due to their lacking of knowledge and such? Yes. Should we? Yes. But that is not forgiveness. It is recognition of not being accountable.

So, Mat 6 is not a blanket statement. Others passages in the Bible give us the qualifiers that apply.

Mat. 18
20 For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

21 Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times? 22 Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.

Again, bother means fellow believer. Not just anyone. And is contingent upon repentence by the brother. Other passages on this issue give added scope to what is being said.

Anger should lead to forgiveness.
The goal should be correction and forgiveness. But it is destructive to forgive what should not be forgiven. It will will cause you great harm in the long term.
I know holding on to that anger can to turn into bitterness, wrath, revenger, etc. Which can lead to another discussion of forgiveness.
Yes, it can. But do not equate dealing with anger and forgiving as being one and the same. They are not.
How do we truly forgive one another, I know sometimes we say we forgive, but we don't truly do it.
It requires their repentence for true forgiveness.

There is a distinction between forgiveness and resolution. They do not have to be one and the same.

Recently, I was moved from my sales position for not hitting my numbers. My sales manger's son worked beside me. He was given accounts from certain territories where orders were given to him, while I was struggling to bring in new accounts. I was angry, bitter and my mind and thought were not focused on God. I asked God to help me and I was doing good, but if I see him in the office since I was moved to a different dept, I still feel angry and bitter. How do you trluy forgive?

You don't. You have just cause for frustration and anger.

As long as you seek to forgive, here, you will just get more bitter and angry because there is no foundation for forgiveness.

Your solution is to accept it is wrong, unfair, unjust and all the rest, while being what it is. You either accept you cannot change it and get on with what you can do or go to another job.

But you cannot dwell on it. Dwelling on it is your flaw.

You resolve to see the situation for what it is, resolve what you need to do and then do it. Do not dwell on it.

[Jessie]

good points. so many of us dont want to be angry and repress it hide it from ourselves.
when I started consiling I was in a mess. I was'nt allowing myself to see my own anger so I could deal with it. I was just going along being nice and being a sacrifical lamb all the time.


quote:

Your solution is to accept it is wrong, unfair, unjust and all the rest, while being what it is. You either accept you cannot change it and get on with what you can do or go to another job.

But you cannot dwell on it. Dwelling on it is your flaw.

You resolve to see the situation for what it is, resolve what you need to do and then do it. Do not dwell on it.

I think we try to keep fixing it, rather than just accept it is wrong unfair unjust etc.
we get angry but then feel as Christians this is unacceptable feelings, so then we repress and act like nothing is wrong, and just keep on...going.

I've been learning this, but its hard to do. I think we are afraid of our anger too.

[Brandli5]

Yes Jessie,

I get scared of my anger sometimes. I have to stop and count to 10, or pray.