Is Anger Ever Acceptable in Your Faith?

RABBI MARK MILLER

Temple Bat Yahm, Newport Beach

Once, in the first game of a 1947 doubleheader, several of the Dodgers were thrown at and there were several plays on the bases in which the Dodgers were roughed up.

Legendary broadcaster Red Barber asked Dodger manager Burt Shotton if he would send the team out for the nightcap fighting mad over what happened in the afternoon.

Shotton answered calmly, “They ain’t going to be mad tonight, or any other time. . . . When a man gets mad he can’t beat anybody doing anything. They are going out tonight and play their regular game and I expect them to win.”

Barber writes: “I never forgot what Shotton said. . . . A man can’t beat anybody when he gets mad. He was right. When you get mad, you stop thinking.”

Unbeknownst to him, Shotton was practicing good Judaism, which counsels that wisdom flees when anger arrives. Why, for example, should we be angry over the presidential election process?

Wisdom, thoughtfulness, measured responses, gratitude for our democracy should rule our response. The candidates may be getting roughed up as they make their way around the bases and the opposition is sometimes throwing too inside, but, as Burt Shotten intimated, we need more light than heat. Soon, all of this will be as remembered and be as important as a Dodger doubleheader in 1947.

THE REV. DR. REBECCA B. PRICHARD

Designated Pastor, Tustin Presbyterian Church

The God of Israel got angry at injustice and idolatry and faithlessness. Jesus got angry at greed and hypocrisy. Paul said, “Be angry, but do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger” (Ephesians 4:26). There is room in the Christian faith for anger as long as it is anger at those things which make God angry. Unfortunately, human anger is not always godly anger. Insofar as the current outrage is a cry for justice and honesty, it is righteous; if it is about winning and losing, it probably is not.

PASTOR BILL GARTNER

Harbor Christian Fellowship, Costa Mesa

“Those Republicans are covering the truth!” “Those Democrats are whiners!” I’ve heard a lot of that lately as people attempt to justify their anger. Since my faith is directly connected to the God whom I serve, I have to ask whether my anger is acceptable to God.

In comparison to the lengthy history of the world, God is recorded as actually “getting angry” very few times. But when he is angered, it is not only acceptable, it is necessary, such as the event in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus drove the money-changers out of the temple. Sometimes anger is necessary, but not when it comes to whether a Democrat or a Republican sits in the White House.

EVANGELIST GRAYLON A. FREEMAN

Church of Christ, Cypress

The early Hebrews observed that when a man was angry, his nose swelled and his nostrils trembled. In the Bible, the expression “to be angry” carries a variety of meanings, such as “to snort,” “to smoke,” “to burn,” “to be filled with fury” and “to be full of bile.” Anger, like all natural emotions, is neither good nor bad in itself; it depends on the use made of it. Anger is wrong when it proceeds from an evil origin, provoked by hypersensitivity, an excess of self-feeling or a lack of self-control. In light of all that has transpired in regard to the presidential election, people need to ask themselves, “If I am angry, why?” And “From where has this feeling derived?” before acting upon it.

THE REV. TERRY NYHUIS

Pastor of Congregational Life Crystal Cathedral Ministries

The Bible consistently affirms the pursuit of justice, but discourages human anger. Anger is foolish, while self-control is wise (Proverbs 29:11). Forgiveness and kindness are encouraged, while bitterness and anger are to be eliminated from our lives (Ephesians 4:31-32; Colossians 3:8). In summary, our anger does not bring about a God-pleasing life (James 1:19-20).

THE REV. STEVE PETTY

St. Andrew’s By-the-Sea United Methodist Church, San Clemente

Anger has a place in the world. It is part of our animal and human reactions. But anger is rarely productive and often counterproductive to the ends we actually have in mind.

Jesus exhibited anger on several occasions. Once he scolded Peter, calling him Satan, because Peter chose to argue the nature of messiahship with Jesus. Once he rebuked a Gentile woman, virtually calling her a dog, but he came to his senses, realized his mistake and granted her the healing she wished.

Jesus also reserved most of his anger for those authorities who used their power to build up their own influence while keeping other people down.

To these people he addressed his most angry speech, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites that you are.” So righteous anger has its place.

But we also must recognize that much righteous anger is often overdone and self-serving. When this is the case, it almost always is not the will of God, but rather the will of man, that feeds the anger. This type of anger is not acceptable and always regrettable.

So even as Jesus teaches love and 95% of the time exemplifies love, there are times when anger is acceptable. But even Jesus realized that it was never preferable and always a last resort. The current political situation finds both parties acting in sincerely regrettable fashion. Anger in this instance will not foster goodwill and it will definitely foster further anger from all sides.

SENIOR PASTOR DAVID J. MITCHELL

Calvary Church of Santa Ana

The Bible teaches that we may become angry. But that anger should be against unrighteousness. Also, it must be controlled, limited and not used as revenge. The Bible is clear when it states, “Be angry and yet do not sin.” It is a hard balance, so the priority should be on “Do not sin” rather than “Be angry.”

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