It sure looks that way.By Paul Dion, STL
So often in our culture, as children we are reprimanded by our parents when we get angry because it isn't "nice." We are trained as we grow up that anger is not a "nice" emotion. We are so often told to "control ourselves" rather than to show anger.
OK, so what about God? He doesn't seem to have any problem with anger.
He sure took care of His Adam and Eve problem nicely. He wasn't afraid to use the old 40 day rain trick at one point. Fire and brimstone worked rather well against Sodom and Gomorrha. Turning a woman into a salt statue sure taught her a lesson, didn't it?
When God saw humans building a tower in Babel, He came and visited the project, didn't like what He saw and so dispersed everyone by giving them each a different language. Ten plagues against Egyptians sure made life rough on them for a while.
Jesus had his moments too. He had a pretty sharp tongue that shows that He had no fear of showing His inner heat.
God has a history of getting angry. Is this wrong? How can God get away with it and I can't? I get angry, I hit someone and I go to jail. Are we missing something?
Try your hand at this one. There is more than just a lesson of disobedience and punishment. So, what is in it for us when God gets angry?
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I think there is a difference between rational and irrational anger or wrath... When I hit someone because they scuffed my new white shoes, that is irrational, and sinful. If someone is trying to kill me, my physical reaction in self defense is perhaps not fully "rational", and even instinctual, but hopefully it is proportional. When we sin, it dishonors God infinitely (since his nature demands infinite honor). This may be analagous to the parents justified anger or wrath when a child disobeys the parent and has commited some wrong. So long as it is proportional, there is not problem, I think.
ReplyDeleteMat 18:6 DRB But he that shall scandalize one of these little ones that believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone should be hanged about his neck, and that he should be drowned in the depth of the sea.