Chris' Christian Blog

March 5, 2022

"Prompt: Let's talk about anger. Is it a sin to be angry? How do we handle anger when it rises within us? How do we handle it when others are angry?"

No. It is not a sin to be angry. Even Jesus got angry as is demonstrated by the fact that he mage a whip out of ropes and ran the merchants out of the temple. So no, it is not a sin to get angry, but anger can become sinful.

There are three types of anger: righteous anger, normal anger, and sinful anger. Righteous anger is when we get angry and stand up against sin. Most of us do not do this for fear we will be judging. It is not judgment to correct a brother or sister in Christ and admonish them to do better. There are times I wish somebody would have "judged" me. We may be sinners as well, but sometimes we have to be each other's common sense and say "This is not acceptable."

I don't know about anybody else but I need others to point out to me when a behavior is out of line. I tend to joke and tease a lot but sometimes my jokes can be taken the wrong way. I've had to cut back on the behavior with some people. However, until somebody pointed it out to me that my jokes were being misunderstood I was unaware of it. I am from a family where everybody jokes with everybody. To me it was just a part of life. Then somebody told me that another was hurt by one of my wisecracks and had taken it wrongly. I have since quit doing so. However, if somebody had not pointed it out to me I would not have known. So sometimes we need to "judge".

Another type of anger is what I call "natural" anger. This is a natural response to a situation that should make us angry. If somebody hurts me I have a right to be angry. It is only natural to do so and no, it is not sin.

The third type of anger is the big R "resentment." This is where we carry grudges and will not let something go. We say "They hurt me so I am going to stay angry with them."

Resentment is sin. It is okay to get angry, but allowing that anger to destroy a relationship is not okay. God created us to be "relational" creatures. He wants us to have relationships with others. To do so we have to be willing to allow others to be human. They will make mistakes and those mistakes will hurt us. When they do hurt us we will become angry at them. This is natural and acceptable. If I am still angry hours and days later though it is unacceptable and is in fact sin. Peter asked Jesus how many times he should forgive others for sinning against Peter. Peter wanted to apply the law of Moses and only forgive a few times. Jesus told Peter that Peter was to forgive so many times Peter would lose count doing the math! Forgiveness restores relationships, which God wants. Forgiveness also helps us personally. The physical ramifications from resentments alone can kill us. High blood pressure and stroke, heart disease, and diabetes have all been linked to resentments and grudges.

Another fact is that the person against whom we hold the resentment often is completely unaffected by it. The only person resentments harm is the person holding them. I have a sister who got angry at me once because I was babysitting her son overnight. He woke up a few minutes before me and dirtied his diaper. I was awakened by my sister knocking on the door and did not have the opportunity to change her son's diaper. She was angry over that for 25 years! She told my mother she had many sleepless nights ruminating about that. I, the guilty party and perpetrator, on the other hand went on with my life as normal. I was unaware of her resentment. When I became aware of it decades later, I made amends with her. Whether she ever forgave me or not is between God and her. The fact remains that her anger toward me did not affect me at all but had a profound affect on her.

God teaches us to forgive because forgiveness restores and maintains relationships and because forgiveness is healthy for us. Resentments kill. Paul said we should not let the son go down and still be angry. In other words, it is permissible to be angry for a short time but we are to forgive and forget. God justifies us from the sin that murdered His Son. Justified has been expressed as Just as if I'd never done it. We must justify those who hurt us and that means Just as if they'd never done it. Grudges are sin. God does not stop with forgiveness though. He raises the bar. He says He throws our offenses as far from His memory as the east is from the west. That means He not only forgives but also totally forgets. He does not bring up former similar offenses because He pretends not to remember them. I am sure God never forgets because the past is just as present to Him as today is. However, He does not use the past as a weapon against us. 1 Corinthians says that "Love keeps no record of offenses."

God does not keep a record of offenses and allows past offenses to be ignored as if they never happened. He expects us to do the same no matter what. If a brother hurts us the same way a dozen times we are to forgive and forget a dozen times. So in answer to the prompt "Is anger a sin?". the answer is that it depends on how we handle it. Anger is not a sin. It is a sin to practice unforgiveness.

I may also add here that we are even allowed to be angry with God! David often became angry with God. Psalm 42:9-10 are not words of praise! David is angry and says so very clearly, yet God called David a man after God's own heart. So anger is not sin. How we handle anger determines sin.


"Prompt: I was cruising the galaxy with Tweety Bird and we did see a Putty Cat! We found this planet: Ocean magic

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Well, I hope Tweety and you hit that darned old Putty Tat with full phasers and a full spread of photon torpedoes! He doesn't need to eat little Tweety. He's already fat enough. His shadow has to squeeze to get through his door!

I studied the ocean in undergraduate school. I found it quite fascinating though I have never seen it personally. The closest I ever came was Chesapeake Bay in Baltimore and Lake Erie in Cleveland. I know Lake Erie is not an ocean or sea, but it gives you an idea what the ocean would be like.