What riles you?

Question

A Christian, like Jesus, is called to act with love in everything he/she does. So where is the place for loving anger?

The latest scripture I've been praying over is about Jesus in the temple with the money-changers (Matthew 21:12, Mark 11:15, John 2:8), and of course it brings up questions about the appropriate place for anger in a Christian's life. Obviously Jesus was Royally Ticked; in their dishonesty, the money-changers were hurting people who were trying to worship God.

Do you have thoughts on the application of that lesson for today, Oct. 29th, 2007?

Wow, guasin. Your answer sure caught me off guard. No hidden statements, condescending or otherwise, and not an invitation to rant. Sorry you took it that way.

Jade: I meant no trickery whatsoever. It is a straightforward question. I'm sorry you took it as in some way misleading.

Answer 1

You are right about the money changers. With the horrible poverty all around them, they still tried to cheat the empoverished people trying to do their duty to worship God.

There are groups of people today too who take Jesus's message of love and hope and contort it into hatred and xenophobia. Then Christians who are desperatly in need of God's love and healing only get judgment and damnation. Instead of souls to love, those people just see recruites for their churches and money in their collection plates. Those people, and we all know who they are, deserve all the loving anger we can muster.

Answer 2

This is one of those instances in the Bible where there seems to be a contradiction. You have Jesus clearly reacting angrily and you have Paul telling us elsewhere we should not show anger. Perhaps this is meant to show a human side of Jesus, perhaps there are a few instances where anger is justified, or perhaps it's meant to show that one of the worst things people can do is use God's House as a place for money-changers. If using churches for money-changing is such a grievous sin, that does not bode well for all the money-hungry televangelists we see on TV, does it?

Answer 3

I perceive Jesus as being angered over the act of the money changers' activities being held in a Holy place,and not per se,at their dishonesty,(which on any day, and anywhere,is sinful in His eyes).
God's word has never told us not to ever be angry,but,it does caution us to be slow to anger,and not to let the sun go down on our anger.
Just like happiness,or sorrow,...anger is a natural emotion that He endowed us each with.
Through the gamuts of our emotions,we learn something of ourselves,so it's hard to suggest what would make me angry,that might only make 'you' happy.
It's an individual situation.

Answer 4

What riles me is stupidity.
I'm not so much irritated by ignorance, but stupidity just really chafes.

To differentiate, ignorance is a lack of knowledge on a subject. Stupidity is when the ignorance has been alleviated, and the person flatly refuses to apply the knowledge.
A perfect example would be the whole "evolution says we're descended from monkeys" argument. No matter how many times the theory is explained, the willfully stupid absolutely REFUSE to argue its actual concepts, preferring instead to argue concepts it doesn't even put forth.

Answer 5

When somebody farts in church!

That was your Question!
You Asked.

I Mean, How ya gonna' Act?
Nowhere to hide, nowhere to run to.
:)

There is a Righteous Anger.

Then:
1. Be Angry and Sin Not.
2. Then, after you Pratice No.1 and get good at it, Put Away Anger.
3. Then, there is the Righteous Anger usually followed by Judgement--SomeTimes.

GOD is Angry at the Wicked EveryDay---but it is Out of Love---GOD Wants them to Come to HIM and Get Saved so HE can Love them More!!!

Have ya' ever Wanted your Kid to come to you so you could Hug him,her.
And he,she kept on Playing, staying away?
See?

Answer 6

Interesting question. For me, I think I get "royally ticked" for the same reason Jesus did...when I see people trying to take advantage of others or spread lies in the name of God. For example, an evangelist who tell his followers that they need to send money or God will kill him...that gets me going.

I also get upset when I see or hear about people that commit a horrible sin and try to justify it with something in the bible. I lived in Denver when Matthew Shepard was killed...I wanted to beat the living daylights out of those boys that claimed they did it in the name of God. All acts of terrorism whether directed at an individual or a group get me riled up.

Answer 7

One of the things we have to keep in mind, was that as the Son of God, Jesus had the right to His actions in this case. They weren't just defiling a temple, they were defiling HIS temple. Also, He was about to spiritually over turn the system of worship that was in place there by becomeing the ultimate sacrifice, so His actions were, largely, symbolic, as well. Since I'm a child of God, but am not God's presence in the flesh, I would not consider myself to have the right to do anything like that. As a Christian, I can speak out when I see wrong being done to anyone who's trying to worship, or if I see that the worship of God is being dishonored or perverted, but I do not have the right to tear down anyone's temple, because I can't spiritually rebuild it in three days!

Answer 8

Anger is often thought of as a "negative" emotion.

Behavior management teaches us that there are no "bad" behaviors only "inappropriate" behaviors.

Anger is a form of emotional energy. It gives us the strength to right wrongs and fight injustice.
It should not be "bottled up" but should be directed and with practice focused.

PS: Frustration (my weakness) is the energy to organize something that is not working or not working well.

Answer 9

Prepare to get hated on - but at least you have the guts to ask a good Bible question.

As to what riles me, I get angry when people assume I'm closed minded, ignorant, a sheep, stupid, lame, or whatever just because I consider myself Christian. I find myself getting angry and honestly I have wondered if my anger means I'm not anywhere close to "there" yet. But this is a good reminder that Jesus got angry at things too, when there was a good reason.

Answer 10

Anger has its place in the anger because of the sins people commit and for the evil in the world.