The Misunderstanding and Mishandling of Anger

Abstract

The anger of God as depicted in Scripture is seen as a reaction of indignation at unrighteousness. The purpose of God's anger is to induce repentance in the unrighteous individual. The anger of man is seen as essentially the same as God's in that it is a reaction to violations of one's personal system of righteousness (or one's view of “how things ought to be”). Anger in man is more difficult to understand and deal with because of three confounding factors. First, men have distorted and individualized views of righteousness. Second, men may mis-express their legitimate feelings of anger (e.g., vengeance). Third, men may shirk their responsibility to build up others by never expressing angry feelings. A biblical approach to handling angry feelings is suggested.