Anger management

  A good friend and I were discussing the finer points of being angry. The general conclusion we came to was, God doesn't want us to be angry about anything except those things that attack our brothers or God. Now, God is tough and can handle himself, so I guess that leaves our brothers (this includes our families).

  Suppose we have a brother that is being taught that he could lose his salvation. The person teaching that is a heretic. The bible commands us to stand up to a heretic, then if he doesn't listen, leave him alone.

  Let's explore a Biblical example of anger being used correctly. Peter, the apostle, was spending time with the Paul and the gentiles. The bible teaches that Peter was excersizing the freedom the gentiles enjoyed by eating with them.

  It is a heresy to teach that what you eat or drink has any bearing on salvation. "How" you eat or drink might have something to do with salvation. But only in the sense of repentance of sins and turning to Christ. If you are a drunk, you must repent of drunkeness. You may or may not succeed in stopping drinking, but you must repent.

  Back to Peter. He is enjoying the liberty of the gentiles. Bacon double cheeseburger please! Then along comes his old buddies, the circumcision guys. Peter abandons his gentile friends and cuddles up to the legalists. Behold, Peter the lap dog.

  Paul is furious. He strips Peter down by pointing out the hypocrisy. Basically, if Peter wanted to be a legalist, so be it, but if he wanted liberty, stand for that like a man.

  So you see, it can be ok to display a bit of anger. Let's explore the other side, reasons anger can be bad.

  If we get angry about anything going wrong that we helped cause, we are in sin. Read that again you manly man! Did you help cause the problem? You have no right to be angry about it. Period!

  Does this really need to be explained? I don't want to place any examples here. I don't want to hurt anyones feelings. Suffice to say, if you helped cause the problem, have sympathy towards those who are struggling thru those consequences.

  Ok, I just thought of a good example. Suppose a man is a farmer. Year after year he let's the weeds slowly take over the farm. One day he looks up, recognizes the destruction, and gets to work fixing the problem.

  His wife and kids start pulling weeds and helping. But they tire quickly and want to be done. Perhaps they aren't very good at weed pulling and don't accomplish much. The man begins to get upset that the family isn't pulling weeds like they should. 

  HOW DARE THAT MAN BE ANGRY WITH THEM! HE CAUSED THE PROBLEM!

  Ok calm down Josh. I just get pissed at myself because I did this kind of crap to my own friends and family. I feel like a turd for doing it. All around me I see men doing the same thing. Heartbreaking.

  Wow, how did I end up here in my writing. I am a little angry. Is it good anger or bad?

  We men have forgotten what gentleness is. When real men get frustrated at the weeds they start pulling the weeds. If the family doesn't join them, he cries out to God for mercy on the family. He is gentle and strong, knowing the "wrath of weeds" he has brought upon his family.

  This goes back to the medic or warrior discussion. A warrior should be pissed off, it helps him whack heads off! A medic should be gentle, knowing the pain of the wounded.

  Choose your anger wisely dear reader. Anger can be productive but it also can be profoundly destructive. Be careful.