- Theology Central -
In today's world, sorting out right from wrong is hard. Objectivity has been largely--if not altogether--lost. In its place has arisen a confused mentality based almost entirely on emotion and subjectivity. Thus, the discussion over anger--and whether or not anger is wholly righteous, unrighteous, or somewhere in between--has been lost in a sea of complication.
Over this last week, the home of a former president of the United States was raided by the Federal government for no apparent reason. Abortion activists within the Kansas Senate blocked a proposed bill that would allow the slowing of child murder. And Democrats within the Senate passed a bill designed to reduce inflation, that will instead increase it, reducing only the capital available within the wallets of hardworking Americans.
And that is only a snapshot of the last week. Within the political and cultural landscape of the U.S., there are plenty of wrongs, plenty of evils, and plenty of those things which fall somewhere in between. As Christians, as beacons of truth, as zealous patriots for the Law of Liberty--the Bible--this must place in us a burning, righteous, anger.
Let us be clear: sin is anything that goes against God's wishes. (Exodus 20) It is clearly against gods wishes that we, as his creation, would ever mistreat other members of his creation either physically or emotionally. (Ephesians 4:32) This clearly rules out many forms of anger--but not all.
Definitionally, that which is good is the opposite of evil. Therefore those who are good must be actively opposed to evil. It is an understatement to say that God is good--he is the creator of all that is good--pure goodness himself. (James 1:17)
Love is good, and God is good, so God is certainly loving. And if God is both loving and completely good--or perfect--and since it is good to be opposed to evil, then it is loving of God to be opposed to evil and to exercise his righteous anger against that which is and those who are evil.
If God was not angry at sin, then he would not be loving and good. And since we, as his followers, must follow his example, hating what and who he hates, and loving that and those who he loves, we must be vehemently angry at sin, at untruth, at heresy, at injustice--that is our calling in Christ. But be angry and do not sin.
Remember, the litmus test for righteous anger is scripture. If we are not angry at that which scripture (God's word) calls out as evil, then our anger is selfish, misplaced, and fully deserving of the righteous anger of God.
Al K. Scott
Editor in Chief
The Reformation Times (reformationtimes.com)
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