Anger in Compassion

Last updated on: May 9, 2013 at 6:22 am by Faithful Democrats

Anger in Compassion 2013-05-09T06:22:42-06:00 Faithful Democrats

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

"How should a Christian deal with righteous anger?" E.A., Chicago

How do we deal with righteous anger? With as much righteousness and as little anger as possible.

We
all learned as children that we’re not supposed to be angry when
somebody does something to us, but there are times when anger is an
appropriate moral response. When the poor are exploited for the profit
of the rich, when people are put at risk by poor planning or corrupt
leaders, when politicians lie to cover up their own problems or mislead
the public, anger is the emotion that stirs us to do something about
it. In those cases, it’s apathy that is immoral, not anger.

But
if we’re honest, what usually stirs us up are the things that happen to
us. We get angry when someone cuts us off in rush hour traffic. People
living in FEMA trailers a year after the hurricane and soldiers sent
onto the Baghdad streets without adequate armor don’t get our blood
boiling quite so quickly. Righteous anger requires genuine compassion.
In order to feel righteous anger, we have to be outraged at what has
been done to others and put our own problems in perspective. Righteous
anger is the kind of anger Jesus expressed toward leaders who laid
heavy burdens on people and then wouldn’t lift a finger to help carry
them (Matthew 23). Righteous anger is the kind of anger the prophets
felt toward rulers who added house to house and field to field, until
the poor had no place to go (Isaiah 5:7-10). Ordinary anger makes us
feel good for a minute by imagining that we’re better than the person
who made us angry. Righteous anger moves us to action, often risky
action on behalf of people whom we may not even know.

<!–
D(["mb","

So if youre going to allow yourself the pleasure of feeling angry, make your anger as righteous as possible. Make sure that youre angry on behalf of people who are really suffering, and not just angry at somebody you think has caused your problems. Use your anger as the starting point for serious action, and not just as a measuring stick to make yourself look better than somebody else. Righteous anger has the emotional power to engage you with real problems and build genuine moral commitments. But the problems almost always last longer than the emotion does, and thats a good thing. What comes after righteous anger is hard work. Its nice to imagine sweeping the bad guys away and setting things right with one blow, but in the real world the end result of righteous anger is almost always that youve got to work with the people you were angry at to solve the problem.n For that, youll need all the righteousness you can manage, and at least as much patience as you first had anger.

Robin Lovin

n”,0]
);
D([“ce”]);
//–>

So
if you’re going to allow yourself the pleasure of feeling angry, make
your anger as righteous as possible. Make sure that you’re angry on
behalf of people who are really suffering, and not just angry at
somebody you think has caused your problems. Use your anger as the
starting point for serious action, and not just as a measuring stick to
make yourself look better than somebody else. Righteous anger has the
emotional power to engage you with real problems and build genuine
moral commitments. But the problems almost always last longer than the
emotion does, and that’s a good thing. What comes after righteous anger
is hard work. It’s nice to imagine sweeping the bad guys away and
setting things right with one blow, but in the real world the end
result of righteous anger is almost always that you’ve got to work with
the people you were angry at to solve the problem. For that, you’ll
need all the righteousness you can manage, and at least as much
patience as you first had anger.

Ask a Theologian

Previous Post

November 11, 2006

"No" and "Yes"

Next Post

November 14, 2006 Obama and MLK

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category About Us About Us Action Center Advertise Ask a Theologian Ask a Theologian Blogs Books Campaign Blog Candidate Spotlights Commentary Donate Facebook Featured Writers Fellows Fellows From the Pulpit General Information Hillary Clinton Interfaith Blog Latest Media Center Media Center Media Center MyBlog MyBlog News Newsflash Newsflashes Our Team Reader Blogs RSS Sermon of the Week Shop Social Networking Static Items Support Talking Points Test blogs The Basics Theology Uncategorized YouTube

Select a Month November 2020 October 2020 February 2020 August 2019 July 2018 July 2017 March 2017 February 2017 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 June 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 January 2006 August 2004

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

True or False: The Sermon on the Mount includes the Lord's Prayer.

Select your answer to see how you score.

FALSE TRUE