The Angry Christian

Last updated on: October 28, 2013 at 2:14 pm by C. Don Jones

The Angry Christian 2013-10-28T14:14:25-06:00 C. Don Jones

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.

The absolute worst example of discipleship is the angry Christian.

I am tempted to just leave that statement there and move along with the day. I won’t do that because it is too easy. I meet an angry Christian every week. This person usually comes in two kinds and both types justify their being angry and often abusive. The first type believes the world is going the wrong way. The other kind believes he or she is being shoved around (read: persecuted) by everyone else.

I see no justification for either point of view. The first kind who see the world going the wrong way should ask what he or she expected the world to be. If the world ever could go the right way, would we need a God-given vision that would help us set it right? Often, this believer has indulged in some self-serving nostalgia about the way the world and the church was some time in the past. It may have been in the believer’s lifetime. It may be some time before the believer was born. In either case, the believer looks back with rose-tinted view screens to a supposedly freer and simpler time. Why is life complicated? Because that is the way life is. Yet, this believer wishes to shout the negative. Life, he or she maintains, was better in the past. If we could go with the simple Biblical vision of what life should be and once was, we will have what we need. I sometimes blame this view on the long-running drama “Little House on the Prairie” or maybe “Bambi” with the idyllic pastoral or wilderness setting. “Don Quixote” is the story that should cure such a view. Or better yet “Ecclesiastes” can be a corrective. The biggest problem for the church with this kind of Angry Christian is that age will often reinforce the anger until it becomes bitterness. And a bitter Christian can be demonic.

The second kind of angry Christian is already crossing into bitterness. Therefore, he or she is in true mortal danger. This era where everyone claims to oppose bullying makes the angry Christian look for some one or some situation to justify his or her own personal failures as some one else’s fault. It is a narcissistic attitude where the believer thinks he or she did nothing wrong and is being singled out unjustly. It can be true the person did nothing wrong. But, we do not live with only the circumstances of human actions. There are a great number of processes at work that affect an individual life. One may argue that persecution comes in many forms. It is difficult to claim persecution at anytime where believers are suffering no ill effects and can be either fat or fit with no fear of losing life or limb. This person suffers from an unjustifiable anger that has already crossed into bitterness. The potential for lashing out in demonic violence has been witnessed too many times in the history of the faith to be discounted or not repented.

Christians must remember that the world ultimately belongs to God. We wait for its’ redemption as well as our own. “God so loved the world…” the creed of evangelicalism reads. The apostle warns, “Your anger does not work the justice of God.” Nor from the prophet to David, can a man (or woman) of blood build the house of God.

Christians are to seek the peace and the welfare of the people among whom we live. Why do we find anger so necessary to the lives of believers? Good question. Find an answer that fits the vision of Jesus. You can not do it. But, you can get the vision of the kingdom Jesus offers.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

October 8, 2013

Screaming Heresy

Next Post

November 4, 2013 Wasting Time

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Addiction Advent Afghanistan Anxiety Ascension Sunday Baptism Barack Obama Biblical Interpretation Bigotry Book Banning BSA Buddhism Choice Christmas Church Discipline Community Conscience Conspiracy theories COVID-19 Culture Wars death cults deconstruction Devotional Divine Judgment Donald Trump Earth Day Election Day empathy Environmentalism Evangelism Exploitation of the Poor Faith False Claims fascism Fear Forgiveness Genocide government Grace Gun Violence Halloween Hate Health Hillbilly Elegy Hindu Holy Communion Holy Week Homelessness Hope Identity Integrity Islam Joe Biden John Hagee Kamala Harris Labor Lent Liberation Theology Lies Love Love as action Neurological disorders Non-Christian Religions Online Worship Original Goodness Pandemic Peace Pentecost Philosophy Preaching Progressive Christianity Racism Redemptive Violence Myth Resentment Saint's Days Satire Sobriety social media Spiritual Self Care Spirituality Technology The Kingdom of God The United Methodist Church Theology Transfigurations Sunday Transgender persons Truth Uncategorized Violence Wesleyan Working Class

Select a Month September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 March 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 September 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 January 2025 October 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 October 2018 September 2018 July 2018 February 2018 January 2018 August 2017 May 2017 November 2016 July 2016 June 2016 November 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 January 2015 November 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 June 2013 March 2013 February 2013 December 2012 August 2012 July 2012 May 2012 February 2012 December 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

There is a season for everything under heaven—a time to be born and a time to do what?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Rest Die Sing Live