Wrath: A Crisis of Kindness

Mahatma Gandhi managed to spark reform on two different continents--in the countries of South Africa and India--and to him are attributed an alternate list of Seven Deadly Sins, seven things about which one could get righteously indignant; they are:

1. Wealth without work
2. Pleasure without conscience
3. Knowledge without character
4. Business without morality
5. Science without humanity
6. Worship without sacrifice
7. Politics without principle

Anger has provoked some much-needed reforms. Prisons were pits of despair until a reformer named John Howard and his followers grew sufficiently angry that they did something about it. Slavery of other human beings was quite acceptable to polite British society until people like William Wilberforce grew sufficiently angry about it that he did something about it. Hospitals were grim places until Florence Nightingale lost her temper with the British government and pressured them to provide adequate treatment and more nurses for the wounded and dying on the battlefield. (Allen D. Churchill, "The Anger of Love," Courage to Believe) Our Anabaptist forebears were quite angry with the slowness of the Church to introduce reforms, and growing impatient, they introduced the reforms themselves, at no little cost to them.

The Scriptures, to a certain extent, allow human anger some dignity. Anger doesn't appear to be unexpected when encountered, and while it is advised that anger be dealt with prudently, there is a sense in which anger is seen to play a positive role. Even the biblical saints got angry. Moses got angry. The Old Testament prophets could get quite provoked about injustice. We even have an example of Jesus' anger, when he drove the money changers and livestock out of the temple. (John 2:14-15)

And then, of course, there is the wrath of God. The Apostle Paul, in the book of Romans (1:18) informs us that the "wrath of God" is revealed against all manner of wickedness. If God can be angry, it must be a good thing, right? How is it, then, that anger, or wrath, is included in the Church's list of the Seven Deadly Sins?

Wrath -- A Tricky Sin

Kathleen Norris, whose dry humour was on delightful display in the video we watched last week in Adult Sunday School, says that wrath, or anger, is a tricky sin, and that the desert monks of the 4th century regarded anger as the most dangerous of human passions--far more destructive than even greed or lust--and they had much to say about the tricks that anger plays on us. "When it is absolutely necessary to correct another, do so," they said. "But do it quickly and simply, then let it go. Don't get entangled in the expectation of results. Otherwise, anger can take hold and lead you to commit an even worse fault than the one you were trying to correct." (Amazing Grace: A Vocabulary of Faith, page 126)

Anger is a tricky sin because it often comes with its own built-in justification. It's hard, even embarrassing, to try and justify gluttony. It's silly to even attempt to justify sloth. Many people try to justify greed, but the effort is often blatantly unseemly, if not ridiculous. After one too many showy acquisitions, greedy people inevitably end up looking goofy. Anger, especially if exhibited under the banner of a righteous cause, can look quite good! Frederick Buechner says that of the Seven Deadly Sins, anger is also quite possibly the most fun! "To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations to come, to savour the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back--in many ways it is a feast fit for a king." (Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC) The chief drawback, he says, is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you!

Anger, it appears, has its downside, and let me name several of its drawbacks. Firstly, as just pointed out, anger is self-destructive. We've long known of anger's negative effects on the human body and its connection with depression, ulcers and the like. Initially anger can be quite satisfying, but the Bible compares it to something--a beast perhaps--crouching at your door, waiting to devour you. (Genesis 4:7). Anger is like a poison, intended to annihilate the object of our anger, but inevitably it poisons our own well. Or, to introduce yet another metaphor, the grapes of wrath may look quite delectable, but they have a very sour and bitter taste.

Secondly, anger is a first-cousin to violence. It's at the root of domestic violence, too often with deadly results. Many of us are much more violent than we care to acknowledge, and even if anger does not develop into physical assault, a campaign of verbal abuse can be devastating. The Old Testament psalmist speaks of those whose "tongues (are) sharp swords". (Psalm 57:4)

The biblical story itself had barely begun when we have our first murder, with anger at its root. (Genesis 4:1-8) Adam and Eve's sons, Cain and Abel, lived in a time when anger could hardly be blamed on over-crowding. The two brothers even had their respective professions, one keeping flocks, the other working the soil. Interestingly, their altercation took place in the course of worship--the first example of worship rage, I guess--and Cain was very angry. God told him to put a lid on it, but Cain had a better idea. He said, Hey Abel! Let's go out in the field. I want to show you my new crop duster! Off they went, and while out in the field Cain attacked and killed Abel!

Anger can become rage. Rage can kill. As you may well know, most murders are not premeditated acts of violence, but "crimes of passion," as we call them, committed in moments of uncontrolled frenzy and deeply regretted after the fact.

Our bulletin cover has a nice little poem on the back about anger, by Charles and Mary Lamb, a brother and sister who lived in the latter part of the 18th century. If they wrote this poem after Mary killed her invalid mother, then she knows of what she speaks! Her brother, Charles, had himself appointed as her guardian to save her from incarceration, and cared for her the rest of his life. The pair are well known for their Tales from Shakespeare, and ironically, while Charles retold Shakespeare's tragedies, Mary did the comedies!

Thirdly, while anger appears in some respects a noble emotion, there is about the sin of anger a pettiness. Essentially, anger is a demanding sin, demanding that all others must consent to "my way" of doing things. C. S. Lewis said, "To rail is the sad privilege of the loser."

Fourthly, the downside of this sin includes the fact that anger is a presumptuous sin. It's not so much that a righteous person often feels angry, as that an angry person often feels righteous! I am angry about such-and-such because I have a right to be angry. God is angry about it, and I am angry about it, and together we're going to take you out! While there is such a thing as righteous indignation, it may be much rarer than we think. Those who profess righteous anger are often guilty of premature identification with God. It is telling that in the Scriptures those who attempt to usurp the wrath of God often become themselves the object of that wrath.

Many times our anger over situations has less to do with the morality of the situation that it has to do with interpersonal conflict. And if we are often angry, that may be yet another sign that our anger is not righteous anger.

There is yet a fifth downside to anger and that has to do with the fact that the Bible warns us about this sin. The Old Testament acknowledges anger and may see some positive uses for anger, but it also roundly condemns many expressions of anger. Old Testament commonsense holds that the prudent person ignores an insult, whereas fools show their anger at once. (Proverbs 12:16) "A fool gives full vent to anger," says Proverbs, whereas the wise quietly hold it back. (29:11) "One who is quick-tempered acts foolishly," it says. (14:17) "Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but one who has a hasty temper exalts folly." (14:29) There is no shortage of biblical wisdom about anger: "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." (15:1) "Those who are hot-tempered stir up strife, but those who are slow to anger calm contention." (15:18) If Proverbs warns us not to hang out with gluttons, it also says, "Make no friends with those given to anger, and do not associate with hotheads...." (22:24) And the most colourful proverb of all, Proverbs 30, verse 33: "For as pressing milk produces curds, and pressing the nose produces blood, so pressing anger produces strife." Interestingly, in Hebrew psychology the nose was thought of as the seat of anger, and the phrase, "slow to anger" literally means "long of nose".

The New Testament is even more leery of anger. Jesus himself, in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:21-26), links anger and murder, and suggests that one is accountable to God for even verbal expressions of anger. Further, Jesus suggests that a prerequisite for worship is that you clear up any reasons for anger. Escalating matters may simply lead to bad consequences for you!

In our reading from Ephesians, we are told, "do not let the sun go down on your anger...." (Ephesians 4:26) In other words, don't give it time to fester; to do so is just playing into the devil's hands. (4:27) Furthermore, it says, "Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice...." (4:31) If that doesn't cover almost every dimension of anger, I don't know! James says, categorically, "your anger does not produce God's righteousness." (James 1:20)

Wrath -- A Sin that Requires Regulating

When our family travelled throughout southern Africa in the summer of 1988 we crossed the South Africa border four times and each time proved to be a tense experience. Only after answering many questions were we granted a transit visa through South Africa--which we needed simply to get to Swaziland--and when we passed through the border for the last time we heaved a collective sign of relief. Scarcely had we pulled away from the border station, however, when our car took off like a shot! And it just kept accelerating! I finally had enough presence of mind to put my foot on the clutch and to switch off the motor, but I was sweating! And hoping our hasty departure had gone unnoticed by the border patrol! We discovered, after lifting the hood, that some regulating device had come off, and left us with no control over the motor whatsoever!

The New Testament book of James provides us with some very simple and helpful ways to regulate our anger. In the first chapter of James, he writes, "Be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger...." (James 1:19) Of course, one has to, first of all, acknowledge one's anger, which is a big chore for some. Some of us are blithely unaware of our own anger. Some of us are frightened of our own anger. The Apostle Paul says an interesting thing in our Ephesians passage; he writes, "Be angry but do not sin...." (4:26), suggesting that anger may be expected, but that it becomes sin only after we pay it sufficient mind to develop it into the beautiful work of indignation we'd like it to be!

"Be...slow to anger," says James (1:19) In other words, hold back your anger. This is the one time that it's appropriate to procrastinate. It used to be that we were all under the spell of the notion that repressing your anger was the unhealthiest thing we could do. I'm not sure that's any longer the conventional wisdom. ("It's better to bottle up your anger," Ottawa Citizen, May 9, 1999) Plutarch, the Roman playwright, had one of his characters say to the emperor, "Remember, Caesar, whenever you are angry, say or do nothing until you have repeated the four-and-twenty letters (of the alphabet) to yourself." The time-honoured expedient of taking a few deep breaths and counting to ten may still be good counsel. We need to give ourselves time to think, for as C.S. Lewis said, "Anger is the anaesthetic of the mind."

James also says, "Be quick to listen (and) slow to speak...." (1:19) Good advice! Our tongues are usually the first thing out of the gate when we are angry. If we could slow down our tongues and speed up our ears, it would go a long way toward regulating anger.