Announcer (00:00:00): It's time to think about the Bible like you never have before. This is Christian questions. This podcast centers on godly principles, family values, and honest dialogue in a politically free zone. After the podcast, check out our other episodes, all our Bible study resources, videos. Download the CQ app and more at christianquestions.com. Today's topic is, I'm a Christian and I'm angry. What now? Coming up in this episode, being angry is easy and common. As we look around our world, we notice how far down the rabbit hole of darkness and evil it has gone. Godlessness, bloated egos, lying, hypocrisy, inequality. It all makes us want to scream, but should we, are there positive ways to express our Christian anger? Now, here's Rick, Jonathan, and Julie.

Rick (00:00:52): Welcome everyone. I'm Rick. I'm joined by Jonathan, my co-host for over 20 years.

Jonathan (00:00:57): It's always a blessing.

Rick (00:00:58): And Julie, a longtime CQ contributor, is also with us.

Julie (00:01:02): I am so looking forward to this topic!

Rick (00:01:05): Jonathan, what's our theme scripture for today's episode?

Jonathan (00:01:08): Colossians 3:8, "But now you also put them all aside: anger, wrath, malice, slander, an abusive speech from your mouth."

Rick (00:01:18): We all get angry. In today's social media world, we can easily find a platform to express that anger. Our anger develops when we hear or see something that we interpret as causing fear, frustration, or offense. We react to our perception and the seeds of anger are sown and grown in an instant. Once angry, we often find it justifiable to lash out with our own brand of challenge, retaliation, or defiance. Our anger is now grown from a personal, internal motivation into a larger and more threatening external action, which is usually destructive and not constructive. As Christians, what are we supposed to do with this human instinct? Should we allow ourselves to get angry? Look, both God and Jesus got angry. So does that give us permission?

Julie (00:02:11): Last year, 2021 was one of the worst years on record here in the United States with more than 700 road rage related shootings across the country. Customer service, restaurant and airline workers report increasing abuse from customers. People are unraveling, we're angry over politics, local issues, global issues. Let's face it, we live in an angry world, both online and in person.

Rick (00:02:35): We do, and it's highly unfortunate. So what do the Scriptures say? Well, first, anger is an emotion, but it doesn't ride alone. It's usually a secondary emotion, a response to real or perceived experiences. There's actually three categories of experiences that can bring anger, and we're going to get these three categories from an article called "Destructing Anger in the Human Brain," by Gad Gillum and Toma Handler. Julie, what are these three categories of experiences?

Julie (00:03:08): The first is a real or imagined threat, such as physical or psychological pain that could cause anger. The second is frustration due to goal obstruction, and the third is perceived personal offense due to unfair treatment, insults, rejection, criticism, things like that.

Rick (00:03:26): So we've got these three things, and all anger can be traced back to these things because anger is a secondary emotion. It's built upon something else. So, this is a good place for us to lay a foundation and get started.

Julie (00:03:39): Controlled anger, though, we have to think about this, it can be energizing; it can give us courage to have that difficult conversation that we need to have to stand up for ourselves, get that raise or stand up for those we love and get involved in a worthy cause. Malcolm X once said, "Usually when people are sad, they don't do anything. They just cry over their condition. But when they get angry, they bring about a change."

Rick (00:04:02): And you're right, positive anger can be something good, but we have to be careful.

Jonathan (00:04:07): And we have a current day example of this with the war in Ukraine. When the Russians attacked the Ukrainians to take away their freedom, the Ukraine's response was, over my dead body! The anger at being attacked gave them strength and courage to stand when no one in the world thought they could, least of all the Russians.

Rick (00:04:27): Yes, and that that is a tremendous example and is a tremendous inspiration. It's a now a hugely unfortunate inspiration, but it's there and these people are standing to protect their home. And that anger of being unjustly attacked really does give strength like Julie was saying before. So let's go through this. Let's establish the biblical definitions of anger, Jonathan.

Jonathan (00:04:50): First just two of the several Old Testament words for anger. The first word means properly, the nose or nostril, hence the face, and occasionally a person. So anger is all about the face. Let's, let's look at some examples of this word. 1 Samuel 24:8, "David also arose afterward and went out of the cave. And when Saul looked behind him, David stooped with his face to the earth and bowed himself."

Julie (00:05:18): And that word face there is the same word that can be translated as anger. Here David was in a position to kill King Saul, but decided that it would be going against the Lord's will. Saul had this really difficult love-hate relationship with David. He tried to kill David on more than one occasion, but David was able to diffuse the situation by walking away and not engaging. That's a good lesson for us. If someone is directing their anger towards us, sometimes saying calm down, often antagonizes them further. So we might need to walk away instead of escalating things by arguing back and forth, trying to prove our point and circle back and talk later when things are calmer.

Rick (00:05:56): Yes, in, in my own experience with lots of people, with lots of situations and oftentimes lots of anger, one of the things that you look at when somebody's escalating is when I try to diffuse it, first of all, I don't back down. I stand up and say, hang on, just hold on. And then I pause and say, look, let's you and I together, let's take a breath. And that generally gives people, because it's a suggestion, let's you and I both take a breath so that we can reset. So it's an important aspect of understanding how all of this works.

Julie (00:06:29): There's actually a term for that. It's called cognitive reappraisal. That's taking a step back from the provocation to see it from a different viewpoint, focusing on breathing. And sometimes counting can help some people visualize their anger as a speed limit. You'll want to mentally put those brakes on around 75 miles an hour before your car spins out of control. And James 1:19 tells us to be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger, and we might add, be quick to deescalate our anger. And we're going to talk more about that scripture a little later.

Rick (00:07:01): Yes, good, good. Excellent.

Jonathan (00:07:03): And our next example is 2 Samuel 12:5, "And David's anger was greatly kindled against the man. And he said to Nathan, as the Lord liveth, the man that has done this thing shall surely die."

Rick (00:07:16): And of course, David is condemning himself with that statement because he was the man in the story. And so, but his anger was greatly kindled. Remember, that's the word for face. So you can see that the anger shows in the face in these scriptures. Jonathan, let's go to Psalms 106:39-40:

Jonathan (00:07:34): "Thus were they defiled with her own works and went a whoring with their own inventions, therefore was the wrath of the Lord kindled against his people in so much that he abhor his own inheritance."

Rick (00:07:46): So we can see that same word means face, literally anger in David's example and the wrath of God against injustice and sin and darkness. So you get a sense of what that word means. Now, there's that other word, Jonathan, you mentioned there. We're going to look at just two of several words.

Jonathan (00:08:01): Well, the second word means to breathe hard. That is be enraged. And let's read Psalm 85:5, "Wilt thou be angry with us forever, wilt thou draw out thine anger to all generations?"

Rick (00:08:16): So breathe hard, be enraged. There you got that emotion flowing clearly here. So Old Testament anger is often depicted as an emotion that's outwardly notice and noticeably displayed, especially in your face. When people get in your face, you kind of get the sense of, yes that's where we get the idea of anger from because it does show up in the face when we get into somebody's face, if you will.

Jonathan (00:08:42): The two primary New Testament words for anger, these represent the internal emotion of anger. The first means desire as a reaching forth or excitement of the mind by analogy, violent passion by implication punishment.

Rick (00:08:59): So you get this idea that the emotion that's talked about in the New Testament is a little bit more internal, but it's still anger. Let's look at Mark 3:4-5 as an example:

Jonathan (00:09:11): "And he said to them, is it lawful to do good or do harm on the Sabbath to save a life or to kill? But they kept silent after looking around at them with anger grieved at their hardness of heart, he said to the man, stretch out your hand. And he stretched out his hand and was restored." Jesus was very moved. His state had changed.

Rick (00:09:34): And he was angry. He was angry because there was hypocrisy. And they're complaining about the potential for making somebody whole, for healing them. And he's angry and he is like, what is wrong with you? Because he's showing them a higher level of righteousness. So you can see Jesus had anger; we're going to come back to his anger later on. Let's go to another example of this word for anger. Jonathan. Romans 1:18:

Jonathan (00:09:58): "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness."

Rick (00:10:06): So that desire, that anger, God has it in the New Testament, just like in the Old Testament. So now the second word for anger:

Jonathan (00:10:16): It means to provoke or enragethat is, to become exasperated.

Rick (00:10:22): So you get that sense of becoming exasperated when you think of that, you throw up your hands like it's just so, bad. I just can't do anything. And that's another word for anger in the New Testament. Good example here is from the Parable of the Prodigal Son when the father is talking to the older brother, once the younger brother has come home, Luke 15:27-28:

Jonathan (00:10:44): "And he said to him, your brother has come home and your father has killed the fatted calf because he's received him back safe and sound. But he became angry and was not willing to go in. And his father came out and began pleading with him."

Rick (00:10:58): So the older brother becomes angry, enraged, exasperated with this. "You're doing all this for him!?" And so human anger is everywhere. And the beautiful thing about the Bible is, it doesn't hide human anger at all.

Jonathan (00:11:16): And there is another New Testament word we need to define. That word is "wrath." It's a major step beyond anger. While anger is primarily an inward emotion, wrath is an outward passionate expression of that inward emotion. And it means passion, as if breathing hard. Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon defines it this way: anger for with boiling up and soon subsiding again, the wine of passion, inflaming one, which either drives the drunkard mad or kills him with its strength.

Julie (00:11:51): Wow, that's pretty dramatic. So you'd say this is like having outbursts of anger or outbursts of rage?

Rick (00:11:56): Yes, and this is very, very overt, where this word "wrath" appears in the New Testament. And sometimes the other words that are talked about as anger are translated "wrath. So we have to differentiate between the two. But this is absolute outbursts of rage. And it's very interesting how this word is used. It's used primarily to describe humanity's over-the-top passions. It's often used in Revelation to describe God's overt, outward wrath against the evils of this world, the evils of false Christianity, those kinds of things. This word is never used towards individuals throughout the New Testament, but it's always used toward groups. And I think that's an important point from God's perspective, but from our perspective, it's never used ever in a good and justifiable way. Let's look at 2 Corinthians 12:20 as our first example of this word:

Jonathan (00:12:53): For I am afraid that perhaps when I come, I may find you to be not what I wish. I may be found by you to be not what you wish that perhaps there may be, strife, jealousy, angry tempers, disputes, slanders, gossip, arrogance disturbances.

Rick (00:13:11): So that phrase, angry tempers, is this word for "wrath." This is dripping, angry, overt, outside reaction. And the apostle says, it does not belong. It simply doesn't belong. Romans 2:7-8 is another example. And it actually uses one of the previous words we described, as well as this word for this dripping anger:

Jonathan (00:13:33): "To those who by perseverance in doing good, seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life. But to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation."

Rick (00:13:48): So, wrath is the word for anger. Indignation is the word for, you're part of a group that's not being godly. There's going to be, for that group, a dramatic, dramatic consequence there. So we're putting some things in order, getting some definitions in line, trying to understand anger in both the Old and New Testament. And it's very, very present. So here's the question, is my anger productive or alarming? Jonathan, what do we know so far by way of introduction?

Jonathan (00:14:16): Anger is an internal reaction or response. And it appears all throughout the Bible. Both God and Jesus are shown to exhibit anger in specific circumstances and for specific reasons. Anger therefore can be acceptable, but only if it's appropriately expressed in certain circumstances. Does my anger fit this description?

Rick (00:14:38): And that's the key. Does my anger fit that description? So it has something positive - we're going to need to expand that dramatically here. So understanding what anger is and why we become angry is a strong first step to knowing how to use it appropriately.

Jonathan (00:14:59): Why did God seem so angry so often in the Old Testament? What can we learn from His anger?

Rick (00:15:07): God's anger, especially in the Old Testament, is the best place for us to lay the foundation for understanding and applying anger appropriately. When we observe God's anger, it is important that we remind ourselves that His anger always, always has an ultimate purpose of blessing all humanity. So God's anger always has positive purpose.

Julie (00:15:36): Before observing God's anger, let's start to learn just a little bit about the science of human anger from a sound bite called, "The Brain when You're Angry," by Neuro Champions.

Neuro Champions (00:15:47): What exactly is happening in our brains when we're angry? A lot of what happens has to do with our amygdala, a small almond-shaped structure in the center of our brain. The amygdala is known as our threat detector, and it's responsible for sending out an alarm through our brain and body when it thinks we're in danger, giving us the chance to protect ourselves. The amygdala coordinates the release of the neurotransmitter catecholamine, which causes a burst of energy. At the same time, our fight or flight response is triggered. This causes our body to flood with the hormones, adrenaline and neuro adrenaline. Our heart rate increases. Our attention focuses, our breathing gets quicker, and our digestion stops to save energy. Our blood flow increases throughout our body, getting our muscles ready for action. The increased blood flow also reaches our faces, which might get a bit blushed, which is why people get described as being red with anger. Being in this state means that our body is prepared for a fight.

Rick (00:16:48): So you have a very clear picture of anger and what it can produce, and all of the things that happen inside your body physiologically without you having any idea, any of it's going on. And there's a lot, and that's why anger is such a powerful thing. So folks, let's get practical and let's get personal. All right, Julie, I'm going to ask you a question.

Julie (00:17:12): <Laugh>

Rick (00:17:13): Very pointed question, what makes you angry?

Julie (00:17:19): Unfortunately, there's a lot that makes me angry. But I completely understand that physical reaction that she just described. Whenever I hear the slightest inkling of animal abuse, I get an immediate, involuntary and visceral reaction. It occurs. My face gets hot and red. I start sweating, my stomach lurches. I can't help it. My mind immediately starts thinking of all the bad things that I want to happen to that person responsible. And if something is on TV, I stick my fingers in my ear and sing la la la la la until my husband can grab the remote and turn it down. True story. Here's what's called the "suspension of disbelief." He has to assure me each and every time - he listens to the story and he assures me it's okay - that the news report ended with the actress Angelina Jolie swooping in to take the injured dog, cat, duck, horse, whatever it is, to her private island where it lives out its days in love and luxury. Now, I know that's not true, but I have to focus on this happy ending, or else I will be up all night angry, crying for days, because it's that important.

Rick (00:18:26): Wow, that makes you very angry. And thank you, thank you for sharing that experience because it's such a dramatic experience in your life, and it really is important for us to understand that anger changes us. And sometimes, like you said, you feel like the change is uncontrollable. So as Christians, really what we want to discuss here today is, what do we do about that? How do we manage that? So thanks for giving us that beginning here. So, Julie, let's get a little bit more background on scriptural anger.

Julie (00:18:58): So we've got a quick quote from an article called, "In Your Anger, Do Not Sin: The Propriety of Anger in Christian Response," by Jacob M. Reich. He said this, "When either God's holiness or His love is threatened by sin and evil, God becomes angry. Interestingly, the Old Testament has 455 places where anger is listed. And of that total 375 specifically refers to God experiencing anger. All of these occurrences of anger were God's responses to threats to His holiness and love. But since God is a holy and righteous God, His anger is never sinful, but it's a righteous anger.

Jonathan (00:19:39): And we should look at God's righteous anger with respect. But the problem is, when we as human beings look at God's anger, we transfer our humanness to His anger. That's what mythology was all about, making gods in their own image. Now, before looking at God's anger, let's observe His motivation. Ezekiel 33:11, "Say to them, as I live declares the LORD God, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked turn from his way and live, turn back, turn back from your evil ways. Why then will you die? O, house of Israel."

Rick (00:20:17): So you can see God essentially pleading with Israel, "Turn back from evil. I take pleasure in life, not death." This is important. This is a baseline for us to understand who God is and what His anger is there to produce. So God's motivation is toward life, not towards death. So, we have to look at God's anger. Julie, you read that article, it says 375 times it talks about God being angry. That's a lot of anger. How do we learn? How do we learn from, and therefore avoid, being the subject of God's anger? Because when you look in Scripture, being the subject of God's anger never ends well for you because you, because there's always consequence. So we're going to go through several steps in the learning process to avoid being the subject of God's anger before we get to our own anger. First, we're going to recognize His anger is focused against sin, and that His favor waits for us to come back to him from that sin. That's why He gets angry because of sin, not because of you, but because of sin. Jonathan, we read Psalm 85:5. Let's read Psalms 85:4-7:

Jonathan (00:21:31): Restore us O God of our salvation and cause your indignation toward us to cease. Will You be angry with us forever? Will You prolong Your anger to all generations? Will You not Yourself revive us again, that Your people may rejoice in You? Show us Your loving kindness, O Lord, and grant us Your salvation.

Julie (00:21:52): Jonathan, you started by reading, "Restore us, O God;" we have to place ourselves in a position where restoration is possible, and that's called repentance. I found a great quote. C.S. Lewis once said, "Repentance means unlearning all the self-conceit and self-will that we have been training ourselves into."

Rick (00:22:12): Oh great, talk about a long road. But you know, you're right. Restore us, O God, of our salvation. God is angry, but He's the God of salvation. Why is He angry? He's angry at sin. He's waiting for us to repent and unlearn all of those things you just talked about. So we've got that as our first point. Second, to avoid God's anger and to actually learn from it - recognize that God's anger is often provoked by man's rejection of His grace and deliverance. And if you think about it, rejection is one of those three things that we talked about earlier that provoke anger. We're built in God's image. Hebrews 3:7-14 - we're going to read this in a few pieces - it is going to explain this to us in some detail:

Jonathan (00:23:00): Therefore, just as the holy spirit says today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as when you provoked me, as in the day of trial in the wilderness where your father tried me by testing me and saw my works for 40 years. Therefore, I was angry with this generation and said they always go astray in their heart. And they did not know my ways. As I swore in my wrath, they shall not enter my rest.

Rick (00:23:29): So the apostle is quoting what happened in the Old Testament after Israel was rescued from Egyptian slavery and saying, I delivered them. I gave them miracles. And here they weren't entering into My rest. They rejected God even on the heels of being delivered. And so understand, God's anger is provoked by our rejection of His grace and deliverance. Have to think about that. The next point, the third point, and we'll continue with Hebrews. The third point - learn from the experiences of others. We have plenty of examples of God being angry. Why don't we look at those and learn from them. Learn from the experiences of others, especially this experience we just talked about. Appreciate God's deliverance to you that is given to you through Jesus. So Hebrews chapter three, Jonathan, we're up to verse 12:

Jonathan (00:24:22): Take care, brethren that not be in any one of you, an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God.

Rick (00:24:30): There not being any one of you just like them, because that's what happened. They had that evil heart. And we know the story that that generation, the adults that were released from slavery didn't make it through that 40 years because that was their consequence for rejecting God along the way. Learn from the experiences of others. Fourth, to learn from God's anger, be proactive in learning and passing on the lessons of God's purposeful anger. Stay focused on what you've learned and work at holding fast to your calling. Back to Hebrews 3:13-14:

Jonathan (00:25:07): But encourage one another day after day, as long as it's still called today, so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ. If we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end.

Rick (00:25:23): Notice, we become partakers of Christ IF we hold fast to the beginning of our assurance all the way through. Be proactive, learn the lessons, pass on the lessons, because God's anger is there to teach. It's not there to beat anybody down. It's there to build up through teaching. And when you examine it, you always see there's a teaching to it. And because His plan includes all of mankind, that teaching will have a place for everybody later on. Fifth point about learning from God's anger - know with certainty that God's anger is a tool of His redemptive plan. Know with certainty that's the truth. 2 Peter 3:9:

Jonathan (00:26:09): The Lord is not slow in regard to the promise as certain counts slowness, but is long suffering to us. Not counseling any to be lost, but all to pass on to reformation.

Rick (00:26:21): You see what the verse says? And this was from the Young's Literal Translation. It's a little bit of a different translation, but He is not slow in regard to promise. Think about that. We always think of God as not slow in regard to anger. He just jumps on the anger. But here it's giving us the other side of the story. It's saying He's not slow in regard to promise, but He is long suffering because His plan allows for none to be lost, but all to pass on to reformation, on to salvation, on to reconciliation, to have an opportunity to learn and live. Everyone is given an opportunity, not a guarantee, but an opportunity to learn and live in the resurrection. So, learn that God's anger is always part of His redemptive plan. Final point on this, point six - realize that the anger of God has specific seasons in which it is necessary, and these seasons ultimately lead to eternal peace and unity. Zephaniah 3:8-9, Jonathan, let's just do verse eight first:

Jonathan (00:27:26): Therefore wait for me, declares the Lord, for the day when I rise up as a witness, indeed My decision is to gather nations, to assemble kingdoms, to pour out on them My indignation all My burning anger for all the earth will be devoured with the fire of My zeal.

Rick (00:27:44): Wow, that sounds powerful, that sounds mean, that sounds completely destructive. And you read that and you say, You're talking about God's anger being reconstructive, being positive? How can that be? Well, the answer is, read verse 9:

Jonathan (00:28:00): "For them, I will give to the people's purified lips that all of them may call on the name of the Lord to serve Him shoulder to shoulder."

Rick (00:28:10): So verse 9 is the other side of the story. It's the reason the anger was put in place. He's not destroying all of the people because you can't give them purified lips if they just burned up. So you see that God's anger does have a restorative, redemptive, positive purpose. And it's all over the Scriptures if we're willing to look for it.

Julie (00:28:34): Jonathan, you read, "Therefore wait for me, declares the Lord," and it's hard to wait on the Lord. Good things happen to bad people, but we have to trust that He knows the best way to handle whatever is causing our righteous anger. Sometimes we get angry and frustrated because we've lost a loved one too soon in death, and that's to be expected. Sometimes we're angry and scared because we get a medical diagnosis that's going to turn our lives upside down. But when put in the right context, these strong emotions can help fuel us to not give in, but to fight and push towards healing.

Rick (00:29:09): We have to keep the anger in the right place. So, we've examined God's anger to give us a sense of the righteousness of His anger. So now, we ask our original question with the experience of looking at some of God's anger in this segment. Is my anger, my anger, productive or alarming? Jonathan?

Jonathan (00:29:27): God's anger is an example of anger with positive purpose, anger with righteousness and God's will as its driver can be a tool of healing. Is my anger such a tool, or is it it reckless emotions that bring destructive tidal waves of senseless and godless thoughts and actions?

Julie (00:29:47): Anger comes in stages, and when left unchecked, it can easily become vindictive against someone else. And that's a huge warning sign that we've gone too far. Are we about to take some action like evil speak or neglect a commitment out of anger towards someone, because we might be damaging our characters if we're starting to develop this vindictive spirit. When I'm feeling vindictive, I'm discarding the grace of God because I'm the one that's taking control, and removing God's grace from our focus can be idolatry because we start seeing everything through the lens of self. And we don't want to do that.

Rick (00:30:22): So we need to look at God''s anger and the big picture of God's anger as the example for what anger should be. That is the highest example that we have. It is such a relief to have God's anger in context. We can now use it as an inspirational teaching tool for our own emotions.

Jonathan (00:30:44): When focusing on assessing our own anger, we need a template. What did Jesus' anger look like?

Rick (00:30:52): Well, the Bible says that Jesus was tested in all areas of life just as we are. That means he was tested in relation to the processing of his own human anger. And this is a relief, as we can observe his responses to the things that provoked him to anger and use them as a guide to help us as we overhaul our own human anger.

Julie (00:31:19): I found a funny quote by someone named Gina Burica. "If anger were mileage, I'd be a very frequent flyer right up there in first class!"

Rick (00:31:29): Yes, that's not really good.

Jonathan (00:31:31): No.

Rick (00:31:32): And we're going to develop that a little bit further in just a few minutes, but that's a good quote. Am I a frequent flyer when it comes to anger? First, before we get into Jesus and his responses to handling anger and so forth, let's look at a few Old Testament observations regarding anger. Just, just two scriptures here. First, Proverbs 14:29:

Jonathan (00:31:53): "He who is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who is quick tempered exalts folly." Well, Rick, we aren't suggesting we should never be angry again, right?

Rick (00:32:05): No, no. If you notice, it says he was slow to anger, it doesn't say he who doesn't get angry at all. It says he was slow to anger. So it means that anger is still a part of us. This is important. You have to be careful because you can use this as an excuse like "Aha, so I can just be angry!" Hang on, let's look at the next scripture.

Julie (00:32:30): But first, we talked before about picturing your anger as a speed limit. Well, if that doesn't appeal to you, consider rating your anger in the moment on a scale of 1 to 10. I got this from an article called, "Mindfulness for Anger Management," by Steven Dansiger. This redirection, this scale of 1 to 10, you can redirect your brain from an emotional response to a logical response. It can help you determine if there's a real cause for your anger, or if maybe you're just overreacting. So if your rage is a six or higher, walk away so it doesn't turn into a nine.

Rick (00:33:03): Yes, let's pause, let's take a breath. Just take a breath, Ecclesiastes 7:9:

Jonathan (00:33:09): Do not be eager in your heart to be angry for anger resides in the bosom of fools.

Rick (00:33:15): Okay, so here's the question. The personal question here is, does anger live in your heart, or does it just visit periodically? Are you an anger frequent flyer? I guess that's really what it comes back to.

Julie (00:33:27): You and anger frequent flyer, right? And chronic anger that you can't shake off might be a sign that this emotion is hiding something else. And that's something else might be fear, sadness, feeling out of control, resentment, and even depression. Anger is a symptom of depression. So this might be a symptom, not a cause. So look a little closer if you find this to be a problem.

Rick (00:33:47): Yes, and anger usually isn't a cause. It usually is a symptom. It's a reaction, it's a response to something else. So we have to really look at this. Let's go back to The Brain When Your'e Angry from Neuro Champions. They talk a little bit now about how the brain reacts.

Neuro Champions (00:34:03): Have you ever struggled to remember what was said during a really explosive argument? The high level of arousal makes it difficult for new memories to reform because our ability to concentrate is significantly decreased. As a threat detector, the amygdala works so fast that an alarm is sent out and we start to physically react before our prefrontal cortex, the part of the brain responsible for helping us weigh up our decisions and actions, can even recognize that there's a threat. It takes us about 300 milliseconds to be aware of a threat, but our amygdala will react to the same threat in about 20 milliseconds. Our brains work so that we can react to something quickly, but this means we don't really have time to think about the consequences. This might be why when you lose at your video game, you throw your remote across the room in anger, regardless of what it might hit or break. The amygdala is overriding the prefrontal cortex.

Rick (00:34:54): So we have a physiological response that can really wreak havoc, and we have to be aware so we can do something about it. All right, Jonathan, let's get personal, let's get practical right here. What makes you angry?

Jonathan (00:35:11): Well, I get angry when God is misrepresented by other Christians. God's justice, wisdom, power, and love are often under assault by those who should know better. That's the reason we started Christian Questions. So that God's word could define itself with a clear, harmonious plan from God for all mankind. The Good News has been forgotten by many. People often look at God through tradition and Dark Age teachings. Often God has looked at as having evil intentions because they believe He has created a place of torment for three quarters of the human family. This means they think God failed His creation. Nothing could be further from the truth since Jesus died for all. I want to stand up for God, but in a Christlike way, not allowing my emotion to overpower me, and unfortunately, I have failed at times, and I'm still working on it.

Rick (00:36:08): Well, that's the key to everything, is still working. I am a work in progress, so please be patient with me. Appreciate that. The idea that something that moves you so much when it's misrepresented, it makes you sometimes just shake on the inside. But what do we do to create a godly response to these things? And in that sound bite that we just listened to, it talks about these physiological reactions and responses. They show us that anger can easily get out of control. So here's a key scripture for us in terms of understanding anger. Ephesians 4:26:

Jonathan (00:36:47): "Be angry and yet do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger." This second word for anger in this verse is a different Greek word. It means rage. And Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon says indignation, wrath, exasperation.

Julie (00:37:06): This assures us that just having an angry emotion isn't sinful. It's the festering, persistent and chronic anger and all that it spider cracks out to be is where we have the problem. But here, all this time, I thought, if I just don't go to bed angry, I was fine, which is hard enough. But now you're telling me Thayer's is saying, I can't even be exasperated - like the standard is so high! I need to work even harder at giving the situation upsetting me over to my Heavenly Father before my head hits the pillow.

Rick (00:37:36): And that's an important aspect here. Because anger is such a big emotion, by definition, you need to have a very high standard because look, we're not going to get there overnight. And many of us may not get there entirely in this life, but that doesn't matter. What matters is, we crawl forward, we climb hard to say that, okay, not only should I not be angry, but I should attempt to go to bed not even exasperated. And look, that's hard to do, but it's not impossible. We want to work towards it.

Julie (00:38:07): Let me just say one quick thing. One thing I've been doing lately is whenever I get angry, I immediately stop and I start to pray. Lord, please help me see where I'm wrong in the situation. Please help me to calm down, help me to figure this out. And I feel that that is one way that I'm able to pull back that speed limit and just get right to God immediately.

Rick (00:38:27): And that's a really good introduction to what Jesus told us to do. Because when we stop and pray and say, where am I wrong? It's not, Lord, they are so bad off, I'm going to have to nail 'em. Show me how. No, that's not what it is. It's where am I wrong? Let's think about what Jesus said and taught regarding anger. First his words in Matthew 5:43-44; this is part of the Sermon on the Mount.

Jonathan (00:38:52): "You have heard that it was said, you shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven, for he causes His sun to rise on the evil and good and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous."

Rick (00:39:11): See Julie, you said it before, good things to happen to bad people. And God sends the rain and the sun to those who are unrighteous as well as to the righteous. So the idea is, Jesus is saying, love your enemies and pray for them who persecute you. Don't pray that they get hurt. Pray for them. Pray for God's grace to be shown to them. Pray for them to see something bigger, something better. Jesus is telling us that loving our enemies is not a preference; it's a responsibility. Love those who would see us hurt or embarrassed, for God allows blessings to them as well. These are Jesus'" words. This is what we're responsible for. So we're learning anger management from Jesus. What do we have so far, Julie?

Julie (00:39:53): We often tell our children to "use your words" when they're angry. So we as Christian adults need to learn how to "use his words" when we're angry. Jesus is our model. What would he say? How would he say it? Why would he say it? That takes a lot of introspection. Prolonged anger is starting to seem like it's more trouble than it's worth if I'm supposed to keep autopsying it to keep checking on what's really going on.

Rick (00:40:17): Yes, I'm glad you said that. It's more trouble than it's worth. It really is. But it feels good and it feels right in the moment.

Julie (00:40:24): It does! It feeds itself!

Rick (00:40:26): And Jesus is telling us, stop feeding it and feed something else. We're going to expand that in a big way in the next segment. So stick around for that. Jesus did himself get angry several times. We're just going to look at one example, and this is the clearing of the Temple at Passover time. So Jonathan, let's go to John 2:13-17:

Jonathan (00:40:45): "Jesus went up to Jerusalem and found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves and the changers of money sitting. And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep and the oxen and poured out the changers' money and overthrew the tables and said unto them, that sold doves, 'Take these things, hence. Make not my father's house an house of merchandise.' And his disciples remembered that it was written, 'the zeal of the house have eaten me up.' Well, the problem wasn't the selling of animals for sacrifice. It was that they had evil intentions. The millions of Jews coming to Passover each year needed sacrifices to present to God. The selling took place outside the Temple proper called the outer courts. Temple tax was charged in Roman currency, the shekel, which had to be bought at a high premium. Jesus in Matthew 21:13 called the sellers "robbers." They were stealing from the people for excessive profit. Jesus drove them out because they were thieves.

Rick (00:41:50): So there was a very, highly righteous reason for Jesus anger here. So we want to look at this. What did Jesus do about the abuses being perpetrated in the Temple? There's four quick points here.

Jonathan (00:42:03): Well, Jesus did not seek to do harm,

Julie (00:42:06): But he did seek to stop the extortion. This was a surgical attack on the wrongdoing.

Jonathan (00:42:11): Jesus drove out the animals; they could be easily recovered.

Julie (00:42:15): Interesting to note that Jesus didn't set the doves loose because they wouldn't have been easily recovered. They were valuable to the poor who needed to buy them for their sacrifice.

Rick (00:42:25): So you can see that Jesus was angry, and he put things in place, but he did it, like you said, with surgical accuracy. Even though it looks like you say, well, he made a scourge, he must have been out of control. No, he was deeply in control because he had a very clear objective. So if we're learning anger management from Jesus here, what are we learning?

Jonathan (00:42:43): When action is necessary to restoring order, be sure to only restore the order that needs restoring without causing vengeful and unnecessary damage or loss. Is this what we are doing with our anger?

Rick (00:42:56): And that's a good question. Jesus restored the order the way it needed to be restored. He turned over their tables, he let them fight over their money. He didn't make anything unrecoverable. He just stopped the wrong. Is that the kind of thing I do with my anger? Or do I want to just add one last thing to let them know how I really feel? Jesus did not do that. So what about us? What about our anger? How do we go about changing our anger reactions to appropriate and godly responses? Well, Colossians 3 gives us seven practical personal purification steps that can be applied to anger. These are steps that are about personal purification, but then there's going to be an anger application of them. So here's the first personal process of purification:

Jonathan (00:43:47): Focus on godliness through Christ rather than earthly things. Colossians 3:2-17, and we will just read verses 2 through 4 for now. "Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory."

Rick (00:44:11): So personal process of purification - set your minds on things above. Look up, don't look down, don't look forward. Look up. That's how you purify yourself. So let's take this now and look at it in relation to anger. What's our anger management application with this?

Julie (00:44:27): Question your anger. Genesis 4:6-7, "Then the Lord said to Cain, why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up?" So the point here is, don't just accept anger. We are questioning it. Why are we angry? And again, anger is often a secondary emotion, like we've said. Cain was jealous. Me? I'm usually hungry, people call this "hangry," or I'm tired, or I feel defensive. That's a big one. So what's going on when we spout off on social media? Are we jealous? Are we feeling superior? Are we hiding behind anonymity to feel powerful and advance our cause? Question your anger.

Rick (00:45:08): So the purification of ourselves is to focus on godliness; the purification with regard to anger - question it. And how do you do that? You look up to get a better perspective. So, is my anger productive or alarming? Jonathan, let's wrap this piece up:

Jonathan (00:45:25): For human anger to have any chance of bearing the fruit of righteousness, it must be expressed within the guardrails of our godly restraint. Even though Jesus' appropriately expressed anger didn't always change minds, it always planted kingdom seeds of repentance for those who were wrong. What kind of seeds does my anger plant?

Rick (00:45:46): See, Jesus' anger always planted positive seeds because it pointed to something righteous. Does my anger do that? Well look, looking at how Jesus handled his own righteous anger is a major step toward our ability to deal with unrighteous acts.

Jonathan (00:46:06): So what's the bottom line? How can I transform my anger from a destructive force to a positive force?

Rick (00:46:15): If we truly are the Christians that we claim to be, then transformation should be written all over every aspect of our lives. Our personal anger belongs right in the middle of this transformation work. If we are diligent to read, absorb, and follow the scriptures, we absolutely can reign in the destructive influences of our anger. But it's not an easy process, but it's something it's possible we have to work towards.

Julie (00:46:48): Let's go to one last sound bite from "The Brain When You're Angry," by Neuro Champions:

Neuro Champions (00:46:54): However, we do have control over this instinctive response. Something as simple as chewing gum can activate our parasympathetic nervous system. This is the opposite to our fight or flight response. It's our rest and digest response. By chewing gum, the body is forced to prepare for digestion, which it would not do in the fight or flight response. Actively controlling our breathing also activates our parasympathetic nervous system. It decreases our heart rate, lowers blood pressure and slows breathing. Breathe in through your nose for four seconds and then breathe out through your mouth for six seconds. So remember, the amygdala is our brain threat detector. The amygdala reacts quicker to threats than our prefrontal cortex. And when we're angry, it can be hard to remember what we've said.

Julie (00:47:41): Next time I've have to call the cable company. I'm going to make sure I'm chewing a lot of gum! <Laugh>.

Rick (00:47:47): Breathe in, breathe out, chew gum. These are, these are good practical examples of just calming down our bodies.

Julie (00:47:55): Right, so Rick, I've seen you angry, although it's rare because you're generally very positive and upbeat. What makes you angry?

Rick (00:48:05): I get angry when someone, whether I know or don't know them, is publicly demeaned, with injustice, with cruelty. I just have a hard time handling that. Let me give you an example of of something that happened to me just a few years ago. Someone close to me, someone who I know very well was having a really bad time in their life. A very, just tragically bad time. And we were working at standing with them and encouraging them, and there was another couple that said, "Hey, you know, we know them, we want to help too". So it was like, cool, great, let's get together. We had a cup of coffee, we were at a McDonald's. And the husband didn't know the whole story, and he began to claim a perspective that thoroughly belittled and humiliated this individual. And I'm listening saying, this is wrong. This is not right. This is not accurate. This is not factual. So I told him, I said, Look, there's more to the story than you think. Please enough. There's just much more than you think. But he didn't stop. He just kept going, and he just kept going and kept getting worse, and the demeaning and the insults were just getting bigger. And so I said very much out loud, I said, enough already! Now at this point, my wife gets up to go get coffee because she sees this is not good; she doesn't want to be a part of this. Now look, I'm a little man, okay, <laugh>, this guy is about twice my size, but he just didn't stop. And I put up the stop sign, I said, enough, please stop. And he didn't.

Rick (00:49:40): So he's going on and the insults, the belittling, the integrity shredding that he was doing was too much for me. So I got up, I walked right up to him and literally stood right in front of his face about four inches away. And I lectured him, looked right in his eyes, and I said, How dare you speak out of such ignorance. You weren't there. I was, I know what happened. Did you know this? Did you know that? No? Well, why do you speak? I've been telling you to stop. Do not say another word about this person because it's wrong. And you're misrepresenting him. And I've had enough. I can't deal with it. And he apologized! Now, I'm sorry it had to get to that point. I didn't know how else to stop it, but he's saying this out loud in a public place and I had had enough. That's kind of one example of things that make me mad.

Julie (00:50:35): Wow, that seems like righteous anger based on all these definitions that we've talked about.

Rick (00:50:39): Well, you know what? Even telling the story, I can feel it welling up in me because this person didn't deserve at all what they were getting.

Jonathan (00:50:49): Well, Rick, when you're that close, maybe you should have grabbed a piece of gum.

Julie (00:50:53): At least you didn't grab the hot coffee and throw it at him, because some people would have done that.

Rick (00:50:57): I wouldn't have done that. I wouldn't have done that. But look, let's get back to Colossians 3. Let's get back to this personal process of purification. And remember we had mentioned there's seven steps. We already talked about the first step. These seven steps are about overall purifying ourselves to be more spiritually-minded. But we're going to take each step and apply it to anger. So the second personal process of purification step, Jonathan, what is it?

Jonathan (00:51:22): Consider yourself dead to your sinful desires. Colossians 3:5-7: Therefore, consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire and greed, which amounts to idolatry. For it is because of these things, that wrath of God will come upon the sons of disobedience. And in them, you also once walked when you were living in them.

Rick (00:51:47): So this purification just for our overall general character, consider yourself dead to your sinful desires. Put them aside. You need to be dead to them. You need to have the anger management equivalent. Julie, what is that?

Julie (00:52:00): Decide to leave any form of retaliation in God's hands. And we have Romans 12,:17 and 19. "Never Pay back evil for evil to anyone. Never take your own revenge, beloved, but leave room for the wrath of God. For it is written. 'Vengeance Is mine, I will repay', says the Lord". And the word wrath here means to vindicate, retaliate, or punish. And as much as, believe me, I want to take revenge on those who hurt animals. This next stage of anger here isn't available to me. So I must mentally do better.

Rick (00:52:36): And that's an important way to look at it. This is not available to us. Why? Because the scripture says, don't take revenge on your own. Leave it to God because he knows how to apply appropriate vengeance, appropriate consequence. That's beyond us. Let it be. So we've got this consider yourself dead to your sinful desires that the overall character development and with anger decide to leave any form of retaliation in God's hands. That's the second point. Now, the third point of personal process of purification. Third point, Jonathan, what is it?

Jonathan (00:53:12): Consider yourself dead in your broken reactions.

Rick (00:53:15): Okay, so we had you're being dead in your sinful desires. Now this is the next step to be dead in your broken reactions you had desire, and now you step up to reaction

Jonathan (00:53:26): Colossians 3:8-9, "But now you also put them all aside, anger, wrath, malice, slander an abusive speech from your mouth. Do not lie to one another since you laid aside the old self and its evil practices." Well, the big wrath word means the dripping with the wine of vengeance.

Julie (00:53:48): I read an article from sciencefocus.com called, "Why Social Media Makes Us So Angry and What You Can Do About It," Just three points I picked up: Righteous outrage has become the defining emotion of our society. Anyone with a smartphone has the power to anonymously and safely bully, hurl abuse, humiliate and belittle. And our own bias gears us towards accepting news and stories that appeal to our own opinion. Algorithms from Twitter, Facebook and others keep feeding that bubble, and it contributes to our extremism and polarization. I personally am surprised by the tone of those professing to be Christians, what they take online. It's really alarming.

Rick (00:54:32): It is. You called it righteous outrage, but it's really emotional outrage.

Julie (00:54:38): It's falsely righteous.

Rick (00:54:39): Right, right, because we're making it a pile on for us. We're supposed to be dead in our character development to broken reactions. So Julie, the Anger Management Application here. What is it?

Julie (00:54:49): Pause and recall past broken reactions. Acts 26:11 says, "And as I punish them often in the synagogues," this is the Apostle Paul, "I tried to force them to blaspheme and being furiously enraged at them. I kept pursuing them even to foreign cities." Now, "furiously enrage" means to rage at. The Apostle Paul is talking about his previous life before his conversion of Christianity, when he was known as Saul, persecuting Christians to their death. He was an angry man. He was out of control going in the wrong direction. And I appreciate how honest he is with us about what he did. No excuses, no justifications, just, these are the awful, shameful things I did, learn from me.

Rick (00:55:31): Yes. and so pause and recall past broken reactions, and Paul is a good one to go back to. And then look at ourselves. Remember when I did this and it didn't work out so well? Remind yourself. This is considering yourself dead to your broken reactions in your character and now in your anger. Next, the personal process of purification. What's the fourth point?

Jonathan (00:55:52): Replace what you are dead to with renewal in Christ.

Rick (00:55:56): So you're dead to all of those things. You're dead to your sinful desires. You're dead to your broken reactions. Nature abhors a vacuum. You have to fill that space with something positive.

Jonathan (00:56:07): Colossians 3:10-11, "And have put on the new self who is being renewed to a true knowledge according to the image of the one who created him. A renewal in which there is no distinction between Greek and Jew, circumcised and uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave, and freeman. But Christ is all and in all."

Rick (00:56:28): Put on the new self. There's no room for the new self if the old self is just all happy and jolly and doing what it wants to. We have to put it down and put it away. So that's in our character. What's the Anger Management Application here?

Julie (00:56:41): Understand that renewal is a process. Be dedicated to it. Titus 1:7 says, "For the overseer, must be above reproach as God's steward. Not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious," which means eager or quick to argue quarrel or fight, "and not fond of sordid gain." So that quick-tempered word there means the tendency to be easily angered. Having a short fuse, thin skin, touchy, crotchety, people have to walk on eggshells around us, overly sensitive to offenses or criticism. Does this ever sound like us?

Rick (00:57:15): And it's a process to develop out of it. Every minister in Christ is not perfect in all of these things, but they need to be growing in that development. It's a renewal process. Be dedicated to it. So next point, the next personal process of purification. The fifth point?

Jonathan (00:57:33): Replace your sinful desires with a Christlike heart.

Rick (00:57:36): Okay, so here we've got the old desires, and now we've got the new desires. What you replace them with is a Christlike heart. There's something new to put in the old place.

Jonathan (00:57:46): Colossians 3:12-13, "So as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved, put on the heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience bearing with one another and forgiving each other, whoever has a complaint against anyone, just as the Lord forgave you. So also should you."

Rick (00:58:07): So you've got this real strong sense of in our character, compassion, kindness, humility, gentles and patience. There's not a lot of room for anger, there's not a lot of room for anything negative with that. But let's focus in - what's our Anger Management Application with this replacing of sinful desires with a Christlike heart.

Julie (00:58:25): Realize that simple irritability can blind you to true godliness. John 7:23 says, "If a man receives circumcision on the Sabbath, that the law of Moses will not be broken, are you angry with me because I made an entire man well on the Sabbath?" The word angry here means spiteful and irritable. And Jesus is saying, I just healed him and you're going to be irritated with me? The Pharisees were blinded to the goodness of the miracle because they were irritable. Is this a blinding factor in our Christian walk? Because we of all people have everything to be joyful about because we know the plan of God and walk in His grace through His son. We have to recognize when we get irritable and turn it around. Colin Powell once said, "Get mad, then get over it." There, easy to memorize; hard to apply.

Rick (00:59:12): Yes, and the idea of being irritable, it takes you away. It can blind you. So it's a deep focus. All right, let's keep moving. The next personal process of purification point here. Number 6:

Jonathan (00:59:25): Replace your broken reactions with love and peace.

Rick (00:59:29): Fill the void. Fill the reaction void now with love and peace.

Jonathan (00:59:34): Colossians 3:14-15, "Beyond all these things, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts to which indeed you are called in one body and be thankful." And this is agape love. It is that selfless love that is not expecting anything in return. This is a process that brought us to this special kind of love.

Rick (00:59:56): When we are developing that kind of love, there is no room for human reactions because it's above that. So let's focus this in now on an Anger Management Application:

Julie (01:00:08): Seek out godly responses when anger begins to swell. James 1:19-20; 22, "But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger. For the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. But prove yourselves, doers of the word and not merely hearers who delude themselves." That phrase, the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God. That's another one to memorize. That should be our refrigerator magnet!

Rick (01:00:34): It's simple. It's simple. The anger that you feel most likely is the anger of man. So let's face it, let's focus on it and let's develop the things that we need to do to replace such things. Finally, the last, the seventh point of our personal process in regards to our purification of our character.

Jonathan (01:00:53): Allow Christ's word to dwell in you and mirror Jesus.

Rick (01:00:56): See, you've done all these things, you've put all these things in order. Now let Jesus do his work.

Jonathan (01:01:01): Colossians 3:16-17, "Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you and with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. Whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father." Rick, this is not just an emotional encouragement singing hymns together. This comes to an end of all the Christian growth of Colossians. It is the epitome of what we've become. We reach this by maturity, not emotion.

Rick (01:01:38): And there's a levelness to the character when we get to this point in our development. So now let's focus this on an Anger Management Application. Our final one, Julie:

Julie (01:01:48): Choose the leadings of God's spirit over those of your own spirit. Ephesians 4:30-32, "Do not grieve the holy spirit of God by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving each other just as God in Christ also has forgiven you." When I read wrath, that was that bad wrath word, that outburst of rage.

Rick (01:02:15): So we want to choose the leadings of God's spirit over our own. Folks, that's what this really ends up being all about. We may have an anger problem, but it's not an excuse. It needs to be dealt with in a Christlike way. And folks, if you truly have a big, big, big problem with anger, you need to get some help. Find some counseling, help that can help put things in perspective that is always appropriate so that we can be God honoring. Jonathan, what's our final point? Is my anger productive or alarming?

Jonathan (01:02:44): Anger at its appropriate place and presented with Godly principles and attitude is a tool of righteousness. Human anger is not naturally this way. Let us decide today to embark on the journey of derailing our alarming anger and replacing it with wise and passionate responses that will only glorify God.

Julie (01:03:05): So let's answer the question. I'm a Christian and I'm angry. Now what?

Rick (01:03:10): Now, pause, consider, take a breath, look at the Scriptures, get some help, put things in perspective so as you go through your life, you can realize "I'm angry" and likely that anger is not righteous indignation - that's hard to get to, folks. Let's;understand. Let's be honest; let's not pretend. That's a hard place to get to. Look at Jesus' example. He never did anything to hurt anybody, he just would stop the evil. That's what we need to learn. But first, we need to learn to control ourselves. You follow the Scriptures, you work together and you strive to the higher standards of God's righteousness because God's anger is always productive. Is yours? Is mine? No, it's not. Let's stop and do something about it to honor God. Think about it. Folks, listen, we do want to hear from you. Give us your feedback. Send us your questions on this episode or other episodes at ChristianQuestions.com. Also, a big part of spreading the word about our podcast is subscribing to Christian Questions your favorite podcast channel such as Apple Podcast, Spotify, Podbean iHeartRadio, Google Podcast, wherever you get your podcasts, please rate us and review us. We greatly, greatly appreciate it. Coming up next week, this is an interesting question here next week. "Why Would God Bless Two Immoral Women?" That doesn't seem to make sense until you understand the context. We'll talk to you next week.

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