Between excitement and angry citizens... Anger in everyday life

Anger? Does that make sense? Somehow the whole of society seems to have become angrier. How do we deal with it?

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Introduction

Today I would like to reflect with you a little on the subject of anger and rage. I have the feeling that the average temperature in our society has risen in recent years.

People are outraged, they get pissed off much more quickly and they show it. That's how it feels to me and at some point, these kinds of developments end up in the community and we have to deal with them.

You've probably heard the term "angry citizen", which didn't exist twenty years ago. It first appeared in 2010, partly in connection with Stuttgart 21 and partly with outraged reactions to Sarrazin's critics - not Sarrazin himself, but his critics. "Angry citizen" even became the bad word of the year in 2010.

I didn't even realise about Sarrazin at the time, but I did hear the term "angry citizen" in connection with the train station in Stuttgart. And for me, the term was initially positive, because for once normal citizens were demonstrating against something. For me, "angry citizen" was an insult similar to "long-haired layabout" for eco-demonstrators.

You can think what you like about Stuttgart 21, but in 2008 the total costs were estimated at 2.8 billion and in 2019 the Federal Audit Office warned that 8.2 billion would probably not be enough.

But let's stay with the angry citizens. My positive image of this word disappeared over time because there were more and more demonstrations where anger and aggression simply came across. And somehow the basis for dialogue was also lost, e.g. with Pegida or the current coronavirus demonstrations.

When I was young in the 80s, it was the time of the peace demos and I always felt that these demos were pretty one-sided, but you could always talk to these people. There was discussion, even if you thought the other person's opinion was wrong. Back then, the press was also accepted as a necessary part of this dialogue process.

Today, in many cases people no longer talk, they no longer want to reflect and there is often only anger. That's how it seems to me.

And it's often the same on social networks and the rest of the internet. Outrage and excitement brings clicks. It gets on my nerves. If I see headlines with more than one exclamation mark somewhere, I don't read the article as a matter of principle.

But people seem to be more upset today than they used to be. Maybe it makes you feel like you're alive, some kind of psychological scoring or something, I don't know.

But enough introduction, let's look at the Bible. I roughly scanned the whole Bible for texts on the subject of "anger" and organised them a bit.

God's wrath

The Bible most often speaks of God's wrath, but that's not the point today, just a hint that it takes a long time for God to get angry: (Nehemiah 9:17b; NL)

You are a God who forgives, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.

Perhaps we should bear this in mind when we think about human anger.

Human anger

Anger can also have a positive effect.

Anger as a drive

There is an interesting story from the early days of King Saul in 1 Samuel 11, which begins like this (vv. 1-3):

1 King Nahash of Ammon led his army against Jabesh in the region of Gilead. The people of Jabesh said to him, "Make an alliance with us and we will be your servants." 2 "All right," said Nahash the Ammonite, "I will make an alliance with you, but only on one condition. I will gouge out the right eye of every one of you as a dishonour to all Israel!" 3 "Give us seven days to send messengers to all the territories of Israel," replied the elders of Jabesh. "If no one comes to our aid, we will accept your condition."

The mood in Jabesh was certainly not so good now (vv. 4-7)

4 When the messengers came to Gibeah, Saul's hometown, and told the people there about their difficult situation, everyone burst into tears. 5 Saul had just come home from the field with his cattle and asked, "What's wrong? Why is everyone crying?" They told him what the messengers from Jabesh had reported. 6 When Saul heard these words, the Spirit of God came upon him and he became very angry. 7 He took two oxen, cut them into pieces and ordered the messengers to carry them throughout Israel with the following message: "This is what will happen to the oxen of anyone who refuses to follow Saul and Samuel into battle!" Then the terror of the Lord fell on the people and all the men flocked at once.

We can certainly argue about the details of what happened, but the Spirit of God came upon him, he became very angry and he acted. The text goes on to say that the Ammonites are defeated because Saul acts purposefully and deliberately with his anger.

There is an interesting quote from Pope Gregory the Great from the 6th century (I got it from the cabaret artist Georg Schramm):

Reason can oppose evil with greater force when anger is at its service
.

It's not about blind rage, "because rage is the unrestrained sister of anger." Also a quote, but I don't know from whom.

Another example of productive anger is Elihu (Job 32:2), a young man whose anger leads him to objectively contradict and argue with Job. And he says good things and, unlike Job's other three friends, his speeches are not subsequently condemned by God.

Jesus' anger

We also find anger in Jesus Christ. Most people might think of the cleansing of the temple, but there is no mention of anger, only zeal, but no anger.

I have found two places where Jesus was angry and ... was. He was angry and upset at the hard-heartedness of the priests who did not want him to heal in the temple on the Sabbath (Mark 3:5).

And he was full of anger and also full of pain in front of Lazarus' tomb because the people did not believe him that Lazarus would come back to life. He had announced it and they did not believe him.

And in both cases he acted accordingly and healed or even raised Lazarus from the dead.


But unfortunately, human anger is often not so productive and often has negative consequences.

Stupid anger

I would categorise anger that arises from wounded pride under stupid anger, for example.

Injured pride

Two examples from the Bible.

There was once a mighty army commander named Naaman from the kingdom of Aram who had leprosy (something similar to leprosy). And he was told that he could find help in Israel and via detours he ended up with the prophet Elisha (2 Kings 5:9-12; NL):

9 So Naaman went with his horses and chariots to Elisha's house and waited outside the door. 10 Elisha sent word to him through a servant, "Go and wash in the Jordan seven times. Then your skin will be healthy again and you will be healed." 11 Naaman left in anger. "I had assumed that he would come to me personally!" he said. "I had expected him to stretch out his hand over the leprous skin, call on the name of the Lord his God and heal me! 12 Aren't the Abana and the Parpar in Damascus better than all the rivers of Israel? Why can't I wash in them and be healed?" And he turned round and went away in anger.

Doesn't he know who I am? I am important and I will not be treated like this.

13 But his companions spoke well to him. "Sir," they said to him, "if the prophet had asked you to do something great, would you not have done it? How much more should you obey him if he only asks you to 'Bathe yourself so that you can get well'?"

He is persuaded, overcomes his anger, bathes in the Jordan and is healed. His anger almost prevented his healing. But here there was a happy ending.

Another example without a happy ending can be found in 1 Kings 21, which is about King Ahab (1 Kings 21:1-4; NL)

Near the palace of King Ahab of Samaria in Jezreel was a vineyard belonging to a man named Naboth. 2 So Ahab said to Naboth, "Your vineyard is so close to my palace; leave it to me so I can make a vegetable garden out of it. I will give you a better vineyard in return, or if you want, I will pay you for it." 3 But Naboth replied, "The Lord forbid that I should give you the inheritance I inherited from my ancestors." 4 Furious and angry that Naboth of Jezreel had said, 'I will not give you the inheritance of my ancestors,' Ahab went to his palace. He lay down in bed, turned his face to the wall and refused to eat.

He tells his wife Jezebel and she has Naboth murdered so that Ahab can have this vineyard.

Anger out of wounded pride can lead to really bad deeds, so we should beware of that.

Bitterness

A related negative emotion is bitterness, it is not the same as wounded pride but somehow similar.

In Psalm 73, the psalmist deals with why the wicked are doing so well (Psalm 73, 12.13; NL):

12 Look at these godless people-while their wealth grows, they lead a comfortable and carefree life. 13 Was it all in vain that I kept my heart pure and did no wrong?

Why are they doing so well and I have so many problems? That's not fair.

But when he changes his perspective, he gets out of the act (Psalm 73:21-25; NL):

21 Then I realised how bitter I was and what anger rose up in me when I saw all this. 22 How foolish and ignorant I have been-I must have seemed like an unreasoning animal to you. 23 But I still belong to you; you hold my right hand. 24 You will guide me according to your counsel and finally receive me in honour. 25 Who do I have in heaven but you? You are more important to me than anything else on earth.

I believe that, like the psalmist, you have to come to such a personal realisation yourself, to this change of perspective, to this new view of God.


As I was here at this point of preparation, I asked myself what role bitterness plays in the many demonstrations. Bitterness about powerlessness in the face of the powerful, "We'll show them now!"

Of course, there is a tendency to assume objective reasons for demonstrations that you think are right in terms of the topic and motives such as hatred, bitterness, etc. for others. I don't know, you can only look at people's heads.

Uncontrolled anger

But you do get the impression, at least from the media, that anger on the street has increased and is becoming more and more unrestrained.

Sometimes people do things in anger that they might regret later.

An example from 1 Samuel 20: Jonathan argues with his father Saul about David and this happens at the climax of the argument (1 Samuel 20: 32-33; NL):

32 "But what has he done?", Jonathan wanted to know from his father. "Why should he be killed?" 33 Then Saul hurled his spear at Jonathan to pierce him. Now Jonathan realised that his father was determined to kill David.

I think Saul would have regretted it if he had hit his son.

There is also some wisdom about this in Proverbs:

Proverbs 12:16; NL

A fool is quick-tempered, but a wise man remains calm when he is insulted.

Proverbs 14:29; NL

He who restrains his anger has much sense, but he who is quick-tempered commits great folly.

Proverbs 29:11; NL

A fool gives free rein to his anger, but a wise man restrains it.
I don't think there's much need to comment on that.

Self-righteous anger

Sometimes our anger is also somewhat self-righteous. We usually have more patience with ourselves than with others, to be honest.

There is a good example of this in 2 Samuel 12: David had previously been involved with a woman called Bathsheba, but this woman was married to one of his soldiers called Uriah and when she became pregnant by David, he had Uriah murdered and quickly married Bathsheba so that this affair would not come to light.

The prophet Nathan retells this story as a parable and David does not realise this and became very angry with this man from the parable (2 Samuel 12:5; NL):

"As the Lord lives," he swore, "anyone who does such a thing deserves to die!

You are the man, Nathan then had to tell him. I don't think it's so rare that we deserve our own wrath.

More compassion for the weaknesses of others can already help us to accuse ourselves less.

Dealing with anger

So how do you deal with anger? You have to take the feeling seriously, because Proverbs 30:33; NL:

Just as churning cream produces butter and a blow on the nose causes a nosebleed, so anger ends in strife.

Unfortunately, this is often the case.

However, we find some wisdom in the Bible that helps us to deal with anger better.

Ecclesiastes 7, 9; NL

Do not be quick-tempered in your anger, for anger is a friend of fools.

We've been over this before; you have to control yourself, otherwise you'll say or do stupid things.

Proverbs 19, 11; NL

People with understanding restrain their anger; they earn respect when they overlook injustice.

It helps if you not only insist on your rights, but can also forgive mistakes.

And Proverbs 15, 1; NL

A kind answer soothes anger, but words that offend stir it up.
And all of this can be summarised in the following well-known Bible passage (Ephesians 4:26, 27; NL):

"Do not sin when you are angry," and do not let the sun go down on your anger.

Don't give the devil the opportunity to gain power over you through anger!

And a few verses further on (Ephesians 4:31, 32; NL):

31 Get rid of bitterness and anger, resentment, harsh words and slander, and every kind of malice. 32 Instead, be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as God through Christ forgave you.

For, and we must never forget this when we think about anger (James 1:20, NL):

human anger can never produce anything that is righteous in God's eyes.

I would like to conclude the topic "Dealing with anger" with one of my favourite passages (Romans 12:18-21; NL):

18 Do your part to live at peace with others as much as possible. 19 Dear friends, never avenge yourselves, but leave vengeance to the wrath of God. For it is written: "I alone will take vengeance; I alone will repay the wicked," says the Lord. 20 Instead, act as the Scripture says: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink, and he will be ashamed of what he has done to you." 21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

Summary

Let me summarise.