Righteous Anger

Right & Wrong
SteveF

Re: Righteous Anger

Post by SteveF » Thu Oct 15, 2009 9:30 pm

Homer wrote:
But what do you do with this verse?

1 Samuel 11:6 (New King James Version)
6. Then the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard this news, and his anger was greatly aroused.

And was Moses not righteously angry when the people made the golden calf and when they kept some of the manna? See Exodus 32:19 & 16:20.
My answer has the potential of starting a new topic altogether. Here’s my response to Matt earlier in the thread:
That being said, I do think there is a distinction between the two covenants. I think we have, in a sense, “turned our swords into plowshares” and physical armour has now become spiritual armour. I do think there is a distinction in how we treat others now (under the new covenant).
I do see a difference in ethics under the OT as compared to the new. For example, in 1 Sam 11 a little later in the chapter you read the following:

1Sa 11:11 And the next day Saul put the people in three companies. And they came into the midst of the camp in the morning watch and struck down the Ammonites until the heat of the day.

Also later in the chapter in Exodus 32 you read:

Exo 32:20 He took the calf that they had made and burned it with fire and ground it to powder and scattered it on the water and made the people of Israel drink it.

And

Exo 32:27 And he said to them, "Thus says the LORD God of Israel, 'Put your sword on your side each of you, and go to and fro from gate to gate throughout the camp, and each of you kill his brother and his companion and his neighbor.'"

I’m sure you’d agree that we are not to engage in these actions. As I mentioned in my response to Matt, I see Isaiah 2:4 as having a fulfillment in the present Kingdom. Therefore I think we are to live according to a different set of ethics. I think it’s possible that even a Historic Premillennialist (and an inconsistent Dispensationalist) could see a partial fulfillment of this passage in the present. The reasoning would be that although a Kingdom reign is still to come, His kingdom has indeed already started. Hence, we are living according to His kingdom’s dictates now.

The fact that Paul points to spiritual armour and weapons instead of physical armour and weapons seems to accentuate this point:

2Co 6:7 by truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left;

2Co 10:4 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds.

Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil.
Eph 6:12 For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood…..


Blessings
Steve

PS...thanks for making all your points Homer. Our house Church is meeting on Saturday for a family picnic and I'll definitely be bouncing your thoughts off a few of them....sometime between the kids playing the hayloft and the barbeque :)

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Homer
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Re: Righteous Anger

Post by Homer » Thu Oct 15, 2009 10:48 pm

Hi Michelle,

You wrote:
Well, Homer, like I said earlier, I probably need to refine my definitions a bit and use the same words, the same way, everyone else is. What you called "mercy" is what I meant by "compassion."
I am probably confusing things as much as anyone here. Looking at the lexicons, there seems to be not much difference between "compassion" (#4697, splagchnizomai) and "mercy", (#1653, eleeo) as used in the scriptures. The difference would seem to be in compassion being more of a feeling that motivates one to act and mercy requiring action to be mercy. The English definition of compassion indicates a feeling with a desire to act, but we know we too often desire to do good and fail to follow through.
You seem to see compassion as a vague feeling of sadness, one that is easily brushed aside. I see it as a strong motivator, and in fact would say that whatever feelings someone has that permits them to say, "Wow, that's sad. Oh, well, what's for lunch?" is not compassion at all, but just, well, some kind of weak agreement that life is sad sometimes.
I agree with you here, I just think anger is a more powerful motivator, but one that may lead to sin or to a good action. The man who murdered the abortionist Doctor in Kansas let his anger cause him to sin. When I read about this arrogant Doctor and his slaughter of babies I was also angered but did not sin (I think - but I probably sinned the moment I heard the Doctor was gone :( ).
By the way, I have witnessed child abuse and my emotional state wasn't what I would call anger, but I DID act. Then, again, my definition of anger seems more negative than yours. I explained in my earlier post how anger makes me feel and how much I don't like it. I don't understand why you were angry when you witnessed that accident involving the bicyclist. Was the driver of the car driving recklessly?
Perhaps my definition of anger is milder than yours and your definition would be rage to me?

I see I confused you about the bicycle accidents. I was not angry. Both bicyclists were at fault. What I was trying to point out was that our feelings are affected more by seeing something bad than hearing about it (otherwise we couldn't bear to read the newspaper daily).
Here's what I think: we should probably be grieved about what angers God, do what we can to alleviate suffering in the world, and if anger wells up inside us, be extra vigilant not to sin.
And here we agree! :D

You certainly show a heart for God!

Blessings, Homer

dorianleigh
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Re: Righteous Anger

Post by dorianleigh » Fri Sep 30, 2011 1:32 pm

I'm not sure if this has already been said, I don't have time to read all the posts, but here is my view on "righteous anger."

Since God lives in the believer by His Spirit and Paul says, "it is no longer I who lives, but Jesus in me," it would make sense that God's Spirit uses our body to express His anger. As we are called to be "instruments of Righteousness," it would stand to reason, that we are also used as His instruments of "Righteous anger." If you're not sure if God gets angry, the OT shows us He does.

In terms of the human emotion of anger which our souls were created with, I believe we were given that emotion to motivate us to constructive action, ie: setting boundaries, protecting our family, etc.

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