America's Anger Expert

Found this gem of a resource yesterday: America's Anger Expert (Dr. Les Carter)

I like the website because it is practical in helping process through the spectrum of thoughts and feelings that appear with out of control anger. But most of the material falls short of the heart of the matter, literally. Anger is ultimately about God. My worst relationship where anger is present reveals my heart before God. Resources like America's Anger Expert are good for examining how anger manifests itself in specific attitudes and behaviors. These attitudes and behaviors should point out idolatry and sin. When my heart is sliced and layed open by anger exposing death and destruction, what hope is there? Jesus!

Finding Anger

The following questions, from Dr. Carter's website, are useful in pointing out the idolatry that is at the heart of anger:

"Think carefully what your anger is wishing to convey. Your anger is connected to your sense of self-preservation. Specifically you are wishing to preserve one of three things:

	Your worth as a human. ("Would you please show me some respect?")
	Your legitimate needs. ("Would you recognize that I have needs that should be tended to"?)
	Your deepest convictions. ("I have certain beliefs I will not back down from.")
	Think about the legitimacy of this self-preservation. Can you recognize that anger can have a valid function?"

Anger Quotes

Depression and Anger

"The most concise definition I know is this: "Depression is frozen rage." If you have a consistently serious problem with depression, you have not resolved some area of anger in your life. As surely as the night follows day, depression follows unresolved, repressed, or improperly expressed anger. Healing for Damaged Emotions, David A. Seamands, 1991, page 125

Anger is imitation

"Anger is always a form of imitation. Either we are imitating the way mercy trumps anger in the character of Jesus, or we are mimicking the destructive anger of Satan (John 8:44) There are no choices." Depression A Stubborn Darkness Light for the Path, Edward T. Welch, 2004, page 160

Injustice, Unbalanced Anger, and Depression

"Perfectionists have a very deep disproportionate sense of justice and injustices. They feel a deep need to right the wrongs of the world, to correct things, to pull up the weeds that are growing with the wheat. Now, that feeling is valuable; it exists in every reformer, in every preacher and missionary; and to some degree it should in every Christian. That sense of injustice surrendered, cleansed, and controlled by the Holy Spirit can be a useful instrument in the hands of God 'for spreading scriptural holiness and reforming the nation," as John Wesley said. But out of hand, out of balance, with the anger problem behind it unresolved, the sense of injustice is very destructive, producing depression and disrupting good personal relationships." Healing for Damaged Emotions, David A. Seamands, 1991, page 125

Anger in the image of God

All of life needs to be considered from the top down. I am learning the more I live the more nothing makes sense unless it is considered starting first with the big picture, grand story of God and His Kingdom. What I mean is life's most annoying problems can be dealt with better in light of God's unfolding drama. The story seems to infuse meaning into all of life's struggles. Is it weird to thank God for my struggles because without them I would not know Christ?

Paul Tripp does a fantastic job in this lecture: "Anger is one of God's most beautiful charactaristics" (The link actually takes you to Tripp's ministry home page. The video is on the home page.)

The big take-away for me: two angers are at war with each other - Man's vs. God's, yet man imitates God when acting in the image of His anger. Most people speak of God's love. But does God's love mean anything without God's anger? You'll have to watch the video to know why I am questioning. Interesting.

(PS - Another, more personal, look at God's anger here: Sinners in The Hands of an Angry God. Believe, it is much more personal...hopefully it is...at least it better be.)