Christians, who is this Angry God you worship?

Is the God that Christians talk about as angry and blood thirsty as they are?

I've been analyzing the anger ratio of some Christians versus “worldly” people over the last few years and I can honestly say that I really can’t tell the difference between the two. Oh wait, some Christians do justify their anger over whatever the political, social, economic situation is with scripture and tagging “EVERYBODY PRAY!” at the end of their inflammatory statements….that’s the difference. The world just says “I’m mad as hell and I can’t take it anymore” rash but honest. I can deal with honest without a false religious agenda.

Are Christians supposed to get angry? My answer is of course, it’s only normal to react to the social ills that plague our society. The bible that many seem to quote to their own advantage these days says yes, but do not sin and don’t let the sun go down on your wrath.¹ 

The real question is what is that anger supposed to look like? Is it supposed to come out in the form of obnoxious statements and behaviors that have no sound thought or decent judgment with them? Is it supposed to resort to calling all of their personal enemies God’s enemies, while rubbing both hands together and drooling at the mouth for the blood of those they disagree with? Umm, I doubt it, but maybe I missed the scripture that said: “vengeance is mine says the Lord, I will repay and then we will rejoice when I smite all the people that the church disagrees with and we will dance on their graves.” I could have missed that one for sure.

The saddest part about this hate fest disguised as doomsday prophecy is that it all goes against God’s will and it does nothing for the world we live in. We are supposed to be light, illuminating God’s love and sharing the message of peace in a hopeless world. Instead, I hear nothing but how the world is going to hell in a hand basket and apparently God is running around in heaven without a plan!

The problem with rage of any kind is that it fuels uncontrollable fires that never seem to burn out. It stops all manner of logical thinking and it NEVER initiates peace. I’m starting to believe that you can gauge the faith that a person has in God, by their reaction to the world today. I vaguely remember reading somewhere that “In this world you will have trouble but fear not, I have overcome the world.”² I chose to believe it.

Maybe for me it’s just this simple: I came into the world with nothing. Everything that I have comes from and by the grace of God. I own nothing that He hasn't allowed me to have. I stand ready to surrender whatever gets in my way of Him and at the end of the day, I want to stand in front of Him knowing for sure that the people who heard my voice, read my thoughts and saw my life, saw the grace of God in action.

Yes, I get angry but mostly I get distressed at how the “church” doesn't seem to be able to get its act together when the rest of the world is running in chaos. It saddens me to be a part of something that is becoming nothing but a spectacle for rational people to criticize. I struggle with the title “Christian” not because of a lack of my relationship with God but because it just seems to represent enraged people without any answers to today’s questions. What if God suddenly commanded us to stop using the title Christian and start referring to ourselves as Peace Makers? I wonder how many converts we would have with that movement.

¹Ephesians 4:26

²John 16:33