Does God Get Angry?

In Ezekiel 24:13-14, we have (KJAV)" 13 In thy filthiness [is] lewdness: because I have purged thee, and thou wast not purged, thou shalt not be purged from thy filthiness any more, till I have caused my fury to rest upon thee. 14 I the LORD have spoken" Doesn't that sound like an ANGRY God? One Who has intense emotions? Does it make sense that the Master of the Universe seems to have a temper?

Christianity and Judaism attribute a number of characteristics to God. They seem to each comprise two mutually exclusive sets of characteristics! It seems impossible that even God could actually have both sets as absolutely as is believed by all Christians and Jews.

Characteristic Set 1

God is Omniscient, Omnipotent and Omnipresent. He knows EVERYTHING, including past, present and future. He can do absolutely anything, as was demonstrated when He Created the Universe and Earth and Mankind in Genesis. His IS everywhere, so there cannot ever be hidden "surprises" waiting for Him.

Implied with this set of characteristics is that He is Logical and Just. His Universe would not be a logical place or even a "fair" place for His created humans without rigidly consistent logic. Examples of violations of that would be if days were of various numbers of hours in length, or if gravity was sometimes twice as strong, or if water was sometimes deadly poisonous, or if you open your front door and sometimes there is empty space there. Obviously, His Just Nature requires that things such as these cannot be permitted to happen.

Characteristic Set 2

In the Old Testament, God regularly got Angry and was often Vengeful, even telling us that "Vengeance is His Alone". (Deut. 32:35; Rom. 12:19 and 44 other Scriptural references). The Bible mentions dozens of instances where God was Angry with humans (Deut. 1:34 and many others).

The Old Testament tells of a number of times when God became Angry at some individual and then "smote" whole armies in retribution. The implication is that those many individuals (soldiers, usually) were NOT guilty of the fault that resulted in their deaths, indicating that they were essentially innocent.

Question

So, here's my question. If God gets Angry and can then sometimes do irrational retribution due to His Emotional reaction, how could He have made a perfectly logical Universe for us? The question can be phrased in a number of ways. Can God justifiably require US to not lash out in anger when He doesn't seem to have that ability Himself? Is not Anger one of the Seven Cardinal (called Deadly) Sins?

There's a second level of questions that also arise. Since God Knows everything, past, present, and future, how could He have been "surprised" by failings in so many individuals He entrusted, like Adam, and Abraham, and Aaron and David, and many more? And, since He certainly Knew how each of them would act and react, how could it be that He would have an Angry reaction in His disappointment? And in His interactions with Jonah or Job or many others, since He Knew from the start how everything would turn out, doesn't that seem like we would be really "boring" for Him? Since He already knows our future and how our civilization will end, that would seem to eliminate any "entertainment value" we might have for Him!


If God is really subject to emotional reactions and even outbursts, as is implied by numerous Old Testament stories, how could we truly trust that the Universe is a "perfect" Creation? It would seem that if He became Angry so many times with individual people in the Old Testament, the enormous complexity of Creating the Universe must have been MUCH more stressful for Him. I, personally, once built an entire house by myself, and I must admit that there were occasions when I smashed my thumb or otherwise became emotional and I threw some tool or broke some object in irrational anger. We can never know the answer to this one, but it's interesting to think about. It implies that there is the possibility that the Universe might have (minor?) flaws in it, which would imply that it was NOT Perfect, which would imply that God's Creation was not Perfect. See the problem?

Conclusion???

For myself, I choose to put reliance on 'Set 1' of the Characteristics mentioned above. I choose to believe that God, with His Infinite Knowledge and Ability, made a Perfect Universe, which is perfectly logical and consistent. I believe in His Justice and Fairness and all the other "Good" qualities we associate with Him.

As to Anger and Vengeance, I have a dilemma. I truly cannot see how He could have ever have been surprised or disappointed with any of us, since He Knows the future. So, even if He is capable of Anger or willing to do Vengeance, I cannot imagine any situation when such needs would arise. Of course, the Old Testament in my Bible clearly tells me of many examples of His Anger and His Vengeance. Maybe I'm just not smart enough to see how all this could be true! But I pretty much choose to downplay (and almost ignore) those Old Testament references to His Emotional reactions, because the God I Respect and Revere and Worship wouldn't have seemingly irrational emotional reactions.


I like to think that I'm fairly knowledgeable about God and Christianity. But this matter appears to be beyond my understanding. If a reader of this understands the resolution of the matter, I would certainly appreciate being informed!

Until I receive such guidance, my personal answer to the question in the title of this essay, would be "No, God does not get Angry". However, I realize that 99.999% of Christians and Jews would disagree with me. I'm willing to accept their position if someone can satisfactorily explain the points made earlier.


This essay was first placed on the Internet in June 2001.



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Pastor Carl Johnson,
A Christ Walk Church