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.
Link to the Index of these Religious Essay Pages
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Pastor Carl Johnson,
A Christ Walk Church