Human Imperfection, Teboho Kibe [read a book .txt] 📗

his own son Jonathan. “Saul’s anger grew hot against Jonathan. . . . At that Saul went hurling the spear at him to strike him.” No wonder the Bible outlaws the quick temper and fits of anger and tells Christians to let all anger and wrath be taken away from them with all injuriousness.—Gen. 4:5; 1 Sam. 20:30, 33.

Lawmakers make laws against murder, but they do not make laws against “fits of anger.” They do not legislate against quickness about wrath. But God’s law forbids these very things. So divine law gets right down to the root cause of so much injuriousness.

The Law of Moses outlawed murder, but the law that Christ Jesus laid down is much more far reaching: “You heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You must not murder; but whoever commits a murder will be accountable to the court of justice.’ However, I say to you that everyone who continues angry with his brother will be accountable to the court of justice.” (Matt. 5:21, 22) One might have good reason for anger, but if he continues angry with his brother he may sin, since anger too long protracted tends to become revengeful. So God’s Word commands: “Be angry, and yet do not sin; let the sun not set with you in a provoked state, neither allow place for the Devil.” By sleeping upon anger, we nurse it and keep it warm—this gives the Devil a chance, as it were, and we may play into his hands, because “man’s wrath does not produce God’s righteousness.” So not only the quick temper produces unrighteousness but also the one nursing his anger, letting it simmer and turn into revenge or vindictiveness. “Return evil for evil to no one,” says God’s Word. “Do not avenge yourselves, beloved, but yield place to the wrath.”—Eph. 4:26, 27; Jas. 1:20; Rom. 12:17, 19.

MISTAKEN BELIEFS

Many are the mistaken beliefs regarding man’s anger. To give way to an angry temper, for instance, is sometimes believed to be a proof of strength of personality. Thus some persons may believe that an explosive temper is a proof of strength. How foolish! When a person flies into a fit of anger, we say he has lost his temper. He has really lost self-control. How could there be any real power in the absence of self-control? Oh, there is power but it is destructive, ruinous, deadly. A mighty conqueror might capture a city, but without self-control he could bring that city to ruin by some foolish outburst of temper. So what is real strength and might? God’s Word answers: “He that is slow to anger is better than a mighty man, and he that is controlling his spirit than the one capturing a city.” Being slow about wrath is strength—strength greater than that of a mighty warrior. The person who rules his temper is the strong person, not the one who loses his temper. Fits of anger not only displace reason and self-control but turn them out of doors and bolt the door against them. Fits of anger and an angry rage are not to be viewed as strength or indignation.—Prov. 16:32.

There is, of course, a place for indignation and firm action based on it, as Jesus took in the case of the money-changers in the temple. (John 2:13-17) There are times when not to be indignant would be wrong and would show a sympathy with the wrong or a lazy fear of the result of opposing it. So, in this case simply bottling up one’s anger and pretending it is not there may not be righteous either. But just because a person has fits of temper does not mean that he is more indignant than those who are slow to anger. A person with self-control may contain twice as much feeling, but he directs it, like explosions in the cylinder of a gasoline motor, to righteous results.

Since man’s anger does not bear fruit that is acceptable to God, overseers of God’s people must set the right example. They must be slow about wrath, slow to take offense. The quick temper is a sign of weakness. It is the kind of weakness that disqualifies one from overseer privileges in God’s congregation. One could hardly be trusted as an overseer of Jehovah’s flock if such a person had not learned how to rule his temper. “An overseer must be free from accusation as God’s steward, not self-willed, not prone to wrath, . . . [but] self-controlled.” (Titus 1:7, 8) If an overseer were prone to wrath, he could bring trouble and discord upon a congregation, even ruin. So God’s Word disqualifies those persons who are quick about wrath; they are too weak to be overseers!

There is a belief that giving full vent to one’s anger is a good way to work off something bad, a good way to release pent-up emotions. This is false. What if some psychiatrists believe that it may be good to blow off steam in this manner? Christians should let God’s Word direct their conduct, not the theories of men. Jehovah’s Word has no good thing to say about those who give full vent to anger, nor does it say that such actions accomplish any good.

Even looking at it from the physical standpoint, there is no good arising from fits of anger. Man’s Creator says: “A heart that is joyful does good as a curer, but a spirit that is stricken makes the bones dry.” (Prov. 17:22) A person stricken by the emotions of anger and resentment and revenge is only injuring himself. More and more doctors are learning of this injuriousness. In Your Body and Your Mind Dr. Frank G. Slaughter writes: “Studies by Drs. B. Mittelman and H. G. Wolff showed that in patients with ulcer, resentment and anger caused increased secretion of highly acid gastric juice, marked increase in stomach contractions, and a generalized increase in the flow of blood through the mucous membrane lining of the stomach and duodenum. . . . Since these changes are usually associated with a heightening of ulcer symptoms, resentment thus actually caused acute pain. . . . stomach mucous membrane is delicate and easily injured, and normally is covered with a protective layer of mucus, keeping the stomach lining from being digested by the hydrochloric acid which continually bathes it. In studies of the normal stomach, much of the mucus layer was seen to be washed away when increased acid secretion occurred from emotional causes. Also small hemorrhages and actual breaks in the mucous membrane lining of the stomach and duodenum were common. We have here, then, all the necessary factors to bring about ulceration; if repeated often enough they undoubtedly do just that.”

But the effects of anger and rage can be far more serious than the harm that may be done to one’s stomach. “A calm heart is the life of the fleshly organism,” says the Bible. (Prov. 14:30) Recently seven heart experts offered advice on how to avoid sudden heart attacks. They advised a calm heart, the avoiding of anger and rage. One of the doctors, Dr. Harry Gold, professor of Clinical Pharmacology at the Cornell University Medical College, said, as reported by the New York Times of December 1, 1955: “We must convince our patients that in rage and anger, when they are endeavouring to kill someone else, they are actually accomplishing just the opposite—they are killing themselves.” These heart experts who warned against anger and rage may have had in mind the case of the famous Scottish surgeon, John Hunter. He had a heart attack that nearly killed him. Being a doctor, he knew the importance of emotions in affecting the heart. When he recovered, he said: “My life is in the hands of any rascal who chooses to annoy and tease me!” He was unable to keep his temper under control, however, and one day he lost control in a fit of rage when contradicted by another doctor; he had a heart attack that killed him. How wise it is to follow the counsel of man’s Creator: “Let anger alone and leave rage; do not show yourself heated up only to do evil”!—Ps. 37:8.

What folly to think that losing self-control in a fit of anger is a good way to work off pent-up emotions! “As a city broken through, without a wall, is the man that has no restraint for his spirit.” (Prov. 25:28) So God’s Word does not agree with those beliefs that a quick temper may sometimes be a proof of strength of personality and that it may be good to release pent-up emotions in a fit of angry temper. Temper explosions do not cleanse the atmosphere; they poison it. The poison may contaminate others, so Jehovah warns: “Do not have companionship with anyone given to anger, and with a man having fits of rage you must not enter in, that you may not get familiar with his paths and certainly take a snare for your soul.”—Prov. 22:24, 25.

It is not merely to avoid injuring one’s own health that the Christian avoids quickness about wrath. Primarily he is interested in doing the divine will, living according to the righteous principles found in the Holy Scriptures. Though some persons may not be ashamed of their bad tempers and may even be quite proud of them, the true Christian takes the course of wisdom and becomes slow about wrath: “A man of discernment is cool of spirit.” “All his spirit is what a stupid one lets out, but he that is wise keeps it calm to the last.” “He that is slow to anger is abundant in discernment, but one that is impatient is exalting foolishness.”—Prov. 17:27; 29:11; 14:29.

Being slow about wrath also means being slow about taking offense. This guards against peevishness—undue sensitivity to trifles, annoyance at them far beyond what their real significance warrants. The new personality does not and can not possess an oversensitive spirit, a spirit that is ready to fly into a rage over fancied or real affronts. No, the new personality, created according to God’s will, does not become easily offended: “Do not hurry yourself in your spirit to become offended, for the taking of offense is what rests in the bosom of the stupid ones.” (Eccl. 7:9) If some unkindness really does come our way, we are still at fault in God’s sight if we are swift to take offense, swift to become angry: “The insight of a man certainly slows down his anger, and it is beauty on his part to pass over transgression.”—Prov. 19:11.

What, then, is the cure for the quick temper? It is the same remedy as for the ear that is not swift to listen and the tongue that is not slow about speaking. It is this: The firm desire to do God’s will and to have his approval. Such a person will put on the new personality and do his “utmost to be found finally by him spotless and unblemished and in peace.”—2 Pet. 3:14

In ancient times, an unwalled city, or one whose walls had been breached by an enemy horde, was helpless indeed. Yet, a man lacking control of his temper is quite the same. Says Proverbs 25:28: “As a city broken through, without a wall, is the man that has no restraint for his spirit.” Such a man is without true balance. He lacks insight too, for Proverbs 19:11 states: “The insight of a man certainly slows down his anger.” Such a man should think of Christ. Jesus said of himself: “I am mild-tempered and lowly in heart.” He pronounced mild-tempered ones happy. (Matt. 11:29; 5:5) So if you feel the urge to explode in a fit of anger, meditate on his words and follow his example.—Heb. 12:1-3.

However, you may feel that it was relatively easy for Jesus, a perfect man, to control his spirit, while with imperfect humans it is quite another story. But is it? Abraham and Lot were just imperfect humans, though they were righteous men. (Gen. 15:6; 2 Pet. 2:7) When their herdsmen