Everyone in America is angry right now.
The first group is angry that Charlie Kirk was murdered.
A second group is angry that the first group is angry because they think Charlie Kirk was a bigoted provocateur.
A third group is angry because they haven't been able to kill group one yet.
Waves of rage hit us with each new grievance and crime in the news cycle, overlapping in our hearts until the furor is manic. I don't need to explain it to you: You feel it.
There is a certain type of person who will always address anger like a mother tut-tutting a toddler for a tantrum. They will instruct us to take a deep breath and calm down, then hold hands and make up.
While this is a good rule for preschoolers, it doesn't work for larger civilizational questions of divine justice.
Or have you not heard?
'There is an occasion for everything,
and a time for every activity under heaven:...
a time to tear and a time to sew;
a time to be silent and a time to speak;
a time to love and a time to hate;
a time for war and a time for peace.'Ecclesiastes 3:1,6-8
Like all things, anger has a time and purpose.
The reason you feel angry is simple: You are a spiritual creature made in God's image, meaning His rules of justice, fairness, and morality are stamped on you whether you like it or not. Unlike animals, which act on biological instinct, humans have both Reason and Conscience (Romans 2:14-15), and while a great many people spend their years suppressing both, they have them nonetheless.
To be human is to feel deeply as God does. Animals can experience grief, sorrow, happiness, and loneliness to different degrees, but only humans are self-aware of them. We are also the only creatures that gaze up at the stars with wonder and consider the vastness of the universe, or desire to explore the unknown, or are aware of our own mortality.
When you feel angry, you do not feel angry as a dog might when another dog tries to steal its bone. Your anger is far more developed. Far more sophisticated. Far more lethal.
How, then, do you keep from being consumed by it?
Albert Barnes, a Presbyterian minister born in 1798, said that anger becomes twisted and immoral in the following circumstances:
(1) When it is excited without any sufficient cause - when we are in no danger, and do not need it for a protection. We should be safe without it.
(2) when it transcends the cause, if any cause really exists. All that is beyond the necessity of immediate self-protection, is apart from its design, and is wrong.
(3) when it is against 'the person' rather than the 'offence.' The object is not to injure another; it is to protect ourselves.
(4) when it is attended with the desire of 'revenge.' That is always wrong; Romans 12:17, Romans 12:19.
(5) when it is cherished and heightened by reflection. And,
(6) When there is an unforgiving spirit; a determination to exact the utmost satisfaction for the injury which has been done.
If these are wrongful uses of anger, then we must ask what proper demonstrations of anger look like.
These would include:
Self Defense - Anger in a moment of when you need animalistic rage to protect you and your family from a criminal that wants to harm you (Luke 11:21, Exodus 22:2-3).
Righteous indignation - God calls us to hate sin (Proverbs 8:13) and to fight against evil, while also understanding that our fight is not against people, but spiritual forces that rebel against God and want to destroy us and God's created order (Ephesians 6:12).
Those granted the authority of the sword - Those in public office have the duty to enact "God's vengeance" on criminals by wielding the sword to assuage the public's anger for a crime (Romans 13:4). This is to be done fairly in pursuit of the truth, but punishment must not be withheld (Genesis 9:5-6, Leviticus 24:19-20).
For men in particular, one of the most important ideas that helps them understand the proper use of anger is to understand that anger requires a chain of command.
God is the ultimate authority, so we begin by asking if something would anger Him. If it does, we ask how we can work to address it within the limits of our authority. If it supersedes our authority, we go up the chain of command, whether that be the police or our pastor or a congressman or the president.
When all this fails, we may make an "Appeal To Heaven" as America's Founding Fathers did, but this is a matter of last resort.
You have the authority to defend your family, both from common criminals and the encroachment of other sources of authority that seek to usurp your own lawful authority (for example, the government stepping on your right to teach your children your values). You should be angry when a man tries to break into your home at 2 a.m., or when lawmakers enact laws that allow the State to kidnap children if parents don't use their "preferred pronouns."
You do not, however, have the authority to randomly go round up illegal aliens at Home Depot, as fun as that sounds.
This is why it is important for the public to remind those in power, who are God's Avenger, that they have the duty to satisfy anger and enact justice on our behalf. When Republican legislators call for the public to tone down the temperature immediately after a man is assassinated in front of his wife and kids, they are attempting to worm out of that duty, even if they are well intentioned.
Those in authority must use that authority to satisfy the sense of justice that is stamped on our hearts. If they do not, they sin by breaking their oaths and by allowing anger to foment among their countrymen.
Consider also the "soft-on-crime" approach of Democrats over the last decade in the name of "inclusion" and "equity." The government's duty is not to right bigotry past or present, but to punish the wrongdoer. When that gets sidelined due to identity politics, cities burn, people lose trust, anger grows, and sin multiplies.
We still understand this when it comes to the government's military duties. We understand that a group of Navy SEALs is sent to take out an enemy of the state to enact the anger/vengeance of the American people through lawfully appointed officials.
If the government were to tell us that they wanted to be more "equitable" to jihadis and started calling us racist for not wanting them to be turned loose after their fourth or fifth terror attack, we'd call them idiots ... and yet we've accepted the idea that the government releasing criminals is somehow different.
All of this increases chaos and anger in our society. For many activists, chaos and anger is the point.
A discerning man or woman (sorry wokies, those are the only options) will be careful when they see people trying to make them angry about something. Your guard should be up when you browse social media or the news, even here at Not the Bee.
Righteous anger always moves into something more productive. The goal is not to stay there, like an electron in an excited state that's never in stable orbit. That is not only sinful, but damaging to your heart and soul.
A man angered by the sound of an intruder in his kitchen is moved to lawful violence to defend his family.
A man angered by the sound of an intruder breaking into his neighbor's truck calls the police and demands his city leaders don't go soft on crime.
A man angered by the mass destruction of human trafficking and open border policies takes civic action to lawfully replace his current government with new leaders.
A public angered by a political assassination asks the government to wield the sword and see justice done for the widow and the fatherless (Psalm 82:3).
Because of sin, this chain of command often breaks down. We spend time stewing in our anger (a sin), take action in areas we don't have authority (a sin), and those with authority often abuse it or fail their oaths (a sin).
This is why we are fascinated by the vigilante, whether it be Batman, Luigi Mangione (charged with killing a healthcare CEO for being denied insurance claims), or Tyler Robinson (charged with killing Charlie Kirk for different political opinions).
But vigilantism without a collective, unified appeal to God - like the American Revolution - is almost never moral. When I say that, understand that I mean "almost assuredly never in any scenario you will ever experience."
What a situation I can think of where it is moral?
If you are a Navy SEAL who was illegally experimented on, and to cover that up, the government killed all your brothers-in-arms and tried to kill you, then tried to clean up loose ends by killing your wife and daughter ... then yeah, you may have a case.
But what I'm describing is the plot to Jack Carr's "Terminal List," adapted into an Amazon Prime series by Chris Pratt.
If you find yourself in the shadowy world of espionage or the fog of war that rivals fictional thriller novels, then sure, there may be a case for you to smite your foes with holy wrath chambered in 5.56.
And yet, anyone who has watched that genre of action flick knows, the person enacting such anger singlehandedly upon his enemies is consumed by it. Revenge becomes his life. He ceases to be the person he was.
Even though Chris Pratt portrays a vigilante role, he knows this full well.
Don't let the influencers on your phone cause you to be consumed by such anger. Find a productive, lawful outlet. "Be angry and do not sin" (Psalm 4:4, Ephesians 4:26).
I've already seen so much of that happening. Be encouraged by the response of this last week.
Instead of burning down cities, those angered by Charlie Kirk's murder have taken action to form thousands of new Turning Point chapters. Instead of screaming expletives on the streets, they've returned to church. Instead of threatening their foes with violence, they've notified the authorities - including private employers - of those who are celebrating the murder, leading to the firing and cancelation of many hateful, vile people, not the least among them Jimmy Kimmel.
A final thought:
Your anger does not put you in better control of the universe. Sometimes it can feel that way. Anger can give you a feeling of power and focus.
But at the end of the day, only God is sovereign. He knows and controls all things. Nothing escapes Him. Everything happens according to His will and purposes. If your anger is an attempt to wrestle away control of the world from His hands, then repent.
And above all, learn to love. Learn to be a warrior (Psalm 144:1), but a happy one.
We are in desperate need of Happy Warriors.
'Hatred stirs up strife,
but love covers all offenses.' - Proverbs 10:12
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Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Not the Bee or any of its affiliates.
