Is anger at God a display of arrogance?

[coolduude]

This thought (see the title) crossed my mind today. Is anger at God a display of arrogance? A finite person (us) cannot ever ever comprehend an infinite being (God), and if we are religious we cannot ever understand His will. We can see His will and follow it, but we very easily may not understand why it is the way it is.

Thus, to reiterate the question once more, is anger at God arrogance?

Thanks,
Coolduude

 

[Joannm]

Read the psalms. There is a lot of anger at God expressed in them. I confessed getting angry at God once, and I mean literally screaming and yelling at God, and the priest told me that it could have been one of the most honest prayers I could have done. I TOLD God my deepest feelings knowing that He would listen and would not smite me. God can take our anger and He can work through it. Better to let God know you are angry then let it fester like some people do until they turn away from God.

 

[po18guy]

I think that it can show a certain ingratitude.

 

[Anathama_Sit]

This thought (see the title) crossed my mind today. Is anger at God a display of arrogance? A finite person (us) cannot ever ever comprehend an infinite being (God), and if we are religious we cannot ever understand His will. We can see His will and follow it, but we very easily may not understand why it is the way it is.

Thus, to reiterate the question once more, is anger at God arrogance?

Thanks,
Coolduude

Greetings Coolduude,

Yes it is. When we are arrogant we are prideful. To get angry at God is not to be humble. The truly humble expect only that which comes from the hand of God nothing more or nothing less. We get angry at God because we are expecting something that has not come to fruition.

I hope this helps. Confession always is quite helpful in overcoming any vice.

God Bless.
Anathama Sit

 

[Dorothy]

Read the psalms. There is a lot of anger at God expressed in them. I confessed getting angry at God once, and I mean literally screaming and yelling at God, and the priest told me that it could have been one of the most honest prayers I could have done. I TOLD God my deepest feelings knowing that He would listen and would not smite me. God can take our anger and He can work through it. Better to let God know you are angry then let it fester like some people do until they turn away from God.

I remember a priest telling me it is okay to be angry at God, but to be angry in a respectful manner. He did point to the psalms. And, then he said to be quiet and listen for God’s response.

 

[po18guy]

I have many other faults, but I have not once been angry with God - Who grants me the breath needed even to curse His Name. When we are angry at God, are we not complaining about being alive? About existing?

 

[Dorothy]

I have many other faults, but I have not once been angry with God - Who grants me the breath needed even to curse His Name. When we are angry at God, are we not complaining about being alive? About existing?

I think respectful complaining while searching for God’s answer is a better explanation. Malicious, cursing anger is definitely wrong.

 

[po18guy]

I think respectful complaining while searching for God’s answer is a better explanation. Malicious, cursing anger is definitely wrong.

A perhaps rhetorical question: We are allowed righteous anger. However, how can anger against Righteousness Itself be justified?

Yet, God is patient with us, knowing that we are going through a process of conversion.

 

[fhansen]

This thought (see the title) crossed my mind today. Is anger at God a display of arrogance? A finite person (us) cannot ever ever comprehend an infinite being (God), and if we are religious we cannot ever understand His will. We can see His will and follow it, but we very easily may not understand why it is the way it is.

Thus, to reiterate the question once more, is anger at God arrogance?

Thanks,
Coolduude

Anger at God is something only a finite being would be unwise enough to do. This is what made the Fall possible, for that matter, IMO.

 

[timotheos]

This thought (see the title) crossed my mind today. Is anger at God a display of arrogance? A finite person (us) cannot ever ever comprehend an infinite being (God), and if we are religious we cannot ever understand His will. We can see His will and follow it, but we very easily may not understand why it is the way it is.

Thus, to reiterate the question once more, is anger at God arrogance?

Thanks,
Coolduude

How many different types of anger are there? As many as the multitude of situations that provoke it. So I believe the answer depends. Those of you who believe that the answer is unequivocally “yes” are those fortunate enough not to have been given more than they can handle.

 

[Marie5890]

Read the psalms. There is a lot of anger at God expressed in them. I confessed getting angry at God once, and I mean literally screaming and yelling at God, and the priest told me that it could have been one of the most honest prayers I could have done. I TOLD God my deepest feelings knowing that He would listen and would not smite me. God can take our anger and He can work through it. Better to let God know you are angry then let it fester like some people do until they turn away from God.

This, too, has been my experience. The most honest prayers I have every prayed was when I was just as raw honest as a human being as I am.

And like you said, God can handle it. He already knows it, any how.

 

[Dorothy]

A perhaps rhetorical question: We are allowed righteous anger. However, how can anger against Righteousness Itself be justified?

Yet, God is patient with us, knowing that we are going through a process of conversion.

As we progress in our relationship with the Lord, even respectful complaining can be bypassed, as our trust in Him deepens, and we can skip that part.

 

[po18guy]

As we progress in our relationship with the Lord, even respectful complaining can be bypassed, as our trust in Him deepens, and we can skip that part.

Saint Teresa of Avila is very instructive here: When bounced out of a wagon into the mud, she declared to heaven, “If this is how You treat Your friends, it is no wonder that You have so few!” However, she used to embrace, even desire suffering for the sake of the Lord. But, just look at her first name: Saint.

 

[Dorothy]

Saint Teresa of Avila is very instructive here: When bounced out of a wagon into the mud, she declared to heaven, “If this is how You treat Your friends, it is no wonder that You have so few!” However, she used to embrace, even desire suffering for the sake of the Lord. But, just look at her first name: Saint.

I love St. Teresa. In that remark her playful humor shows.

 

[Anathama_Sit]

A perhaps rhetorical question: We are allowed righteous anger. However, how can anger against Righteousness Itself be justified?

Yet, God is patient with us, knowing that we are going through a process of conversion.

Greetings Po18guy,

It is interesting to note that in all of the Desert Fathers they do not teach one to have righteous anger.

God Bless.
Anathama Sit

 

[po18guy]

Greetings Po18guy,

It is interesting to note that in all of the Desert Fathers they do not teach one to have righteous anger.

God Bless.
Anathama Sit

** CCC1765** There are many passions. The most fundamental passion is love, aroused by the attraction of the good. Love causes a desire for the absent good and the hope of obtaining it; this movement finds completion in the pleasure and joy of the good possessed. The apprehension of evil causes hatred, aversion, and fear of the impending evil; this movement ends in sadness at some present evil, or in the anger that resists it.

Anger’s finest use is to resist evil. I did encounter this a couple of times during my law enforcement career. Not as often as I displayed it, however.

 

[Anathama_Sit]

** CCC1765** There are many passions. The most fundamental passion is love, aroused by the attraction of the good. Love causes a desire for the absent good and the hope of obtaining it; this movement finds completion in the pleasure and joy of the good possessed. The apprehension of evil causes hatred, aversion, and fear of the impending evil; this movement ends in sadness at some present evil, or in the anger that resists it.

Anger’s finest use is to resist evil. I did encounter this a couple of times during my law enforcement career. Not as often as I displayed it, however.

Greetings po18guy,

Yet there are very few in this world who can be “angry” for a righteou reason. Most anger comes from pride. I am sure that there are well meaning people out there that think they are angry for righeous reasons, but it is rooted in other things.

Anger is not a way of peace.

Jesus got angry yes, but look He is God. We are not. We are called to be charitable to each other. Anger at evil, maybe yes I can see that, but that is a slipperly slope to walk down.

God Bless.
Anathama Sit

 

[Bohm_Bawerk]

If there was any problem I had with Catholic spirituality, it was how it seemed to imply that the saints lived perfect lives and were never angry at God. I partially agreed with Protestants that certain Catholics had rendered the lives of the saints into something completely fictional that seemed to allude to them being “mini-gods”. This is completely bogus, and some earlier posters have already reiterated St. Teresa of Avila’s (although I believe it was St. Therese of Lisieux) humourous angry utterance at God.

We know from the Bible that anger is permitted, but you have to know your limits. Jeremiah, who is nicknamed the “weeping prophet”, regarded God as a liar for his failed ministry. This is perhaps one of the earliest references to a righteous man being angry at God: “O LORD, you deceived; me, and I was deceived you overpowered me and prevailed. I am ridiculed all day long; everyone mocks me” (Jeremiah 20:7). God doesn’t seem to respond to this, which is fairly unusual in light of the context of the Old Testament. Job got angry at God (cf. Job 15:13), but God isn’t recorded to have said anything about his anger as it is at the futility of being angry at God: “Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me” (Job 41:11).

So, there is such thing as justified anger, even at God. Although I think a more appropriate word would be frustration. It is a CAF/Catholic myth you have to “bottle it in”; this can actually be more harmful to your psychological well-being in the long-term.

 

[po18guy]

Greetings po18guy,

Yet there are very few in this world who can be “angry” for a righteou reason. Most anger comes from pride. I am sure that there are well meaning people out there that think they are angry for righeous reasons, but it is rooted in other things.

Anger is not a way of peace.

Jesus got angry yes, but look He is God. We are not. We are called to be charitable to each other. Anger at evil, maybe yes I can see that, but that is a slipperly slope to walk down.

God Bless.
Anathama Sit

Having an alcoholic drink may also constitute a slippery slope. We are called to use prudential judgment in all things. We are given anger with the intention that we use it properly to combat evil. It may take the preparatory element of anger to solidify our defense when confronted with physical, or even spiritual evil. We are not given a license to use it at will, but rather in extremis, when no reasonable alternative exists.

Certainly, the desert fathers did not teach it, as they likely encountered physical evil rarely, if at all. Yet, spiritual violence calls for a form of spiritual anger, which is the consternation of the soul against the assault of the evil one. Dangerous ground, certainly, but we live in a spiritually and physically dangerous world. Prudential judgment, applied even in a split second, is the deciding factor.

Christ’s peace be with you.

 

[Joannm]

If “Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me” (Job 41:11).

So, there is such thing as justified anger, even at God. Although I think a more appropriate word would be frustration. It is a CAF/Catholic myth you have to “bottle it in”; this can actually be more harmful to your psychological well-being in the long-term.

I think you are correct in calling it “frustration” rather than real anger as we would describe anger. It doesn’t mean a rejection of God. It is more a frustration and not knowing what it is that God is trying to teach us or say to us. My moment of “anger” came at a very low point in my life all the prayers, meditation, masses, etc., seemed to make no difference. So much frustration was bottled up that it had to be let out, and let out is was what I did. After I did I felt peace. Peace with God, peace with my situation.

The key I think was that my anger, my rage was not really against God, but against the situation I was in. Opening up all my pain, frustration and anger to the one Person who would be able to take all that in and truly understand my situation, was, in a sense, a display of my trust that only God could do something about my situation. It was a total vulnerability before the awesome power of God.