Is anger a sin? Charismatic Christian speaker and author Joyce Meyer says not entirely, but there are some forms of anger that are indeed classified as sin.
She wrote on her website that even God Himself feels anger against sin, injustice, rebellion and pettiness. Because some anger serves a useful purpose, it can be good. However, it is wrong for anger to lead people to do bad things.
Meyer stressed that Christians should always deal with their anger in a godly way. "God sometimes allows us to feel anger so we'll recognize when we're being mistreated. But even when we experience true injustices in our lives, we must not vent our anger in an improper way. We must guard against allowing anger to drag us into sin," she said.
Regardless of the cause, Meyer said all anger has the same effect on people's lives - it upsets them and causes them to feel pressure. Some people opt to sweep their anger under the rug and pretend it doesn't exist, but Meyer warned that it can be dangerous to their health.
"Most of the time we're only hurting ourselves, and the person who angered us isn't even aware of it. So we must take responsibility for our anger and learn to deal with it," she advised. "Process it and bring closure to it, and that will relieve the pressure."
Personally, Meyer has dealt with some issues in the past that have made her very angry. She let her anger make her a bitter and hateful person until she realized she had to find out how to deal with anger God's way. "The Holy Spirit gives us the power to be stable and walk in the fruit of the Spirit. We have the power to forgive those who do injustices in our lives and to love the unlovely," she said.
Meanwhile, Jon Bloom from Desiring God said that being angry and not sinning "requires the discernment of constant practice" because most of people's anger is rooted in their prideful, selfish and sinful nature.
"Sinful anger is so common in us that we must be regularly reminded to put away 'anger, wrath, [and] malice' and that 'everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment,'" said Bloom.
He added that the only proper anger is righteous anger, which is being angry at what makes God angry. "Our anger is righteous when we are angered over evil that profanes God's holiness and perverts His goodness," he explained.
