Stuff I've Learned...

#1 Anger is not a sin.

*Gasp*

Nope, it isn't.  Anger is a FEELING.  Feelings have no morality; they are neither good nor bad.  They are simply signals to what's going on internally.  Feelings can, however, lead to actions.  Actions DO have morality.  When I'm feeling angry, it is my emotional self saying, "Hey!  YO!  Pay attention!  Something isn't lining up here!"

Feelings are aligned with our core beliefs and values and when some stimuli doesn't agree with those values, we are alerted.  It could be that our core beliefs and values are the flawed parties or it could be that something we are subjected to is wrong or hurtful.  No matter the cause, the effect is a barrage of feelings--anger being one of them.

Now, FEELING angry is not a license to ACT angry.  There's the rub, folks.  ACTING angry and lashing out IS a sin.  When my internal alarm goes off, that does NOT give me the right to punish other people.  It does NOT give me the right to punish myself, even.

Anger can be a motivating force for change, whether it be changing a core belief/value or changing an environment or relationship (or whatever else one can change).  I have shamed myself for many years for feeling angry.  How absolutely ridiculous is that? The anger doesn't simply go away because I ignore it!  It festers and re-emerges as depression or bitterness.  Recently, I've been trying to honor the anger I feel and see it as a signal of the inner workings of my emotional self.  Anger has energized me to have conversations to define boundaries.  Anger has energized me to move beyond relationships (or non-relationships) that were degrading to me.  Anger has energized me to look deeply at my core beliefs and work on those that are faulty.

Tell me HOW those things are bad?