Sunday, December 16, 2012

Anger in todays world.

HEADLINES: 
ANOTHER SCHOOL SHOOTING! 
ALABAMA POLICE KILL SUSPECTS IN SEPERATE SHOOTINGS THAT LEFT 3 OTHERS DEAD
POLICE ID MAN IN OREGON MALL SHOOTING
DA ALLOWED TO HAVE RECORDS IN THEATER SHOOTING, COLORADO.
SUSPECT IN FASHION ISLAND MALL SHOOTING ARRESTED

These are only a few of the headlines in the last few days around the country.

I'm not the only one who feels driven to understand.  People everywhere are asking WHY?  The problem that I see is they may very well be looking in the wrong direction.   The answer may not be in Gun Control, Politics, Mental Illness or any of the "politically correct or incorrect ideals. 

Todays Sunday School lesson turns out to have been a difficult lesson in light of the last few days.  I'm not talking about only these issues, I'm also talking about watching the people around me and in particular myself. 

Going back, for a moment to the headlines, what can we say is the common denominator between all these "crimes"?  Is it guns being available to the masses, No... is it Mental illness not noticed or treated among the people behind the guns?  No, is it bullying somewhere in the past?  No.  Is it lack of metal detectors at the doorway to anywhere?  No.  The common denominator to all of these things and many many more is........ Anger.
This brings me to why todays Lesson was so difficult.  Take a look at Matthew 5: 21-30.  These are Jesus's own words in part of what we call The Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus is talking about what is written in "the Law"  and part of oral law and tradition.  He was talking about what we refer to as the 10 Commandments.  But hold it, what He was saying here seems to be going a bit far, dont you think?  Lets take a look........

21"You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, 'Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.'22But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca, ' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.23"Therefore, if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you,24leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled to your brother; then come and offer your gift.25"Settle matters quickly with your adversary who is taking you to court. Do it while you are still with him on the way, or he may hand you over to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and you may be thrown into prison.26I tell you the truth, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.

 

27"You have heard that it was said, 'Do not commit adultery.'28But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.29If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.30And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. 
What is Jesus telling us here?  Is he really saying that anger is the same as murder?  Yeah, He pretty much is, and, go figure,  He's got something there.  There was something that came across my Facebook page last night that struck home to me and then I started reading my lesson for today and WOW!!!!

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Hummmm first thought here, Anger hurts others,  Yep, found that out for sure.   What else does it mean?  Jesus says to say "Raca" is something that will get you a date with the Sanhedrin, the highest Jewish assembly for government affairs during the time of Christ.  But what does the word mean?  In the commentary I was using for my lesson, it says it roughly means calling one "stupid idiot".  Hummmm as I look through my Facebook pages and think back to the weeks prior to the election, I think hummmm what would have happened in a different day and thought process if people knew that calling someone an idiot  or a fool was not just impolite, but a SIN???????  But I dont LIKE that person, so I can call him anything  I like.. I live in America!!!!!" 
I also want to share another definition of this passage that I found on line. 

RACA [ISBE]


RACA - ra'-ka, ra-ka'> (rhaka, Westcott and Hort, The New Testament in Greek with Codices Sinaiticus (corrected), Vaticanus, Codex E, etc.; rhacha, Tischendorf with Codices Sinaiticus (original hand) and Bezae; Aramaic reqa', from req, "empty"): Vain or worthless fellow; a term of contempt used by the Jews in the time of Christ. In the Bible, it occurs in Mt 5:22 only, but John Lightfoot gives a number of instances of the use of the word by Jewish writers (Hot. Hebrew., edition by Gandell, Oxford, 1859, II, 108). Chrysostom (who was acquainted with Syriac as spoken in the neighborhood of Antioch) says it was equivalent to the Greek su, "thou," used contemptuously instead of a man's name. Jerome rendered it inanis aut vacuus absque cerebro. It is generally explained as expressing contempt for a man's intellectual capacity (= "you simpleton!"), while more (translated "thou fool"), in the same verse is taken to refer to a man's moral and religious character (= "you rascal!" "you impious fellow!"). Thus we have three stages of anger, with three corresponding grades of punishment: (1) the inner feeling of anger (orgizomenos), to be punished by the local or provincial court (te krisei, "the judgment"); (2) anger breaking forth into an expression of scorn (Raca), to be punished by the Sanhedrin (to sunedrio, "the council"); (3) anger culminating in abusive and defamatory language (More), to be punished by the fire of Gehenna. This view, of a double climax, which has been held by foremost English and Gor. commentators, seems to give the passage symmetry and gradation. But it is rejected among others by T. K. Cheyne, who, following J. P. Peters, rearranges the text by transferring the clause "and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council" to the end of the preceding verse (Encyclopaedia Biblica, IV, cols. 4001 f). There certainly does not seem to be trustworthy external evidence to prove that the terms "the judgment," "the council," "the Gehenna of fire" stand to each other in a relation of gradation, as lower and higher legal courts, or would be so understood by Christ's hearers. What is beyond dispute is that Christ condemns the use of disparaging and insulting epithets as a supreme offense against the law of humanity, which belongs to the same category as murder itself. It should be added, however, that it is the underlying feeling and not the verbal expression as such that constitutes the sin. Hence, our Lord can, without any real inconsistency, address two of His followers as "foolish men" (Lk 24:25, anoetoi, practically equivalent to Raca, as is also James's expression, "O vain man," Jas 2:20).
D. Miall Edwards

So, the main thing that struck me is the sentence that says, "What is beyond disppute is that Christ condems the use of disparaging and insulting epithets as a supreme offense against the law of humanity, which belongs to the same catergory as murder itself.  It should be added, however, that it is the underlying feeling and not the verbal expression as such that constitutes the sin." 

So, where have these henious crimes started?  Anger, unresolved and allowed to become sin.  Was shooting up something the first showing of this anger?  Nope not at all, but these things are going missed around us because we feel that its OK to be angry, its ok to even say what you think of someone on social media, or what ever.  Its also ok to just stuff your feelings down inside because while I have a right to be angry and express it, YOU DONT. 

I dont have an answer for how to deal with these things in the mass population so dont ask me, but I know that I have to find better ways to deal with the anger issues that I come across in my own life.  Maybe if we each HELPED each other to sort out what is good anger and what is not, maybe THAT would make a difference more than controling things we have no control over.  Maybe if we saw Sin for what it is.  Harmful to not only ourselves but to all those around us and it starts with a tiny thought inside our own head and heart, and if not "fixed" it becomes MURDER!!!!!

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