Angry Whopper

Yesterday, I noticed a Burger King marquee, which proclaimed: The Angry Whopper is back!  Not having dined at a BK restaurant in years, I was not aware it had gone missing. Was there an Amber Burger alert I missed?

I may have been unaware because there was another angry whopper that was present in BK's Angry Whopper's absence: The whopper of a lie that it is ok for Christians to be angry.  Now that's an angry whopper that should be exposed on a marquee. 

As anger is an emotion, it is said that we can't help being angry, that the Bible says it's ok to be angry (cf. Eph 4:26) and that even Jesus got angry when he drove the money changers out of the temple (John 2:15).  

To begin with,while we may not be able to stop becoming angry, we can control our anger and mitigate it or even supplant it altogether. Uncontrolled anger turns to bitterness and rage while controlled anger diffuses.  

Ephesians 4:26 doesn't say it's ok to be angry, it commands us not allow sin to rise out of it by letting the sun go down on it or giving it the opportunity to morph into an uncontrolled emotion in which we injure others and/or our own self. 

And just where does the Bible record Jesus being angry when he drove out the money changers?  Oh, that's right - it doesn't. He didn't act out of anger or rage, he acted out of a sense of justice and devotion to the Father.  He didn't lose control, he maintained it.

So what does Ephesians 4 actually teach about anger?  1) Keep it under control, 2) Refuse to let it simmer and 3) Send it packing ASAP (cf. Eph 4:26-31).   Jus' Sayn.