Thank you for writing this powerful article. I’ve been saying for years that all anger isn’t wrong, it’s if we sin in our anger that’s unbiblical. Righteous anger has its place, and as you pointed out, Christ showed us that.
There’s been such an intense attack on Christian masculinity in our culture, and I’m passionate about doing my part to push back. I volunteer my time mentoring boys and young men teaching them how to hunt and fish, how to protect and provide, and how to become strong, grounded men who love and defend women.
I tell my community and those that will listen to start small, local in hopes that positive change will have a ripple effect.
Thanks for reading Jason, appreciate you. And that's absolutely right, there's a morally correct kind of anger, because anger looks at the virtue of Justice. I think you'll like the final installment which I posted yesterday btw, it relates nicely to the work you're doing. God bless brother.
"We need to let the full weight of our inadequacy weigh on our shoulders, not so we can cry and moan about how bad the world is, but so we can let it strengthen our backs and our spines, so we can honor our Lord and follow the footsteps of all the warriors of old who fought and died for Him."
"True masculinity combines tender mercy with uncompromising truth, it shows compassion without compromising moral clarity. " very well put. This is what the enemy fears. Because true masculinity upholds truth.
Thanks Juan for this strong article, and Jason for the insightful comment. Thanks, too, Jason, for the good work you're doing for the young men and boys - I'm glad to hear about it.
I'd like to add my own thoughts about a nuance with anger. In the tradition of the desert fathers, anger is one of the 'eight bad thoughts' - and that continues in its place as one of the seven cardinal sins. That is to say, it's one of the thought forms that easily leads to other, more serious expressions of sin. In the desert tradition, anger is one form of resistance to reality, coupled with an active 'pushing against' what is - the opposite of trust in God (the other partner 'bad thought', dejection, is resistance to reality coupled with a passive sense of hopelessness - both reveal a failure to trust God in the moment and then act appropriately).
I've come to believe that anger, at least as it's commonly understood, is neither necessary or helpful in the spiritual life. But here's a subtle distinction - power and activation are necessary. Most of us modern people have a hard time realizing that it is possible to be moved with power to act without being motivated by anger. Anger, in this desert perspective, easily clouds judgement and leads to acting from an afflictive emotion (acting when driven by an afflictive emotion rather than the rational will is a subtly effeminate move, I might add). Action generated from power allows us to carry a purified, clear masculine vision into effective action.
This has become most clear to me in my martial arts work (I'm an instructor in the Russian martial art Systema, which has ancient Christian roots). Whenever one of the guys I work with gets angry when sparring, his movements get less smooth, and his strikes become weaker. Paradoxically, to hit the hardest you have to be relaxed and detached from emotion. The results are obvious when you are hitting and getting hit hundreds of times in a seminar. The funny thing is, however, that when you hit someone from anger it feels (to you) like you're hitting harder. But when you take the hit of the angry parter vs the cool, relaxed partner, the strike from anger is objectively weaker. In our sparring, hitting with anger is like driving with one foot on the gas and one on the brake - the tension slows the strike to make it less effective.
I think it's true of mental and cultural 'combat' as well - writing or speaking from 'righteous anger' feels good in the moment, but the more effective action comes from relaxed power rooted in an equanimity that comes from the Holy Spirit.
That said, I agree with you Jason that feeling anger isn't wrong - but this subtle distinction matters when it's time to fight back and bring our highest, most powerful selves to the battle.
Thank you for writing this powerful article. I’ve been saying for years that all anger isn’t wrong, it’s if we sin in our anger that’s unbiblical. Righteous anger has its place, and as you pointed out, Christ showed us that.
There’s been such an intense attack on Christian masculinity in our culture, and I’m passionate about doing my part to push back. I volunteer my time mentoring boys and young men teaching them how to hunt and fish, how to protect and provide, and how to become strong, grounded men who love and defend women.
I tell my community and those that will listen to start small, local in hopes that positive change will have a ripple effect.
Thanks for reading Jason, appreciate you. And that's absolutely right, there's a morally correct kind of anger, because anger looks at the virtue of Justice. I think you'll like the final installment which I posted yesterday btw, it relates nicely to the work you're doing. God bless brother.
Excellent. I will certainly check it out.
"We need to let the full weight of our inadequacy weigh on our shoulders, not so we can cry and moan about how bad the world is, but so we can let it strengthen our backs and our spines, so we can honor our Lord and follow the footsteps of all the warriors of old who fought and died for Him."
Yes. Exactly.
That's the way brother 💪🏻
"True masculinity combines tender mercy with uncompromising truth, it shows compassion without compromising moral clarity. " very well put. This is what the enemy fears. Because true masculinity upholds truth.
Spot on brother
Hi Jason and Juan,
Thanks Juan for this strong article, and Jason for the insightful comment. Thanks, too, Jason, for the good work you're doing for the young men and boys - I'm glad to hear about it.
I'd like to add my own thoughts about a nuance with anger. In the tradition of the desert fathers, anger is one of the 'eight bad thoughts' - and that continues in its place as one of the seven cardinal sins. That is to say, it's one of the thought forms that easily leads to other, more serious expressions of sin. In the desert tradition, anger is one form of resistance to reality, coupled with an active 'pushing against' what is - the opposite of trust in God (the other partner 'bad thought', dejection, is resistance to reality coupled with a passive sense of hopelessness - both reveal a failure to trust God in the moment and then act appropriately).
I've come to believe that anger, at least as it's commonly understood, is neither necessary or helpful in the spiritual life. But here's a subtle distinction - power and activation are necessary. Most of us modern people have a hard time realizing that it is possible to be moved with power to act without being motivated by anger. Anger, in this desert perspective, easily clouds judgement and leads to acting from an afflictive emotion (acting when driven by an afflictive emotion rather than the rational will is a subtly effeminate move, I might add). Action generated from power allows us to carry a purified, clear masculine vision into effective action.
This has become most clear to me in my martial arts work (I'm an instructor in the Russian martial art Systema, which has ancient Christian roots). Whenever one of the guys I work with gets angry when sparring, his movements get less smooth, and his strikes become weaker. Paradoxically, to hit the hardest you have to be relaxed and detached from emotion. The results are obvious when you are hitting and getting hit hundreds of times in a seminar. The funny thing is, however, that when you hit someone from anger it feels (to you) like you're hitting harder. But when you take the hit of the angry parter vs the cool, relaxed partner, the strike from anger is objectively weaker. In our sparring, hitting with anger is like driving with one foot on the gas and one on the brake - the tension slows the strike to make it less effective.
I think it's true of mental and cultural 'combat' as well - writing or speaking from 'righteous anger' feels good in the moment, but the more effective action comes from relaxed power rooted in an equanimity that comes from the Holy Spirit.
That said, I agree with you Jason that feeling anger isn't wrong - but this subtle distinction matters when it's time to fight back and bring our highest, most powerful selves to the battle.
God bless,
Mark