I recently received a book from a friend who also understands himself to be Christian. However, the structure of our faiths is so vastly different, I feel sometimes as if we belong to two distinctly different religions. The book he sent me, "After Darkness, Light: Essays in Honor of R.C. Sproul," edited by R.C. Sproul Jr., is a book that reviews and highlights some of the theological hallmarks of the Protestant Reformation.
The first essay called, "Total Depravity," is focused on the depraved nature of humankind and the wrath of God as a result of this nature. Sproul is quoted as saying, "Man is very, very bad and God is very, very mad." As far as poetic catchiness it has potential, but for its theological merit, I can only sigh in disagreement and fatigue. This image of a vengeful and angry God is harmful to a world that is desperately in need of a compassionate God.
I have also been reading, "Anger," by Thich Nhat Hanh. In it he says, "We nourish our anger . . . with what we consume with our eyes, ears, and consciousness." According to Hanh, the anger in movies, books, television, even the food we eat, causes us to embody anger more deeply. As a result we suffer more because our angry natures are strengthen and reinforced. In the case of God then, the theological idea of an angry God can only perpetuate our own anger toward ourselves and each other.
What kind of people can we become if our God is filled with anger? How can we learn to love each other, to work for peace, to bring compassionate awareness to our lives, if the ultimate divine model we have is filled with wrath? If we become the anger that surrounds us, then a God of wrath helps to make us wrathful people.
