Truth Is How You Overcome Anger

Jesus Christ Topical Guide: Sermon On The Mount Series

“Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment.

But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.”

Joseph Smith in the retranslation of Bible deleted out without a cause. The Book of Mormon teaches that contention is of the Devil. I think this is saying that there is no just cause for anger. Maybe anger is a common emotion, but that doesn’t mean it is good and certainly not helpful in relationships. Anger ALWAYS harms relationships and it doesn’t matter what the issue or cause is.

I am not suggesting that you should accept abuse. If someone is abusing you, you should protect yourself but you can do that without resorting to anger. I think there are very few just causes for divorce, and abuse is one of them.

Anger is a behavior that can be mastered. It starts off with sealing the truth into your soul that there is no cause to be angry. I think Joseph Smith’s deletion of “without a cause,” is inspired because otherwise people could easily rationalize almost anything to be angry. If anger is acceptable then where do you draw the line? Everyone will have a different line and society is becoming more and more wicked and therefore, to the world any small thing justifies anger.

How Is Anger Conquered?

I don’t know if I have the full answer but here are my thoughts.

Knowing the truth is the first step. Specifically, the truth that there is no just cause for anger. However, in the heat of battle, we often forget the truth and resort to our emotions and feelings. This is why the truth must get from our heads deep into our hearts. It must be written in the inward parts of our hearts. The truth must be burned into our souls so it is impossible to forget even when we are hot with anger.

Then, you can stop and pause and recognize your emotions are not righteous and then take corrective action to chase out the darkness and replace it with light. Anger is a symptom of darkness. Some level of darkness has crept in. Darkness vanishes in the presence of light. Therefore, it is impossible to be angry in the light.

“but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.” Calling each other names is a sign that anger has really got out of hand. If name-calling is going on then emergency action must be taken because you have let anger develop too far.

If you live in the Salt Lake City valley, I invite you to join us at church on Sunday's. Currently we meet at 9 A.M.; however, starting in January we will change to noon. We are a mid-singles ward; however, if you have a family please don't let that stop you. Please, join us for for our first meeting which is Sacrament meeting, and make sure you ask someone to introduce you to our ward mission leader. Our address is 7155 South 540 East, Midvale Utah, 84047.