Exploding
This is probably the expression most commonly associated with anger. We’ve all seen it. People who express their anger in this way are recognized for their hot tempers, their violent outbursts, and their demeaning and destructive language. They not only feel anger on the inside, but they make sure that everyone else around them knows it through their outward behavior. It is a protective response, at best, protecting the angry by maintaining a sense of control or superiority, and protecting others by saying “don’t come near me. I don’t want to hurt you” (like the rattle on a rattlesnake). It can also take the form of passing judgment on someone, choosing to exact punishment on someone for causing physical, emotional, or mental harm to the one who is angry or to someone they love.
Explosive anger is often the result of bottled up emotions, and feelings of injustice, that have been creating internal pressure to the point of breaking. It can come from years of unmet, and often unexpressed, needs, or by repeated offenses from others that were not addressed assertively or that were not forgiven and dealt with properly.
The consequences of expressing anger in this way are somewhat obvious. It can break or strain relationships, it can cause isolation and loneliness, it can lower self-esteem through self-condemnation, and it can deeply hurt the people we love by creating an atmosphere of fear (and
“there is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear” - 1 John 4:18). There can even be physical injury, loss of life, damage or loss of property, and legal consequences for extreme cases of explosive anger.
If the anger is used to exact punishment on someone, it can also bring judgment on the person who is angry.
Matthew 7:1-3 tells us to
“judge not, that you be not judged. For with what judgment you judge, you will be judged; and with the measure you use, it will be measured back to you. And why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank in your own eye?” And
Deuteronomy 32:35 says that vengeance belongs to the Lord and not to man.
Explosive anger does provide an emotional release (as opposed to bottling up your emotion on the inside), but it creates more anger through the isolation it brings, through selfcondemnation, and through the disappointment of choosing such a negative response. It can also validate false perceptions of people and situations, and it usually avoids the root of the real issue entirely. By avoiding the true source of the anger, the same issues and situations continually resurface and unhealthy patterns develop, creating an unending cycle of anger, hurt, and disappointment.
Continue to Imploding ->