Why does Jesus seem angry so often in the Bible?

Question

I've been trying to read the Bible and gain more belief. I have trouble reconciling the fact that Jesus knows all and is all loving and all God, yet says things like he did to the Gentile woman (about being a dog), and continually seems wearied and says "You fools!" and "Oh, faithless generation!" and things equally exasperated. I'm sorry if I'm out of line, but Jesus is sometimes portrayed as having a bit of an attitude. I would think that the Creator of the Universe would come as a wise sage, laid back and teaching only love (like the Kwai Chang Caine in the TV series, Kung Fu). I wouldn't expect extreme emotions from him. Just as in the Old Testament, God seems remarkably like a human in his emotions. Why is this? Am I just coming up with reasons to not believe? What do you think?

Answer 1

You're pre-conceived ideas about what God would say or do are wrong.



I used to have the idea of 'godliness' by watching Charlton Heston on the movie "The Ten Commandments". There was nothing correct about an emotionally-stunted, stoic character speaking slow, and talking old-English, and gazing upward all the time.



Jesus, on the other hand was fully human, frustrated by the lack of faith of the 12 apostles - seeing miracles, -yet stumbling upon their significance. That's why Peter got an 'at-a-boy' when he correctly identified Jesus as the son-of-the-Living-God.



If a just(ice) God really Loves, - then he also has to really hate. - You should judge a person (mettle) by what a person 'hates'.



Do you love integrity? Then hate lack-there-of.

Do you love justice? -then hate the injustice.

Answer 2

Jesus is God in the flesh. I don't know that Jesus knew all, like God knows all. Jesus was the Word made flesh (John 1:1). There are other times when Jesus is surprised by the things people do. He is surprised when the woman washes his feet with her tears and dries them with her hair. He was also surprised by the soldiers faith who said "only say the word and my daughter will be healed." There are other times when Jesus percieves things about people or knows their heart. He was pretty frustrated with these people because they had hardened their hearts agains the Word so much.



About the Gentile woman. Whatever God's purpose, when Jesus came he came only for Isreal. Only because of her great faith did he open up to her also. Just remember he did not come to condemn the world but through him the world might be saved.



Would you be exasperated if all you did was Love someone and all they did was turn to you with spite and hate. Most of Us would give up on them. Jesus was a "wise sage" as you said.



Old Testament: How else can God express what is being felt but through our own human emotions. God is Love.



Good luck in your search for truth. Start out each time with this thought when studying the Bible. God's Holy Word is Truth... Start with this and you'll find the Bible shows itself to be more and more true.

Answer 3

Christ was human in all ways except sin. He cried at Lazarus' funeral, He threw down the money exchange tables in the temple. There is no beating around the bush in the Bible. There is a famous quote that says, "Just the facts please, just the facts." Sometimes the authors of the Gospels wanted to just that and emotion just wasn't a big issue sometimes. What Christ said was the important part.



Although, what you said about WHAT Christ said is true. The Bible is without error. However, you have to understand how people conversed back 2000 years ago. Calling a lady "Woman" was VERY respectful. If Christ were like the guy who played Jesus on "Jesus Christ Superstar" he would probably have accomplished very little. Remember when a bunch of children wanted to be with Christ and some of the disciples told them to leave and Christ said, "Suffer not the Children"? He evidently was friendly enough for kids to want to be around Him.



Don't read into how Christ said things. Remember what He said and you'll find that he was very outwardly loving!

Answer 4

There's a lot to address in this question. I'll try to get to all of it.



First, when he called the Gentile woman "a dog," he was using an allegory. The Israelites had been waiting for a LONG time for a Messiah. It was Jesus' main goal to make sure that God's chosen people got to hear about salvation foremost.



Second, the phrases "You fools" and "Oh, faithless generation," were tools to get the people to pay attention. He probably wasn't shouting it, but rather saying it in exasperation. You have to remember that the Israelites really were foolish and faithless. That is a fact that cannot be denied or ignored.



Third, all most all of Jesus' actions were based on restoration!



Fourth, Jesus was 100% God and 100% man. Please don't forget that Jesus our Lord became a man so that all generation might believe.



Hope this helps.

Answer 5

Jesus is angry at the results of sin. Those who love evil think sin is OK. Jesus did an amazing number of loving things. But, the main thing He did was defeat sin.

The emotion thing is difficult, but it follows that 'caine' was just a TV show character and not a real person. Truth is Buddha was a deadbeat dad who forsook his wife and child to go find himself. When he found himself he decided he could not tolerate Hinduism, so he created his own 8 fold path.

It seems evil should make us angry, and there is a lot of evil.

Answer 6

So your criterion for a holyman is mellowness? Perhaps he saw some things that needed changing, some complacent attitudes that needed stirring up. He seemed to beat up on the Pharisees pretty regularly, and he did have an annoying fixation with relieving hunger, poverty, disease and social prejudice. You can't have reform without breaking some cast iron assumptions. If Jesus had been a love guru, why would anyone have bothered to write a book?



And as for Kwai Chang Caine, I seem to recall a fight scene or two, not to mention some calm but blatant civil disobedience. Even a TV writer knows you need conflict for a decent story.

Answer 7

1. The Gentile woman (dog) ~ The Jews compared the Gentiles (non-Jews) to dogs. Jesus made reference to her as a "dog" not to offend her...and by her response to Him, Jesus is amazed by her faith and grants her wish.



Most times Jesus rebuked the Pharisees and the Scribes for their hypocracy and legalism. He also rebuked or corrected His disciples for their lack of faith after all they had experienced with Jesus.



John 16: 7 Jesus promised His disciples a Helper "Holy Spirit". Vs 8. The Helper will come to convict the world of sin, and of rightousness, and of judgement... Vs.13 The Spirit of truth, will come, He will guide you into all truth.



When studying God's word, ask the Holy Sprit to reveal the truth to you so that you may clearly understand God's word. Also, attend a bible believing church and a good bible study group or home fellowship.

Answer 8

Jesus is God's Son and came to earth as a man. He was born of the virgin Mary and the Holy Spirit of God. He was, therefore, both fully man and fully God. While on earth, He prayed to His Father, God the Father, and was hungry, he cried, was angry, etc. as humans can be. But He did not sin. He was perfect and the human world can be exasperating even to us. Humans can be slow to understand the divine. God is love and we need to be love too. This is primary.

Answer 9

God is not all goodness & light, He is sometimes wrathful & is totally capable of destroying what He wants, when He wants! Jesus was chastising the people for being ignorant & blind when it came to seeing that He was who He was & that is the son of God! God doesn't suffer fools & will only take so much when it comes to how terrible, thoughtless, greedy & monstrous we can be. But the next time the world suffers from the hand of God it will be the end for all & the judgment will be severe. Pray hard, confess your sins & keep your eyes to Him!

Answer 10

lol. Well,for one,it is very important to understand context, both historical and cultural. This is half the battle and your understanding becomes alot more keen. As for him being wearied of the people. If you ever go into ministry or begin talking to your own people, who know scripture, but are blatant hypocrites in every sense of the word- you would be weary too. It gets frustrating. He was wise,even secular writers, who had no obligation to Christ or his followers, even those who handed him up for death- have recorded him as wise and a healer. Check it out sometime.

Answer 11

My opinion is that Jesus was trying to get across how faithless mankind really is. Maybe his emotions were being a crutch to show how much we should believe in him. The emotions might make it so we can relate more to Jesus, much more than we could to the Almighty God. We can become more involved with him because he is more like us, human.

Answer 12

I don't think that he was angry except for the time that the people were gambling in the Temple. And that is righteous anger which is a little different than just being angry. If he wasn't a loving and peaceful God would he have asked the Father to forgive us while he was hanging on the cross? I think not.

Answer 13

It isn't that you are coming up with reasons not to believe... but as it happens, these are all excellent reasons not to believe.



What you are noticing is that the Bible appears to have been written by terribly flawed men from an age long ago, rather than by some sort of supreme being. The God of the old testament is an angry dictator... like you would expect from someone who lived 4000 years ago. Similarly with your observations on Jesus' behavior.



If you want to learn even more reasons to question the Bible (a lot more), check out this site:



http://www.skepticsannotatedbible.com



Read the preface, at least.

Answer 14

If you had children and they denied that you were their father and insulted you claiming you didn't even exist, how would you feel? Wouldn't that make you angry?



Jesus was completely justified in His righteous indignation.



If you think He was angry then, watch and wait until He returns to pour out the cup of God's wrath. Non-believers have a world of hurt to look forward to in their future.

Answer 15

Jesus plays two parts in the shew: Son of man and Son of God; which is to say Law and Grace, notably for comparison of contradictory things, contrary things that cannot co-exist in peace. On the one hand it's accusational law: eg: you fools, you sinners; and on the other hand it's non accusational grace and truth: eg: Mt 5:22 and John 5:45



Matthew 5:22

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.



John 5:45

Do not think that I (grace) will accuse you to the Father: there is [one] that accuseth you, [even] Moses (law), in whom ye trust.



Notice he also said it's not both with + against: not both grace + law, but with or against: grace or law: good or corrupt: Matthew 12:30-37. So then one has to go, for the other one to be of force. Hence we are told to flush law as dung to be grace us; and give up sacrifice to be mercy full; and give up oxy-moron sides wars to be peace full.



So, let us move on from Jesus to Christ is the end of the law, and to reconciling the world is done in Christ is our peace: 2Cor 5:19, not in Jesus who brought division and not peace: Lk 12:51.



Eternal salvation is "through" Jesus --> Christ,

reconciling the world is done "in Christ" thereof;

and it's "be ye reconciled (thru J --> C) --> to God",

specifically "that God" of this/that Gods portrayed.



So then Son of this God is not Son of that God,

in the same manner John 3:16 is not John 3:17;

kinda like a trap door that both opens and shuts,

isn't an ever open door that never shuts in or out.



I am the door? What sort of door shuts ppl out?



Which things are an allegory and a mystery to solve,

by seek and ye shall find, and by connecting biblical dots.

Answer 16

Because some people really annoyed him.

I mean how you like to find money lenders and gamblers in your fathers house?



That was one of the things that annoyed him

enough, to take a whip and drive them all out,

and to be quite honest I did not blame him one bit.

Answer 17

He is angry. This shouldn't be news to you nor should it surprise you.

What do I think? I think you should pay attention to what He says and forget about the opinions of people.

Answer 18

Honestly, it was probably because he was surrounded by morons. Seriously, I was totally feeling Christ when he had to talk to these people about stuff they should have been able to figure out on their own. Even his own followers were acting like total idiots half the time and not paying attention to anything he said. The worst part is that after Christ died, people chose to ignore all of his teachings altogether and instead made an idol out of him and pretended that he "died for their sins" and that partaking in hemomantic rituals somehow cleansed them of their sins.

Answer 19

Because all mythological gods have exaggerated human qualities. You spank a kid who's misbehaving, the gods wipe out civilizations. you get mad when someone doesn't listen to you, gods freak the f*** out.

Answer 20

You are a child of the pc generation. Don't be so sensitive.

Answer 21

I think the Bible is whatever you make it out to be.



Just use the good parts, some of it's teachings are actually worth emulating.

Answer 22

Idk but I agree with you. If I am in living in a place where the one who can supposdly smite me at any time I would rather he not hold grudges

Answer 23

Usually when you are a sinner, it does seem like he's angry and screaming at "you".

Answer 24

If you think that He was angry in the bible- you should see Him Now!

Answer 25

because he wants the world to do well but they keep letting him down!! and he is a bit mental

Answer 26

You would be cranky too if you had to wander around feeding everybody with rocks in your sandals to only be nailed to a cross at the end of it.

Answer 27

It seems to me god was created in man's image

Answer 28

well we already know he was a dilusional dude who thought he was special... so other personality defects wouldnt be hard to believe

Answer 29

Jesus Christ is bipolar. (You'd be pretty messed up if you had a dad like His, wouldn't you?)

Answer 30

I think that you are actually thinking about what you are reading, unlike most followers.

And for that, I applaud you

Answer 31

or like when he threw that kid off a roof and killed him?

Answer 32

depression

Answer 33

PERIOD PAIN !!!