8. The Devil’s Diary (Continued)

Day Five: Anger and Envy

Of the Seven Deadly Sins, anger and envy have by far the greatest impact on one’s emotional health and wellbeing.  Whether or not they are actually deadly will depend on the circumstances in which these emotions are expressed and vented out.  It has been estimated that no less than 50% of all homicides in the US is committed by the victim’s spouse, lover or close relative as a result of anger or envy.  The role they play in suicide cases is less clear but is not expected to be insignificant. 

It is safe to say that everyone has felt anger and envy now and then.  Truth be told, even God has had his angry and envious moments.  Even from a cursory read of the Bible, one can find numerous examples of the wrath of God and the displeasure he shows toward people who dare worship anything other than the one true God (Himself!)  If I may speak my mind freely (and I always do!): God is rather jealous by nature with a short temper to boot.  If anger and envy are sins, then I must say God is not a very good model for you people to follow.

I might be evil, but I am not stupid to the point that I would accuse God as the “bad guy” who commits sins regularly on a grand scale (Remember Noah’s Flood?  That’s some scale, isn’t it?)  Let me state for the record that nothing can be further from the truth.  God did all those “bad” things for very good reasons.  He wants his people to learn not to hold anger and envy in their hearts, and since he is a firm believer in learning through experience, he would unleash his anger and envy and its detrimental effects into the world so people could learn from it, first hand.  His message is clear and simple: I did what I did out of anger and envy.  It’s very bad.  Do not imitate! 

God also advocates learning through repetition, so he would continue with these live demonstrations every now and then.  Next time when disaster strikes, you should take solace in knowing that it is just another learning opportunity provided by God and it is all for your own good.  God is also a staunch supporter of life-time learning, so you should prepare for a life of pain and suffering.  And remember -- it’s all for your own good!

       For those of you who are still unconvinced of the divine lessons from God, you might raise these questions: But there must be better ways for us to learn our lessons?  After all, we don’t beat up someone just to teach them that brutality is wrong, do we?   If God wants us to be free of anger and envy, wouldn’t it be better if he demonstrates through his own actions in a positive manner?  Your questions make sense, but I don’t have the answers and I doubt God would like to answer them either. 

Perhaps one can deduce an answer from the common saying: “I’ll beat the devil out of you!”  The logic goes something like this: You are sinful because of the Devil in you.  I can drive out the Devil by beating you up (or dropping bombs on you!)  This is just another case of the Devil (me) being used as scapegoat.  Every time when God did something that no one could explain (including God), people always blamed it on me!  It’s so unfair and downright inconsiderate!  You just don’t know how angry that makes me feel!  If anyone has good reasons to get angry, it is me!  Growl…

- To be continued -