 |
|
|
|
January 1st, 2011
12:15 AM ET
Anger at God common, even among atheistsIf you're angry at your doctor, your boss, your relative or your spouse, you can probably sit down and have a productive conversation about it. God, on the other hand, is probably not available to chat. And yet people get angry at God all the time, especially about everyday disappointments, finds a new set of studies in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. It's not just religious folks, either. People unaffiliated with organized religion, atheists and agnostics also report anger toward God either in the past, or anger focused on a hypothetical image - that is, what they imagined God might be like - said lead study author Julie Exline, Case Western Reserve University psychologist. In studies on college students, atheists and agnostics reported more anger at God during their lifetimes than believers. A separate study also found this pattern among bereaved individuals. This phenomenon is something Exline and colleagues will explore more in future research, which is open to more participants. It seems that more religious people are less likely to feel angry at God and more likely to see his intentions as well-meaning, Exline's research found. And younger people tend to be angrier at God than older people, Exline said. She says some of the reasons she's seen people the angriest at God include rejection from preferred colleges and sports injuries preventing high schoolers from competing. The age difference may have to do with cultural norms, she said. Perhaps previous generations were taught to not question God, whereas younger people today don't have any qualms about it. On the other hand, it might be that as people get older, they learn how to handle these types of feelings better. Anger at God can strongly resemble feelings you may have against another person, Exline found. God may seem treacherous or cruel when bad things happen, just like another individual might. Your anger may fester even more when there's no good reason for the negative event, such as a natural disaster or a disease, to occur. And strong, longstanding negative emotions of any kind can lead to physical ailments. Moreover, distress at God is associated with mental health symptoms. Exline and colleagues found that among cancer survivors interviewed once and then again a year later, those who were angry at God at both points in time had the poorest mental and physical health. But the study cannot prove whether anger at God made them feel worse or that feeling worse made them more angry at God. Just like with people in your life, you can respect and feel anger toward God at the same time. And you can move toward forgiveness by reframing the way you view the negative event: Perhaps God was not responsible for it or that he acted in that way for a reason. "When people trust that God cares about them and has positive intentions toward them, even if they can’t understand what those intentions or meanings are, it tends to help to resolve anger," she said. Granted, these studies aren't definitive; they are steps forward in this emerging field of inquiry and not the final word on the subject. But we see it in the real world, too. Jeff Crim listens to people's anger at God all the time - specifically, people who are dying. He's a chaplain and bereavement coordinator North Star Hospice in Calhoun, Georgia, and has found that it's important to find a way to express your anger at God in order to deal with it. Expressing anger can be cathartic, and help you move on, but how you do it is deeply personal, Crim said. Crim himself will speak aloud to God, but others find solace in a trusted spiritual leader or other person to confide in about their anger at a higher power. "What they need is a safe place to express their anger, to know that their anger has been heard and listened to," he said.
« Previous entry2011: incredible shrinking doughnut hole (and more)
|
  About this blog
Get a behind-the-scenes look at the latest stories from CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and the CNN Medical Unit producers. They'll share news and views on health and medical trends - info that will help you take better care of yourself and the people you love.
 |
|
|
|
If you are going for most excellent contents like myself,
only go to see this web page every day since it offers quality contents, thanks
Wow, superb blog layout! How lengthy have you been running
a blog for? you make running a blog glance easy. The entire glance of
your web site is great, as neatly as the content material!
Appreciate the recommendation. Will try it out.
This is a topic which is close to my heart... Cheers!
Where are your contact details though?
My spouse and I stumbled over here from a different web page and thought I might check things out.
I like what I see so now i'm following you. Look forward to going over your web
page for a second time.
Thank you for sharing your info. I truly appreciate your efforts and I will be waiting for
your further write ups thanks once again.
Hey just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The words in your article seem to
be running off the screen in Internet explorer. I'm not sure if this is a format issue or
something to do with internet browser compatibility but I figured I'd
post to let you know. The layout look great though! Hope you get the
problem solved soon. Kudos
My coder is trying to persuade me to move to .net from PHP.
I have always disliked the idea because of the costs.
But he's tryiong none the less. I've been using Movable-type on numerous websites for about a
year and am anxious about switching to another platform.
I have heard great things about blogengine.net. Is there a way I can transfer all my wordpress content into it?
Any help would be really appreciated!
Hi there, I found your web site by means of Google at the same time as
searching for a related subject, your web site came up, it seems good.
I've bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.
Hello there, simply became alert to your weblog via Google, and located that
it is truly informative. I am gonna be careful for brussels.
I'll appreciate should you continue this in future. A lot
of people might be benefited out of your writing. Cheers!
I've been exploring for a bit for any high quality articles or blog posts on this kind of house .
Exploring in Yahoo I ultimately stumbled upon this website.
Studying this info So i am satisfied to express that I've an incredibly just right uncanny
feeling I came upon exactly what I needed. I such a lot no doubt will make sure
to do not forget this website and give it a look regularly.
[url=https://www.hotelhot.ru/hostel-nevsky/]аутсорсинг персонала санкт-петербург услуги[/url]
Tegs: аутсорсинг персонала санкт-петербург цены https://www.hotelhot.ru/hostel-nevsky/
[u]снять общежитие в москве отзывы[/u]
[i]снять общежитие в московской области[/i]
[b]снять общежитие в подмосковье[/b]
alternative to alprostadil https://alprostadildrugs.com/ cheap alprostadil
Fine way of telling, and fastidious paragraph to take information regarding my
presentation subject, which i am going to convey in university.
우리카지노
https://nextsetup88.com
우리카지노
https://cabelas.cc
can erectile dysfunction be revewsw https://canadaerectiledysfunctionpills.com/ erectile therapy after prostatectomy
Yes! Finally someone writes about chứng minh tài chính du học.
tadalafil 40 mg from india https://elitadalafill.com/ tadalafil online