ROAD RAGE

THE SCENARIO: You are in your vehicle, stopped at a stop sign. You see some traffic approaching in the distance and you play it safe and wait for it to pass before pulling out. The person in the vehicle behind you is “all over their horn” because you did not take an opportunity to move out and away from the stop sign.

This is just one (relatively less extreme) example of “road rage;” we could list many others, indeed where violence is involved as well. And no doubt you can call to mind your own experiences. So let us put forth some points for consideration not only with respect to this stop sign example, but for road rage in general.

1. First one may ask, why road rage—what motivates this behavior in people, and how, precisely, is it antiChristian—is it rage alone, or is there more to it.

2. Is road rage a manifestation of the sin nature, or is it simply a condition peculiar to a modern society (is this a sin problem, or not). If you think it is the former, how precisely is it such a manifestation—prove Scripturally, and show the connectedness between biblical sin and this particular manifestation of the sin nature. If you think it is the latter, prove your stance with argumentation relative to the connectedness/non-connectedness between biblical sin and this particular manifestation of human nature (an argument of unbelief is out of bounds here—the point is we do not believe the latter can make a logically consistent as also empirically viable case for their stance while the former can, almost without effort).

3. Can you find biblical precedents of “road rage” from Scripture (e.g., was Cain's spirit a spirit of road rage; is murder like unto road rage).

4. Is road rage indicative of a general decline in the valuation of human personhood. If yes, can you find biblical precedents as to the proper valuation of human personhood in general, not just on the road. Moreover, if yes, what motivates this devaluation—is there a connection here to a devaluation of Jehovah God that then possibly spills over into human valuation mechanics in general—please support your answer with biblical precedents and examples.

5. Do you think that there is a correlation (statistically, spiritually) between abortion and road rage—is the spirit that undergirds the two the same.

6. Can you find three biblical precedents and/or guidelines that help one to cope with road rage; can you find three biblical precedents and/or guidelines as to a Christian's reaction to road rage—can you thus show that the Spirit of God anticipated road rage and provided guidelines for coping, as also reacting to it.

7. We mean this last point quite seriously and certainly with reverence. Suppose Jesus was the driver of the vehicle that stopped at the stop sign of our opening example. Now, reflecting on His Sermon on the Mount (Mat 5:1 ff; “The Beatitudes”), in any of the words of those verses, what would He say to the road enraged driver honking at Him (that is, perpetrators of road rage per se). We have just supposed Jesus to be the stopped driver, but let's remove Him from the diver's seat (bad idea in general) and ask again, in any of the words of His Sermon on the Mount, what would He say to the driver being honked at (that is, victims of road rage per se).

WORKS CITED AND REFERENCES

“The Beatitudes.”

Jesus, Amen.

< http://jesusamen.org/thebeatitudes.html >

RELATED EXTERNAL LINKS

[1] illustratedbible.net/roadrage

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE LEGEND

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