How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls - Religion - Nairaland
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| How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by onumadu: 4:32am On Oct 01, 2022 |
I invite deep spiritual scholars and philosophers to this topic. My argument here is that the idea that God is a jealous being is likely a man made concept. I reached this conclusion following the logic of KEY information about GOD in the Bible and other spiritual books. Nehemiah 9:6 “You alone are the Lord; You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and everything on it, the seas and all that is in them, and You preserve them all. The host of heaven worships You.” Please note the “all their host” meaning all powers that operates everywhere. Also note the “You preserve them” meaning that without God none of such forces can survive/sustain, or exist. How can God then be jealous of anything that he created? Help me understand this Please! To summarize, I believe that everything that exist in the visible and invisible space exists inside of God’s mind or imagination. It makes no sense for God to be jealous of his own creation and imagination. See the black background in the attached picture depicting the observable universe. To my understanding, that background is GOD. The entire universe (or universes) exist inside of God. A painting is drawn on a canvass. Without the canvass the painting cannot exist. Using human example, when you close your eyes and imagine things (in the “next world” thoughts produce things), how can you become jealous of some of the things you imagine? If the thing starts to assume dimensions you don’t want, you can simply stopped imagining it, and it would cease to exist. Period. My Bible knowledge class teacher in high school (a theologian) told us in class that the Bible translators created that jealous God idea. He said that what the original text meant was that God is a ZEALOUS being rather than a jealous being. Someone changed zealous to jealous. Could this be the actual explanation? Am I missing something or am I mistaking something? God could not be jealous. Man could, and is obviously due to man’s insecurities! So, man created God that looks and behaves like man. The GOD I believe in is NOT man. He said so in the Bible that his ways are not like man’s ways. (Isaiah 55 v 8 ) "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD." What do you think? Please make your points clearly (i.e. whether in support or opposition without preaching or insults) because God is a lifelong lecture. Happy New Month!
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| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by derecho(m): 5:25am On Oct 01, 2022 |
I can't even piece together what you're saying. But if you are wondering why God is jealous, then you must understand what it means to be jealous. There's no true love without an element of Jealousy. God is unhappy when His creature, man especially, is showing devotion to lesser beings- the devil inclusive. He so love us, that He gave His Only begotten Son... So if you want to use your human senses to understand it,look at it this way: You love a girl so much, gave up everything for her, tried to protect her from harm NOT just out of pity but because of True love. After all your work and sacrifice, one useless guy is the one she's running after.How would you feel especially if she's all you want?How would you feel when you are deprived of lovely lady who lavishing her loyalty to a worthless thing? God created us for His pleasure and no one can imagine How much He loves us. It's only natural to feel jealous when the attention is elsewhere. Summary, God is Love and Jealousy (not envy) is part of Love. Hope you know God is not only Jealous but says His name is Jealous? 3 Likes |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by Dtruthspeaker: 5:39am On Oct 01, 2022 |
derecho: |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by Dtruthspeaker: 5:47am On Oct 01, 2022 |
onumadu: Simple, imagine that you are the Creator of Tesla, which if course you love it and have so many wonderful plans for it and you have given it the ability to choose. Now, your much loved Tesla rejects you and you even see it joyfully and happily and unhesitatingly running to choose your enemy? Would you be happy? Would you not be greatly pained for jealousy? Your reaction over woman whom you did not create, who does this has already judged you, so how much more pain full is it when it is now the thing, your own thing which you created which did this to you. You and I know that we would never forgive such a thing nor ever take it back! 1 Like |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by MaxInDHouse(m): 5:54am On Oct 01, 2022 |
Sonmvayina!  1 Like |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by MaxInDHouse(m): 6:18am On Oct 01, 2022 |
derecho:Apt!  2 Likes |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by BigDawsNet: 8:53am On Oct 01, 2022 |
MaxInDHouse: What Does it Mean That God Is a Jealous God? In Exodus 20:5, when God commands that His people worship no other gods, He acknowledges it is because “I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God" (NIV). And in Exodus 34:14, God insists His people destroy altars to other, lesser gods, for, He says, “Do not worship any other god, for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by onumadu: 5:04pm On Oct 01, 2022 |
derecho: You see, the bolded words are exactly the problem. You are HUMANIZING GOD - making God behave and reason like a human being, when he made it clear that his ways and human ways are not the same. One woman had a "near death experience" after she almost died at the hospital and she described the God and the world she met in the after life. She said that almost everything there is OPPOSITE of how we do things on this earth. My worry is that HUMANS have come between God and his creation, essentially adulterating what God is and those biases are evidenced in the way the humans who wrote the Bible wrote it. You'd be shocked to see how a story changes from one person to another, talkless of from one year to another, and from one generation to another. God of course never changes. Humans do. The entire creation is God's masterpiece "art work". How can the artist be jealous of his own works, works he can change anytime he wants? That is the question. |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by onumadu: 5:13pm On Oct 01, 2022 |
Continuing my train of thoughts, the woman who had a near death experience described a world that even some serious religious people would never accept. But the evidence of what she saw is in the Bible, but one has to be deeply spiritual and almost child-like to see it in the Bible. She said that in the after life, suffering and poverty and life challenges on earth are rated higher than riches and easy life. But most Christians for example see suffering as a form of satanic attacks and spiritual oppression, when even Jesus stated that blessed are those who mourn for they shall be comforted. Jesus also said that blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs in the kingdom of heaven. But all you get today is prosperity preaching by ALL religions. I don't want to say more on the Bible, but God transcends the Bible and all the prophets. God was and had been dealing with humans on this planet before the Bible was written by man. God continues to speak to and deal with humans even today. Anyway, back to my question. My theory is that the entire creation - ALL OF IT - is a piece of artwork that lives and sustained by God. Without God, nothing can exist. |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by onumadu: 5:22pm On Oct 01, 2022 |
To illustrate my point about God and creation using Human analogues: Can William Shakespeare ever be jealous of Macbeth (Macbeth) or Shylock (in Merchant of Venice) or Romeo (in Romeo and Juliet)? Can Chinua Achebe be jealous of Okonkwo (of Things Fall Apart)? Can Michelangelo be jealous of the "Sixteenth Chapel" painting characters? Though God's creation is obviously far more sophisticated than those of human artists, the idea is the same. The only uncreated being is God. Everything else was created BY GOD according to Nehemiah 9:6. |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by MaxInDHouse(m): 6:48pm On Oct 01, 2022 |
BigDawsNet: It's a long story that started from the garden of Eden! 2 Likes |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by derecho(m): 7:15pm On Oct 01, 2022 |
I took that route because you sought human explanation.If not, you don't need to question God's word. onumadu: |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by onumadu: 7:30pm On Oct 01, 2022 |
derecho: I didn't question GOD'S WORD. I question HUMAN DEPICTION of God's word, or human representation of God's word. If you believe that God created all things, then how can God be jealous of his work? Honestly I'm not getting the type of responses that answer the question. It took me years of study to arrive at a point of understanding that God is NOT man. I once had "an encounter" with an angelic being, and the experience proved that human language is deeply inferior to divine or heavenly language. More on that encounter next ... |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by onumadu: 7:33pm On Oct 01, 2022 |
In the encounter I had ( a trance of sorts), this angelic being spoke VOLUMES of information without opening his mouth. The "language" he used is FAR superior to any human language. As a matter of fact, I understood everything he said, BUT I CANNOT use any human language to convey what he said. Human language is limited by our human brain and human physiology. Anyone who has had such encounter can attest to what I'm saying here. So, back to the topic... |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by derecho(m): 7:38pm On Oct 01, 2022 |
"For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God" onumadu: |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by derecho(m): 7:39pm On Oct 01, 2022 |
"For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God" Exodus 34:14 onumadu: |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by onumadu: 7:43pm On Oct 01, 2022 |
derecho: Nehemiah 9:6 “You alone are the Lord; You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and everything on it, the seas and all that is in them, and You preserve them all. The host of heaven worships You.” |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by MaxInDHouse(m): 7:45pm On Oct 01, 2022 |
In the Bible book of Genesis 3:15 God said He will put enmity between two organizations so both sides are driving by jealousy but while Satan and his cohorts are jealous out of envy God and those on God's side are jealous due to the love God has for His creation. 1 Like |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by onumadu: 7:56pm On Oct 01, 2022 |
MaxInDHouse: Genesis 3:15 says: "And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel." Here God is speaking of the enmity he would put between "the serpent" and man. But here you are interpolating (stretching and parsing as you think and understand). That is the problem that has led man to where we are today, a being that cannot even understand God his creator. The words "envy" and "jealous" are English words that cannot even be translated into Igbo, talk less of other lesser languages. In Igbo, the two mean exactly the same thing. God is NOT man. His language is SUPERIOR to human language. |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by onumadu: 8:37pm On Oct 01, 2022 |
The ONLY premise upon which to build the idea of a jealous God is to believe that we are not talking about GOD, but God(s), or even gods. In that instance, then Sango can be jealous of Sopona or Ogun, and Amadioha can be jealous of Ulasi or other gods. But, all the evidence so far point to the existence of ONE supreme GOD from whom everything came out, including what we humans call "gods", which are probably hosts of different heavenly or earthly dominions. That is what I believe was written in Colossians 1:16 “For by Him [Jesus] all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers.” |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by MaxInDHouse(m): 8:58pm On Oct 01, 2022 |
onumadu: There are words in all the languages on planet earth that carries a unique meaning to a word simply because you haven't heard of it never means there's no word for it in that language ! 1 Like |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by Kobojunkie: 9:10pm On Oct 01, 2022 |
onumadu:1. what parts of the bible is this found abeg?  2. But what your woman spoke of does not even come close to that taught by Jesus Christ in any way or form, particularly her claim of the existence of an afterlife of sorts. 3. Of course God transcends what is your bible, but if you truly leave your ideas of God open to individual interpretation, don't you see that you then limit Him when you pretend He cannot experience that which humans can - not in anyway insisting that He does, but can you not see how this idea of yours runs counter to the claim you make of your perception of God? |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by onumadu: 9:28pm On Oct 01, 2022 |
Kobojunkie: You answered your own question.  But let us continue this line of argument. I love it. God cannot be contained by any book no matter how inspired it might be. The Bible is more like an ABCD book (using kindergarten terms) about God. Are we then supposed to be stuck on ABCD instead of using the alphabets to construct complex words and sentences? In the book of 2 Chronicles 6:18 Solomon said the following about the temple he built for God: “But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!” So, inside the Bible, we get guides, snippets, clues, hints and etc about God... but God is waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyy bigger and more complex than we humans can even begin to imagine. That is why I believe that humans humanized God to make God easier for humans to understand. It doesn't mean that God is man or behaves and conceives as man. My theory is that if God were to be "jealous" as man, this earth would have since been destroyed. We are still here after thousands (some say millions) of years inspite of our deviant ways. GOD IS LOVE. And in TRUE LOVE, there cannot be jealousy (read human jealousy about man and woman as is often depicted). God would have destroyed this world out of jealous rage. |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by Kobojunkie: 9:41pm On Oct 01, 2022 |
onumadu:1. The thing about ABCD books is that they provide a building block that guides and at the same time restricts the ideas that follow, right? Meaning that since your woman's story of the afterlife contradicts that stated in the guidebook, it cannot be considered to be of Truth and hence is not of God. 2. You submit that the book is a guide book, so, do you get to pick and choose what is contained in the guidebook that you accept and what you won't then? You say God cannot be a jealous God since your human understanding of the term "jealous" does not agree with your idea of who God ought to be for you. Why does it seem to me as though you are trying to recreate God according to the image of him you have in your mind there? |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by onumadu: 9:42pm On Oct 01, 2022 |
So, to make is easier for my friends here to understand what I really mean or what I believe. I believe that my secondary school Bible teacher's (he is a trained theologian) interpretation/explanation, is likely the true case. He said that God is ZEALOUS, rather than Jealous, and it makes sense if you believe that God created everything. What is my Biblical support for this? Revelation 3:16 (English Standard Version): "So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth." Zealous means ACTIVE AND COMMITTED. God has a place in his kingdom for white and black, positive and negative. Each of them come with its own consequences. What God will "spew out of his mouth" is neutrality. This stuff is too big for some of us to grasp. |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by onumadu: 9:55pm On Oct 01, 2022 |
Kobojunkie: If you re-read what I wrote on the woman, I said that what she saw is in the Bible, but you have to be almost child-like to see it. Are you saying that "Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted" is not in the Bible? She said that sorrows or burdens on this earth is ranked higher in heaven. That is those who are suffering are ranked higher than those having it easy. Jesus' story about "Lazarus and the rich man" also confirms what she claims she saw. I personally have always known this truth even before she said it. That is why people like me never believe in mad pursuit of money or titles and other social rankings. What matters, to me, is LOVE of other people. To demonstrate that love, one has to become almost a "mugu" or "maga" because one has to keep sharing and giving even to one's last possessions because this earth is NOT our home. That is why Jesus told the rich man to go sell all he had and give them to the poor. Current day Christians would even kill you if you ask them to do such a thing. That is how disconnected man has become with the intents and purposes of his maker. Man is more obsessed about a "jealous God" because man loves to be jealous of other people.  That is the summary of what the woman said, and her story rings true. |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by MindHacker9009(m): 10:00pm On Oct 01, 2022 |
The writers of the Bible are prehistoric people and most of the writings are their own prehistoric ideas and not that of God the Creator. Following their line of thought today is damaging to the mind. The Europeans that brought us the Bible have realised this many centuries ago and have abandoned this prehistoric mind set and devoted most of their time to science and technology. How are these Benjamites different from Boko Haram today? Yet those whose minds have been damaged by some of these prehistoric writings will say they are the true commandments of their jealous god. Judges 21:10-14 10 So the assembly sent twelve thousand fighting men with instructions to go to Jabesh Gilead and put to the sword those living there, including the women and children. 11 “This is what you are to do,” they said. “Kill every male and every woman who is not a virgin.” 12 They found among the people living in Jabesh Gilead four hundred young women who had never slept with a man, and they took them to the camp at Shiloh in Canaan. 13 Then the whole assembly sent an offer of peace to the Benjamites at the rock of Rimmon. 14 So the Benjamites returned at that time and were given the women of Jabesh Gilead who had been spared. But there were not enough for all of them. |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by TenQ: 10:01pm On Oct 01, 2022 |
onumadu:Very simple: It is the core message of Christinity John 3:16 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. The keyword is LOVE! Let me explain 1. God LOVES who He wills 2. Love want only the BEST for the Recipient 3. A Reciprocal Love cannot be Forced it has to be freely given 4. When the Recipient of Gods love chooses to reject Gods love for a Deceiver's temptation, Gods emotion of Jealousy is activated. Note: The only Weakness of God is His choice to LOVE Humanity! How do you think youll feel if a girl you truely love and want as your own is giving her attention to a serial heart breaker? Its that simple! |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by onumadu: 10:05pm On Oct 01, 2022 |
Kobojunkie: Jealousy is jealousy no matter how you spin it. Jealousy is a property of powerlessness. It happens when a person looses power somehow, and looks on helplessly. God is power. And ALL power belongs to GOD. Everything apart from God was created by God, and they all worship GOD. QED |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by Kobojunkie: 10:07pm On Oct 01, 2022 |
onumadu:1. But again, her claims run contrary to that spoken of by Jesus Christ even in His parable/story of Lazarus and the rich man, for you see, the reason why the rich man died an unrighteous death had nothing to do with him being rich but with his refusal to give to the poor - Ezekiel 18 vs 1 - 36 & Ezekiel 33 vs 9 - 20. Lazarus on the other hand died a righteous death because, as the story suggests, even in his poor state, he lived in obedience to the Old Law of Moses, unlike the rich man - Luke 16 vs 28 - 31. As for Heaven, which instead happens to exist in the Kingdom of God, it is not the poor who enter but the righteous, those who feed and care for the poor, that Heaven is meant for - Matthew 25 vs 31 - 46. Jesus Christ revealed this truth of Heaven over 2000 years ago and this is written in the ABCD book to guide us as far as Truth is concerned. So, you see, even with a literal child-like confirmation of what is written, there is no way the assumptions made by your woman would fit into what is written in scripture regarding these things. 2. You know what though? Where the Truth of God is concerned, a half-truth is still a lie - it can never amount to God's Truth. Yes, Jesus Christ expects His followers to give away all they have, and abandon everything, in order to obtain treasures and a place in Heaven - Matthew 13 vs 42 - 44, but that doesn't make any of the claims your woman made of God. 3. As for God's jealousy, if you consider the statements in the context where the claim is made, you will find that what is meant is clearly explained to you. You however continue to confuse the meaning of the word with the ideas you have of its in your head, and that there seems to be the core issue here. |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by Kobojunkie: 10:11pm On Oct 01, 2022 |
onumadu:The dictionary readily offers us 3 different meanings to the word Jealousy, so which of these corresponds with your claim above in bold? jeal·ousAs you choose, pay attention to what is stated in the passage below where you are informed by God that He is a Jealous God to maybe see if the idea you choose fits with the passage. 10 Then the Lord said, “I am making this agreement with all of your people. I will do amazing things that have never before been done for any other nation on earth. The people with you will see that I, the Lord, am very great. They will see the wonderful things that I will do for you. |
| Re: How Can God Be Jealous Of Anything That He Created? Help Me Understand This Pls by onumadu: 10:16pm On Oct 01, 2022 |
TenQ: Thanks for your loving contribution, but you are still humanizing God. You talk of a girl. lol If you know how some of us see God, you would not remotely use that analogy. BTW I agree with you that God LOVES. EOD. When humans talk of "Love" they mostly mean "EROS" (Greek word for love by human sexes, one for another). God's LOVE is AGAPE (Greek word for UNCONDITIONAL LOVE). Eros comes with jealousy. Agape doesn't. |
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