a Jealous God Reasonable?
The Jealous are troublesome to others, but a torment to
themselves – William Penn
A competent and self-confident person is incapable of
jealousy in anything. Jealousy is
invariably a symptom of neurotic insecurity.
Rob Heinlein
“O, beware, my
lord, of jealousy;
It is the green-ey'd monster, which doth mock
The meat it feeds on. That cuckold lives in bliss,
Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger:
But O, what damnèd minutes tells he o'er
Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves!
(Act 3, scene 3, 165–171)”
― William Shakespeare, Othello
It is the green-ey'd monster, which doth mock
The meat it feeds on. That cuckold lives in bliss,
Who, certain of his fate, loves not his wronger:
But O, what damnèd minutes tells he o'er
Who dotes, yet doubts, suspects, yet strongly loves!
(Act 3, scene 3, 165–171)”
― William Shakespeare, Othello
EXODUS 34:14 “For thou shalt worship no other
god; for the Lord, whose name is jealous, is a Jealous God.
See also:
Duet 5:7 9:24 6:15
29:20 32:16,21 Josh 24:19, Nahum 1:2,
Num 25:13, 1 Cor 10:22
There
are so many verses in the Bible that describe God as Jealous. He is the green eyed monster, always out
looking for offense and threatening grave punishment to all who do not pay
strict attention to him above all others.
This seems such a human emotion,
and is very understandable once you accept that the words were written by a people
who attributed their own human emotions and feelings to their image of
God. God was plainly made after the
image of man, and not the other way around.
The
ten commandments (EX 20:1-17) , reinforce this self-aggrandizement and demand
for exclusive attention. Four of the
commandments are directly related to God’s neurotic need for worship and
respect.
Given the importance the Church places on these commands, and the
constant appeals to the 10 statements as the basis for morality and law, is it
not quite amazing that they concentrate so much energy on God’s jealousy?
If
a real God, who was good, and cared about humanity and justice had penned
these, would they not include a few mentions of the great evils of child abuse,
slavery, justice and maltreatment of women?
DO
the Christians really think that God had to tell people not to murder, lie , steal? Was there any civilization where these things
were thought to be okay?
Again… the commands have all
the earmarks of man-made law. Meant to
assert one religion over all others.
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