Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 12 replies, 13 voices, and was last updated 22 years, 9 months ago by
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Good question. The answer: No. Never. If you look up the original text of the word jealous in the OT (Hebrew) and the word jealous in the NT (Greek/Aramaic)you will find two different definitions. One is of a protective nature, not a sin, and the other is of a selfish nature, which is sin. The jealousy that God feels is the protective one. I looked up the definition in Webster’s dictionary and found a few meanings for jealous. The two that describe God’s position the best are: 1)intolerant of rivalry or unfaithfulness; 2)vigilant in guarding a possession. God hates Satan and everything evil so He can be intolerant of how we chase after anything that is sinful and evil. He also loves us so much, and since He can see what lies ahead of us in our lives, He only wants us to love and serve Him with our whole hearts so that we won’t hurt ourselves. As the loving Father He is, He only wants to guard us from sin and the hurt and pain that it causes us.
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Name : Paula, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 37, City : Los Angeles, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : Secretary, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Covetousness is wanting something someone else has. For instance, if Joe is extremely envious in an unhealthy way of his friend Tom’s car, that would be covetousness. However, if Joe became angry at Tom because Tom was obsessed with Joe’s car to the point of it destroying the friendship, that is jealousy in terms of what is described in the Old Testament. God was specifically jealous in regards to the Israelites. He had derived them from one couple (Abraham and Sarah), He delivered them from the world’s most powerful nation (Egypt), and He provided them with the land of milk and honey (Palestine). All in all, they were His people. He became jealous when His people turned to things such as Baal worship or temple prostitution, or when they just turned away from Him in general.
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Name : Dan, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : na, Race : Chicano, Religion : Pentecostal Christian, Age : 21, City : Los Angeles area, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : Student, Social class : Lower middle class,In the Bible, Jehovah refers to himself as a jealous God. But since covetousness is forbidden by the Ten Commandments, and jealousy and covetousness are basically the same thing, isn’t Jehovah breaking his own commandments by coveting human devotion so strongly?
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Name : Leonard, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Religion : Pagan, Age : 28, City : Seattle, State : WA, Country : United States, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,Covetousness is desiring something or someone that belongs to another. Now jealousy has a broad spectrum. There is destructive jealously, i.e. covetousness, or jealousy to the point of being controlling. But there’s a healthy jealousy. I am jealous with my wife. If I saw another man looking at my wife, my taking notice would be a healthy form of jealousy. In context, God stating he’s a jealous God means that he wants his people to worship no other gods. He want’s his people to worship him and alone. Now, who are his people? Anyone who chooses to worship him, and call on him as Lord.
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Name : Darryl-Cunningham, City : Omaha, State : NE, Country : United States,To covet and to be jealous are not the same thing as commonly thought. The word covet has more in common with the word envy, which bears with it resentment. Jealousy means that you require the complete devotion of someone else. In God’s case it is justified. It also would be justified of a husband or wife whose spouse is cheating. If a man, Bob, hates another man, John, because he wishes to have John’s wife, he is coveting. If Bob is acting jealous becasue his wife is sleeping with another man, it is is right to feel that way. God too, has a right to demand our devotion to Him and no other god.
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Name : Tim, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Baptist, Age : 25, City : La Mirada, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : Art Director, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Jealousy and covetousness (envy) are not the same thing. When you covet something, you want something that belongs to someone else. But you can only be jealous of something that is yours; otherwise you have no claim to it. If a man doesn’t want his wife to be too close to other men, he is jealous. If he starts wishing he could have his neighbor’s house, car, job, wife, etc., that is covetousness. The Biblical God is a jealous God in the sense that he does not want his people to go to “other gods,” to idols. For God to “covet” something would mean that he wants something that belongs to something else! Obviously that makes no sense.
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Name : CP19357, Gender : F, Age : 21, City : Montreal, Quebec, State : NA, Country : Canada,The fallacy in your question is that covetousness is not equal to jealousy. Covetousness is an inordinate desire for that which belongs to another. Jealousy is an intolerance of rivalry or unfaithfullness regarding that which rightfully belongs to oneself. The word jealous, ‘qanna’ in Hebrew, can also be translated as zealous. Because the true and living God is perfect and holy He cannot be tainted with any of the negative connotations of this word. His holiness does not tolerate spurious competitors, pagan or otherwise. Since God created you to glorify Him alone He is zealous for a loving relationship with you. In Matthew 22:37 Jesus repeated the words of Deuteronomy 6:5, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ If you are a true, open minded skeptic I would welcome further dialogue on this matter.
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Name : A. Weston, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 61, City : Orange, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : Business Owner, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,I had similar wonderings about this once, but I had a teacher who gave me an answer that made sense. Jehovah calls himself a jealous God because he does indeed want most of our devotion. That doesn’t mean we can’t pay attention to, or enjoy being with, or desire anyone or anything else. It does mean that if we were to prioritize our list of things we devote time and energy to, God wants to be No. 1. ‘No other gods before me’ means ‘Don’t let anything else take my place at the top of your list.’ Obviously, then, if I were to take the same attitude with someone else (covetousness), then I would be trying to put myself in the No. 1 spot, which God has reserved for himself.
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Name : Matt B., Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 31, City : Duarte, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : General Manager, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Covetousness is wanting something that belongs to someone else. Since God created us, we belong to Him. Therefore, He cannot covet us. On the other hand, God created man with freedom of will. We can choose to put other things before God. God wants to love us and wants us to love Him so passionately that He can’t ‘share’ us with another ‘god.’ That’s why He calls himself jealous.
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Name : Stacee, Gender : F, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, City : Houston, State : TX, Country : United States, Occupation : TV director, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,In this context, coveting is a strong desire for something that is not ours and to which we have no right to. God, because of his position in relationship to man, has the right to receive and require the worship that is due him.
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Name : Tony T., Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 41, City : DeBary, State : FL, Country : United States, Occupation : Programmer, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,VERY good question! Let’s go to the Oxford Encyclopedic English Dictionary (1991). To covet is to ‘desire greatly (esp. something belonging to another person)’ parentheses theirs. Jealous, if we go by the first definitional entry is to be ‘fiercely protective of.’ When God says he’s a jealous God, it is in response to people worshipping other gods before him. If one believes that God wants only what is best for them, it goes to figure that he would be extremely protective of his children and wouldn’t want them to fall under a ‘bad infuence,’ if you will. Remember the Bible sets the relationship between God and His people as a parental relationship. It’s easy to see how some parents are jealous parents who only want the best for their children and not have them hanging out with Jerry Springer folks. As for coveting, looking back to the definition, it implies desiring something that is not yours. In the Bible, whether folks are being refered to as God’s ‘chosen people,’ ‘His children,’ ‘sons and daughters of the Father,’ etc., the implication is that we are His property. He can’t covet something that is by rights his anyway. Of course you first have to believe that we are His property for this to work, and then you could still make a strong case out of using some of the suplementary definitions of jealous, but that’s just this little believers humble attempt to answer your question. Keep questioning, it’s a good thing!
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Name : Heath, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Methodist, Age : 28, City : Bowling Green, State : OH, Country : United States, Occupation : Student Affairs/Grad. student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College,Leonard, God’s commandments are for us, His children. He is not subject to them, in the same way parents are not subject to the rules for their kids. If a father tells his son ‘You must be in bed by 9 p.m.,’ the son must obey or suffer the consequences. But the father himself is not subject to the commandment.
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Name : Roberta G., Gender : F, Religion : Lutheran, Age : 38, City : Stafford, State : VA, Country : United States, Occupation : Homemaker, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,If you look in any dictionary, Envy and Covet are synonyms (same meaning.) So, yes, Jehovah is breaking his own laws. But you have to know something: those laws were meant for Humans, not him. I suppose there is the argument that this is a ‘do as I say, not as I do’ sort of thing. Jehovah also admits to being vain as well, but that’s another question altogether.
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Name : PH30399, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Christian, Age : 33, City : Waukegan, State : IA, Country : United States, Occupation : Computer Networking, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,
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