in the bible's ten commandments?

Question

it says to be envious is a sin and the dictionary defines envy as jealousy then when god says he is a jealous god does that not make god a sinner?
I know I am opening myself up to a good bashing by christians but this is an honest question to something I am having a hard time understanding so please no hate answers.

does this mean that god breaks his own law? this is a question I have asked my pastor while attending a christian school during my high school years that never got answered.

Answer 1

Now that is a real good question that I actually wish I would have thought of. My hat's off to you good sir. This is sure to rile many a christian and confound a nation. However, I'll give it a shot.....When God names envy as a sin, wich you are correct by the standard of today in calling it also jealousy, but it was meant as saying "Man, my buddy has a totally hot girlfriend, I want her." is a sin to think or say. Ok. we're human and given to lust and I always joke with my best friend who seems to be a babe magnet which totally confuses me, but different story. But let's set our way back machine to the time of moses wandering aimlessly for 40 years in a desert. The Jews wwere just freed from a thousand years of slavery. For generations they were told what work to do, when to do it, how to do it, how hard to work, and who to breed with and when to do so. They were basically livestock, (said at the risk of upsetting a jewish person, but it is true), One fine day Moses, who was raised by Pharroh, who thought himself the sun god, and Egyptians had a plethora of gods, which the jews were exposed to, freed the "livestock". Now this "livestock" after generations of conditioning had no real working idea of how to live as God wanted them to. So, God put down in stone, naturally, 10 things he wanted them not to do. In the ancient text in which the 10 commandments were written, "envy" and "jealous" were two completely seperate words with totally different meanings, so to envy was much different from being jealous. But translated into english, for those of us that ponder such things, it seems to be a double-standard. But then again, if my scholarly knowlege is flawed and you are correct, then God does indeed have a double-standard. But who's going to argue this with the creator of every concievable thing knowing that that could very well end you up in the deepest circle of hell? (hey had to be said. I'm a libra. Has to be two sides to the story to weigh.)

Well, enough said... hope this helped.

Answer 2

It's kind of hard to maybe make you understand, but I will try.

Because God is God, whatever he says goes. The thing is when He says He is jealous, it goes back to one of the ten commandments that states there shall be no other God before Him. Meaning He is the only true GOd and wants us to worshop Him. When we start idolizing other things and spending more time focusing on worldly things, people, etc. then God does get jealous when we don't spend time with Him. He wants us to focus on Him.

So all in all He is not a sinner. But we become sinners when we are jealous of others because of things they have or things they accomplish etc. God doesn't get jealous because of things as petty as that. For one because He has no use for these things and if He wanted something He simply creates it.

I hope I made that simple enough for you to understand.

Answer 3

You have to be careful with mixing a worldly dictionary with the Bible. Envy and jealousy on our part usually are sinful. Out of a heart desiring what we should not.
But God is using Jealousy in the sense that there are not other gods but His. Therefore He wants us to worship him alone. Any other god is a false god. Read about Israel in Egypt - in Ex - all the plagues were against the false gods of Egypt. God alone proved to be the true God. Again look at Elijah with the prophet of Baal. They had a contest. Baal lost. Their prophet tried all day long to have their false god consume the sacrifice. Then Elijah prayed to the one true God and God consume the sacrifice even though it was covered with water.
God has the right to be jealous. He is who He claims to be. The other are not.

Answer 4

OK, I wont bash you, an honest answer for an honest question. No, God does not and can not sin. It is not in His nature. The 10 commandments are an expression of His Nature, not just a set of rolls that He has inflected upon us pore mortals. May I suggest that you start using an KJV, instead of the bible that you are currently using. The word 'envious' as translated in your bible is in the KJV Bible rendered covet or lust ofter, God does NOT lust. Although He has every Right to our unconditional love and devotion, (as a wife to her husband), that when we go seeking after other gods, it makes Him jealous, (as it would make a husband jealous if his wife chased after other men). I hope that I have been able to help you. If you need anything you may email me.

Answer 5

No God cannot sin he is perfect perfectionthere is no flaw in him, but the jealousy that he has is different and justified because he does not want to lose devotion to other Gods who don't even exist so the n hes being jealous is not a sinful jealousy at all, but he has the right to want exclusive devotion not shared with idols or false gods! So that just means that he is not willing to share his position with any one which is fair enough! Not a sin, he has that right!

Answer 6

God is jealous of your worship, You will have no other god BEFORE me, is what he said, if you believe all that. The conundrum is deliberately caused by religious leaders, this causes you to need them to interpret the word, so then they pass the charity plate, etc etc.

Man made god, god didn't make man. That's what causes the confusion. The old testament is a series of life lessons and the laws of ancient times. The lessons are still valid, some of the laws could use re-working.

Answer 7

You are worried about God sinning because he is jealous?

It doesn't bother you that God murdered the first born child of every family in Egypt? Mass genocide is much worse than jealousy in my book.

How about when Jesus tells his apostles to spread is word. Does he not say that they should find people to feed and shelter them (and to shake off the dust from their feet iin displeasure when they leave a town that doesn't). Is this not coveting your neighbor's good at best, and stealing at worst?

How about when Jesus says "Father why have you forsaken me?" -- that doesn't sound like honoring your father.

Or how about when God impregnates Mary without her permission. Is that considered theft or an impure action?

And you are worried about a little jealousy?

Answer 8

The jealousy God speaks of is a righteous jealousy meaning that He is jealous when you no longer devote the time and attention to Him through worship and prayer and study of His Word that you used to. You've put other things ahead of serving God and in effect it make Him "jealous"

Answer 9

Who is God envious of? The way I read that is that God doesn't like for people to worship material things such as money, physical beauty, science, intoxication and other things that humans put in front of their own concept of God. But then I don't understand people who cling the literal translation of a man made blueprint for belief.

Answer 10

You are comparing flesh with spirit realms. In the flesh world envy is a sin because it means you are not satisified with what Goid has given you, and God always gives you what you need, and much more when you ask. He is a jealous God. This means - spiritually - there is no other acceptable alternative. He loves us and we should return what love we can to Him.