I was verbally assaulted by a Bible study group for this question, but can an open minded Christian please ans

Question

Exodus 20:5
You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God

Job 20:28
A flood will carry off his house, rushing waters on the day of God's wrath.

Jealousy and wrath are two of the seven deadly sins. Is God a sinner?

by verbally assaulted, I mean being accused of worshipping and or doing the work of the devil

Answer 1

from dictionary.reference.com

1. Deliberate disobedience to the known will of God.
2. A condition of estrangement from God resulting from such disobedience.

Unless God can estrange herself from herself, God is not a sinner.

VERY good question. Again we learn that life is not fair.

Answer 2

I hate it when people yell at others who have an honest question. I'm glad you found somewhere you felt okay asking the question again. Questions are good things - open minds are even better.

As a sin, jealousy means to covet what someone else has. It means to want what someone else has so much that you will go to any means to obtain it. Some say that pure jealousy would cause someone to destroy an object that they cannot have so that no one else can have it. When we are talking about God being a "jealous" God, we are talking more about the possessive side of God. Remember this is a law for the people - God needed to make it very clear that He was not going to tolerate His people bowing down to false Gods.

As a sin, wrath is a vengeful, uncontrollable anger. God is portrayed in the Old Testament as being a God who can and will become angry with His people, but God is never out of control. The use of the word "wrath" in that passage is the best the author could do with limited human words to describe the event in question.

Here's a more basic way of looking at your question - what exactly is sin? To me, sin is something that harms our relationship with God. In some way, every sin is a disobedience to God's will. God can't very well disobey Himself.

The two scripture verses you have quoted use the words "wrath" and "jealous" with a very differently shaded meaning and background from the seven deadly sins. The concept of the seven deadly sins and the choice of words developed in a completely different time and culture. It isn't very logical to compare the two extremely closely. So bottom line is no, God is not a sinner.

Answer 3

Hi, sorry to hear you were verbally abused by a Bible study group for asking these questions. I'm a Baha'i, and I can give you my take on the verses.

One way to look at the context of these verses is by viewing God as a parental figure to humanity. The first verse, from Exodus, relates to the laws God was giving to the Jewish people. So it would be like a father (or mother) saying, in effect, "I am the only parent you have, and I expect you to stay with me at all times and not go wandering off with some stranger."

The same thing goes for the verse from Job, where God is described as being "wrathful" and punishing someone. This can be compared to a parent punishing a child who is disobedient. The parent still loves his child but wants the child to obey him so that the child will stay out of danger and be safe.

Anyway, those are just my thoughts. So did the people in the Bible study group ever apologize and let you back in?

Answer 4

The seven deadly sins are not the Word of God. Seven is the number of completion. Are those sins the complete deadly sins? No. All sins are deadly.

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus.

God is mighty jealous when it comes to Idolatry. There are 7 bowls of God's wrath to be poured out on earth in Revelations.

Compare the 7 deadly sins to the 7 abominations in proverbs.

7 deadly sins: pride, envy, anger, greed, laziness, gluttony, lust.

7 God hates: pride, lying, killing innocent, heart devising wickedness, running to do mischief, false accusing, sowing discord.

Asking if God a sinner is not the right question to ask. God isn't a sinner. Jesus Christ is the Lamb without blemish. The wages of sin is death. So how could Jesus raise from the dead with the keys of death & hell if He was a sinner?

Did Jesus show a little wrath of God when He zealously removed those people selling animals in the temple from the temple? God's house is to be a place of prayer.

So, I wont verbally assault you. The 7 deadly sins is the problem, not God.

Answer 5

Sure you can ask! First, sorry for the assult by them--thats not cool. Second you must understand that God's moral law is not above Him, it is not subverse to Him, It is intrinsic TO Him. It flow out of his very nature. You should do a study of the word "wrath". Whenever the word is placed next to God it is never meant as "out of control" wrath but a "controlled" wrath. There is a huge difference when you control it not It controls YOU. The 7 deadly sins is false--its Roman Catholic dogma. Sin is Sin no matter what. James says so in 2:10. If I had a chain of 10 links over a fire, how many would have to break for you to fall in? ONE.

but in keeping with your question, personify it. Assuming you have been in love, how would you feel it the man/woman you were CRAZY about thinking about him/her all day, had a 2nd person and you were not the only one? Dont focus too much on the effect but look at the cause.

Answer 6

No, God is not a sinner. God cannot even look upon sin as we know sin. But as Deity, he is entitled to be a jealous God and to be full of wrath - why? Because he is God and we belong to him and yet we deny him, we slander him, we curse him, we try to make him as one of us, instead of us bowing to and adoring him - God's jealousy and wrath are also his - we don't know God's thinking his ways - so we cannot know that when he speaks of his jealousy and wrath exactly what that can entail because all we have are human words for a very spiritual Deity. And there are no seven deadly sins - the only deadly sin is the unforgivable sin and that is to deny Jesus Christ as the only begotten son of God who died for our sins to pay the penalty, which is death, and who was raised and now lives at the right hand of the Father. If God had been a sinner, he would not have had to turn away from Christ as he died on the cross - so accept the Old Testament as the history it is and learn to live in the New Testament as the life and church that Christ has established for us today.

Answer 7

I'm sorry you were verbally assaulted for this question. God is not a sinner. His jealousy in Exodus 20:5 refers to the fact that if we do choose to serve Him, we must serve only Him. He doesn't want people to divide their attention between Him and another god/idol. The Bible often refers to our relationship with God as not only children, but that we are His bride. If you look at it in that sense, He wants us to be faithful and devoted only to Him, just as a husband or wife would expect from their spouse.

God's reference to himself as jealous is not to be taken in a negative tone. What God means is that He loves us so much and desires to have an intimate relationship with us, and the only way that can happen is if we are fully and completely committed to Him.

Regarding wrath, the Bible says in Galatians 5 that wrath is a work of the flesh and is not becoming or healthy for anyone, most especially someone who claims to be a Christian. God is trying to protect us. He knows that uncontrolled anger can lead us to be hateful, mean, and sometimes murderous. This is not His will for us.

God is not flesh like we are, and God is love. His wrath is a righteous wrath, kindled by man's cruelty to himself and to others. It is also kindled when man allows his heart to become so hardened that he doesn't even care about God and His purpose for our lives anymore, and instead lives totally for the things of this world and what it can offer.

God values human beings and loves us more than we can even comprehend, and there are times when He has executed wrath and will in the future, because He cannot and will not stand by forever and watch people hurt themselves and others. We don't really have the ability to comprehend what it means to create someone, commune with them, have them stray from you and turn against you, send Someone to die for them, and still watch so many reject your love.

Your question is legitimate and deserves an answer, and I hoped I helped. If you decide to go back to this Bible study group, I hope you stand up to them and their hypocrisy. God is the author and creator of intelligence, and He would never reject a reasonable question like yours. This group sounds really judgmental though, and maybe it's time to look for another Bible study group.

I wish you the best.

Answer 8

The Bible teaches that God is holy and without sin. The Bible also teaches that God is "a jealous God." I would assume, then, that God's jealousy is not like the jealousy of man. In I Corinthians Paul writes about a "Godly jealousy."

There are several different words that are translated "wrath" in the King James version of the Bible. I couldn't find any example of a word for wrath that was man's sin that was also used for God's wrath. God seems to have a wrath that is reserved for Him alone, so I would assume, as in the first case, that God's wrath is not the same wrath of man.

Or is it possible that God is entitled to both wrath and jealousy because of His divine nature, and so neither are sin for Him? I don't know. I only know I believe the Bible when it says God is holy and without sin, and I know that we are limited in our understanding.

Answer 9

Do as I say not as I do.(sound familiar?) Parents say it all the time. Its because we have been around for awhile and have more experience.(see the bigger picture) God sees the biggest picture and we are supposed to be his children and he has been around forever. How about, "don't play God?" Mostly this means not to judge people.(or sentence them to death in one sense or another) Personally I believe in the death penalty. I have also been accused of not being very Christan for my point of view. You can read the bible all you want and split hairs on any number of things. (not what I would base my faith on) I look at the overall message and tend to spend more time on the positives. I have even come to the conclusion that no matter what religion you are,we all might be worshiping the same God.(next I will be called a lunatic) Oh well, just another day. Because he gave us choice there will always be punishment. Oh yeah to answer your question. (rules don't apply to some one who created the universe)

Answer 10

one if you are telling the truth about this event then. congrats.. you are user of logic and reason...
now the bad news.... you go to the wrong church.
if you cant explore your questions about God and Christianity in a church then where can you? So find a new church. Now i believe in that Jesus is the son of God but using logic i can not take everything in the bible as literal truth. This is something Christians are slow to admit even though they believe it in there hearts. The bible is a very old book that has gone through alot of edits and revisions. Has been translated many many times in many many languages. The passages that you speak of can be interpreted (at least by me anyway) as an affirmation of God's law and commandments. He is "jealous" because he commands you not to worship any other god but the God of Abraham and Issac. He who has no name etc..etc.. and if you don't keep to this you will suffer his wrath. God is simply laying consequences for your actions. The idea that a being that is omnipresent and omnipotent being jealous is illogical. Jealously comes from desire. Something God could never have. I hope that helped. but please find a new church were these ideas can be explored openly

Answer 11

The seven deadly sins aren't listed in the bible. God has every right to be a jealous God, He is the almighty, Alpha and Omega, the I AM, the creator, you kinda get where I am coming from? I love that God is jealous of my time, and my worship. That He knows every hair on my head. That he knew me before I was in my mother's womb.
I have Jesus sacrifice and robe of righteousness, so when I stand before God on the great day of judgement, I won't have his wrath.

I cannot even comprehend calling God a sinner, that goes way beyond me....