Good Morning All,

I am working on preparing this weeks posting for the easy way out. My topic this week is one that has been very foremost in my mind as of late...the topic is jealousy. I checked of course to Biblical references, and find conflicting words on the subject. On one hand our God (the God of the Christans and Jews) is a jealous God, this is very clear in the Old Testament. The other reference I find for Jealousy is in the words of Paul to the Galations, in chapter 5 verse 20, jealousy is described along with many other descriptions of the ungodly life.

I am torn, the jealousy I experienced this past week was motivated by love for my wife, much the same I feel could be said of God's jealousy...it is out of love for His children. But reacting to my feelings of jealousy left me feeling guilty, as if I had committed a great sin....certainly something that comes from a feeling of love should not leave me feeling guilty.

So I turn to you now, I will spend the next few hours in prayer and contemplation on the subject, and find what the Lord puts in my heart...but I am also interested in the points of view of others here in the forums. If you have time, I would enjoy your thoughts.

Sending God's love and mine,
William

Dear William,

It is my belief the jealousy of God spoken about in the Old Testament is not to be taken as a mere anger, but rather a result of a conscious betrayal. I do not believe that God is jealous as we know the term, but rather is righteously wrathful with us for knowing Him and yet choosing something ( in the Christian mind ) that does not exist, and/or is not real, alive, alpha and omega.
From our limited understanding, it would be like giving birth to a child, raising and providing for that child, loving and protecting that child, and when it grows to be a teenager, willfully picks an arbitrary name and announces that it will now love and belong to that name, and rejects you. For us, this would be a betrayal that would hurt beyond our understanding.
While it can be argued that feelings of betrayal is jealousy, I see it as the difference between knowing and thinking. We may be suspicious, mistrustful, and even convinced by what we view as evidence to our thoughts and feelings. However, until we know that such a betrayal has actually occurred, it is just thought, and is appropriately named jealousy. Betrayal is the state we encounter when events have actually occurred whether we are aware of it or not. It is the willful act of one against another, a choice made without any alibis of ignorance.
We, as weak and flawed humans, often fall prey to the feelings of jealousy. Sometimes they are provoked by the words or actions of those we love. But more often than not, these feelings are brought about by our own feelings of inadequacy, and our constant battle to love unconditionally. We are jealous when others have, what we perceive as better than we have, or are recognized or rewarded instead of us. We are jealous when someone, we perceive is more attractive than we feel, or when those we choose, appear to choose another.
God is God, there is no other. This is what we as Christians believe. Surely, God is aware this is so as it is He that divinely inspired those words in our bible. What need would He have of the jealousy mankind feels toward something that is not real and does not exist? No, I don’t believe the jealousy the Old Testament speaks of is the human jealousy we know. I believe it is the righteous wrath for actions we knowingly choose to take against God.
This is only my belief, but I hope it helped!

God’s blessings,

Rev.Campbell.

If you truly trust and honor the person you are bonded to, then there should be no room for jealousy. I completely trust the integrity and loyalty of my significant other, and therefore anyone can look at my partner any way they wish because I know we are bonded and will only be with each other.This physical jealousy is the way of mankind.

The jealousy of God is His intolerance of us putting any other gods before Him. But He knows the hearts of mankind and realizes only the few are loyal and true only to Him. As much as God would like to trust us implicitly, by our acts and deeds we have shown Him that we cannot be trusted.

If you know for a fact that you love your wife, and that she loves only you, then why be jealous? Isn't she going home with you, after all?....God's Love and Peace....To`na Wanagi

I do know that I love my wife, and I know that she loves only me...which is why my jealousy this past week has bothered me so. It is a long story that brought forth my feelings of jealousy, and not neccesary for the entire board to read, and really is more something I have worked out on my own (well with a little hlp from above).

Pathmender accurately described the feeling my prayers today left me with...that my jealousy was less an untrusting feeling towards my wife, and more about a feeling of inadequacy with myself. Perhaps I am spending too much time in "sack cloth and ashes" lately, and not enough time in the light of the love of God...perhaps I have spent the weeks leading up to this past being a bit hard on myself.

I thank you both for you responses. I know my experiences this past week will be subject of my next posting, but I'm not sure the exact topic I will approach...this will take more time in prayer. Again thank you both .

Bill

Hi William,

I think that jealousy is a pretty natural response to our need for and dependence on the people we love, and our fear that we will somehow lose them, or their love and loyalty. In some ways, maybe that fear is the opposite of faith, and perhaps people get "jealous" of G-d (in the sense of condemning other people's paths to him) because, on some level, we imagine that there is not enough of His love to go around, and that showing His face to others implies that he is turning away from us. As for G-d's jealousy, I don't really know. Maybe there are inherent limitations on capturing the infinite and indescribable in human language about human emotions.

Aaron,

Thank you for you input. I especially like your reference to jealousy being the lack of faith...that's a point I hadn't explored. You've given me something to think about.

On a side note, welcome to the forums, I look forward to hearing more from you.

God's love and mine,
William

well jealousy is a natural part of human psyche, and shouldn't be worried over, what should be worried over is the insecurity underlying the jealousy. every fear has an insecurity as a trigger I have not seen anything to contradict my hypothesis so far. So perhape a question to yourself such as what within myslef causes doubt? Or what is it about myself I do not consider good enough to be respected as a private citizen I suggest that questions like these are a good start they are how I get over such things the whole process of determining inadiquacies, and thinking them out to the furthest end seems to remove them for me which leads me to beleive that as long as the mind does not fully focus on, and explore an inadequacy it can grow, and thrive yet when the mind turns the full force of it's capability loose on the inadiquacy it falls short as usual. This is just a sugestion of course to be used from a private citizen, and to be used if you think it will help you.
be blessed