I have a lot of different friends from a lot of different backgrounds, cultures and beliefs.
Whenever having a religious discussion with any one of these groups it is always assumed that Christianity is a one way belief when, in fact, it is quite a diversely populated religion with many variations on what one as a Christian is to believe and follow.
Christianity in and of itself is to follow the teachings of God through His son, Jesus. That is the basic belief. The rest of the Bible was written, by men, inspired/influenced/guided by God to give us pieces of the puzzle so that we may follow as closely to these teachings as possible.
I was asked why I would want to follow a jealous God…a vengeful God…a wrathful God. These are all really legitimate questions and ones that at the time I didn’t have a great and wonderful answer for…but I am going to take the time now to explain.
I stressed during this [drunken] discussion that, to me, and many others, it is very important to take into context the time it was written (so know your history) and the translations that the Bible has gone through. The Bible was written in Hebrew and its first translation was into Greek.
To make blanket statements like “Why would such a supposedly loving God be jealous, vengeful and angry?” is just an error and/or lack in education.
They key is to understand what these words meant in the Hebrew language as opposed to how we define them today.
The word jealousy as used in the Bible is essentially translated as a passionate commitment to someone, and their well-being and not as we translate it today as being a negative connotation.
The Hebrew words qana, qanna, and qina all mean "zealous" or "jealous" so it is imperative to understand its context when used in the Bible.
Here are some verses that speak of jealousy:
Gen. 37:11 - "his brothers were jealous of him" (Joseph)
This is an example of the jealousy that we use today.
Exod. 20:5 - "I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God"
This is an example of God is zealous that His people should not sin. It is a want, a desire, but not used as a negative.
I was also asked, “If God wants you to believe in Him, why didn’t He make it clear cut what He expects of people and give them a black and white way to follow His guidelines?”
I think He did…but humans have made it more complicated than it needs to be? I totally think that is something that we suffer from in today’s Christian society…but I think that might be a blog post for another day.
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