Is God jealous?

[xdisciplex]

The bible says that God is a consuming fire, right?
I thought about this today and I didn't feel like reading the bible or talking to God I rather wanted to do something else but when I thought about this I became scared and then I walked up and down in my room thinking about what this means that God is a consuming fire. I wondered if God can be compared to a husband who is jealous when his wife does something with her girlfriends instead of him. Does this mean that God is up there and becomes angry at us when we for example rather watch TV instead of reading the bible? But I thought that God had unconditional love?
How is it unconditional if God becomes angry when we don't spend enough time with him?
I don't know, but the thought that God is up there being angry isn't really motivating. It rather makes you feel guilty no matter what you do you always feel guilty and insufficient.
But on the other hand if God wants to have mercy with unsaved people and wants them to get saved then shouldn't he have even more mercy with christians? But it seems to be the other way around. As long as you're not a christian God wants to have mercy but as soon as you are a christian everything is totally serious and frightening. Does this fit together?

A few years ago I would have thought that God certainly isn't angry and I would simply have thought of Jesus and Jesus is always portrayed as the nice guy, but what if this is just a false image of God which you create in your mind and the truth is that this isn't how God really is and the consequence is that the God you believe in isn't even real because he's not biblical? Does this mean that you're not even saved if you believe in God on the one hand but if you have a wrong image of him at the same time? For example when you think of God and then always think of Jesus as the nice guy who understands everything and thinks that everything you do is okay while it's not?

 

[tragic_pizza]

xdx, like I said in the other thread, don't confuse emotions with theological realities.

One of the motivating factors in ancient idolatry (and, by extension, the persecution of the Church in the first few centuries of its existence) was the idea that you had to act in certain ways and do certain things to keep the gods appeased. As long as the gods were satisfied with the level of worship, things went well.

Look at how the Bible refers to God's jealousy. Am I mistaken in recalling that the verses about God's jealousy refer precisely to idolatry?

God's desire is for relationship with God's creation. Doing the "wrong thing" won't stir God's emotions to anger, rage or jealousy, God is not a man and isn't moved by emotions.

God doesn't just like us and think everything we do is A-OK, niether is God some malevolent diety we must serve precisely or risk eternal damnation.

 

[xdisciplex]

Hi!
I don't know if God is only jealous when it comes to idolatry but idolatry can also mean that something is more important to you than God. But how do you know if something is more important? Let's say you get a new car and you're totally happy and all day you think about your car does this mean that God is up there being totally angry because you spend more time thinking about the car then you spend thinking about God?
Does this mean that God gets negative thoughts about you and thinks that you're evil or something like this?
But the bible also says that God only has positive thoughts about us. Does this mean that God cannot even think negatively about christians? This is really confusing.

 

[Steven2006]

Yes:


But Joshua said to the people, You cannot serve the Lord, for he is a holy God. he is a jealous God; He will not forgive your transgressionsnor your sins. Joshua 24:19

God is jealous, and the Lord avenges........ Nahum1:2