Why is God jealous?

Stuart Mason · Sat May 14, 2011 6:13 am

Hello,

I'm the author of a new book called Gods Before Him, available in paperback at GodsBeforeHim.com and as a Kindle e-book on Amazon.com. It’s about popular mythology and religion and deals with a lot of the recurring question marks surrounding the Bible such as why is God jealous, what does it mean to be made in God’s image, etc. The title “Gods Before Him” has a double meaning and is one, a reference to the first of the 10 Commandments which forbids the worship of any other god before the god of the Bible, and two, a reference to the fact that the gods of myth were worshipped before the Bible was written. The book spans from Sumerian mythology to the New Testament and looks at these deities and their impact on today's religions and culture. I think this book is a little different from others on the subject in that while it focuses on the Bible it’s also a general mythology book as well and presents a lot of information in one place that you’d normally have to go to numerous sources to find. But while it covers a wide range, it’s not intimidatingly long and should be accessible and easy to read whether you’re knowledgeable about mythology and the Bible or not.

Hopefully believers, atheists, and fans of mythology will each be able to get something out of it.

Chris OConnor · Sun May 15, 2011 11:27 pm

Thanks for sharing your book with us. What is your background and what sort of research led you to the conclusions found in your book?

Stuart Mason · Mon May 16, 2011 10:36 am

I'm an ordained minister but I don't currently practice any organized religion, nor am I an atheist. I've always been intrigued by the many different concepts of divinity and have been studying them since very early on. I was raised in a Christian family that was fairly religious. Unlike most of the other Christians around me, I felt that if the Bible was the word of God then it was important that I read and learn about it, so I did. At the same time I've studied mythology nearly all my life, reading every mythology book I could find when I was a kid, then graduating to the primary texts themselves as an adult. I began to discover that some of the questions surrounding the Bible are surprisingly answered right in the Bible itself but you just don't learn it because many of the popular religious teachings are doctrinal rather than scriptural, so even though the Bible actually says X, you're taught Y. It's also virtually impossible to understand the Bible without first being familiar with the mytho-cultural context(s) in which it was written and how it was made, which is mainly what I deal with in the book.

Though there is a special focus on the Bible, Gods Before Him is probably more about mythology than religion per se. I look at the gods themselves rather than things like religious practices, apologetics, etc.

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