First, you do have to ask yourself if you believe in God.

But once that is established and I gather it has been, you have to take into account several mitigating factors.

#1:  Your jealous quote is OT.  I see you point, but he is not a jealous one in the NT, but a loving one.

#2: God gave man Free Will.  and let us chart our own course.  We are bound to make mistakes, and bound to hit road blocks.  He cannot interfere due to His (her) Prime Directive.  free Will.

#3: So when catastrophe hits, we must do what is best for ourselves and our brothers.  If he were to interfere, then we would be just puppets on a string (much like the angels).  Man, according to the JCI God, is alone amoung the heirachy in being able to do good as an act of free will, and bad, for the same reason.

In the end, we are being tested.  We may be found wanting, but then it is Man's decision in that regard, not God's.

Your not worshipping him is just another nail in the coffin of man.  But there are many reasons that man will be saved and one of the greatest just died this past week.  Each man and woman has the capacity for good and evil within themselves.  The end result is how many choose each.

If you choose good, then you are in your own way, praising him and doing his work. period.

God gave man Free Will.

Which is why he's responsible. He made us who we are.

He cannot interfere due to His (her) Prime Directive

Then why pray to him?

I will send icewater

Won't the ice melt?

Dont. Just do good. Good deeds are worth far more than false praise. Period.

I wasn't referring to myself, I was reffering to people who pray after their loved ones have been killed.

Why wouldn't He be jealous? If He really is the One True God of all Creation as He claims He is...why would He want someone to worship a God other than Himself?

He's very insecure and immature.

God used my dad's death to bring us closer to Him

Your father didn't die in a disaster. My father died of emphysema and I don't blame God for it. My father (and yours too, I suppose) chose to smoke. People who die in disasters don't choose it.

"He admits he's jealous. "I the Lord thy God am a jealous God." So either jealousy is not a fault, or he is not perfect. "
Jealousy is a part of the vocabulary of love. The jealousy of God demands exclusive devotion to himself and delivers judgement to all who oppose him. Its not a fault and a sign of him being imperfect...its a sign that God wants you to worship him. Imagine creating everything and everyone...and someone decides to do their own thing and worship a tree instead of chosing eternity with you. Youd get kinda torked.

"Also, in that same statement, he admits that there are other gods."
Buddha is a God to some...Mohammed is a God to some. They are dead and have not risen. Christianity is the only religion in which someone died for you and rose, promising eternal life to those who follow. There are lots of Gods out there...only one exists. God.

" He allows tragedies to kill people"
Allows, not causes. I bet you would really like it if everything was nice and nothing bad happened, ever...to anyone. Wouldnt that make you feel all warm and tingly on the inside? Just like a nice cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows. mmm

" When a tragedy claims lives, some people pray. I think they're stupid. At least misguided."
Tragedy is what is needed sometimes to bring people closer to God. Sometimes God needs to cause something big to happen...a life changing event in order to bring you back to him...make you open your eyes and say "hey....wake up...get back to me, I want you to come to me" People dont quit drinkign just for the fun...its usually after they have a heart attack. People dont stop smoking (usually) unless something really spooks them out. Severly obese people dont care about their health until they are told they wont live longer at that current state of health. So you say people are misguided when something bad happens and they seek out help?

"If God cares enough to comfort people, and if he has the power to do something about it, why did he allow people to die in the tragedy in the first place?"
mmmm about time to refil that cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows, isnt it? Dont want to lose that warm and fuzzy feeling. Ok so you dont want people to die in a tragedy? When is a good time for people to die?

"He is responsible for the tragedy and the deaths."
He didnt cause the deaths. He allows things to take place that, in some cases, ends peoples lives. So now you want people to not die? Run for that Hot Chocolate! get some extra marshmallows!!!

"Did he allow them to die so that some people would worship him or worship him even more"
Nope...he allowed them to die. What people do after the fact is up to them, not him.

"What an immature, egotistical asshole he must be."
Yeah...man...What a stupid God he is if he lets us do what we want. Prick.

"Religious people say he tests us. Isn't he ever satisfied?"
Kinda hard to satisfy God. He allows things to test you. He knows you and how you are and how you will do when he tests you. The thing is...he knows the answer of the tests. You dont know until you take them. Maybe God will allow something to happen that will change your life. Will you grow stronger spritiually as a result or will you turn away from him? Only two ways to go. How have you done so far? Sounds like you havent done so well. He keeps giving you chances to change your life but everyday, you seem to refuse. That will only work so long. God knocks at the door. He isnt pushing in....you have to let him in. He is a servant as well...wanting to work for you...help you out.

" If he kills people to punish them for their sins"
nope...doesnt do that. If he did that...well youd be dead already. Allows people to die. Big difference.

"he made us who we are. It's his fault we sin. Therefore, he is the one who should be punished."
God should be punished because we live on our own and make our own decisions? God doesnt want you to love him out of Force. He isnt going to make you love him. He gave you a free will. That means, you choose. We sin because we make our own decisions which go against God. This is where people like to start qeustioning God. They say taht since he is supposedly all knowing...he would know how we act and therfore he isnt all knowing because of that. Well thats just silly reasoning to make some people feel....yep...you got it...warm and fuzzy. God knew from the beginning of time everything that would happen throughout eternity. God wanted to create people to follow him, out of choice. People to love him out of free will. But people couldnt go to Heaven because it is too perfect. Eden was going to be a place like this...until man messed it up. God sent Jesus to die for our sins so that we can enter heaven when we die. Only through recognizing that we are sinners and accepting what God died for and asking for forgiveness...can we enter heaven. He didnt want to create people to love him. He wanted people to choose to love him. Imagine having a wife. You have two choices...one who is forced to love you...and one who loves you out of their own choosing. Which would you want?

I'm not saying that it doesn't blow the proverbial goat

reminds me of that inspiring kumbaya-esque folksong, 'michael blow the goat some more':

the river jordan is chilly and wide
hallelujah
lots of arabs on the other side
hallelujah

Buddha is a God to some...

Again, the Buddha is not a god. People seem to have Buddhism confused with Hindusim.
We don't worship the Buddha, we respect him because he was enlightened.....just as we show respect to any enlightened being. We don't worship him.

"What an immature, egotistical asshole he must be."Yeah...man...What a stupid God he is if he lets us do what we want. Prick.

I don't mean because he lets us do what we want, I mean because he demands love and worship.

God doesnt want you to love him out of Force

Of course he does! He says love and worship me or you go to hell.

Isn't religion supposed to make us feel warm and fuzzy instead of scaring us?

Well, I don't have much to add, except to say that the JU Jesus pimpers are in full form.

It seems that you believe in God, you just don't worship him. That's an interesting viewpoint to take (if I'm correct), and I've written quite a bit on the subject.

I love it when people try to witness using personal anecdotes, because you can find an anecdote to fit any viewpoint. Anecdotal proof isn't proof of God.

There's a type of belief system that I forgot what it's called

when i used to be a jehovah's agnostic, we'd go knocking on people's doors at 530am on weekends to tell em we'd witnessed something but we werent sure what it was.

It's when someone believes that God created the universe, set it in motion, and everything since then has been the result of evolution.

is that the theory of revolution?

"Imagine your wife chooses not to love you. so you punish her for making that choice. what kinda love is that?"
I was comparing God to man, not man to man (or a female to male). Your wife wont have eternal life with you. If she chooses that she does not love you, then you shouldnt punish her for making that choice. But you also didnt die for her so that she could live forever. God did. For those that can see what God did, love is a side affect of realizing that he died for all, so that ALL could enter heaven. But only those who see this, and ask for forgiveness of their sins are the ones who will enter.

"Again, the Buddha is not a god. People seem to have Buddhism confused with Hindusim.
We don't worship the Buddha, we respect him because he was enlightened.....just as we show respect to any enlightened being. We don't worship him."

Dharma, you are right....Buddha is not a God, but still some people follow that way of life believing and trying to find enlightenmen. With Buddhism, when you die, you are dead...and possibly you could go into anyone of a number of after life places.

"I don't mean because he lets us do what we want, I mean because he demands love and worship."
What kind of parent would yo be if you didnt want your kids to love you? If your kids didnt love you and follow you, then they arent making the right choice. God created you, he wants you to follow him. He does love you, more than you can imagine. He wants to you love him and worship him so that you can connect with him and be closer to him. Cant be close to someone if you dont love them. Also, worship is a form of communication. Prayer is one way...you pray to God. That works....but worship is when you really sit down and spend time with him, listening to what he has to say, praying and recieving.

"Of course he does! He says love and worship me or you go to hell."
Really? Where? Would you let a stranger into your house? No....seriously. Would you let a stranger into your house, you never saw them, never heard from them...and one day they just show up demanding entry because you have a house and you should let them in. I dont think you would. Why should God let someone into heaven, if that person never took time to get to know Him, lived their life their way...the way they wanted, denied God for their entire life and never trusted Him? The only way to get to know God is to love him (which is natural when you realize that he died for you so that you could have eternal life after death....instead of just death) and worship with him so you can strengthen your relationship with him.

"Isn't religion supposed to make us feel warm and fuzzy instead of scaring us?"
No. If it offends you, makes you realize you are wrong, at fault and need to change, and that you can't do it on your own...then you know it is doing what it is supposed to do.

Myrr...dont know who you are talking about...so I wont reply to your comment...or a couple fo them. Of all the Joe users out there...about 5% seem to actually profess a believe in Christ...and of those...only a few actually talk about their beliefs. Outside of those people...the rest of JU are people who blame everything on Democrats; and people who have an issue with, and slam Christianity.