.jpg)
A False Dichotomy between Physical Idols and the Intangible Ones
Have you ever wondered what motivates you to do what you do? There was a story told of a 9 year old who entered a Thai restaurant in midtown New York. Brought up in a Christian family, the boy curiously peered at a statue placed near the doorway. "I didn't know there are idols in New York?" he asked his dad, puzzled.
Christian doctrine has long appeared intolerate of other gods or idols. Sadly, much of the intolerance is not so much characteristic of the God of the bible and Jesus Christ, the lover of our souls, but characteristics of the human heart, ever quick to judge, prejudice and set aside things different from itself. Rousseau lamented in the Social Contract that Christians make the worst citizens in a civil state. This is because true Christianity is about being slaves. They care not about public felicity and do not think ill of their neighbours. They would make the worst soldiers for in war, they would fight with a deep sense of duty but without passion for victory.
While Rousseau's opinions may not accurately describe the emotions and passions a devoted believer may have for his/her state and country, he got the next point about the intolerance of religion correct: "Now that there no longer is and never again can be an exclusive national religion, tolerance should be shown to all those that tolerate others..." In an earlier passage, he adamantly claimed "the sovereign can banish from the state anyone...for being unsociable." Reading from a couple of yahoogroup emails the story of the Singaporean couple who were sent to jail for their severely erroneous tracts on the Muslim faith, I lament that too few of us seriously consider why the God of the bible hates idols. It is not so much that He is intolerant (for He made us and knows our propensity for mistakes) but more that he is angered by the subtle destruction to our lives idols do.***
***[Please note that I do not refer to idols here in the physical sense. I do not attempt to categorize religious items, statues and relics of other faiths as idols. "Idols" here is a generic label for the intangibles that our souls desire, and the sometimes tangible that we make as a form of chasing the former. Please read on.]
True Idolatry - Genuine Loves in Wrong Positions
Today, Dr. Tim Keller spoke about the capacity of the human heart for idolatry. Quoting from Romans 1:21-25, he stated that men inevitably want to create idols, and have created a great range for them. In the Old Testament times, the prophet Isaiah chided the nations of Judah and Israel for worshipping idols made of everyday material. He said, the same tree that was chopped for firewood or cooking, portions of it are used and carved into a creature or image of praise. The same bronze, silver or gold which is used in buying and selling, is molded into a delectable image for worship. The contrast was that created things (wood, gold, silver) were used to created items of worship as opposed to us worshipping the One who created them.
But the dangers of idolatry are deeper and scarier and poses big questions for all men. Keller alluded to the fact that all men have an inclination to worship something. Just looking around, we ascribe praise to great men and women. Celebrities are given endless attention - attention to their latest fashion, their lives, their football club transfers (which seem to last months!). Statemen and Generals are erected statues in their honour. Intangible things like 'love', 'anti-racism', 'human rights' are celebrated and form such a core in many peoples lives. We love to attach value to things and then by association, want our lives to be valued by finding ourselves in them. But many of these gods we celebrate don't give us what we truly need.
If we agree that there are several goods a man requires, them being love, attention, acceptance, esteem, security, etc., then many of these items of worship hardly deliver them. Keller mentioned some illuminating examples.
Where the Search for Acceptance, Esteem and Security Fail - Money, Sex, Power
First, he allued to the idea that there are near and far idols. A Wall Street banker may have his near idol as money. He desires a higher pay, bigger bonuses and a fat bank account. But his far and concealed idol may be security. He is afraid that he would be penniless and face the downside of a free-market economy. He searches frantically (though appearing calm and composed) for ways and means to earn the next buck and to store them in his account. When Lehman collapses, he reacts more than others because he fears the dimunition of value in his wealth.
The same near idol, money, can lead to a different far idol - acceptance. For a lawyer to be like myself, my near idol may be money, not so to provide security, but to buy acceptance. I want to drive a slick looking car which will obtain my friends' praise, a decent looking suitcase to fit my tailored blazer. Maybe some neat furniture in a nice apartment. A nice refridgerator to store delightful gourmet food. All this so that I can mix with and be accepted by a certain crowd. The jet setters and high-lifers will certainly feel at home with me, and I at home with them. But from the above two examples, clearly the idols don't deliver. One crisis - the fall in currency, or the rejection by someone important - will cause us to crumble.
Keller also mentioned the result of painful emotions. Guilt he says, results from making an idol of the past. We want our past to look better but we can't change it. But because of this, we wallow in guilt, unable to tell ourselves life is not central upon what we have done or omitted to do. Bitterness, results from making an idol of the present. We want our present to be perfect. We desire for life to be just the way we want it. Our plans fail and we feel mistreated.
Before the religious person become elated from hearing all these deprecatory examples, how about moral rectitude? When we make an idol out of being a moral person, we think being moral will get us what we want. Thus, when suffering or failure hits us, we blame god and turn away, or hide our sore emotions because we felt that by our morality we deserve better.
In sexual or romantic pleasure, we may be seeking both acceptance and security. For that moment, instead of showing love and pleasure in the one we consumate with, we read our partner's willingness to give his/her body or romantic expressions to us as a sign that they accept us for who we are, and we are secure in this. Sexual addiction prove the contrary. That while for a moment we may feel that way, the act of sex itself never cures our need for acceptance and security. A Christian book once reported that Playboy Magazine did reveal that in order to attract readers, models are to pose in a manner that says "I desire you" to their readers. Inately, it attempts to lure the human heart to the false god of sexual pleasure by telling them they are accepted and esteemed. Yet, it never fulfils and is illusory.
One need not go far to imagine how obtaining power can be an idol.
Ordered Loves
CS Lewis in the Four Loves and Augustine in Confessions both alluded to the same idea - that our hearts are restless till they have found their peace with God, and that God must be the centre of all our desires/loves. For God Himself claims to be able to fulfil all our needs. That's why he is angered by idols. Because by chasing the near or far idols of wealth, moral rectitude, achievements, beauty, sexual pleasure, etc., we fail to reach the true source which will provide us with security, trust, love, acceptance, forgiveness, esteem, and a sense that we are finally at home and at rest. Christ sacrifice speaks boldly of this. Romans 8:32 says:
We know God accepts us for who we are because of the Cross. We can find security because we know He holds our world in His hands. We can trust Him because He disclosed his heart and chose to be first vulnerable to us. We can find true forgiveness, not condoning of our wrongful acts, because a price was paid for us. We can find esteem because by giving Himself for us, he is redeeming us, his adopted children to return home.
Oscar Wilde once wrote that when men are most miserable when they get what they pray for. There is a sense of truth to that in that we often feel gratified and lulled into a sense of tranquility when we obtain our near idols. When we seek for acceptance, more achievements make us feel happy. Yet, this sense of acceptance is never really there. One mistake, one bad grade, one failure to achieve the highest position may mean you've "fallen". At times, it is when we don't get what we seek for that God allows the situation to reveal our false gods.
Not all false gods (idols) are bad in and of themselves. No one would say "since I have sought my wife as an idol I shall leave her." This is contrary to reason and biblical understanding. Yet, the key is to place our loves in order. Wealth, beauty, sexual pleasure and the like must be ordered in their places and assigned the right motivations and values. The love of the Creator and Divine and for what He has done for us and how He has loved us, when placed at the apex of our desire pyramid, allows us to fulfil all our souls' desires. When the need for acceptance, love, trust, esteem, etc. are all met, others pleasures and gods we seek will fall into place and are hardly dangerous since we seek them for their intrinsic value - wealth to provide and multiply for others, sex as an expression of love and appreciation, beauty as an appreciation of what is fine and delightful. Ordered loves is the key.
Unless we order our loves, there is always the danger that our unfulfilled desires for acceptance, affection, security, esteem and love turn the things we possess and treasure, into an idol which enslaves. Why should we allow our loved ones, wealth, moral rectitude and romantic pleasure to a victim of our disordered loves and enslave ourselves to them?
Have you ever wondered what motivates you to do what you do? There was a story told of a 9 year old who entered a Thai restaurant in midtown New York. Brought up in a Christian family, the boy curiously peered at a statue placed near the doorway. "I didn't know there are idols in New York?" he asked his dad, puzzled.
Christian doctrine has long appeared intolerate of other gods or idols. Sadly, much of the intolerance is not so much characteristic of the God of the bible and Jesus Christ, the lover of our souls, but characteristics of the human heart, ever quick to judge, prejudice and set aside things different from itself. Rousseau lamented in the Social Contract that Christians make the worst citizens in a civil state. This is because true Christianity is about being slaves. They care not about public felicity and do not think ill of their neighbours. They would make the worst soldiers for in war, they would fight with a deep sense of duty but without passion for victory.
While Rousseau's opinions may not accurately describe the emotions and passions a devoted believer may have for his/her state and country, he got the next point about the intolerance of religion correct: "Now that there no longer is and never again can be an exclusive national religion, tolerance should be shown to all those that tolerate others..." In an earlier passage, he adamantly claimed "the sovereign can banish from the state anyone...for being unsociable." Reading from a couple of yahoogroup emails the story of the Singaporean couple who were sent to jail for their severely erroneous tracts on the Muslim faith, I lament that too few of us seriously consider why the God of the bible hates idols. It is not so much that He is intolerant (for He made us and knows our propensity for mistakes) but more that he is angered by the subtle destruction to our lives idols do.***
***[Please note that I do not refer to idols here in the physical sense. I do not attempt to categorize religious items, statues and relics of other faiths as idols. "Idols" here is a generic label for the intangibles that our souls desire, and the sometimes tangible that we make as a form of chasing the former. Please read on.]
True Idolatry - Genuine Loves in Wrong Positions
Today, Dr. Tim Keller spoke about the capacity of the human heart for idolatry. Quoting from Romans 1:21-25, he stated that men inevitably want to create idols, and have created a great range for them. In the Old Testament times, the prophet Isaiah chided the nations of Judah and Israel for worshipping idols made of everyday material. He said, the same tree that was chopped for firewood or cooking, portions of it are used and carved into a creature or image of praise. The same bronze, silver or gold which is used in buying and selling, is molded into a delectable image for worship. The contrast was that created things (wood, gold, silver) were used to created items of worship as opposed to us worshipping the One who created them.
But the dangers of idolatry are deeper and scarier and poses big questions for all men. Keller alluded to the fact that all men have an inclination to worship something. Just looking around, we ascribe praise to great men and women. Celebrities are given endless attention - attention to their latest fashion, their lives, their football club transfers (which seem to last months!). Statemen and Generals are erected statues in their honour. Intangible things like 'love', 'anti-racism', 'human rights' are celebrated and form such a core in many peoples lives. We love to attach value to things and then by association, want our lives to be valued by finding ourselves in them. But many of these gods we celebrate don't give us what we truly need.
If we agree that there are several goods a man requires, them being love, attention, acceptance, esteem, security, etc., then many of these items of worship hardly deliver them. Keller mentioned some illuminating examples.
Where the Search for Acceptance, Esteem and Security Fail - Money, Sex, Power
First, he allued to the idea that there are near and far idols. A Wall Street banker may have his near idol as money. He desires a higher pay, bigger bonuses and a fat bank account. But his far and concealed idol may be security. He is afraid that he would be penniless and face the downside of a free-market economy. He searches frantically (though appearing calm and composed) for ways and means to earn the next buck and to store them in his account. When Lehman collapses, he reacts more than others because he fears the dimunition of value in his wealth.
The same near idol, money, can lead to a different far idol - acceptance. For a lawyer to be like myself, my near idol may be money, not so to provide security, but to buy acceptance. I want to drive a slick looking car which will obtain my friends' praise, a decent looking suitcase to fit my tailored blazer. Maybe some neat furniture in a nice apartment. A nice refridgerator to store delightful gourmet food. All this so that I can mix with and be accepted by a certain crowd. The jet setters and high-lifers will certainly feel at home with me, and I at home with them. But from the above two examples, clearly the idols don't deliver. One crisis - the fall in currency, or the rejection by someone important - will cause us to crumble.Keller also mentioned the result of painful emotions. Guilt he says, results from making an idol of the past. We want our past to look better but we can't change it. But because of this, we wallow in guilt, unable to tell ourselves life is not central upon what we have done or omitted to do. Bitterness, results from making an idol of the present. We want our present to be perfect. We desire for life to be just the way we want it. Our plans fail and we feel mistreated.
Before the religious person become elated from hearing all these deprecatory examples, how about moral rectitude? When we make an idol out of being a moral person, we think being moral will get us what we want. Thus, when suffering or failure hits us, we blame god and turn away, or hide our sore emotions because we felt that by our morality we deserve better.
In sexual or romantic pleasure, we may be seeking both acceptance and security. For that moment, instead of showing love and pleasure in the one we consumate with, we read our partner's willingness to give his/her body or romantic expressions to us as a sign that they accept us for who we are, and we are secure in this. Sexual addiction prove the contrary. That while for a moment we may feel that way, the act of sex itself never cures our need for acceptance and security. A Christian book once reported that Playboy Magazine did reveal that in order to attract readers, models are to pose in a manner that says "I desire you" to their readers. Inately, it attempts to lure the human heart to the false god of sexual pleasure by telling them they are accepted and esteemed. Yet, it never fulfils and is illusory.
One need not go far to imagine how obtaining power can be an idol.Ordered Loves
CS Lewis in the Four Loves and Augustine in Confessions both alluded to the same idea - that our hearts are restless till they have found their peace with God, and that God must be the centre of all our desires/loves. For God Himself claims to be able to fulfil all our needs. That's why he is angered by idols. Because by chasing the near or far idols of wealth, moral rectitude, achievements, beauty, sexual pleasure, etc., we fail to reach the true source which will provide us with security, trust, love, acceptance, forgiveness, esteem, and a sense that we are finally at home and at rest. Christ sacrifice speaks boldly of this. Romans 8:32 says:
"He who did not spare His only Son, but gave him up for us all - how will He not also, along with him, graciously give us all things."
We know God accepts us for who we are because of the Cross. We can find security because we know He holds our world in His hands. We can trust Him because He disclosed his heart and chose to be first vulnerable to us. We can find true forgiveness, not condoning of our wrongful acts, because a price was paid for us. We can find esteem because by giving Himself for us, he is redeeming us, his adopted children to return home.
Oscar Wilde once wrote that when men are most miserable when they get what they pray for. There is a sense of truth to that in that we often feel gratified and lulled into a sense of tranquility when we obtain our near idols. When we seek for acceptance, more achievements make us feel happy. Yet, this sense of acceptance is never really there. One mistake, one bad grade, one failure to achieve the highest position may mean you've "fallen". At times, it is when we don't get what we seek for that God allows the situation to reveal our false gods.
Not all false gods (idols) are bad in and of themselves. No one would say "since I have sought my wife as an idol I shall leave her." This is contrary to reason and biblical understanding. Yet, the key is to place our loves in order. Wealth, beauty, sexual pleasure and the like must be ordered in their places and assigned the right motivations and values. The love of the Creator and Divine and for what He has done for us and how He has loved us, when placed at the apex of our desire pyramid, allows us to fulfil all our souls' desires. When the need for acceptance, love, trust, esteem, etc. are all met, others pleasures and gods we seek will fall into place and are hardly dangerous since we seek them for their intrinsic value - wealth to provide and multiply for others, sex as an expression of love and appreciation, beauty as an appreciation of what is fine and delightful. Ordered loves is the key.
Unless we order our loves, there is always the danger that our unfulfilled desires for acceptance, affection, security, esteem and love turn the things we possess and treasure, into an idol which enslaves. Why should we allow our loved ones, wealth, moral rectitude and romantic pleasure to a victim of our disordered loves and enslave ourselves to them?
