We run our website the way we wished the whole internet worked: we provide high quality original content with no ads. We are funded solely by your direct support. Please consider supporting this project.

idolatry

What Is an Idol?

We all believe lies about God that have caused us to mistrust him and therefore to look elsewhere for life. This is what an idol is. It’s anything we try to use to fill what only God can fill.

God never intended anyone or anything other than Jesus Christ to meet our core need for unsurpassable worth and absolute security. So when we try to meet these most central needs with something-or-someone other than God, that something-or-someone becomes an idol.

Idols always fail. They leave us with profound experiences of disappointment, frustration, hopelessness, and a host of other painful emotions. We try a wide variety of tactics to numb these painful emotions (alcohol, drugs, pornography, food, etc), or we distract ourselves from them (work, television, movies, sports, politics, etc). But distractions are only momentary and the Novocain of the idols eventually wears off.

A common idol we face today is related to “the American Dream.” Many ‘get life’ from what they achieve, what they possess, or whom they impress, which leads them to work eighty hours per week, sacrificing family and friends in the process of climbing arbitrary ladders.

Others chase peak experiences, believing that the next risk-taking adventure, the next experience of falling in love, the next lurid sexual experience, or the next drug-induced high will make them feel fully alive.

Christians tend to have a distinct set of religious idols. By this I don’t mean golden calves, statues, or shrines. Instead, some religious people have tried to find their ultimate worth and security in special rituals. Others have adopted righteous behaviors as a way to try and feel loved by God. And still others make an idol out of their tribe, making it superior to others because of their distinctive beliefs.

These are all forms of idolatry. God has established our worth, has accepted us into his family, and has secured us in his great love. Yet many fail to dwell in that love, fail to experience that security, and struggle to believe the worth they genuinely have. So with great hustle, and futility, they try to establish all of these things on their own.

—Adapted from Benefit of the Doubt, pages 63-65

Category:
Tags: , ,

Related Reading

Court-of-Law Theology: How It Falls Short

Courtney “Coco” Mault via Compfight Last week, we introduced a way of talking about theology with concentric circles. This approach is distinct from the common Western model of theology that depends upon a court-of-law framework. The following is an excerpt from Greg’s book Benefit of the Doubt regarding this: ____________________________ Within the legal strand of…

Video Q&A: Do you think Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons are saved?

Does Greg believe that everyone goes to Heaven regardless of their beliefs? Find out here.  

Reason is not the Boogieman

We beg to differ.

Tags:

Benefit of the Doubt Is Here!

Benefit of the Doubt is finally here and you should definitely get yourself a copy! Frank Viola interviewed Greg about the book recently and you can read it over on Frank’s blog Beyond Evangelical. In fact, Frank is so enthusiastic about the book that he added it to his Best 100 Christian Books Ever Written list. Wow. Also,…

Isn’t Faith Inherently Irrational?

Is Faith Inherently Irrational? Many people seem to assume that faith is giving credence to things that don’t make much sense and for which there is little or no evidence. Take the doctrine of the Incarnation, for example. This is the traditional Christian teaching that Jesus is “fully God and fully human.” Now, to many…

Do You Argue With God?

Image by michael_swan via Flickr In sharp contrast to many today who seek the comfortable feeling of certainty as a way of feeling at peace with God, biblical heroes are better known for their willingness to be uncomfortable and to honestly wrestle with God. Like Jacob who wrestled with God through the night (Gen 32), the heroes…

Topics: