The first mention of teraphim in the Scriptures is
located in Gen. 31:19. Rachael, the young wife of Jacob and daughter of Laban
decided that when she left her father’s house, she would take his idols with
her. Clearly, she had an attachment to the relics. When her father caught up
with Jacob’s company, he searched all Jacob’s possessions but could not find
the idols. As it turns out, Rachael was sitting on them. This would indicate
that the idols were very small. Both Rachael and Laban’s actions indicate that
the idols were of considerable value to them.
For years, the sports world has touted baseball as the
American pastime. Indeed, baseball has endeared itself to American society for
decades. Despite its spread to other cultures, and its success in those
cultures, baseball is an American sport. There are 162 games every year,
beginning in April and ending in October. There are teams from the majors to
the minors in just about every city of any size. However, America has another
pastime that is much more pervasive than any sport ever has been, is, or ever
will be. America is a nation full of idolaters. Of all the pastimes that we
engage in here in America, nothing comes close to the prevalence of idolatry. Idolatry,
both in and outside the visible Christian community is indeed ubiquitous.
Moreover, our preachers, and professors and teachers seem to have forgotten all
about the practice of idolatry because it is indeed a rare occasion to hear it
condemned, criticized, or rebuked. This is due in part to the fact that we no
longer point people up to God but rather, point them inward to God who
apparently now lives in all our hearts and understands us and loves us so much,
that He would hardly speak a harsh word to us regardless of how we behave.
After all, we are all poor, imperfect sinners in need of grace and love. Sin is
no longer an autonomous ungodly act of rebellion against a holy God who is
entitled to be obeyed in all things. Rather, sin is an imperfection, and nearly
a harmless one at that. If you think
about this perspective long enough, you can see the idolatry of self-worship.
We care more about how we feel about ourselves than we do obeying our professed
Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Most people think that idolatry is the worship of objects
rather than God. We have this idea that an idol is and always has been the
object itself of worship. This is really not the case. “Earlier this century
anthropologists spoke of fetishism: they accepted that there were people who
actually confused the sign and the thing signified. Such an interpretation is
no longer favored: current theory holds that the god may be manifest in the
image, but is always more than the image.” [NIDOTTE, vol. 4, 715] The physical
object is merely a sign of the god behind it. There is always more to the god
than the idol itself. The sign always represents a god of sorts, but is not the
extent of the god it signifies. When Aaron made the golden calf, he said, “This
is you god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” (Ex. 32:4)
Did Aaron intend to say that the God he was familiar with was not the God who
rescued Israel, or did he intend the calf to signify Yahweh? It seems more
reasonable to me to hold to the latter. Yet, either way, the egregious sin of
idolatry was the result regardless of how you interpret Aaron’s behavior.
Idolatry has its roots in the original sin of our parents.
The serpent said to Eve, “You will be like God.” The thought proved to be irresistible
to our parents and man was casted into the abyss of separation from God. The
idea that we could determine morality for ourselves and that we could know
things without dependence on the Creator was simply too tantalizing. Hence,
Satan provoked the fall with the temptation to idolatry. Satan planted the seed
of autonomy, watered it with a touch of idolatry, and indeed it spouted, took
root, and like a vine, it has defaced everything it touches.
The Hebrew word, pasas, פצר located in 1 Sam. 15:23
is compared with the sin of idolatry. It means to push, or to press. In the
professional world when we are floating an idea or making a suggestion and
someone rejects it, we call it “push back.” It is translated insubordination in
I Sam. 15:23. This behavior is rooted in human autonomy, which the writer classifies
with idolatry. When we reject God’s design, His order, we push back on God. As
independent thinkers living in a culture of radical individualism, not only is
this behavior prevalent, society often extols it as a virtue. This can be
expected of a godless culture that has perverted nearly every shred of truth
God ever gave it, but for it to be commonplace in the Christian community is utterly
contemptible. We being disrepute and shame to the name of the God we worship
when we not only engage in such practices, but just as well, when we tolerate
them without a word of protest to leadership.
America idolizes science, reason, and experience as the means by which we
can know truth. Rationalism, empiricism, and existentialism have displaced
revelation to pave the way for unimpeded idolatry. We live in a culture where
so-called experts will speculate if Brent Musburger should be fired for calling
a college beauty queen ‘beautiful’, but then in their next meeting, extol the
merits of gay sex as if it were love, and consider the murder of babies to be a
woman’s health issue. A great philosopher once said, “Stupid is as stupid does.”
Yes, the arguments are exceptionally stupid because they attempt to explain
reality, and establish a morality apart from and contradictory to God. We
expect such wickedness from depraved humans. It testifies about the holiness of
God by pointing us to the consequences of the fall. Autonomy and idolatry are
indeed pervasive in American society. In fact, a culture built on the idea of
radical individualism could never ever be a culture with God at the center, not
really. Perhaps in her early beginnings when the pilgrims came to these shores,
their intentions were in the right place. The idea of practicing one’s religion
without persecution is indeed an attractive one. However, I cannot resist the
urge to point out that we should at least ask if it was the right motivation
from the start. I am not claiming that it was or that it was not. I am urging,
at a minimum, that we maintain a willingness to ask the question and enter the
discussion. I digress.
What does idolatry look like in our hearts? Are Christians, genuine
Christians shielded from the temptation to practice idolatry? Is it possible
for you and I, with Christ in our hearts, to commit acts of idolatry? “Therefore
consider the members of your earthly body as dead to immorality, impurity,
passion, evil desire, and greed, which amounts to idolatry.” (Col. 3:5) In
short, it appears we can. If we can be tempted with lust and greed, we are
tempted to commit idolatry. When we attempt to abuse grace in hopes of being
lax on sin, we commit idolatry. When we refuse to commit to Church membership,
this is a sign of autonomy which is idolatry. The idea that you can exist in
the Christian community without accountability to the Church is a modern
American phenomenon anchored in godless individualism and autonomy. Rejection
of Scripture as the authoritative word of God is idolatry. Divorce against
Scripture’s command is idolatry. Leaving the Church because we don’t get our
way can be an act of idolatry. Refusal to submit to your elders is idolatry. “And
you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your mind, and with all your strength.’” (Mk. 12:30)
No comments:
Post a Comment