An idol is an image or representation of a god used as an object of worship.
The definition sounds more harmless than it really is. Especially in light of one statement by Jürgen Moltmann, the German theologian. In his book The Crucified God, he states the following about idols:
There is no threat to man which arouses more hostility than to threaten his idols or those of his group.
Let that sink in for a moment. It’s a powerful statement of truth.
Want to see how this plays out in the world. Just take a look at wars and violence – where those things are occurring, there’s a good chance that there has been a threat to another person’s or group’s idol.
The danger with idols isn’t that they separate us from the true God of the universe. It’s the byproduct of putting our faith in these idols. When the idols are what we put our salvation in, then they are bound to fail us. And we have to commit ourselves even more to them. It’s like a black hole – sucks everything within its gravitational pull and ends up destroying it and everything around it.
Idols as defined in your essay takes us to think about thopiose objects that people may worship. Idols may also be people that are popular in acting, music, theater, newscasting, or the rich and the famous. Sporting idols of late have been in the news and not always for good things. Their exhibits of lack of respect for our American flag and our national anthem have tainted their role as sports idols. I
If you let our God be our idol along with His son Jesus and the Holy Spirit, then only can you realize the greatness of His divine power and all of creation. God is good all the time and we as humans will err in our ways on a daily basis. We know that God will forgive us through Confession and self-reflection. Prayer and realization of our sins is one-half of identifying the problem and then resolving to not repeat the same sins again. Idols cannot give us that power or I should say only the power priests and pastors have as they are representatives of God. God forgives us if we ask and are remorseful for our erred ways.
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