Do you Worship Idols?

Modern Idolatry and the Worship of Creation

In our time of technological advance and scientific knowledge, it's easy to laugh and scoff at the ancients who were prone to bow down and worship the trees, the rocks, the rivers, and the sun. Such practices were reflective of a time of great ignorance and superstition.

Even when we observe such practices today in modern time, we look with pity and contempt at the notion that there exist people in the world today which continue to engage in such primitive practices. However, while many moderns laugh at such practices, the irony of our modern idolatrous practices shine through brighter and brighter, such that the primitive and absurd nature of worshipping the trees and the rocks really pale in comparison.

The words of the Apostle Paul echo, I think, from the recesses of history when he declared in reference to those who have chosen to exchange the truth for a lie and worship the creature instead of the Creator who is blessed forever.

Amen. Modern man, in his contempt for such ignorant primitive nature worship, has in essence shifted the object of worship from one item of nature to another, and hence preserving the idolatry of the ancients, which is then masqueraded with the label of enlightened and educated.

However, nothing could be further from the truth. In ancient times, the object of worship may have seemed primitive and based on ignorance, and that's true, it was. However, shifting the focus of worship from the rocks, the trees, and the sun to modern worship of the self, man's reasoning and science evinces the same ignorance and primitiveness of our ancient predecessors.

It is the resultant consequence of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, and instead of honoring the Creator, they recoil at the notion of a sovereign that will bring every man to account for what he's done.

In their desire to hide from their righteous judge, they worship that which is created. They worship their own abilities, they worship their own accomplishments, and they encourage others to do the same.

Self-Worship, Humanism, and Idolatry in the Church

Hence, instead of moving away from the ignorance and primitiveness of nature worship, the worship of nature continues in modern garb with the worship of the self. We live in a society that thrives on the egocentric belief that, as the ancient Greek philosopher Protagoras once stated, man is the measure of all things.

This egocentric self-worship has even crept within the walls of our churches, and people who have failed to heed the warning of Jude 1 verses 3 -4 have fallen victim to the sort of preaching which elevates man's ego and self-perception, and hence reduces the necessary Christocentric and Theocentric emphasis that characterizes a healthy and biblically based church.

The repeated warning call of repentance throughout the Old Testament, in particular, and the Bible in general, is that we turn away from idolatry, the idolatry of putting things above God Himself. Let those who worship the self, who worship society, who worship celebrity personalities within and outside the church, turn away from such practices and return to the Lord.

This was the constant message of the Old Testament as God struggled with Israel and sent them prophets to bring them back to repentance. When the church is engaged in the worship of anything other than God Himself, the church then becomes ineffective and becomes almost indistinguishable from the world.

Repentance, the Old Testament Warning, and Self-Examination

Now before we laugh at the ignorance and primitive nature of the past in many regards, at least with regards to worshipping rocks, trees, and so forth, I think it's very important that we check our own hearts to make sure we do not have a log, as Jesus said, in our own eye even as we seek to remove the speck from our neighbors.

Just a few thoughts to keep in mind.