I'm currently working through the beginning of the book of Revelation. In the letters to the seven churches, Jesus (in five of them) threatens to come judge the church because there are people there doing bad stuff.
In Pergamum and Thyatira, there were people who were false teachers. These false teachers were getting people to join in at idol-feasts and participate in sexual immorality.
The fact is, we don't have idol-feasts today. They were essentially parties; the food happened to be sacrificed to a false god. They were a cultural phenomenon. Everyone did it.
That got me thinking - we're far too individualistic a culture for that to really be a problem. Christians don't really get ostracized here; and idol-worship isn't really a cultural norm.
But... how do I... how do we... join in our culture's idol-worship? What does our culture worship? What do they value? What do they... do - since all they do is worship idols? How do we join in? C'mon, Church - we need to figure this out and hold fast to Christ's glory - because it's by that glory that we're saved.
From what I can tell, there are two kinds of idolatry in the Bible: idol worship and self worship.
ReplyDelete99% of the people in the culture of the Bible had a problem with idol worship. I suppose it's because they had a better grasp than we do on how helpless humans are, how fragile life is, and how little control we have over what the elements, society, etc, hand us.
However, there was that other 1% who worshiped themselves as a god. In the Bible, these people are exclusively kings. Why? Some arrogant kings thought they controlled the world around them and were safe from all harm or need. Sound familiar? I'd say our main problem in Western culture is self-worship. We're an entire society of mini-kings, deserving of all good gifts, impervious to harm, and in complete control of those around us.
We don't have idol-feasts with rampant sexual immorality???
ReplyDeleteTry your local night club. I guarantee you'll feel like you're at a pagan sex ritual. Sure, no one's eating food, but they're getting drunk.
And our culture is so chalk full of idolatry it's amazing. Just turn on your TV. Just about every image is intended for your worshipful gaze and adoration. Most of it is advertising, designed to get you to obey its commands.
For example: gaze at this beautiful woman while she tells you to buy our product. Why are all the women beautiful and dripping with sensuality on TV? It's goddess worship my friend.
Heck, as J Arthur Ellis said, self worship is huge in our culture. I would suggest that this is common to all fallen men. But we even have thousands of women everyday sacrificing their own children to themselves, for the sake of their own convenience. If that isn't self worship, I don't know what is.