Whoring Around On God

Whoring Around On God (Idols take everything and give nothing in return)

If you made it past the title, you might continue to read where my title and motive originated. I do a theology Thursday with my family on Snapchat. It is just a quick summary of my morning reading as I work through reading the Bible in a year.

This past Thursday, I was summarizing Jeremiah’s chapter ten. One of my family members wanted me to explain idolatry a little more in detail, so I prayerfully decided to write this month’s article on idolatry. I will give four principles from Jeremiah and Ezekiel, and in my opinion, I will discuss the biggest idols that Americans deal with today. 

Defining idolatry: When a good thing becomes a God thing, and the diminishment of worship that only belongs to God is given to something or someone else (whoring around).

1.      Idols need a creator

The idols people have worshipped throughout history have always had sex, power, and control as a starting point. The initial worshipper(s) had to have the idol fashioned, covered (most of the time) with expensive metal, and then anchored down.

They originate in humanity’s mind and are built according to their liking and according to what they have seen on the earth or in the heavens. This is not God’s plan for humanity. He desires for man to worship him alone. Read what He states.

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me.” (Exodus 20:4-5)

This one commandment out of the ten has extensive commentary because of what the breaking of this commandment produces. The destruction of the person and the family that is following in the footsteps of the examples of their fathers. They are learning to hate God and worship false gods. God only deserves worship alone, nothing else. Idolatry is robbing from God what belongs to Him: worship. Idols will take everything from you and never give anything in return.

How would worship be defined? It is more than singing Christian songs in church and your car during the week. Both can trigger deep emotions; however, worship is not limited to music.  

Here is the definition of worship: The practice of expressing praise, thanksgiving, adoration, etc., to a deity or perhaps to a regent.[1]

How can this be applied to the average American’s 21st-century life? Stay tuned. We need to understand more about idolatry, so the above definition will have to suffice for now.

2.      Idols need a caretakers

In the 21st Century, America does not have idols sitting around most of their homes; however, there are many things Americans praise and adore. This will not be an exhaustive list, but it will help you prime your pump to ask where the idols are in your life.

Idols need caretakers. Read the below scripture.

They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move. (Jeremiah 10:4)

Just as a reminder, most do not care for idols in their living room like those in India who have Vishnu and Shiva in their homes; nevertheless, some care for different types of idols. They are not burning incense to a metal idol, but they will praise and adore the football players on their favorite football, soccer, or basketball team. When they lose, they’re destroyed.

Americans may not wash and clothe their idols like those in India, but they spend hours watching, learning, mimicking, and praising their favorite movie characters, T.V. shows, children, and favorite food. Remember, idolatry is when a good thing becomes God thing. None of these activities are bad within themselves, but when they take the place of the God who gave them, they become sins.

Americans have skipped the first step, idolatry (creation), and moved right to steps two and three: caretaking and worship. However, under the caretaking section of this article, two more categories of idols need to be discussed that are more physically destructive than the above idols discussed.

There could be order to these two idols, as I see it, but I cannot be definitive in my observation. I think narcissistic tendencies come before major habitual mind-altering drugs take place in an individual’s life. I think people who are self-centered struggle with depression and mind-altering drugs to escape reality. I am not saying that all depression comes from the worship of self, but some does. Nevertheless, they can’t escape a reality they have never really understood.

Let me explain with a question. Why are the narcissistic tendencies of Americans so destructive and manipulative? If true life is to understand Jesus, our creator, and worship Him through our life and service to Him. So it would follow that until we come to know Jesus, we don’t even know what true life is (reality). Humans are tapping around the edges of actual reality until they understand the God who gives and sustains us and why He gave us life in the first place. 

The social media platforms like Instagram, Tik Tok, Snapchat, and Facebook are feeding the majority of narcissistic tendencies. People are consumed with likes and views. This provides the worship of self. I am not saying social media is terrible, for it is how most of the world is beginning to communicate, which I think is highly dangerous, and another article for another month.

This is what makes idolatry so dangerous. People think they will find in their idols what they can only find in their creator: true peace. Idols will take everything from you and never give anything in return, but God is just the opposite. He gives everything to you so you can distribute your talents, intelligence, and money where it is needed. The last idol I will discuss is the most destructive idol currently in our world.  

We live in a culture consumed with escaping their false reality (not seeing life from God’s perspective) with Mind-altering habits. This can be crack cocaine, beer, whiskey, wine, or heroin; I think you get the picture. I have been in ministry for eighteen years, and the number of marriages and ministries I have seen destroyed by mind-altering drugs has been devasting. I will not jump on my soap box and state that drinking is a sin because it is not; nevertheless, I have seen this idol destroy many. If you are playing with the god of drugs or alcohol, I encourage you today to repent and ask God for strength, not to go to the bottle and the pill to escape. Turn to Christ; He is sufficient. Read on to see how deceptively lifeless idols are.       

3.      Idols have worshippers but are lifeless

“Their idols are like scarecrows in a cucumber field, and they cannot speak; they have to be carried, for they cannot walk. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, neither is it in them to do good.” (Jeremiah 10:5) 

God exposes the lifelessness of idols. They cannot either walk or talk. Their inability to be ethical or unethical is exposed. They can't perform the essential living function of walking and talking nor decide what is good or evil. Why? They are not alive. This is how corrupted the human heart is; it is looking for answers and understanding of life from things that are not living. Let’s compare the idol’s attributes to God’s characteristics.

Idol Characteristics

·        Must be created

·        Can’t walk

·        Can’t talk

·        Does not know good

·        Does not know evil

God’s Characteristics

·        He is eternal (was not created but created everything that exists)

·        He walked among us

·        He communicated to us through the Bible

·        He is the standard of good

·        He knows evil and punishes it 

It is plain that God cannot even be compared to idols. He is everything they are not. It is our job to live this way and work to turn away from these idols and turn more of our affections daily toward the Triune God. If you are like me, you may be trying to justify yourself right now. Maybe you don’t have any idols in your house as described in Jeremiah ten, but Idols are there, and they are taking everything from you and not giving anything in return.

Why can’t they provide you with anything in return? Because they are nothing. They can’t create; they must be made. They can’t walk. They must be carried. They do not know good or evil because they don’t have minds. However, God is the creative mind that gave life and walked and talked with Adam and Eve in the garden, in the beginning, explaining good and warning them of evil.

I know you had read through the whole article, wondering when I would talk about what it means to whore around on God. Well, the entire piece has been explaining that any idol in your life is you giving yourself, mind, body, and strength to a god that does not deserve worship. Therefore, the Bible is full of warnings against it, and the first two commandments deal with the topic.

In closing, Americans mainly don’t create idols. They are already there. American’s become caretakers and worshippers of the idols that are all around. The main idol in America is the self. Yes, a living, breathing person who worships themselves. This adds another dimension to our idol formula. This idol is alive, and it knows what it wants: to be worshipped.  I leave you with a closing question. Which idol do you cheat on God with? Whatever it is, please stop it. Repent and believe the Gospel today and bear fruit proving your repentance and faith. If you are a Christian and still struggle, let the value and the grace Jesus gives allure you away from your idols.

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[1] Logos Online