Before I embark on the complicated and controversial task of naming Idols that are wreaking havoc on the church I’m a part of, I want to unpack the experience of idolatry a little more. I find that for most Christians I know, to determine if we have an idol, we ask “Do I intentionally worship something or someone instead of the one true God?”. The answer is usually “no”. This question carries truth, but it isn’t very helpful when it comes to getting at the way idolatry is experienced and practiced. Most modern idols thrive in religious anonymity, opting instead for titles and categories that are secular so that they can easily coexist with, but cause no less damage to, our spiritual sensitivity and life in general.
Idolatry is fundamentally about how we relate to created things, whether those things are material or immaterial, made by God or made by human beings. All that God created, God called “good”. And those things that we create, again both material and immaterial (like ideas, meanings, symbols, structures), that are most susceptible to idolatry also hold some powerful goodness. This is so important. Idolatry, especially the most dangerous and pervasive idolatry, always roots itself in some goodness, some truth, some value. No matter how deformed, violent, or backwards an idol makes us, those who are bound to it will always appeal to this goodness, truth, or value. I’ll even go so far as to say that when people practice idolatry some good, truth, or value is being brought into the world and into human life in its name. But this positive impact never comes close to outweighing the dehumanization and destruction it also brings.
We create things because they serve us in some way. From simple tools and spectacular engineering marvels, to basic value concepts (humans have rights!) and complex social and economic systems (democracy and capitalism), idols start out as things that make life better. We know that these are inanimate things, ideas, and systems, that they do not have a soul or any real power in and of themselves. They don’t think or act without our participation and consent.
So here’s where things get spiritual and I may lose some people that I haven’t already lost. I credit N.T. Wright, especially in his book “The Day the Revolution Began”, for much of my thinking about this. Something sacred, indeed spiritual, that we’ve been given by God as human beings is authority. The authority to create and build things but also to direct, manipulate, and control them. Things like agriculture, machines, music, groups and societies. Wright calls this our unique human vocation. This human authority, given to all people, is something we can surrender and abdicate not only to other human beings, but to created things as well. And when this sacred and spiritual gift is transferred to a created thing, we are in effect giving ourselves over to that thing we have imbued with authority. We are placing ourselves under its spell. That created thing changes from being a servant of us to something that we serve and become bound to. Any libertarian will tell you this about government, any atheist will tell you this about religion, any technophobe will tell you this about technology: The servant becomes the master and the consequences are terrifying. Idols are both fake and real. They have no God-given power. But they absolutely have power over life and death, power that we’ve given them.
With the help of a couple of thinkers on this subject, Vinoth Ramachandra and David T. Koyziz, I’m working to articulate this shift from a valuable and good created thing to a destructive idol. They’re helping me identify some thresholds that help us mark when a relationship becomes idolatrous.
Idols Rename Us. Idols dehumanize us by convincing us and forming us into a false identity. They rename us according to whatever story or system they are upheld by. In short, idols convince us we are something other than beloved children and unique image-bearers of the one true God. Christian belief is that the worship of God leads us to become more Godly. The worship of idols causes us to bear their image. While we carry many identities, none should replace the core identity God has given us. When our God-given identity is replaced with “consumer”, “slave”, “object of desire”, “self-sufficient and self-determined man”, “true American”, “warrior”, “winner”, “loser”, or a million other names, idolatry is at work. We may describe ourselves with some of these words, but they should not define us.
Idols Demand Human Sacrifice. Idols don’t only rename us, they rename others. “Enemy”, “Competitor”, “Evil”, “Foreigner”, “Threat”, “Collateral Damage”, “Criminal”, “Liberal”, “Trumper”. Idols take the image of God in others and bury them six feet under their titles. This allows horror and carnage to take place. When people are no longer people, but something in the way of the idols’ aims, they become disposable, not only in the most violent forms we see in history but in subtle ways we’ve become comfortable with in our time. At some point in their maturation, idols don’t just allow human sacrifice, they demand it. The idol’s laws and commandments ratchet the intensity generation to generation to the point of bloodshed and genocide. We see it with the idols of Ethnic Nationalism and Communism. Capitalism and Liberalism are more subtle but their capacity for destruction is also immense. I experience this demand spiritually when people I know become in my mind and heart less than human because of what they do, say, or believe. I sacrifice my commitment to see their sacred worth and humanness when they become to me a label to be dismissed or demonized.
Idols Possess Us. Quite simply, when we come to the place where we no longer have a choice but to promote, uphold, or establish a created thing at all costs, especially in the face of opposition to it, it is an idol. It possesses us. When we cannot accept the thought of a created thing no longer existing, when life cannot go one without it, it is an idol. Of course we fight to protect and preserve what is good and those we love. But there is a line we cross when God given values of human sanctity go out the window. We don’t often consciously cross this line. We find our emotions and thoughts, even our actions dictated by the demands of an ideology. We become servants of a master.
We can look much further in depth and consider other thresholds that help us recognize when we’ve slipped into idolatry. But I’d like to talk more about the spiritual frameworks that idolatry and secular religion works within. Next time!