Before I develop this, let me say that I don’t know the answer……..for you. But, I worry about the possibility that some people who identify as Christians may be worshipping an idol.
I’m not saying that you have a golden calf stashed in your attic.
I’m not claiming that the things that you value highly have become idols……..like your Avon bottle collection.
What I’m getting at is a bit more nefarious.
A great many Christians pick through the Bible……they accept parts of it and reject other parts. If you peel off the layers, what it comes down to is this:
They reject those parts of the Bible that they do not approve of. In essence they give themselves a line item veto on the written word of God.
The most obvious example is sexual intercourse between two men or two women. The Old testament repeatedly says that this is wrong. The new testament does not refute this. Yet, many Christians condone it.
We kill 3,000 children every day on the altar of women’s rights……….and many Christians condone it.
We tell children in grade school that they can change their sex…….and many Christians condone it.
Let me be clear that this post is not about homosexuality, abortion, or transgender issues.
What I’m getting at is that when you veto a part of the Bible, you change the character of the God whom you worship. I doubt that small changes matter……. does he have a beard?……..what color is his skin?……..is he even a he? But, in an extreme case , is it possible that you have redefined God so much ……..in order to make him meet with your approval …….in order to bring him into compliance with your appetites………that you have fundamentally changed his identity…….his character? Is it possible that you have redefined your God to the point where the God of the Bible wouldn’t recognize himself?
I think that this would take a lot adding and subtracting from the Bible. But; clearly, if you add and subtract until you wind up with a red guy with horns who demands child sacrifice, then you have created and you are worshipping an idol. But where is the line? I worry that this is a slippery slope. Every year that goes by, we add new ideas to our culture in the name of tolerance. Many of these new……woke……ideas don’t line up well with the Bible. Many of these new ideas require us to reject just a little more of the Bible. Many of these new ideas require us to redefine God just a little more than we already have.
Are we Christians slowly building an idol…….worshipping an idol………that we have constructed to meet our approval……..to satisfy our appetites?
Are you worshipping the God who created you……..or are you worshipping a God that you have created?
And worshipping a God that you have created………is a good working definition……of an idol.
Would the God of the Bible…….our creator………recognize the God we are worshipping?
“You shall have no other gods before me. “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”.
God, ESV
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus, ESV