The Force of Christian Idolatry – part 1
"God is love and grace, all the rest is extras"’ or something like this has been said to me so many times during vacation that I felt I must engage a topic of Humanisms affect on the church to create Christian idolatry.
To begin with we must define idolatry. Idolatry is the creation of a god or gods from the human mind and heart that suit that human mind and fit that person'’s concepts of what God should be. Ultimately though if you look at idolatry it is the worship of man himself. It is about the forces of flesh given an image and form to worship. Greed, lust, evil desire, and pride are all given worship using these images as mediums of adoration. Humanism is the core of all this. Humanism says that the sole reason for being is the happiness of man. ManÂ’s happiness becomes the object of worship.
Now this is what the world does and I expect nothing more out of them. The unrighteous can do nothing else. But what concerns me is when such an attitude infiltrates the church and boy has it done so. Both the liberal and conservative sides of the church have done this. The liberal says: "‘The goal of religion is man'’s happiness while he is alive"’. The conservative says: "‘the goal of religion is man's happiness after he dies"’. Both are based on the humanistic idea of man'’s happiness being the central goal of life. I submit to this is both unchristian and idolatry in Christian garb.
One way this is displayed is the "‘God is...…"” statements people make. Now most of these statements are true on the surface but the problem results when those statements are looked at through the eyes of humanistic idolatry and when any of them are placed as core of all that God is.
The act of looking at them through humanistic eyes produces what I would call the "‘me centered God"‘. It is looking at a particular attribute of God for the purpose of self benefit. For instance when a person commits a grievous sin as Christian they run with wholehearted passion to the God of love and grace. They argue strongly that this is the central core of God'’s being. Because it is true? No. Because that is what they desire out of God and that is what they need God to be for themselves and THEIR OWN WELL BEING. It is a self-centered image of God created by themselves for themselves. This goes for the "‘God is holy"’ crowd as well. In a world where sin is the dominate profession they need a God that is righteous to make order for themselves and to know that the Lord of the earth will do right. The problem is they think it is about their holiness and not God'’s.
This creating of a single attribute to cover God always amazes me as if God is small enough to be contained by a single attribute. "‘God is...…"’ statements are in the Bible but no single one of them can encompass all that God is. That is why there are more than one of them. God is holy. God is love. God is righteousness. God is mercy. God is justice. I could go on and on because God is all these things and more (Scripture says so) -– all in perfect balance.
The key issue here is to give up the idea that the whole reason for existence is the happiness of man. It is the first step to freeing oneself from this idolatry by discovering the purpose of man and it is not our own happiness. But that will be the subject of another post.
Source: I want site a source for many of my thoughts on this issue. A sermon called "“Ten Shekels and a Shirt"” by Paris Readhead. If you want to hear it is on Sermonindex.net.
"God is love and grace, all the rest is extras"’ or something like this has been said to me so many times during vacation that I felt I must engage a topic of Humanisms affect on the church to create Christian idolatry.
To begin with we must define idolatry. Idolatry is the creation of a god or gods from the human mind and heart that suit that human mind and fit that person'’s concepts of what God should be. Ultimately though if you look at idolatry it is the worship of man himself. It is about the forces of flesh given an image and form to worship. Greed, lust, evil desire, and pride are all given worship using these images as mediums of adoration. Humanism is the core of all this. Humanism says that the sole reason for being is the happiness of man. ManÂ’s happiness becomes the object of worship.
Now this is what the world does and I expect nothing more out of them. The unrighteous can do nothing else. But what concerns me is when such an attitude infiltrates the church and boy has it done so. Both the liberal and conservative sides of the church have done this. The liberal says: "‘The goal of religion is man'’s happiness while he is alive"’. The conservative says: "‘the goal of religion is man's happiness after he dies"’. Both are based on the humanistic idea of man'’s happiness being the central goal of life. I submit to this is both unchristian and idolatry in Christian garb.
One way this is displayed is the "‘God is...…"” statements people make. Now most of these statements are true on the surface but the problem results when those statements are looked at through the eyes of humanistic idolatry and when any of them are placed as core of all that God is.
The act of looking at them through humanistic eyes produces what I would call the "‘me centered God"‘. It is looking at a particular attribute of God for the purpose of self benefit. For instance when a person commits a grievous sin as Christian they run with wholehearted passion to the God of love and grace. They argue strongly that this is the central core of God'’s being. Because it is true? No. Because that is what they desire out of God and that is what they need God to be for themselves and THEIR OWN WELL BEING. It is a self-centered image of God created by themselves for themselves. This goes for the "‘God is holy"’ crowd as well. In a world where sin is the dominate profession they need a God that is righteous to make order for themselves and to know that the Lord of the earth will do right. The problem is they think it is about their holiness and not God'’s.
This creating of a single attribute to cover God always amazes me as if God is small enough to be contained by a single attribute. "‘God is...…"’ statements are in the Bible but no single one of them can encompass all that God is. That is why there are more than one of them. God is holy. God is love. God is righteousness. God is mercy. God is justice. I could go on and on because God is all these things and more (Scripture says so) -– all in perfect balance.
The key issue here is to give up the idea that the whole reason for existence is the happiness of man. It is the first step to freeing oneself from this idolatry by discovering the purpose of man and it is not our own happiness. But that will be the subject of another post.
Source: I want site a source for many of my thoughts on this issue. A sermon called "“Ten Shekels and a Shirt"” by Paris Readhead. If you want to hear it is on Sermonindex.net.
