Idolatry–what is it?

Webster defines idolatry in two ways:

  1:      the worship of a physical object as a god
  2:      immoderate attachment or devotion to something

God defines it in Exodus 20:3 as “Do not have other gods besides me.” CSB

It seems pretty simple, right? Do not worship anyone besides the one true God of the Bible. So how do we worship God? By singing to Him, praying to Him, listening to pastors preach about Him and reading His own words in the Bible. It follows then, that we are not to sing about, pray to, listen to sermons about or read sacred writings of false gods.

In Deuteronomy 12:29-32 it says

29 “When the LORD your God annihilates the nations before you, which you are entering to take possession of, and you drive them out and live in their land, 30 be careful not to be ensnared by their ways after they have been destroyed before you. Do not inquire about their gods, asking, ‘How did these nations worship their gods? I’ll also do the same.’ 31 You must not do the same to the LORD your God, because they practice every detestable act, which the LORD hates, for their gods. They even burn their sons and daughters in the fire to their gods. 32 Be careful to do everything I command you; do not add anything to it or take anything away from it. CSB

Did you catch the part about being ensnared?  It can happen so easily.  Especially if the only sermons or bible studies you’ve heard about idolatry pass it off as something only Old Testament people did with carved statutes.  Or maybe it was hedonism or materialism that was the explanation.

What if though modern day Christians were actually worshipping other gods? What if the modern church was actually condoning practicing the worship styles and practices of other religions? Sounds crazy. Would your church offer a class on praying to a Hindu god? The teacher might be wearing gym clothes and everyone brought a mat.  There are different poses and stretches designed to awaken the kundalini spirit at the base of your spine and enable your inner man to communicate with the Hindu gods.

Or perhaps the god that you and your children love to read about, talk about and see movies of is named Lucifer?  He comes dressed as a school boy and learns to conjure and cast spells.How enchanting! Forget about all those admonitions in that dusty old Bible about not practicing witchcraft and sorcery! (sarcasm here)

Folks if we can’t get the first commandment down pat it’s no wonder 2-10 are hard! As I read through the bible every year, I notice the one thing that upsets God the most – idolatry.  He warned Israel about it through Moses and sent prophet after prophet to tell people to repent but they didn’t listen.

Are we any different today?