Tuesday, March 23, 2010

"American Idolatry"

I was browsing the internet today and I came across this article and I thought it was pretty interesting! - Thought I'd share it for today's thoughts:


One of the most popular TV shows in this country is called American Idol. Ever since it first aired, I've jokingly referred to it as American Idolatry. I say jokingly, because we understand that an "idol" doesn't necessarily carry the same meaning as it did in ancient times.

Today, when most people think of the term "idol", they might think of a person, someone who is greatly admired, or looked upon as a role model. Back when I was younger, if you asked me, I would tell you that my favorite baseball player, Ken Griffey Jr., was my idol. He wasn't someone I worshiped as a god, but someone I greatly admired.

That said, what about the basic (and Biblical) definition of an idol, an image or other material object representing a deity to which religious worship is addressed, (cf. Lev. 26:1) does this have any bearing on our lives today?

I mean, America is "one nation under God", where the primitive practice of idolatry is long gone, right? So we can just ignore any New Testament passages warning of the sin of idolatry (Gal. 5:20; 1 Cor. 10:14 "flee idolatry"; 1 Jn. 5:21 "keep yourselves from idols") because that's not really a problem today, right?

I would argue that today, perhaps more than ever, we have a problem with idolatry in this country. Our "American Idols" are not so much statues of wood or stone (cf. Isa. 37:19; Dan. 5:4, 23; Acts 17:29), but a number of things to which Americans devote themselves, and ultimately place before God (cf. Ex. 20:3-5; Deut. 6:14).

We need to be mindful and careful of the things that we give our time and attention to.

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