2. You shall not have idols: This commandment for me is one of the most important and also very tricky to keep in our hearts.
Let's start from an important premise: We were created to be free – howbeit in servitude to the Creator.
By Idolizing you are basically serving something or someone else - and we fall for idols very easily, either consciously or unconsciously. That car you worked so hard to buy and now you give too much importance? The pension statement you look every month with admiration? How about sex? that person ‘you can’t stop thinking about'? work? That celebrity you admire so much and wish you could meet and be friends with? Are you maybe putting a healthy lifestyle to such a high degree of importance with the hopes of a long life?
Well, I got news for you: your next breath is not guaranteed unless our Father so wishes, it does not matter how much kale you eat, neither how much time you spend at the gym.
“Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. Yahuah gave and Yahuah has taken away; may the name of Yahuah be praised.” – Job 1:21
Would you be ready to lose everything dear to you and still stand strong in your faith? loved ones, wealth, health? If our answer is no (and this is hard for anyone, let's admit it!), we are making of the things and people in our life our idols.
John McCane in his interesting article 'Subtle forms of idolatry', describes idolatry on two categories:
A fear of the infinite
A desire to Self-Worship by Worshiping our Creations
'Any attempts to represent the infinite with the finite is a subtle form of idolatry. Our minds constantly tempt us to simplify and try to encapsulate infinity in something relatively simple – or at least comprehensible. Something we can perceive. We then delude ourselves into thinking, that through fully understanding the false idol we use to represent infinity, we fully understand infinity itself.'
This was the mortal sin committed by the Israelites on their way from Egypt to the promised land, when Aaron decided to make a golden calf so that the Israelite could have a visible god to worship. The invisible, irrational and infinite was too hard for the Israelite to grasp, even after they saw the sea open before their eyes and water flowing from a rock. Their lack of trust cost the tribes many lives and 40 years wondering in the desert until the idolatrous generation had died off.
On self-worship McCane is on point:
'We take pride in our creations, often viewing them as extensions of ourselves. The craftsman who creates the false idol, in some subtle way, has an idolatrous sense he has created God. By worshiping our creations, we subtly worship ourselves.'
Are you making your children your idols? Abraham did not think twice when he was asked to sacrifice his son Isaac. That was a test of faith and trust. On the other hand, the Bible also shows the father who was so devastated after his child's death that he build a carved image of his deceased loved one to worship. He was, in a twisted way, worshiping himself through his son.
The hard truth for us, creatures, is that all we have is a gift from the Father, there is no merit for us - our intelligence, the fact that you were born in country A instead of country B, our parents - nothing is our choice. And can you really say that what you make of all your gifts is your merit or your decision? If you are a believer, you know that even our personality and talents are unique in the creation of our soul. Unless we realize that all we do should be done to give glory to our Father, we will always fall in the traps of pride, vanity and narcissism.
This is a bitter acknowledgement in a society that repeats mantras such as 'love yourself', 'you can do it!', 'follow your heart', 'you are the master of your destiny', etc. None of these statements are true. No wonder we have never been in a more selfish and self-centered generation.
Another strong idol is money, of which many are enslaved (either by the search of it at the cost of their soul or by debt), while others fall for power. And let's not even get started with those people who worship beauty.
Our modern times 'soul prisoners' include:
- Narcissism
- Addiction (drugs, sex, alcohol, food, attention...)
- Infatuation
- Fascination
Why is the 2nd Commandment more important now than ever? Our culture, especially in the west, is fundamentally idolatrous. The cult of personality, celebrities, the constant exposure to vanity with selfies and social media, the addiction to cell phones and other substances, rampant materiality, promiscuity and an all time lack of fear of Yahuah is the melting pot we are nowadays.
On top of pointless hedonism and narcissism, there is also the false gods of medicine and overall science. While this is a much more complex topic and we should benefit from medicine and be zealous with our body, sciences are also part of the creation and must be treated as such - whoever puts all hope in a medicine, in a doctor or in a scientific theory, is definitely Idolizing.
Breaking free from the cultural bondage requires strength and a conscious mind on Yahusha Ha'Mashiach. It's not easy and we will 'fall off the wagon' many times, but being free - to be Yahuah's servants - is worth it.
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