Rethinking idolatry

Note: I'd really like to hear some discussion on some of these posts, as I'm interested to know how people view some of the thoughts I might bring up. So please, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments section. It creates a great dialogue. Plus, it helps me feel important. Your little comment says, "Hey, Chris. I read your blog. I thought it was neat. I don't think you're a failure; in fact, I wrote this little comment to show you how swell I think it is." My fragile little ego can be saved by your simple comments. Even if the comment really says, "You're a moron. You've never been right in your entire life and your opinions are so ridiculous I think your soul is in peril." It still makes me feel special that you cared enough to write me a note to tell me I'm an idiot. Don't be afraid, just click that little comment button. There, pathetic plea over. On to the post:

In my years as a Christian, I've heard countless sermons on idolatry. Preachers have exhorted me time and time again of all the things that I have made my idol in place of the one true God: money, time, sex, career, self-image, etc. I don't doubt for a second their intentions, and the warnings and rebukes these men of God have given are certainly true and right. However, as I've thought about this and looked at some of the biblical material, I'm not convinced any of them have gotten to the heart of idolatry. In fact, for as many sermons as I've heard on the sin of idolatry, I'm not sure that any of them have accurately described this sin.

We live in an age of misunderstood idolatry. To be sure, there are idols all around us, and not just in a Hindu temple or a pagan society. They are in our own homes and certainly in our own hearts. But in an age so far removed from the Ancient Near East, do we really understand what it means to commit idolatry? Let me explain.

If you've heard the same sermons on idolatry that I have, you have been told that an idol is something that takes the place of God -- something that compels your worship and thus robs him of his glory. This is a real danger to be sure, but to me it sounds much more like a violation of the first commandment ("you shall have no other gods before me") than the second. Look at the text from Exodus 20 as God lays out these first two commandments:

• And God spoke these words, saying, "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. 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, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments." (Exodus 20:1-6)

And again in Deuteronomy, he says, "You saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape ..." (Deuteronomy 4:15-16).

Some traditions have lumped the first and second commandments together to make the first commandment. They typically delineate two different kinds of coveting in the tenth commandment to keep the number at ten. This is evidence that the two commands are certainly very closely tied, but I think there is a nuance that is missed when we speak of idolatry in the same way as the first commandment. I differentiate between the two like this: the first commandment tells us WHO we are to worship, the second commandment concerns HOW we are to worship him.

As you can see from the passage in Deuteronomy, God is very concerned that his people remember that they did not see any form when he spoke to them at Horeb. They saw fire on the mountain and they were (understandably) terrified, but they did not actually see God. I believe that this was a very important fact for God to remind them of, because he is not a creature. One of mankind's most persistent sins is to treat God as a super-human being rather than something totally transcendant. All the gods of Greek, Roman, and Norse mythology are essentially just humans with godlike powers. They still have weaknesses, they can engage in sinful and shameful behavior, and in fact can behave quite petty and childlike. In fact, in the first case of Israel's idolatry (i.e. the golden calf), they aren't as much trying to create a new deity as they are trying to make God more accessible to them, on their own terms. Their initiative to create this idol stems from the fact that they don't know if Moses is coming back down, and thus they have no way to know how to relate to the God that just revealed himself to them (Exodus 32). So they give Aaron their gold and he fashions the infamous golden calf. They correctly identify him as the one that brought them out of Egypt, the land of slavery, but they prefer a god that they can see and touch (perhaps even control?) rather than the terrible God who revealed himself in fire at Mt. Sinai.

It's not quite such a ridiculous sin when you think of all the ways we violate this commandment today. We like to think of God as being a lot like us, because that in turn makes us quite godly. It's quite comfortable to imagine God as a white, middle-class Republican -- maybe I'll run into Him down at the country club! This is foolish, but it happens all the time. Voltaire (a known agnostic) once said, "In the beginning, God made man in his image, and man has been returning the favor ever since." Sad, but true. In our efforts to create a more tame god, we miss out on the opportunity to behold the awesome majesty of the God of Sinai, who reveals himself in power. It's quite a poor trade, if you ask me.

So now let's test the whole comments thing ... how does idolatry manifest itself today? Do you agree with my "redefinition" (I know I'm not the only person to think this way, trust me, it's hardly "my" definition), or would you propose another? If the discussion is interesting, I may pursue the topic further in subsequent posts. If not, I'll feel like a loser and wear black t-shirts and listen to Dashboard Confessional or something. No one wants that, trust me.

Suffering: the source of religion?

Over the past few weeks, I've been thinking a lot of the idea of religion. By "religion", I don't mean the opposite of "relationship," or a set of legalistic rules. This is not a post about how Christianity isn't really a religion or anything like that. I don't even think that's fair to say, but that's a different thought (rant) for a different day.

No, I mean actual religions. Right before Christmas I took a class on world religions, and had to read several books on the topic. Over the weeks following the course, I had to write three different papers, interacting with the concept of religion in various ways. In addition, I visited a Buddhist community a few weeks ago as part of an assignment, and have carried on a bit of a conversation with one of the facilitators in the group. Being exposed to such a different tradition and interacting with the people who practice it causes one's view to be broadened considerably, and it made me think, "Why do we all have this concept of religion, anyway?" Primal societies with no contact with the outside world develop a system of religion all their own, and it typically bears strong resemblance to many other traditions. It seems as though we are all simply wired to find answers in the spiritual realm.

Surely there are both biblical and theological reasons this is so. Ecclesiastes says that God "has set eternity in the hearts of men" (Ecc. 3:11), and it seems logical that man, being created in God's image, would have an innate sense that he exists and would seek him out. But I wanted to look deeper than this. What drives us toward the divine? It's not that the standard answers are incorrect, but I wondered if they were perhaps incomplete.

As I sat in a cross legged position that would soon threaten to rupture every tendon and ligament in my legs, surrounded by dozens of meditating Buddhists, I pondered this. Towards the end of our session together, the facilitator opened up for a time of sharing. I listened to several people talk of their joy at finding a likeminded community to practice their faith (if that is the appropriate word ... it probably is not), but I also heard something else: suffering. It was subtle, but it was there. Some element of discord in their life had driven them to where they currently were, and they sought relief.

If you look through Buddhist literature, you will see much made of suffering, or dukkha, as they call it. To Buddhists, life is not merely filled with dukkha; life is dukkha. "To live is to suffer," the Buddha once said. The endless process of birth, death, and rebirth (known as samsara) is a cycle of suffering, keeping one from achieving enlightenment, and thus rest. All the pain that life brings is merely accepted as part of its nature. Buddhism offers its followers an escape to the paradisiacal realm of nirvana. Indeed, to speak to a Buddhist of the eternal life that Jesus offers is horrifying; they already have eternal life, they're trying to get out!

Buddhists are not alone in their fascination with suffering, though. Hinduism, closely related to Buddhism (much as Judaism is to Christianity), shares the same basic concepts. Many tribal religions have a concept of a Eden-like start to the world, only to deteriorate into the mess we now experience as a result of our distance from the spiritual realm. Humans in this world must appease the gods to ensure their supernatural assitance to overcome suffering in their lives. In order to prevent a drought, one may pray or sacrifice to a god of the sky; to avoid crop failure, one might make an offering to a godess of fertility. Jews and Muslims view suffering similar to Christianity, as a product of sin against God and others. The thread of suffering runs through every religion that I studied, and I am convinced it plays a major role in nearly every conception of the spiritual realm.

As I sat in that circle of Buddhists and heard their concerns, I found myself thankful. I would never deny or downplay the suffering experienced and found in our world, but I know that it rests in the hands of a sovereign God who is never surprised, never anxious, never outmatched. Rather than strive to get him on my side, I can be at peace, knowing that he already is on my side (Romans 8:31). Rather than discipline myself to escape from this life of suffering, I can rest in his grace, knowing that he will one day wipe away every tear and make all things new. Suffering is a powerful reminder of our distance from God, and a "megaphone to rouse a deaf world," as C.S. Lewis wrote. How comforting to know that that distance has been overcome by Jesus Christ, and no amount of suffering on this earth can separate us from his love.

Back to blogging ...

Sorry for the neglect of the blog this winter. I've been busy with some things, but I've also been trying to decide on a direction for this blog, rather than just spewing out whatever comes to mind. After a few failed (in my mind at least) series, I've decided to get back to basics -- that is, back to serious topics (for the most part), and back to scriptural topics. I'd like to use this space as an outlet for the things I am learning, both in classes and my own study. They may not be overly funny (if you thought they were at all in the first place), but it's the way to go for me. I should have a post up shortly beginning this new trend, and hopefully we can all be part of a dialogue on the topics raised here. Feel free to use the comments section (constructively please -- calling me an idiot might be true, but not very helpful or insightful) to share your own thoughts and reactions. Thanks for reading.

Random Reminiscence (pt. 2)

A personal favorite, from February 12, 2006 ...

In the movie Fallen, Denzel Washington plays a character who makes the following statement. "There are moments in life that define your existence. Your entire life is separated into two parts: time before this event, and time after this event."

Ok, so that's not exactly what he said, but that's the gist of it. Anyway, I had one of these such moments. Now, Denzel's moment was when he found out that a demon was seeking to possess his body and ultimately destroy him because he was responsible for the execution of his former host. That's not quite what happened to me, but I believe the two events are of equal magnitude.

This moment I speak of occured 16 days ago, on January 27, 2006, when I attended for the first time the finest source of entertainment in the Denton, TX area, if not the world. Yes, that's right. I attended the weekly program of Xtreme Championship Wrestling (XCW, to those in the know) and it was everything I thought it could be. If you've never been to an independent professional (read: fake and ridiculous) wrestling show, go get about 12 guys and go right now. Get up and leave the computer behind. This post will be here when you get back. Go on.

There! Wasn't it amazing!?! Aren't you glad you went? As am I.

Our venture to XCW started on a whim one night and turned into the most fun I've had down here. A big, obnoxious group of about 15 of us showed up in force at the XCW arena, and they had no idea what hit them. My initial plan was to try and get us all thrown out, but it became quickly apparent that that was absolutely impossible, shy of brandishing a firearm. Some of the guys figured we should try and fit in with the locals, so most everybody tried to redneck themselves up as much as humanly possible, and they did a pretty darn good job of it. I chose not to even try, because I would just look like an idiot. Come to think of it, they all looked like idiots, too ...

Anyway, I'll have to post one of our group pictures later, when I can get my hands on one of them. For now, you'll have to settle for a picture of our favorite wrestler the whole night. His name is Sidd Murder, and he was the first one we saw. In fact, it pretty much went downhill after Sidd. He was awesome, though. His intro involved him coming out to a Lil' John song and dumping a gallon of water on his head while he danced around. Hilarious. Anyway, here's Sidd: (edit: apparently, the link to Sidd's picture doesn't work, but if you go here, you can see a thumbnail shot. Well worth the click ...)

Tell me he shouldn't be the XCW Heavyweight Champion!

Anyway, what made XCW such a success was the endless heckling of the wrestlers. None of them were that good, so we had to invent our own fun. This consisted of thinking of the funniest thing we could, and then screaming it. The arena was pretty small, so they (and everyone else) could hear whatever we were yelling. We would pick our favorite at the outset of the match and then obnoxiously spur him on. One of our favorites on the night was participating in a title match, and unfortunately he lost. All of us were disappointed, but not all of us gave up hope. Chris Babiak, mild-mannered film student from UT-Austin, decided to let the retaining champion have a piece of his mind. He ran over to the railing, no more than 8 feet away from this massive wrestler proudly holding his championship belt in the air, and screamed with conviction:

"I've got your momma's belt at my house!!!"

The guy was stunned. He actually started laughing. None of us expected that out of Babiak, but we sure were glad to see it.

I could talk for days about XCW, but I'll have to cut it short for now. If you're interested, check out tcwonline.net for more information. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

Random Reminiscence (pt. 1)

From November 24, 2005 ...

So the other night I headed down to BW-3's in a town called Lewisville (about 30 minutes south of Denton) to hang out with an old friend and watch some college basketball -- and then something amazing happened.

I went to the bathroom for a routine trip, all without incident. However, as I was washing my hands, I noticed a short, pudgy little kid waddle in and head to the urinal. This kid was probably about 7 or 8 years old, with a Jose Canseco-esque mullet, complete with blond streaks to contrast with his dark brown hair. I thought nothing of him and proceded to dry off my hands. Then, he spoke. (note: I promise, these are all direct quotes. No embellishment necessary.)

"Hey buddy, want a tip?" he asked very calmly as he took care of his business at the urinal.

Somewhat suprised to have this kid strike up a conversation, I hesitantly asked, "A tip?"

"Yeah, you know, like ... information," came his matter-of-fact reply.

"Well ... sure," I said, still somewhat unsure of what advice this young man might possibly have that would warrant an interruption of precious urinating time.

"Don't eat a lot of buffalo wings with spicy sauce, or you'll be having a rough time on the toilet," he said, his masterpiece of wisdom finally unveiled. He continued, "I found out the hard way."

Unable to say much without laughing hysterically, I managed a quick reply. "Well, thanks for the tip."

This was quite possibly the highlight of the month of November for me, and I felt compelled to share it with you. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Random Reminiscence

A few years ago, I spent a year in Texas studying under a pastor in the area. I learned a great deal about Scripture and theology and were it not for my time there, I probably would not be in seminary today. While I was there, I kept a blog to keep up with folks from back home. Remember Xanga? Yeah, it was lame, but it worked for my purposes.

Anyway, while I did learn much from my studies in the Lone Star state, perhaps some of my best memories were some of the random events that turned into some great stories. While I was there, I lived in a ranch with 19 other guys. It was the college dorm experience I never had, and needless to say, much hilarity resulted. I had forgotten about most of these until a few weeks ago, when I stumbled upon my old xanga site and got quite a chuckle. I realize that many of my friends now have never heard these stories, so over the next few weeks, I'm going to pick some of the best ones and republish them here. They won't be insightful (with perhaps one exception), but they will hopefully be entertaining and funny. So if you like embarrassing or ridiculous stories, most of which at my expense, you will love these posts. The first will be up later today. Enjoy!

Seasons Reasons?

Note: This is an article I wrote a few weeks ago and tried to get published in a few different places. I started a bit late (either that, or it's just not that good!), so I never got a response, but I did want to share it with those that come here. I might try and rework it next year and try again, but for now, it's for the blog faithful only. Hope you enjoy it!

Ginger bread. Mistletoe. Flying deer. A fat guy in a red suit. Elves.

What do all these things have in common? The birth of Jesus Christ, Son of God.

Really?

Have you ever looked at the culture that surrounds "the most wonderful time of the year" and scratched your head? How did we get here? What's the point of it all?

As I walk through the mall, my senses are assaulted from every angle with painfully obvious reminders of the season. Trudging through the department stores, I'm lost in a forest of fake trees with gaudy ornaments hanging from every possible limb. Strange songs flood the loudspeakers, containing very bizarre messages: a large, elderly man allegedly sees when I go to sleep and when I wake up, a mutant reindeer has supposedly been promoted in the arctic north, and someone is apparently trying to set chestnuts on fire … though I'm not sure what any of that has to do with Christmas.

As I drift along through the sea of commercialism in the holiday season, dodging Santa Clauses, Rudolphs, and lunatic bargain hunters, the question looms large in my mind: what does this have to do with Christmas? What really is the reason for the season?

Dozens of church signs and pastors preaching holiday sermons offer an answer. They know the true meaning of the season: it's not sales, gifts, baked hams, or even family gatherings, they say: it's Jesus. Jesus is the "reason for the season."

As a pithy saying, this is all well and good. It rhymes, it'll preach, and for all intents and purposes, it's a welcome reminder of what we truly celebrate. I wonder sometimes, however, if we have merely repeated these words in mantra-like fashion, thus robbing it of any meaning until it becomes little more than a trite slogan.

In fact, it seems that often we forget that Christ didn't take on flesh so he could hang out with some fishermen and give us some good quotes for a few thousand years. He didn't come because heaven was getting boring and he needed a change of scenery. No, the truth is much more profound. Jesus Christ was born of a virgin and lived among men because the world was lost in its own sin. Wickedness plagued the heart of mankind; and without a Savior, humanity was destined for perdition.

During a brief perusal of national news outlets, I came across the story of Jeremias Bins. In 2006, Bins became enraged that his wife and 11-year-old stepson were spending too much time at her church. In his anger, he beat them both to death with a hammer before driving to a police station to turn himself in.

Jeremias Bins is the reason for the season.

In my local newspaper, there was recently an article reporting on the civil conviction of Jarred Hensley, the vice-president of the Supreme White Alliance. He was convicted of assaulting Jordan Gruver, a U.S. citizen of Panamanian heritage, leaving him with permanent injuries. Hensley calls himself "an equal opportunity hater," and the Ku Klux Klan "soft," which should give you an idea of his outlook on life.

Jarred Hensley is the reason for the season.

The evil would be more comfortable if it were relegated to news stories and confined to only the extreme dregs of society. Personal experience has told me this is not the case. The evil that lies in Jeremias and Jarred lies in my own heart, albeit in different forms. This week I have lied, cheated, and coveted. I have neglected the poor, spurned justice, and hated my neighbor.

I am the reason for the season.

In proper perspective, Christmas is irrevocably tied to Easter. The celebration of the birth of Jesus can only be fully appreciated when viewed in light of his crucifixion and death to pay the debt of sin owed by all mankind. Otherwise, Christmas is confined to mere sentimentalism. It is a time of awe and wonder at the limitless mercy of God. When we view the evil and depravity of the world around us, we can truly appreciate the angels' song to the shepherds and the Magi's homage to the King of Kings. This is not a Hallmark card. This is the hope of the nations and the Savior of the world.

Jesus is indeed the reason for the season; but not merely the reason for our gifts and our celebration. He is the reason for our wonder, the reason for our hope, and the reason for our very life. May we never become so enamored with the cute baby Jesus lying in the manger that we forget the crucified Son of God who takes away the sin of the world.