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Anything that we value (or worship) above God is idolatry!

Hats Off wrote:Idolatry is anything that we place before God in our priorities. In the modest dress thread, we could have looked at fashions as being idolatry. Many times we don't think of something as being idolatry - we need to ask God to reveal to us those areas that fall into the idolatry area for us as individuals.

Also consider areas like traditional dress, our church community, our computer, our family, our pets, our jobs, our reputation, our plainness, our holiness can all be areas that take priority over a relationship with God.

Whoops, many entries. I'll submit anyway.

Hats Off wrote: Anything that we value (or worship) above God is idolatry!

I know a lot of Christians that are into many things that on here were implied to be idolatry- I do believe these same Christians would get pretty upset if one accused them of valuing or worshipping these things above God.

1 Corinthians 6:

12All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

Perhaps this is where we need to be most careful?

Valerie wrote:

Hats Off wrote: Anything that we value (or worship) above God is idolatry!

I know a lot of Christians that are into many things that on here were implied to be idolatry- I do believe these same Christians would get pretty upset if one accused them of valuing or worshipping these things above God.

1 Corinthians 6:

12All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

Perhaps this is where we need to be most careful?

The verse probably refers to a slightly different angle, but the principle is certainly similar.
It would fit equally well in the sports thread, actually.

It is not the things that make it idolatry - it is our attitude toward those things. All good things aside from God can become an idol to us when used inappropriately.

silentreader wrote:

Valerie wrote:

Hats Off wrote: Anything that we value (or worship) above God is idolatry!

I know a lot of Christians that are into many things that on here were implied to be idolatry- I do believe these same Christians would get pretty upset if one accused them of valuing or worshipping these things above God.

1 Corinthians 6:

12All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

Perhaps this is where we need to be most careful?

The verse probably refers to a slightly different angle, but the principle is certainly similar.
It would fit equally well in the sports thread, actually.

Sports fit very well into this category. We promote a certain amount of sports at our Mennonite schools as a needed form of exercise. Married men help play ball at the school summer picnic and at reunions and this is not a problem. It becomes a problem when we become obsessed with sports, whether hockey or hunting or fishing or horse racing.

silentreader wrote:

Valerie wrote:

Hats Off wrote: Anything that we value (or worship) above God is idolatry!

I know a lot of Christians that are into many things that on here were implied to be idolatry- I do believe these same Christians would get pretty upset if one accused them of valuing or worshipping these things above God.

1 Corinthians 6:

12All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

Perhaps this is where we need to be most careful?

The verse probably refers to a slightly different angle, but the principle is certainly similar.
It would fit equally well in the sports thread, actually.

And in our participation on this forum. Are we, for example, spending a larger amount of our time in prayer and bible reading as we do here chatting ? I know I better get more control. Going to bed. Goods night.

KingdomBuilder wrote:Anything and everything is and has been used for idolatry.
There's really no defining it.

i believe there are no limits to what can be "idolized," or, made into false gods. definition is not so elusive, i agree with Hats Off:

Hats Off wrote:Idolatry is anything that we place before God in our priorities.
In the modest dress thread, we could have looked at fashions as being idolatry.
Many times we don't think of something as being idolatry - we need to ask God to reveal to us those areas that fall into the idolatry area for us as individuals.

Hats Off wrote: Anything that we value (or worship) above God is idolatry!

Hats Off wrote:It is not the things that make it idolatry - it is our attitude toward those things. All good things aside from God can become an idol to us when used inappropriately.

OT, and NT, "no other gods," is clear.
the murky part is being honest with ourselves.

Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

It seems that God doesn't want us to make graven images, and to avoid likenesses of either heavenly beings or of earthly beings or even water-dwelling creatures, and we should not bow down and serve any such images we run across.

One application of this is to avoid photography / pictures/portraits of human beings or of living creatures in general.

One thing I think all Christians can agree on: having special pictures of deceased people that one keeps around to pray to / for good luck / displayed all over a church building definitely is idolatry, and is indeed one of the reasons the early Anabaptists found they needed to become separate from the idolatry of the Roman church (and Eastern church).

Hats Off wrote:It is not the things that make it idolatry - it is our attitude toward those things. All good things aside from God can become an idol to us when used inappropriately.

Amen and amen.

Valerie wrote: I know a lot of Christians that are into many things that on here were implied to be idolatry- I do believe these same Christians would get pretty upset if one accused them of valuing or worshipping these things above God.

1 Corinthians 6:

12All things are lawful unto me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any.

Perhaps this is where we need to be most careful?

I was thinking of that exact verse when I started this thread.