I would venture that the typical American Christian does not see himself as an idol worshipper. The whole concept has such a prehistoric vibe to it. Idolatry conjures up images of pagans dancing in revelry around a calf that’s forged of gold and jewels, and people splaying open their skin. To modern American sensibilities idol worship seems so uncouth, so primal, so … B.C.
But idol worship is an everyday display of devout faith in a large portion of the world. I recall entering a Hindu temple in Nairobi, Kenya, that was filled with thousands of idols, and other friends of ours had them in their homes. A Jain temple we visited featured a large idol made of what appeared to be ivory that was being pampered by a team of worshippers. As we watched, the workers ceremonially dressed the idol, undressed it, picked the lint off its clothes and dressed it again. Dress, undress, pick lint, redress. Repeat cycle 24/7.
American idolatry is not ill-mannered like the B.C. brand. And it’s got nothing to do with Jain-like servitude, which most of us would agree is quite inconvenient. Instead, we American Christians have refined idolatry to make it part of every day life. We’ve ingrained in our faith attitudes and practices that are abysmal to God. We don’t literally worship carved images, or pray to other gods. But we elevate many things to the role of an idol because we regard them with blind devotion and adulation. In this series, I picked just three of what could be called American idols. We American Christians are guilty of emphasizing our personal desires, the pursuit of happiness and the desire to be influential and successful to the point that they dictate our attitudes and actions. We have created idols by taking — sometimes subconsciously — what could be healthy pursuits and prioritizing them to the point where they trump our commitment to God.
The admonishment Jesus delivered to the Pharisees, a group of religious leaders in his day, would suit us now. Jesus says in Mark 7:6-9:
Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you hypocrites; as it is written: “These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men.” You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men … You have a fine way of setting aside the commands of God in order to observe your own traditions.
It’s sad that so many of us commit our lives to following Jesus Christ, attend church and strive to live moral lives, but our hearts are far from God. Our values are often better aligned with the traditions of the United States of America — rules and traditions taught by men — than the Kingdom of God. We’re consumed with exercising our rights as Americans — a concept that should be anathema to anyone who’s submitted his life to Jesus Christ. We want to do as we choose, pursue our pleasures and comforts and chase the American Dream. Of course, we’ll paint all we do with an air of morality. Maybe we’ll even wear a WWJD bracelet or a Christian T-shirt. But when Paul talks about becoming a slave for Christ, or when Jesus says we’ll suffer because of our faith and that we can’t serve both God and money, we’ll brush the verses aside as if they apply to someone else. And when we do see a Christian whose life reflects the values of the Kingdom of God — perhaps a talented person who forgoes financial success to serve others — we’ll shake our heads with admiration that, paradoxically, borders on condescension and say, “Wow, I could just never do that.” Then we’ll get on with our life of faith that’s well within our comfort zone.
Maybe we’re tempted by American idolatry because we no longer understand our mission. My pastor recently said that Christianity is unique because it’s a movement that’s supposed to exist for the sake of its nonmembers. In the book of Acts, just before Jesus ascended to heaven, he left his disciples with final instructions including, “… you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria and to the ends of the earth.” God could have chosen any means to bring about his kingdom, and He chose us.
It seems our attitudes and actions would be radically different if we were totally committed to allowing God to use us to bring about his Kingdom. For one thing, any thought of elevating ourselves to accomplish this mission would give all but the megalomaniacs1 among us the screaming willies. God, the almighty creator of the universe, wants to use his finite creatures to change the world? This should cause us to drop to our knees and pray.
The forms of American idolatry I’ve mentioned in this series of articles are each selfish pursuits. This is bad for us and for everyone else, too. Contrast our selfishness with what Jesus said was the “Greatest Commandment” in Matthew 22: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself.”
We can’t possibly love God with our all our heart, soul and mind if we’re pursuing American idols. For instance, if we elevate our personal freedom above all else, we aren’t subjecting ourselves to the will of God. We’re taking the commands of Jesus and treating them like the selections on a buffet line. We’ll sample those that appeal to our tastes until we’ve had our fill of them. And any command deemed unsavory will be left for someone else.
The selfishness of our American Christian idolatry also results in a movement that’s tepid in its willingness to love others as we love ourselves. Are we characterized by love, sacrifice and compassion for our “neighbors?” Sometimes, yes, but often, no. Some Christians are so consumed with the American Dream that homeless people disgust them. I’ve heard some sneer that homeless people just need to “get a job.” Others have turned the phrase “God helps those who help themselves” into a cliché that some seem to think is biblical. The truth of the Gospel is the opposite. God saved us while we were still in our sin. But we expect a homeless person or a drug addict to straighten out their lives before we’ll deem them worthy of our compassion or help? We’re lucky God’s grace is unconditional and that our salvation isn’t dependent on our love for others.
To conclude, I was struck by how theologian Cornelius Plantinga Jr. described the Christian’s goal in life in his book Not the Way It’s Supposed to Be: A Breviary of Sin. It stands in direct contrast to our pursuit of the American idols. Plantinga writes: “The point in our lives is not to get smart or rich or even to get happy. The point is to discover God’s purposes for us and to make them our own.”
There’s nothing wrong with being academically brilliant, or successful, or wealthy, or happily married, but we shouldn’t remove God from the picture and make these things our goals in life. As Jesus Christ did, we’re to submit any agenda we might have for our lives to God.
As Plantinga writes, “The point is to learn ways of loving God above all and our neighbor as ourselves and then use these loves the way a golfer uses certain checkpoints to set up for a drive. The point is to be lined up right, to seek first the kingdom of God (Matt. 6:33), to try above all to increase the net amount of shalom in the world.”
So let’s eradicate any idolatry from our lives, shall we? We start by calling it what it is — sin. Then we confess it to God and ask Him to forgive us and continue revealing our sin to us as our faith matures. We’ll also pray that He’ll help us be obedient by striving for righteousness. Yes, this requires wholehearted commitment that some among us may find distasteful. It will also require regular lifestyle adjustments as we apply God’s values to our present circumstances. And yes, it will be uncomfortable and might mean we make others uncomfortable. Does this sound too hardcore? Did we think we could just show up at church once a week, hang out with friends, offer some platitudes to God, feel better about ourselves and go on with our week? If so, then we don’t want to be Christians. We want to join the Kiwanis club.
1 Stand up and be counted, you megalomaniacs! Oh wait, you all probably stopped reading long ago.
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