The book is a look at idolatry and how idolatry creeps into our lives in subtle ways which we may not recognize. Paul, of course, had pointed out in the first century that greed is a form of idolatry (Col. 3:5) that is much more subtle than offering a dead animal in a pagan temple, but is idolatry just the same. Most idols are 'good' things gone bad, like prosperity, success, liberty, truth, beauty, and intimacy. The greater the good, the more likely we are to think it will fulfill us. His basic definition is that counterfeit gods consist in 'anything so central and essential to your life that, should you lose it, your life would feel hardly worth living'. He points out the every human being must live for something and for some hope, and when we substitute for God anything else such that it becomes our reason to keep going, then we have an idol, a counterfeit god. Most of us in modern western culture have idols like self fulfillment, individual freedom, financial independence; in Biblical times their idols had more to do with family, passing on the heritage to an heir, and standing in the community. All ages and cultures, though, are prone to their own counterfeit gods.
He takes an interesting look at Abraham and Jacob and how their cultural icons became challenges to their souls as love (for Jacob,Leah) and family (for Abraham) were idols that God had to purge from their lives, but I thought some of his insights into our culture were especially compelling including:
- Political activism: he says 'one of the signs that an object is functioning as an idol is that fear becomes one of the chief characteristics of life...if our counterfeit god is threatened in any way, our response is complete panic. We do not say,'What a shame, how difficult,' but rather, 'This is the end! There is no hope!'. Wow. How descriptive both of how Democrats responded to Bush's election and how Republicans responded to Obama's election! He goes on: 'Another sign of idolatry in our politics is that opponents are not considered to be simply mistaken, but to be evil.' Again, both sides of the political isle are guilty here. Politics has indeed become an idol in our culture, including our churches.
- Enemies: quoting the 17th century English minister David Clarkson he points out that 'many make even their enemies their god...when they are more troubled, disquieted, and perplexed at apprehensions of danger to their liberty, estates, and lives from men' than they are concerned about God's displeasure. Again, for a 17th century preacher he surely described the current 21st century conservative American anxiety over liberalism to a tee.
- Doctrinal correctness: he says, 'Idolatry functions widely inside religious communities when doctrinal truth is elevated to the position of a false god. This occurs when people rely on the rightness of their doctrine for their standing with God rather than on God and his grace...trust in the rightness of their views make them feel superior'. This superiority of views is similar to what causes political idolatry as well.
- Love of your country and your people: in a discussion that began with the French Revolution and how it turned into terror he concludes that 'when love of one's people becomes an absolute, it turns to racism. When love of equality turns into a supreme thing, it can result in hatred and violence toward anyone who has led a privileged life.' How many times has that played out in the last century, in Russia, China, and the more recent Islamic revolutions?
All of this, he concludes, is due to preferring our own wisdom, our own desires, our own reputation over God's wisdom, desires, and honor.
I, for one, find it too easy to dismiss idolatry as an ancient vice, one not very applicable to me and current times. This book provided a check to that kind of modern bias.
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