Tuesday, September 01, 2009

Quote of the Week

"The most dangerous idols are the ones that fit most comfortably in your everyday Christian life."



5 comments:

Wandering Star said...

It depends on what you mean by dangerous. It depends on what you mean by idols. It depends on what you mean by comfortably.

Clarity please.

I have heard it argued that the most dangerous thing today is religious fundamentalism, for it creates policy upon delusion.

Jimmy said...

the danger here is the danger of not living in integrity of the Christian faith as defined in the Christian Bible. an idol can be anything that can draw my attention or my desires away from the truths of the Christian faith.

my own desire to be significant or praised can be a comfortable idol. the Bible is clear that God is the giver of all my gifts, talents and abilities so, it is right and my joy to direct any praise i may receive to God.

bottom line -- to God, maker of heaven and earth and you and me, belongs all the glory and praise and honor and worship.

Craver Vii said...

That makes sense to me. An idol that is shockingly counter-cultural is one that people are less likely to worship. The obvious idol, bad as it is, does not accrue significant collateral damage, because people avoid it.

But you take a snake like relativism, which has no fangs, and people handle it comfortably... before a person knows it, the thing has slowly, subtly coiled itself 'round the victim's neck and voila-- show's over folks.

It is the milder falsehoods, that people embrace, which claim the most victims.

Every Square Inch said...

Wandring Star - thanks for stopping by. It's Paul Tripp's quote so I did't mean anything...but I believe Dr. Tripp implies the following -

We were created by God to worship Him alone and to derive ultimate joy from Him. When we choose to trust and delight in anything more than we trust and delight in God, we are in fact, trusting in an idol, a substitute god.

As to whether the most dangerous thing in the world is religious fundamentalism I do not know. I confess that I'm no fan of religious fundamentalism but often fundamentalism becomes a tag to ostracize any person of faith. I think that's unfortunate

Every Square Inch said...

Jimmy - I agree and thanks for speaking to Wandring's question. Often my idols are hidden in my sinful heart - for instance,a craving for the respect of other

Craver - you are right about how subtle and almost stealth idols can be in ensnaring us.