So What?

Idolatry 6: Non-Material Idols

I wish to question the belief that we are too sophisticated to be taken in by material idols these days.  So, I need to explore what we mean by non-material idols.  We might say we idolise money.  But we would never bow down and worship coins and banknotes.  Obviously most of us do not bow down and worship anything and so we need to understand not only what constitutes our idols but also the ways in which we worship them.

Let's go back to the graven image, as described in Psalm 115 .  Given its characteristics, there is no way this image has any part in its own worship.  The worshiper believes in the idol, the idol is incapable of reciprocating.  We can see clearly idolatry is entirely dependent upon the worshiper.

Of course, the worshiper does not directly ascribe volition to an idol; the focus is upon the god the idol represents.  When worshipers make offerings or ask for favours, they are addressed to both the idol and the god beyond, because the idol represents the god.  If these favours seem to be granted, the idol is ascribed more power.  If they are not, then the worshiper seeks reasons why their offerings have been unsuccessful.  This is likely to lead to an entirely distorted understanding of the universe. 

Increasingly, the believer has to believe in the teeth of all the evidence.  Both the idol and the god it represents are false.  Some people might decide they're worshiping the wrong god but for many the response is to try harder.  After much investment of time and effort the worshiper will need to defend their faith.  Indeed a trial of strength is a time honoured way of proving the power of one god over another.

The insistence that God should not be represented by images seeks to mitigate this error.  The believer is invited to focus directly upon God, rather than upon representations of God.

So, it is not that there are material and non-material idols.  There are always material and non-material aspects to things worshiped.  The next 3 posts will describe 3 examples of modern idolatry.  They will show each example has a material and non-material aspect.  I'd be grateful for examples of idols that don't appear to have a material aspect, I can't think of any.  The examples I have chosen are celebrity, dictatorship and consumerism.

Idolatry 5: Classic Idolatry in a Postmodern World

I will be making the case that classic idolatry is alive and well in our postmodern age.  Whilst I appreciate the view there are no longer any grand narratives, I am also suspicious of it.  Is it that there are no longer any grand narratives, or that we choose to overlook them?  It may be true the old grand narratives are no more but it does not follow there are no grand narratives.  Plato reports Socrates as saying 'the unexamined life is not worth living'.  The invitation to examine our lives is an invitation to step into another world, quite different from the one we think we know.

The first thing to do is to clear up some possible misconceptions about classical idolatry.

First, the prohibition of idolatry in ancient Israel, took place in a political context.  It is likely the concept of God developed from arguing that many local gods were each a manifestation of one God.  These local gods had idols and many worshippers transferred their allegiance to the one God, worshiped through their local idol. 

The Israelites were also known as Hebrews, a word which originates as a social rather than ethnic designation.  Often the idols would have been controlled by political elites, the one God was a movement of the nomad, the marginalised, the dispossessed.  Later we see the focus shift to the dominance of a temple elite. 

This complex history is fascinating and we need to take care not to confuse its vagaries with the deeper concern beneath the politics of the time.  What is important is the way our idols form our lives in the present.  We do not need to believe the nations surrounding ancient Israel were evil because they worshiped false gods.  Our task is to identify our own false gods and understand why they are so dangerous.

Second, I am not writing about bonkers sects.  There is no end to the bonkers things people believe in.  In this series of posts I am not concerned with debunking bonkers beliefs.  Plenty of writers have had great fun doing this but it does not concern me here.

Third, a discussion of idolatry carried out by a professed Christian is likely to raise the suspicion that the aim is to question other faiths.  This is not my intention.  The best way to settle this for the present is to say you will see in later posts, I do not see Christianity as exempt from the dangers of idolatry.  One way or another all faiths have to struggle with this issue.

In this series I will explore how idolatry works across the generality of Western society.  Once this is complete, it may be possible to engage with atheism in a constructive debate.  Atheists may be suspicious of what I write and so they should be.  If we take idolatry seriously we should all be radically suspicious.

What I hope to do is to show how idolatry is very much a part of our world.  Indeed, we make idols out of many abstract concepts but I want to show how so many of our idols are material, not far from the graven images in the second commandment  and described in Psalm 115 .

Idolatry 4: The Classic Idol

Next I turn to one of several Old Testament descriptions of idols.  At the time it might have seemed legitimate to mock those who worship idols.  But how much was down to rivalries between Israel and other nations, rather than a concern for a right relationship with God.  Remember the concern was always for the nation rather than individuals.  Did marking nations as idolatrous justify war with them?  Or did it explain why they invaded Israel?

Our God is in the heavens; he does whatever he pleases. 

Their idols are silver and gold, the work of human hands.

They have mouths, but do not speak; eyes, but do not see.

They have ears, but do not hear; noses, but do not smell.

They have hands, but do not feel; feet, but do not walk; they make no sound in their throats.

Those who make them are like them; so are all who trust in them.  (Psalm 115:3-8; NRSV)

This is about physical idols; idols you can see and touch.  It is customary these days to say all manner of abstract things can be idols, such as money or celebrity.  I will explore this view later. 

The mockery is based on the question, why worship something that is not alive?  It exists alright but it is dead matter.  It has no capabilities whatsoever (unlike the God of Israel).  We need to pay attention to this because we need to be careful we don't project our own fears onto the writers and first readers of these texts.  This passage shows they are capable of distinguishing between what is real and what is not.  They make a real distinction between what is capable of many things and what is capable of nothing.

Atheists might wish to argue that the God is verse 3 is also an idol, a figment of the imagination.  They might be right and I will explore this view in a later post.  But the point is this passage does not allow such a simplistic dismissal of their ability to discern between what is real and what is not real. 

If they are able to see that material idols are not real, why assume they cannot discern that their God although not material might also not be real?  Why should they believe that material idols are false but that an imaginary God (as some atheists would have it) is true?  Why couldn't they see they are both idols? 

There are only two possible explanations.  Either this is an attack on people of other faiths, rubbishing their gods, or they had genuinely perceived something about the nature of reality.

Perhaps the last verse is a clue to what they perceived.  They make a distinction between those who worship idols and so are like them, unable to do anything of their own volition, and those who worship God and so somehow share in God's freedom.  (Compare the last verse with the first.)

At this stage, I will not take this any further except to note that before we jump to conclusions we should heed their warning about what happens to those who worship false gods.  As a further warning, this video shows what happens when you mess with idols.

 

Idolatry 3: The Second Commandment

The ten commandments might be the obvious place to start.  As the Shema  is similar to the first commandment, this time we will look at the second. 

In my post what sin is not I make the point these commandments are not laws to be obeyed but a sign of friendship between humanity and God.  (I believe this point was made by the Chief Rabbi, Jonathan Sacks, although I do not have a reference.)  It is not unreasonable, where friendship is involved, to expect the friends to know each other.  The point of the second commandment is to resist the temptation to muddy the water by creating images of God, which are not in fact God.  We're not talking about other gods here (they're dealt with under the first commandment 'you shall have no other gods before me').  Here we are talking of images of God, not miscellaneous gods.

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.  You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generation of those who love me and keep my commandments.  (NRSV Exodus 20:4-6)

What I see here is a warning to Israel about the risks attendant upon making an image of God.  The point is this image is not God.  To worship it in the mistaken belief that it is God will lead to error.  Images of God are effectively other gods.  The problem is we will add to any image our own prejudices, hunger for security, projected fantasies.  We might as well hang up a mirror and worship the reflection.

The second part might not seem particularly friendly but take a close look.  Iniquity is punished only for a few generations but love is rewarded effectively forever.  We have to remember these texts were written not by individualists (as most of us are today) but by a people.  They are reminded that if a few go wrong, all will suffer the consequences.  We see this later in the Old Testament stories of the exile, for example.

Some Christian traditions leave it here.  They do not accept any image of God in their place of worship, or perhaps only the plain empty cross.

Other traditions use images in three dimensions, notably but not only Catholicism, and two dimensional icons, mainly in Orthodox churches (or stained glass windows).  The argument goes that this is permissable because of the doctrine of the incarnation.  God who cannot be depicted in an image became human and so we now have an image.  Furthermore, I would add that if anyone can find something in the image of the crucified Christ that encourages them to further acts of egotism, they must be leading strangely confused lives.  Through that image we are reminded of exactly who we are.

Idolatry 2: The Shema

The opening verses of Deuteronomy 6 state the basic principle underlying Israel's law.  A principle of friendship; the commandments were and are seen as a gift from God.  To follow them means the people will not make the mistakes so often made by nations.  The Old Testament is mostly about the consequences of breaking, ignoring or forgetting these commandments.

The main commandment is known as the Shema (Hebrew for 'to hear', from its first word) and is found in verses 4-6:

Hear,O Israel: the Lord is our God, the Lord alone.  You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might.  Keep these words that I am commanding you today in your heart.  (NRSV)

In the following verses, the importance of remembering this commandment and passing it on to future generations is stressed.  This parallels the first of the ten commandments, in its emphasis on the one God.  Most people agree it is best to devote your life to what is right.  The problem is how to identify what is right. 

The closer we are to worshiping God, the more likely we are to deceive ourselves into believing our god is the God.  It is this the Shema warns us against; the belief that we have understood God and so are absolutely correct.  It is hard to know God, consequently the need for use of all our heart, soul and strength.  We need to heed this warning when we choose to enforce our beliefs over the beliefs of others.  No-one according to the Shema can be right; if you think you are right, you need to try harder.  Hence the details in later verses of the need for constant reminders that all are prone to forget who God is.

The Shema appears again in Mark 12:28-34, where Jesus is asked by a scribe, which commandment is the greatest.  Jesus quotes the Shema, subtly modified, and the scribe agrees with him.  Jesus responds by telling him 'You are not far from the Kingdom of God'. 

Why is the scribe 'not far' rather than 'there'?  After a lifetime of study, the man is not far.  Will he ever arrive?  He must try harder!  However small the distance he must travel, it is still significant as we shall see later.

Idolatry 1: Atheism or Idolatry?

This is the first of 24 posts for the season of advent, on the theme of idolatry .  Over the last year, I have heard and read several people commenting, the debate is not so much about atheism as about idolatry.  I haven't seen any sustained argument to this effect and so my aim is to explore it in some depth over the advent season.  I do not mean atheism and idolatry are alternatives.  What I am getting at is the debate about faith has been set by atheists: on their terms it is about the existence of God.   

Does the title imply I think atheism is idolatrous?  Only insofar as everyone is prone to idolatry.  My point is that idolatry is as much a problem for atheists as it is for everyone (including Christians - oh yes) and they need to be able to show how they will dispense with their idols in much the same way as they expect Christians to dispense with theirs. 

If they can show they have the resources to do this as atheists, they will deserve to be taken much more seriously by Christians than they are.  Like many Christians I do not believe in the things atheists claim I believe in and that is why I find it hard to take atheism seriously.  An atheism that takes idolatry seriously would be a much more serious sparring partner.

Why do this in advent?  I want to take this issue slowly, reflectively, step by step.  Advent is traditionally a season of fasting and contemplation.  These posts will be my attempt at the latter.  In addition we will find as we get into the topic plenty of seasonal relevance. 

Improvisation and Spirituality 6: Cameron Carpenter

This video features some splendid improvisations as well as Cameron's reflections on improvisation.  It is worth exploring the TED website for a wealth of challenging and thoughtful presentations.

 

 

Love in Bloom

This post celebrates of a song from about 1934.  Love in Bloom  was written by Ralph Rainger and Leo Robin.  That's about all I know except for four and a half performances which everyone should hear.

Usually Bing Crosby  is spot on.  This has to be the most sentimental of his performances I've ever heard.  It's so bad it's almost worth listening to.  If you hunt around I've added another video of Crosby solo but it is an uninspired rendition. 

Noel Coward  made a better recording.  I should warn you this tune sticks in the mind.  I don't mind really it's a brilliant tune for stamping around the neighbourhood!

My next presentation is my second favourite.  Spike Jones  for those of you who don't know him is a consummate musician.  You know from the first few seconds this is going to be a memorable recording.  If you can cope with more in the same genre, have a look around, I've added an inspired extra.

Finally, the best of the lot has to be Gracie Fields .  Even if you're desperate to get this tune out of your head by now, you need to hear this version, if only for the vocal fireworks towards the end.

On the Nature of Repentance

The Greek word for repentance, metanoia, means we turn around, away from what is not of God, towards what is of God.  The problem is we tend to think of repentance as turning away from sins we conceive of as crimes. 

But we need to understand those things not of God, not as crimes but as principalities and powers .  We are invited to turn away from those things which hold us captive.  Certainly, activities we commonly hold as sinful such as murder or covetousness can hold us captive but so can many other things.  As we buy into the second best worlds of the principalities and powers, we imprison ourselves.

Those who are unemployed for example, are often faced with an overwhelming sense of being sidelined.  They believe their  unemployment is their own fault.  Gradually, healing might come through a realisation that society is to blame.  Later still, they may see how they were at fault for accepting the idea they were personally to blame.

Terrible things happen to all of us and we turn them into prisons for ourselves.  Repentance is breaking out of our own prisons, realising that we are personally responsible for sins not only against others but also against ourselves. 

When someone commits a serious crime, such as the murder of a child, it is almost as if they commit two crimes.  In addition to the crime itself, there is also a spiritual crime, a crime against the surviving victims.  They are held captive by grief and often a desire for vengeance.  Of course, these desires cannot be met for all sorts of reasons and so they can be nursed for many years.

Whose fault is this self-captivity?  Without a doubt it was originally the perpetrator of the crime.  But who is responsible many years later?  The perpetrator might be dead.  Release can come only with the recognition that I am my own gaoler.  Blaming the other reinforces the shackles I have forged for myself.  Ultimately, the call to repentance is a call to take responsibility for my life.

To see someone who has not been able to forgive and let go is never edifying.  Sometimes we see the opposite, someone who is able to forgive a terrible crime, sometimes very soon after it is committed.  This is never unfeeling, it is always a great generosity of spirit which happens despite ongoing and real pain.

Sporting Life is the real villain in Porgy and Bess.  Whilst Porgy and Crown fight over Bess, he insinuates himself into her life using her drug addiction.  Unlike Crown, he lacks self-awareness and so awareness of the humnaity of the other.  In this extract he tempts Bess to come with him to New York.  Unfortunately, I have been unable to find an extract from a performance of the opera.  This is the best I could find out of an indifferent pick of on-line recordings.

What Sin Is

Hopefully you are persuaded that sin has nothing to do with the 10 commandments or sex  .  But you might ask what is it do with?  There is a debate about whether there is such a thing as institutional sin.  How can institutions be sinful, it is people who are sinful?  Well, actually no.  The truth is all sin is institutional.  But of course this needs to be unpacked.

We need to understand human institutions have a temporal and a spiritual dimension.  The temporal are those aspects you bump into, shake hands with or bow down to.  So, an easy illustrative example would be a king.  A king has a kingdom, a throne, castle with banqueting halls and dungeons.  The problem is none of these or anything else the king possesses will earn him the obedience of his subjects.

However, if the subjects believe the king, or better still the kingdom, is good and so ordained by God, they will generally do as they are told.  This is broadly the spiritual aspect of the kingdom.  Notice, it happens because the kingdom takes up residency in the heads of the people who live in it.  This applies to the king, his subjects and in fact their enemies too.  This is what Paul means by powers and principalities.  There is in the view of Christians one ruler who is not divinely ordained but is in essence divine.  Our calling is to know God and this means repeatedly unseating an unending procession of powers that seek our allegiance, often in very subtle ways.

The reason we do this is because we have a natural instinct to put our own survival first.  Whatever is out there that promises to earn our allegiance, will be placed at the centre of our lives.

This is known as idolatry and I intend to write a series on this theme during advent (for reasons which will become apparent).  Even something which seemingly has nothing to do with the powers is filtered through our distorted vision of what is right.  I fall in love, the way I express that love is through my sinful nature.  I learn from the media.  I buy valentine cards.  I buy loads of things.  Today we live in a consumer society, so our lives are expressed in terms of consumerism.

That's enough for now but it gets much more difficult as I will explain next time.  For now, remember it is the sin that is the problem, not the sinner.  God loves sinners because he can see the person captured by all the crap. 

I've always been fascinated by the character Crown in Gershwin's opera Porgy and Bess.  He is one of the villains (I'll tell you about the other next time).  Crown is a brutal man and a bully.  This song A Red Headed Woman makes the Choo Choo Jump its Tracks is an example of his style.  He sings this in the middle of a prayer meeting during a storm.  He boasts that he and God like to fight.  But he is the one who is prepared to go out in the storm to rescue the men in the boats.  He is lost but on his return he is murdered by Porgy because of the power he has over Bess.  He is a man who is impossible to love and yet you can see he might be loved by God.  Not so the other villain.  (Click on the picture to hear the song.)