No, I'm not into American Idol. They lost me many seasons ago and may this be the final season, good riddance. This is about the kind of idols we unknowingly create in our hearts. I'm reading (very slowly and sporadically) Grace Based Parenting by Tim Kimmel and he caught my attention when he started talking about idols:
"When you convince your kids that things are evil rather than Satan and his corrupted world system being evil, you set them up to be easily manipulated by him. I knew a lady who would pick up her elementary-age children from school during the last week of October just so they wouldn't have to walk by the jack-o'-lanterns that people put out in front of their houses. She said she was frightened of what could happen to her children, but all she did was transfer her fear of jack-o'-lanterns to her children as well....By taking something inanimate and giving it animate evil power, she had just showed her kids how to create an idol. Their fear of the jack-o'-lanterns was giving a dead carved vegetable a power it didn't have....
It is idolatry to affix evil power to things or actions that are just things and actions (hairstyles, rock concerts, clothing, dancing, dating, etc.). What determines evil is how Satan is using the thing or the action in the individual's life. What determines goodness is how God is working through the thing or the action in the individual's life. What determines who is doing what is the individual (you, me, or the child) in the equation."
I have to keep reading that last paragraph over and over to make sense of it, and I'm not sure what to do with it for the brief instant that the meaning seems clear. But it seems like a powerful thing to think about and be aware of, so I wanted to share it for better or worse.
1 comment:
Sarah,
that is really powerful, thank you for sharing it. It helps to be able to articulate that belief and confirm it for me, and to cause me to stop and realize the things I am affixing evil power to. Wow, ok I need to think on this :)
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