Idolatry in the form of worshipping named, false gods carried over from the OT era into NT times as well—(Ephesus) Acts 19; (many forms of idol worship at the Corinthian temples) 1 Cor 10; (Thessalonica) 1 Thess 1:9; 1 John 5:21 Little children, guard yourselves from idols. Moreover, this kind of idolatry is abundant in Eastern religions today and even among Roman Catholics and some branches of the Orthodox church. Even though many of us are not from backgrounds such as that, idolatry of a different form is very present nevertheless.
While sinful and even non-sinful entities can appear to be the idols at times (think: most expensive car), those are merely tangible expressions of the idolatry. Just as in biblical times, the real idol is what those things can get us (ie. Baal can get us the security of rain for our crops and grant us children = the most expensive car gets lots of recognition from others). To prove this, imagine if the most expensive car owner never drove the car in public places, never told anyone he had it and never showed it to anyone. Obviously, it would be pointless to have it because the car itself does nothing. It’s what the car gets someone.
Along those lines, David Powlison has done tremendous work in providing categories of common idols:[1]
- Security and comfort — where someone instinctively runs for safety, escape, or pleasure when under pressure. This leads right into the next one…
- People’s approval/praise — whose opinion a person is most anxious to secure, and whose rejection they most fear; whose “eyes” they feel they’re living in front of.
- Emotional wholeness—Instead of interacting with people and situations based on what God wants, how something or someone makes one feel is the most important assessment. Thus, if something or someone makes one feel bad or stressed, then it’s automatically classified as harmful.
These types of idolatry end up becoming perceived needs that sound like this in our thoughts (and maybe in our words)—”I deserve something I don’t have, whether tangible or intangible; I deserve what this other person has; I deserve pleasure or at least to feel good most of the time; I deserve comfort; I deserve to even the score; I deserve to be loved; I deserve to be respected.” Once those things are determined to be needs, there will be various levels manipulation or control employed because God simply cannot be trusted for situations and people in one’s life; everything must be controlled to get happiness, comfort and emotional stability. This is most notably seen in home life in a marriage or parenting context. No matter what context it shows up, when that is the case, we will not see as much of a problem disobeying God to get our “needs” met, instead of recognizing our ultimate need to trust and obey God.
This is why Jesus declared the following in Matt 6:24 No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. Only one master can ultimately have exclusive supremacy in one’s life. We must give up any pursuit of syncretism (the merging of beliefs and practices) because, in the end, it’s impossible.
[1] David A. Powlison, Seeing with New Eyes: Counseling and the Human Condition Through the Lens of Scripture (Phillipsburg, N.J: P&R Publishing, 2003), compiled from the “X-Ray Questions” chapter.