A More Subtle Idolatry

Today the churchgoer is more influenced by the digital image than the ancients were by the graven image. A lifetime of absorbing the images and ideas of the media establishes the very foundations of our thinking. The Bible, at best, is auxiliary. Its influence pales in the light of the flatscreen.

The effect is that this more subtle idolatry allows The World, that the Bible tells us not to love, to make us who we are.

We in the Church strive to be moral and good. We do not strive to be Holy. We love The World. We love sitting with the mockers. We make Hollywood our children’s babysitter. Like the ancient Israelites, we burn incense to other gods. We are much more faithful to The World than we are to The Lord.

To our Christian ancestors we would appear irresponsible and spiritually ridiculous.

I’ve been struggling with this idea for years. Personally, I find myself incapable of repenting of my life-long love affair with The World. But I’m hopeful that acknowledging this idolatry, this sin, is the first step towards spiritual fidelity and an unencumbered consciousness.

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