Idolatry

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B

Blood-Bought

Guest
#1
What or who do you worship? What or who is your idol? Do you worship God, or do you worship something other than God? One of the ten commandments says that you should not have any gods before God.

"You shall have no other gods before me." - Exodus 20:3

God places a high priority on not having any other gods before Himself. So high of a priority that it's the first commandment. I've always wondered why God placed such a high priority on having no idols before Himself. The Bible goes into a bit more depth of why you should not have other gods before God Himself in the New Testament.

Take into consideration Matthew 6:24 which says:
"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

The word money in that verse is able to be changed to a number of different things. Take your situation if you're worshiping something other than God and insert that in place of money. You cannot serve both God and drugs. You cannot serve both God and (insert your idol of choice here). You get the point. But why is it that we cannot serve God AND something else?

God in the Old Testament in the book of Exodus says that He is a jealous God. In viewing a relationship with God we can really relate it to real life. If you call yourself a Christian, Christ follower, etc... what is included in that is a relationship with God. So deep of a relationship that our focus and our worship should be directed to Him, and ONLY Him. Not saying that we can't focus on anything else, but our number one idol, our number one Person to worship is God. We can totally relate this to our own lives. Say you're dating a girl/guy. In a relationship like this our focus should be on that one girl/guy. If that focus switches to another girl/guy that's were something along the lines of cheating/an affair could come in. If that would happen to occur that's where the jealousy comes in which creates a HUGE conflict.

Think about that... in worshiping something other than God it's pretty much along the lines of cheating on God. You're saying to God, "You know what? I'd rather trade you in for something or someone else. I'd rather have that other "thing" than have You." Major slap in the face to God. God is a jealous God.

"They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator -- who is forever praised. Amen." Romans 1:25

The truth of God is that there is one God. The lie is that we can worship created things rather than God. God is forever praised.

Don't worship created things. Worship the Creator.
 
E

eternally-gratefull

Guest
#2
What or who do you worship? What or who is your idol? Do you worship God, or do you worship something other than God? One of the ten commandments says that you should not have any gods before God.

"You shall have no other gods before me." - Exodus 20:3

God places a high priority on not having any other gods before Himself. So high of a priority that it's the first commandment. I've always wondered why God placed such a high priority on having no idols before Himself. The Bible goes into a bit more depth of why you should not have other gods before God Himself in the New Testament.

Take into consideration Matthew 6:24 which says:
"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

The word money in that verse is able to be changed to a number of different things. Take your situation if you're worshiping something other than God and insert that in place of money. You cannot serve both God and drugs. You cannot serve both God and (insert your idol of choice here). You get the point. But why is it that we cannot serve God AND something else?

God in the Old Testament in the book of Exodus says that He is a jealous God. In viewing a relationship with God we can really relate it to real life. If you call yourself a Christian, Christ follower, etc... what is included in that is a relationship with God. So deep of a relationship that our focus and our worship should be directed to Him, and ONLY Him. Not saying that we can't focus on anything else, but our number one idol, our number one Person to worship is God. We can totally relate this to our own lives. Say you're dating a girl/guy. In a relationship like this our focus should be on that one girl/guy. If that focus switches to another girl/guy that's were something along the lines of cheating/an affair could come in. If that would happen to occur that's where the jealousy comes in which creates a HUGE conflict.

Think about that... in worshiping something other than God it's pretty much along the lines of cheating on God. You're saying to God, "You know what? I'd rather trade you in for something or someone else. I'd rather have that other "thing" than have You." Major slap in the face to God. God is a jealous God.

"They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator -- who is forever praised. Amen." Romans 1:25

The truth of God is that there is one God. The lie is that we can worship created things rather than God. God is forever praised.

Don't worship created things. Worship the Creator.
If we use the example of money, An Idol would be anything we hold higher then God. What would keep us from church, from doing Gods will, from anything God wants us to do. this would be our idol.
 
B

Blood-Bought

Guest
#3
Yes, completely agree.
 
E

EndlessGrace

Guest
#4
Worrying is also considered idolatry. P.s. I like your username "Blood-bought" :)
 
I

In_Atom

Guest
#5
Great article !

I really enjoyed reading it.
 
B

Blood-Bought

Guest
#6
Thank you guys!
 
F

FireOnTheAltar

Guest
#7
Anything that get's in the way with our relationship with God should be considered as idolatry. Whether it's material thigs, a job or career, a personal relationship, family (children or spouse) or maybe even your emotions (doubt, fear, anxiety, lust, loneliness). For some this may sound extreme however, when you take into account that as a christian you are supposed to have the most powerful person / force in all of existence living inside of you who has the ability to lift you up out of your current situation no matter how hard or bad a situation might be, anything less than complete trust is idolatry. Thankfully, He is merciful and full of grace when we humble ourselves, repenting of our short comings and turning to Him for strength. Never forget that the verse which states "His strength is made perfect in our weakness" means so much more than simple forgiveness!
 
F

FireOnTheAltar

Guest
#8
What or who do you worship? What or who is your idol? Do you worship God, or do you worship something other than God? One of the ten commandments says that you should not have any gods before God.

"You shall have no other gods before me." - Exodus 20:3

God places a high priority on not having any other gods before Himself. So high of a priority that it's the first commandment. I've always wondered why God placed such a high priority on having no idols before Himself. The Bible goes into a bit more depth of why you should not have other gods before God Himself in the New Testament.

Take into consideration Matthew 6:24 which says:
"No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

The word money in that verse is able to be changed to a number of different things. Take your situation if you're worshiping something other than God and insert that in place of money. You cannot serve both God and drugs. You cannot serve both God and (insert your idol of choice here). You get the point. But why is it that we cannot serve God AND something else?

God in the Old Testament in the book of Exodus says that He is a jealous God. In viewing a relationship with God we can really relate it to real life. If you call yourself a Christian, Christ follower, etc... what is included in that is a relationship with God. So deep of a relationship that our focus and our worship should be directed to Him, and ONLY Him. Not saying that we can't focus on anything else, but our number one idol, our number one Person to worship is God. We can totally relate this to our own lives. Say you're dating a girl/guy. In a relationship like this our focus should be on that one girl/guy. If that focus switches to another girl/guy that's were something along the lines of cheating/an affair could come in. If that would happen to occur that's where the jealousy comes in which creates a HUGE conflict.

Think about that... in worshiping something other than God it's pretty much along the lines of cheating on God. You're saying to God, "You know what? I'd rather trade you in for something or someone else. I'd rather have that other "thing" than have You." Major slap in the face to God. God is a jealous God.

"They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator -- who is forever praised. Amen." Romans 1:25

The truth of God is that there is one God. The lie is that we can worship created things rather than God. God is forever praised.

Don't worship created things. Worship the Creator.
You're exactly right. Idolatry and Adultry are basically the same concept however, one involves God while the other involves your spouse. Throughout the bible, scripture uses marrage language to describe salvation. In essence, once you are saved you are married to God.
 
B

Blood-Bought

Guest
#9
You're exactly right. Idolatry and Adultry are basically the same concept however, one involves God while the other involves your spouse. Throughout the bible, scripture uses marrage language to describe salvation. In essence, once you are saved you are married to God.
I know that one involves God and the other involves your spouse. It just seemed to fit the whole jealous God idea, in my opinion at least.
 
D

dmdave17

Guest
#10
At last! A truly meaningful Christian discussion. Thanks guys. I agree with all of you. Jesus summed up this discussion in Matthew 6, verses 32 and 33 when He said "For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."
 

Dude653

Senior Member
Mar 19, 2011
12,312
1,039
113
#11
Yeah,, i tend to get caught up in reading novels instead of reading my Bible..God has been convicting me about a spirit idoloatry
 
B

Blood-Bought

Guest
#12
Yeah,, i tend to get caught up in reading novels instead of reading my Bible..God has been convicting me about a spirit idoloatry
Hopefully what I've written has been beneficial in some way.