By Fred Vilbig
When most modern Americans think about idols, we probably think about the golden calf Aaron made while the Hebrews were waiting for Moses to come off of Mount Sinai. Or maybe the gods of ancient Egypt like Anubis with the head of a dog; Bastet with the head of a cat; Horus with the head of a hawk; and the list can go on. Or maybe we think about the more humanized gods of Greece, who had all too human failings. I think most modern Americans would argue that they do not worship idols.
But I think they would be wrong. First we need to define what we mean by worship. We can look at worship as a reverence offered to a divine being, but I don’t think that gets us very far. We should look at worship by looking at how we spend our time and talents and energy. If we spend most of our time on something, I would argue that whatever that is, you are in a sense, offering your life for it. To me, that is what it means to worship something. What are you spending your life pursuing?
Based on that definition of worship, I think we have lots of idols in our lives. Some people spend their time and energy to get a certain car with which to impress people. Some people want to buy a fancy house. Others want the perfect body so they spend hours in the gym. Still others look for prestige. And then there are the people who want money and the power that comes with it. If we spend our lives pursuing these things, those are the idols that we put before the one true God.
But I think there is a more fundamental idol we all have. When Eve was tempted by Satan, Satan did not say, “Eat this food just to tick off God.” He didn’t say, “This will be the healthiest thing you’ll ever eat.” No, he said, if you eat the forbidden fruit, “your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God’s.” Genesis 3:5. The temptation was to make ourselves into God. And it seems to me that is what we have all done.
God has revealed Himself in the Person of Christ who lives on in the Church. But we disagree with what the Church teaches. We are making ourselves into God, by setting our own rules, defining what is good and what is evil. We don’t go to Mass every Sunday; we think the church is wrong on contraception; we don’t need to go to confession; we can just tell God we’re sorry, in the privacy of our room; we receive Communion casually when we are in mortal sin: in all of these instances, we are making ourselves into God. Any time we put our reasons or our feelings above the teachings of the church, we are committing self-idolatry.
The First Commandment is terribly relevant in our materialistic and relativistic society. We have lots of idols in American society.
The question should be, what is standing between us and our God who loves us more than anything we can possibly imagine? What are who are our idols? Once we identify them, we need to cast them out. Tough, huh?
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