Idolatry roundup, finale, & resources
By Elizabeth Prata
Last weekend I did a deep dive into the concept of idolatry. I’d researched the “Trad Wife/Trad Life” trend and realized that for many women who live this aesthetic, it’s an idol for them. Meaning, it isn’t based on humble obedience to biblical standards for our gender, but a performance of works for the public to see, thinking this pleases God.
To better understand idolatry, I started researching what exactly IS an idol, delving into scripture, commentaries, then a Free Grace Broadcaster from Mt Zion Chapel Library. The FGB was chock full of essays commenting on idolatry.
I ended up posting 5 successive essays all around the concept of idolatry. Here they are:
Some Protestant Truth about Mary, Jesus’ Mother
How to make an idol: Nehushtan
Idolatry: Did You Know About these Two False Gods?
I’ll end this week with a quote from Charles Spurgeon from that same Free Grace Broadcaster, called “Idols Abolished” (full sermon here).
You remember the Rich Young Ruler? You remember the Rich Man (Lazarus used to lay at his gate?) You remember the Pharisees, Saul/Paul among them? They all had the same idol:
SPURGEON: “Attend earnestly dear hearers, for, perhaps, some of you may be worshipping idols now. We will go into the temple of your heart, and see whether we can find a false god there. I go into one heart, and, as I look up, I see a gigantic idol; it is gilded all over and clothed in shining robes: its eyes seem to be jewels, and its forehead is “as bright ivory overlaid with sapphires”; it is a very lovely idol to look upon. Come not too close, do not examine too severely, nor so much as dream of looking inside the hollow sham. Within it you will find all manner of rottenness and filthiness, but the outside of the idol is adorned with the greatest art and skill, and you may even become enamoured of it as you stand and gaze upon it.”
“What is its name? Its name is self-righteousness.”
–end Spurgeon
And the LORD alone will be exalted on that day, And the idols will completely vanish. (Isaiah 2:17b,18)
Owen Strachan comments on the Trad Wife phenomenon with utter clarity and refreshing articulateness: https://youtu.be/2e2QYmXE_0U?si=IYzdHMw5ewwbdyf_ . 30 min of diamond bright insight.
