I am Jehovah your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth. You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them. For I, Jehovah your God, am a jealous God . . .
Now, it is to be no surprise that upon looking at this passage we may view this as Jehovah’s instruction that his people not adopt the worship of other deities, and that they should not begin worshipping images as the other nations. This makes sense.
But the underlying principle means more. We need not only to carefully observe the principle of avoiding religious idol-worship, but also to avoid other things which though different may with reason be called idolatry. These other idolatries consist of the false practice of putting any thing, person, or idea ahead of God in our minds–in a word, unhealthy obsession that prevents of from seeing things as they really are, as God sees them.
One such idolatry, if you will pardon the extended use of the word, is giving institutions more respect than they deserve. While it is true that Christians are to gather as the early Church did and as is taught in the Scriptures, we must be careful that we do not let the institution inhabit our buildings of worship to become so important that we overlook the essential teachings of God out of respect for them. In particular, let us not act as idolaters in ignoring child abuse in the Church. Anyone who abuses a child must be recognized as someone who is acting as an unbeliever, someone who has no place in the Church. And it is no attack on the Church to expel and reject such leaders. On the contrary, it will help to keep the Church strong.
Thanks to Joel Watts for bringing up this important topic.
3 Comments
It has been a struggle, Mitchell. I’ve met with plenty of people who told me that since I am disobedient to my (former) pastor, then I am being disobedient to God, and well, I’m going to hell.
We are, Romans tells us, to obey the authorities that be, because all authority is put in place by God. But on the other hand, the aim of all that obedience to authority is the goal of bringing us all closer to obeying God himself. But when we sit quietly while people allow child molestation, we’re actually undermining God’s order. Hang in there. Simpletons will be simpletons, but those who know better gotta keep speaking out. Don’t listen to theose who make up nonsense about God’s authority.
Thanks, Mitchell. It does get depressing at times, but I have to keep going. Thanks for the kind words.