The Catholic Cricket

Saw this on Facebook:

I was happily surprised to see this. Yeah, it’s from 2008 and I just saw it. Shaddup, you.

Then I read the comments. Well, some of them.  It’s been 3 years, there are a lot of comments.  While most that I saw were good, there were a few that showed confusion surrounding God’s prohibition against false idols. He was not speaking of  these types of idols, where we look to people as role models or recognize and admire the talents or skills present in others. No, He was speaking of false gods, idols fashioned of human hands that were considered to somehow embody a higher power, that people would worship as a god.

The World English Dictionary’s 3rd definition of idol (scroll down, the first definition set isn’t quite accurate…”blind”?) is the usage in American Idol: a person who is revered, admired or highly loved. I very much doubt that anyone at Fox is propping these people up as deities to be worshiped.

Stop being stupid.

Now, that said, there is a real problem when people place greater importance on things than on God. Anything can become an idol in our lives. A quick list of common idols today includes money, self gratification, power, and “stuff” (by which I mean material possessions). Some people do anything to get more money, or seek pleasure through indiscriminate sex (mistaking sex for love, usually) or drinking/drugs, or try to gain power and influence, or think that having more material goods is all-important.

There’s nothing wrong with earning money, or having sex (inside marriage, of course), or drinking (so long as it is not in excess), or obtaining power, or getting stuff. No, the problem comes when any of those things become the most important thing in our lives. We make idols out of these things, and they can come to supersede God in our lives.

And, really, if you think about it, all of these things involve placing ourselves above God. They are all about “me”. I have more money. I am having sex. I am pleased by food or drink or drug. I have power. I have stuff.

It’s the deification of self, where I alone determine what is right and wrong, where I alone am to be pleased (if others are pleased by something, that’s fine but not the goal). By placing importance on money or power or pleasure, one is really placing all importance on self.

Having idols (i.e., heroes) to look up to, admire, and appreciate, is not idol worshiping in the Biblical sense, although it can become that. So have role models, heroes, “idols”. Just remember that they are as human as you, and not the second coming of Christ, and you should be fine.

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