Week 2 | Ideological Idolatry
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Deuteronomy 4:15-20
15 You saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, 16 so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, 17 or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, 18 or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below. 19 And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven. 20 But as for you, the Lord took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of his inheritance, as you now are.
Ideology 1. - is when you take a good thing and make it ultimate.
David Koyzis - “Every ideology is based on taking something out of creation’s totality, raising it above that creation, and making the latter revolve around and serve it.”
Ideology 2. is when you take a part of the truth and make it the whole.
Augustine - “Idolatry is worshipping anything that ought to be used, or using anything that is meant to be worshipped.”
Charles Taylor - “American-style conservatives speak as advocates of traditional communities when they attack abortion on demand and pornography; but in their economic policies, they advocate an untamed form of capitalist enterprise, which more than anything else has helped to dissolve historical communities, has fostered atomism (individualism), which knows no frontiers or loyalties and is ready to close down a mining town or savage a forest habitat at the drop of a balance sheet. On the other side, we find supporters of an attentive, reverential stance to nature who would go to the wall to defend the forest habitat, demonstrating in favor of abortion on demand, on the grounds that a woman’s body belongs exclusively to her.”
Shadi Hamid - As Christianity’s hold, in particular, has weakened , ideological intensity and fragmentation have risen. American faith, it turns out, is as fervent as ever; it’s just that what was once a religious belief has now been channeled into political belief…This is what religion without religion looks like.
Ben Sixsmith - "There is mainstream culture, celebrities, fashion, music, modish political activism and a message of self-love, but with a twist of Christianity. Most people stick with mainstream culture because they can have all those things and pre-marital sex. We can see the ‘With a twist of Christianity' trend elsewhere. (Jerry) Falwell was representative of the right-wing, business-oriented evangelicals who offer capitalist self-enrichment and hubristic jingoism...with a twist of Christianity. Then there are progressive Christians... who promote the usual left-wing causes... with a twist of Christianity. While different in beliefs, such people share patterns of thought: the former believe secular individualists mysteriously share God's wishes for what should be done with money, while the latter thinks that secular progressives mysteriously share God's wishes for what should be done with bodies. So, if Christianity is such an inessential add-on, why become a Christian? (am not religious, so it is not my place to dictate to Christians what they should and should not believe. Still, if someone has a faith worth following, I feel that their beliefs should make me feel uncomfortable for not doing so. If they share 90 percent of my lifestyle and values, then there is nothing especially inspiring about them. Instead of making me want to become more like them, it looks very much as if they want to become more like me.
Practice the Way of Jesus
Deuteronomy 4:15-16, 20- 15 You saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, 16 so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman…20 But as for you, the Lord took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of his inheritance, as you now are.
Watch yourselves carefully
2 Corninthians 10:1-5 - 1 By the humility and gentleness of Christ, I appeal to you—I, Paul, who am “timid” when face to face with you, but “bold” toward you when away! 2 I beg you that when I come I may not have to be as bold as I expect to be toward some people who think that we live by the standards of this world. 3 For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. 4 The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. 5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
2 Corinthians 11:13 - 13 For such people are false apostles, deceitful workers, masquerading as apostles of Christ.
λογισμός logismos - thoughts or ideas
ὕψωμα hupsōma - heights or lofty things
Dallas Willard - “Ideas and images are also a primary stronghold of evil in the human self and in society. They determine how we ‘take’ the things and events of ordinary life. They control the meanings we assign to what we deal with, and they can even blind us to what lies plainly before us.
Richard Foster - "The aim is not external conformity, whether to doctrine or deed, but the re-formation of the inner self - of the spiritual core, the place of thought and feeling, of will and character.
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Each Sunday we come together we offer an open invitation into the way of Jesus. An invitation to enter into sacred rhythms - to draw near to God through singing, giving, learning, and praying.
As a community that desires renewal in Des Moines as it is in Heaven, we recognize that we cannot offer what we ourselves do not have. We cannot lead where we ourselves have not been led; in turn, these questions aim at reflection. Reflecting on God’s word and making space for his leadership.
After watching or listening consider the following discussion questions as a large group or in groups of three to four:
What stood out from the teaching?
