Today's sermon was about worshiping idols. The problem that I, as a person with Asperger's, have with that concept is that as it is currently defined it is so broad-based to be almost meaningless, and open to numerous interpretations and manipulations.
First of all, what is idolatry? Classically speaking, it was worshiping statues and stuff like that as God. Catholics get accused of it all the time, and it's one of the things people think about when they think about religions like Hinduism. Now, I am not a Hindu and don't know much about it, but Catholics really don't worship statues and paintings. At least they are not supposed to. The statues and paintings are visual representations to aid in worship. So I suspect the same is true of other religions that use art. Another definition of idolatry according to the big three monotheistic religions, is having any other god but theirs, however you want to name Him.
However, that is not what is meant by idolatry today. Now idolatry is defined as anything considered more important than God. "Anything" and "more important" are the key words here. Now, who does the defining? Because among the things listed this morning were things like science, technology, hobbies, how you spend your time, how you spend your money, the whole gamut of life. It's a great way to control people, by saying that other things are more important than God. For those of us who have obsessions (and most of us do), that's a pretty big potential guilt trip.
Also, what is meant by worship? Again, classically speaking, worship meant participating in religious rituals. I really doubt that we go around bowing down and praying to the subject of our various obsessions and interests. So are we really worshiping them and putting them in the place of God? I doubt it.
I have known some pretty religiously unbalanced people, and I would suspect that they got that way precisely because of the kind of thing I have mentioned above. The pastor talks (on other occasions) on the need for balance in our lives, but how does one achieve that? That I have yet to hear a sermon on.
First of all, what is idolatry? Classically speaking, it was worshiping statues and stuff like that as God. Catholics get accused of it all the time, and it's one of the things people think about when they think about religions like Hinduism. Now, I am not a Hindu and don't know much about it, but Catholics really don't worship statues and paintings. At least they are not supposed to. The statues and paintings are visual representations to aid in worship. So I suspect the same is true of other religions that use art. Another definition of idolatry according to the big three monotheistic religions, is having any other god but theirs, however you want to name Him.
However, that is not what is meant by idolatry today. Now idolatry is defined as anything considered more important than God. "Anything" and "more important" are the key words here. Now, who does the defining? Because among the things listed this morning were things like science, technology, hobbies, how you spend your time, how you spend your money, the whole gamut of life. It's a great way to control people, by saying that other things are more important than God. For those of us who have obsessions (and most of us do), that's a pretty big potential guilt trip.
Also, what is meant by worship? Again, classically speaking, worship meant participating in religious rituals. I really doubt that we go around bowing down and praying to the subject of our various obsessions and interests. So are we really worshiping them and putting them in the place of God? I doubt it.
I have known some pretty religiously unbalanced people, and I would suspect that they got that way precisely because of the kind of thing I have mentioned above. The pastor talks (on other occasions) on the need for balance in our lives, but how does one achieve that? That I have yet to hear a sermon on.
