Modern Day IDOLATRY

[Wrangler]

This is a great article on how human nature seems bent on idolatry. Please read and give me your thoughts. The Disturbing Rise of Criminal Idolatry in a Superficial Age

 

[Wrangler]

Saint George Floyd
Saint Brian Thompson

These men are not IDOLIZED despite their criminality but because of it.

 

[Windmill Charge]

This is a great article on how human nature seems bent on idolatry. Please read and give me your thoughts. The Disturbing Rise of Criminal Idolatry in a Superficial Age

Not enough information supplied to interest me in reading it.

That said idolatry is the worship of anything other than God.
So it follows that a God hating society is also an idolatrous society.

 

[Brakelite]

Anyone care to define worship?

 

[Wrangler]

Anyone care to define worship?

Feel free to borrow my favorite lexicon. Merriam-Webster: America's Most Trusted Dictionary

One thing worship is NOT is semantics. No one says they worship IDOLS. It's not in their words but in their actions. One measure of worship is the intensity of celebration. Compare the half-hearted claps when a pastor makes a profound Biblical point in his sermon to the out of control ecstasy when one's sports team makes a desirable play.

In the case of the OP, it is painting murals of criminals. It is an intensity of celebration. It's not merely that there are not such murals for, say a border guard stopping illegal immigration or a would be rape victim pulling out a gun to stop her rapist; it is deeming criminals as being worthy of adulation, being worthy to idolize and worship.

 

[Brakelite]

Feel free to borrow my favorite lexicon. Merriam-Webster: America's Most Trusted Dictionary

One thing worship is NOT is semantics. No one says they worship IDOLS. It's not in their words but in their actions. One measure of worship is the intensity of celebration. Compare the half-hearted claps when a pastor makes a profound Biblical point in his sermon to the out of control ecstasy when one's sports team makes a desirable play.

In the case of the OP, it is painting murals of criminals. It is an intensity of celebration. It's not merely that there are not such murals for, say a border guard stopping illegal immigration or a would be rape victim pulling out a gun to stop her rapist; it is deeming criminals as being worthy of adulation, being worthy to idolize and worship.

According to Strong's concordance, worship has the powerful connotation of surrender, a bowing down in humility and obedience. I'm not sure how that applies to idolatry in relation to sports teams, but certainly I can see where you are coming from, inasmuch as sports for many is by far more important to them than any consideration towards God. That I suppose could be considered an idol, even without spiritual connections.

I see worship not so much as something we do, although that plays a part, but rather as something we are. Not a state of doing, but a state of being, and it is what we are that motivates what we do.

There are secular people in the world who wouldn't dream of breaking God's commandments. While they might not keep them all, there are certainly some who would find utterly repugnant that they should cheat on their wife or husband, nor even consider looking upon any other to lust after them.
There are others who are meticulous in honesty, they would never lie , cheat on their taxes, nor steal from anyone.
There are others who are so content with their lives that covetousness may as well be a foreign language.
And there are still others who may do all of the above and also dote on their parents and love and care for them right up to the grave.
Yet none of this could be construed as worship. Obedience yes, but our righteousness is as filthy rags.


There are church-going people who sing hymns. Yet they then go home and beat their wives and watch pornography on television.
There are still others who 'religiously' attend church every week but live the rest of the week pursuing money, fame, and reputation at the expense of others. There are even some who attend church every week because it benefits them to have the contacts for sales and business. None of this could be considered in any sense worship.

Worship is a surrendered life. Worship is a recognition that God is alone worthy to rule and reign in the life. Worship is a state of being where one is completely submitted to the Holy Spirit. Where the Holy Spirit fills the person to the extent that one's very nature is changed , sometimes radically. Worship is a state of being where one's will becomes one with the will of God. A state of being where one hates the things God hates, and loves the things God loves. A state of being where one is conformed into the image of Jesus Christ, identical in character, identical in motives, identical in hope and faith and love. Then, and only then, everything we do, even our secular labour, is infused with the love of God, both for Him and others. Everything we do is then an expression of the overflowing love of God and can be used of Him as a vehicle for the sharing of the gospel and for providing for the needs of others.
The concordance in both the Greek and Hebrew reveals the word worship means to prostrate oneself, to crouch down even face down upon the earth before God. That is the outward physical expression of the submission and surrender that is required .... when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.
John 4:23.

So why do we worship God and not something, or someone else? Because of who He is. The Creator of heaven, the earth, the sea, and everything that is in them is worthy. He who created all things, became a man and died on behalf of mankind is Lord of Lords and deserves the fidelity and love of all His creation. Greater love hath no man than he who lays down his life for a friend. There is a greater love however, and that is the love that motivated Jesus to lay down His life even for His enemies. Laying down our lives for our Creator is the very least we can do.
Romans 12:1 ¶ I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.
2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

As for the idolizing of criminals. Allowing oneself to be subject to the hypnotic mind bending effects of television through the continual watching of blood letting and violence I would suggest is more powerful, and more self abasing and spiritually surrendered than painting a picture on a wall. Making the criminal some kind of cult figure or hero is worrying sure, but idolatry? Perhaps.

 

[Wrangler]

According to Strong's concordance

@Brakelite, seems like you are seeking to change the topic from IDOLATRY of criminals to your sense of proper worship. This is odd because the OP is about improper worship. See my point?

I see worship not so much as something we do, although that plays a part, but rather as something we are.

We are what we do.

Allowing oneself to be subject to the hypnotic mind bending effects of television through the continual watching of blood letting and violence I would suggest is more powerful, and more self abasing and spiritually surrendered than painting a picture on a wall.

Cause and effect. The effect is IDOLIZING criminals by painting them on a wall.

The cause is allowing oneself to be subject to the hypnotic mind bending effects of television through the continual watching of blood letting and violence.

Making the criminal some kind of cult figure or hero is worrying sure, but idolatry? Perhaps.

Hence, the topic of this thread.