Created things: idols to adore or messages to decode?

At times idols are considered and worshipped as real gods with divine powers.   The Book of Daniel describes the king of Babylon adoring the idol Bel: 

“The Babylonians had an idol called Bel, and every day they provided for it six barrels of fine flour, forty sheep, and six measures of wine. The king worshiped it and went every day to adore it; but Daniel adored only his God. When the king asked him, ‘Why do you not adore Bel?’ Daniel replied, ‘Because I worship not idols made with hands, but only the living God who made heaven and earth and has dominion over all mankind.Then the king continued, ‘You do not think Bel is a living god? Do you not see how much he eats and drinks every day?’Daniel began to laugh. ‘Do not be deceived, O king,’ he said; ‘it is only clay inside and bronze outside; it has never taken any food or drink.’”(Daniel 14: 3-7) 

The prophet Hosea condemns the practices of some people, who make idols of gold or silver and then adore them: 

“Now they sin more and more;
they make idols for themselves from their silver,
cleverly fashioned images,
all of them the work of craftsmen.
They say, ‘offer them sacrifices’
and they kiss the calf-idols.” (Hosea 13: 2) 

 In these instances worship is directed to the idol itself, the material and visible image made of precious metal. 

At other times, idols are considered more as representations of gods or spirits which are considered invisible. 

In these cases it is clear that by idolatry is meant the worship of gods and spirits that exist independently of idols; this kind of  worship is not addressed to the forms of the idols themselves.  

The Book of Kings describes the challenge between Baal’s priests and the prophet Elijah on Mount Carmel as a challenge between Baal and Yahweh. Baal’s priests beseech their god without the use of an idol: 

“Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. ‘O Baal, answer us!’ they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. At noon Elijah began to taunt them. ‘Shout louder!’ he said. ‘Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.’ So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.” (1 Kings 18: 26-29) 

In the history of Israel, the tradition of condemning idolatry grew stronger and stronger. It reached a climax when it strongly prohibited any form of idolatry, and held that idolatry is not limited to the worship of a statue or picture itself or to any of the gods, but also includes worship of God with the use of mediators and/or any artistic representations of God. According to this understanding, even if  worship is addressed to God and not to a statue, picture, or some other created thing, but yet a created thing is used as a representation of God in order to assist the worshipper, this is also considered a form of idolatry.  

Following this tradition, the  first commandment of the Decalogue was interpreted in a very strict way: 

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them or serve them.”  (Exodus 20: 2-5) 

Through the prophet Jeremiah, Yahweh  tells Israel:

“I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a bride you loved me and followed me through the desert, (Jeremiah 2: 2) 

“What fault did your fathers find in me, that they strayed so far from me? They followed worthless idols and became worthless themselves.” (Jeremiah 2: 5) 

“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water.” (Jeremiah 2: 13)   

“On every high hill and under every spreading tree you lay down as a prostitute.” (Jeremiah 2: 20)   

“Where then are the gods you made for yourselves? Let them come if they can save you when you are in trouble! For you have as many gods as you have towns, O Judah.” (Jeremiah 2: 28)  

“Does a maiden forget her jewelry, a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet my people have forgotten me, days without number.” (Jeremiah 2: 32)  

The prophet Hosea, speaking from his personal experience (he was married to an unfaithful wife), tells Israel that Yahweh, like a betrayed  husband, will punish her spouse to make her see her sin and repent. 

“She is not my wife, and I am not her husband. Let her remove the adulterous look from her face and the unfaithfulness from between her breasts.” (Hosea 2: 4)  

“I will punish her for the days she burned incense to the Baals; she decked herself with rings and jewelry, and went after her lovers, but me she forgot."  (Hosea 2: 15)

  “I will betroth you to me forever; I will betroth you in righteousness and justice,  in love and compassion.  “I will betroth you in faithfulness, and you will acknowledge the Lord.” (Hosea 2: 21-22) 

St Paul offers a very original and new vision of idolatry. 

According to Paul, idolatry is not a primordial stage of a polytheistic religion from which evolved a more advanced form of monotheism. Paul considers idolatry as corruption of the primordial monotheism. From the very first moment of creation, mankind could have known God from created things.

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.  For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.” (Romans 1: 18-23)  

Mankind is responsible for  “exchanging the truth of God for a lie, and worshipping and serving created things rather than the Creator.” (Romans 1:  25)

The price they pay for “not thinking it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God” (Romans 1: 28) is very high. Without God, mankind is enslaved by sin.  

St Paul adds idolatry to the long list of the sins of the “sinful nature”.

“The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit.” (Galatians 5: 19-21,24-25)

 It is Jesus Christ who redeems human nature. The greatest gift Jesus gave us is freedom. Idolatry is a form of slavery. 

“It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.” (Galatians 5: 1) 

“Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.” (Galatians 4: 8-11) 

 During his second missionary journey, Paul reaches Athens, the city of philosophers and symbol of human wisdom. “While Paul was waiting for his companions in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.” (Acts 17: 16)  

Paul’s evangelization begins with the concept of God-creator:

“The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.” (Acts 17: 24-25)  

Paul believes that everyone needs “repentance and conversion” in order to reach the living God: 

“In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” (Acts 17: 30-31)  

The same message Paul repeats to the Thessalonians: 

“You turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.”  (1 Thessalonians 1: 9-10) 

It is Jesus who through the gift of his Spirit leads the believer to repentance salvation:  

“Now about spiritual gifts, brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant. You know that when you were pagans, somehow or other you were influenced and led astray to mute idols. Therefore I tell you that no one who is speaking by the Spirit of God says, ‘Jesus be cursed,’ and no one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” (1 Corinthians 12: 1-3) 

Paul relates that during his first missionary journey at Lystra something astonishing happenned. Paul was preaching to  the crowds. A crippled man was cured. The crowds thought that only gods could work such miracles. They began shouting, “The gods have come down to us in human form!” (Acts 14: 11) and wanted to offer sacrifices to Paul and Barnabas. 

“But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: ‘Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them.’” (Acts 14: 14-15)  

 A very thorny and common problem that Paul had to deal with was whether Christians could eat food sacrificed to idols.

Very often, at the meat market in Corinth, meat offered to gods, was sold on the market. Paul’s position in this case is: 

“Eat anything sold in the meat market without raising questions of conscience, for, ‘The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it.’” (1 Corinthians 10: 25-26)  

Other times, Christians were invited to a meal at which meat offered in sacrifice to idols, was served. Paul’s answer is:  

“‘Everything is permissible’, but not everything is beneficial. ‘Everything is permissible’, but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.” (1 Corinthians 10: 23-24) 

“If some unbeliever invites you to a meal and you want to go, eat whatever is put before you without raising questions of conscience. But if anyone says to you, ‘This has been offered in sacrifice,’ then do not eat it, both for the sake of the man who told you and for conscience sake, the other man’s conscience, I mean, not yours. For why should my freedom be judged by another’s conscience? If I take part in the meal with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I thank God for?” (1 Corinthians 10: 27-30)

 “We know that an idol is nothing at all in the world and that there is no God but one. For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords’), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.  

But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do. 

Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone with a weak conscience sees you who have this knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, won’t he be emboldened to eat what has been sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against your brothers in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause him to fall.” (1 Corinthians 8: 4-13)  

Paul’s position is in net contrast to the common Jewish condemnation of eating anything connected with idols’ worship.  

Quite different is Paul’s position on Christian participation in idols’ worship: 

“Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? Do I mean then that a sacrifice offered to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.” (1 Corinthians 10: 18-21)