What is an idol?

[Mark]

What is an idol?

[Prodigal Girl]

I think it is anything that is made by man with the intent to worship it. So, my question is, are images ok, as long as you are not worshiping them?

[Otto]

What is an idol?

An Idol can be an object of extreme devotion; or a false conception.

Our thought [Idea] can, and many times do become an Idol to our self.

Many times we offer up to G-d a man made Holladay and say tomorrow is a festival to our L-rd. And are convinced in one’s mind that it is acceptable.

[Mark]

In Colossians 3:5 Paul defines coveteousness as idolatry. Any comments?

[Otto]

The root of the word “Idol” comes from “Idea”.
Idea "result of thinking" ,

"Ideology ... is usually taken to mean, a prescriptive doctrine that is not supported by rational argument."

“idolize” Figurative sense of "something idolized" OR covetousness (desire for another's possessions)
NIV says “evil desires and greed, which is idolatry”.

In other words our “evil desires” "start in our minds" / Idea. And become Idol to ourselves. And as in the case of Colossians 3:5 we covet.

Matthew 5:28 “start in our minds”

[ad4e]

What is an idol?
Any person, place or thing that comes before G-d in our life.

In the traditional sense it was a something had made that someone worship and offered sacrifices too. But in truth any person place or thing that over steps G-d's authority in our life is an idol.

[Otto]

The root of the word “Idol” comes from “Idea”.
Idea "result of thinking”,

"Ideology ... is usually taken to mean, a prescriptive doctrine that is not supported by rational argument."

“idolize” Figurative sense of "something idolized" OR covetousness (desire for another's possessions)
NIV says “evil desires and greed, which is idolatry”.

In other words our “evil desires” "start in our minds" / Idea. And become Idol to ourselves. And as in the case of Colossians 3:5 we covet.

Matthew 5:28 “start in our minds”

The root of the word “Idol” comes from “Idea”. I would like to add to this. This is why many say ““I do not believe something is wrong” ” or “I have not been convicted [: to convince of error or sinfulness] that it is wrong.

Jeremiah 16:19 O LORD, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in time of distress, to you the nations / [Gentiles] will come from the ends of the earth and say, "Our fathers possessed nothing but false gods, [What false gods do the nations posses?] worthless idols that did them no good. 20 Do men make their own gods?
Yes, but they are not gods!"
"Our fathers possessed nothing but false gods, [What false gods do the nations posses?]

There is a lot that can be said of this scripture; Most believe that a false god is a little statue that one keeps in there home and prays to. or a possession such as a car, jewelry, home, wife, children, or a place. And yes these can become false gods, But what of the “Idea” that was nailed to the cross. or a tree covered with colored lights and Family and friends around a warm Yule log on Dec 25 with the anticipation of an elf with magical powers to appear in your home with gifts. Or a wonderful spring day with family and friends and a colored egg laying rabbit. How about a cool fall night with big oak trees hanging over the street with the warm glow of candles in pumpkins and kids running from house to house laughing, having fun, and receiving sweet treats.

2tim4:3-4
For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine [What was sound doctrine at the time of the writing of 2 timothy] Instead, to suit their own desires, they
will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.
They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.
What is a Myths-[Holt Dictionary] (tradition often founded on some fact of nature or an event in the early history of a people and some religious belief of that people. Beliefs concerning their origin, gods, heroes. . KJV says "fable" - (to talk or write about as if true)

This is why we can say; “I do not believe these are wrong”
What one thinks has become a god to themselves, ones Ideas holds more weight than G-ds word. Therefore making out Belief, “our” Idea an Idol.


Micah 4:1 In the last days the mountain of the LORD's temple will be established
as chief among the mountains; it will be raised above the hills, and peoples will stream to it. 2 Many nations / [Gentiles] will come and say, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways / [], so that we may walk in his paths [W,W,J,D]. "The law / [] will go out from Zion, the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. [Salvation]

Zechariah 8:23 This is what the LORD Almighty says: "In those days ten men from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, 'Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.' "

[Elizabeth]

Rabbi Reuel's message today was about trusting G-d. It got me thinking a bit about my own limitations and where I need to improve and trust G-d more. It also ties into our recent discussion about isolation. I think this is an okay place to post my thoughts because I think we can also define an idol as anything we put our trust in that isn't G-d. Perhaps an idol can also be defined as anything that gives us a false sense of security, ability, or control.

I have come a long way in terms of trusting G-d, but the one thing I currently find myself continually struggling to hand over to G-d is my reputation. When you think about all Yeshua has done and all He went through, how much more that He gave over His reputation? For the time being, He is still letting the world completely question His identity and abuse His reputation. So who am I to withhold my reputation from Him? I think this is my next challenge so prayers appreciated.

Rabbie Reuel talked about how Yeshua's concern is always for others. Another thing I know, but don't really spend enough time actually thinking about. Even when He was on His way to be crucified, His concern was for the daughters of Jerusalem that were crying for Him. It just struck me that He was likely unrecognizeable physically at this point. Yet, His Spirit in that same moment is something I know I would have recognized. I know it because those who belong to Him know Him because of that perfect, beautiful selfless spirit He showed in that moment. And what gift does He gives to us to get us through this life, that perfectly beautiful whole spirit that He showed us the world can't touch.

It doesn't get any better than that. Nevertheless, I am struggeling to hand G-d my reputation like I can do a better job taking care of it. I am just sharing what struck me today and how it ties in a bit to our recent conversation for me. Maybe part of this isolation is G-d teaching us to not need anyone but Him and His Spirit because He is the only One who can keep our souls safe and intact. Again, something I know but just struggle to understand and come to terms with.

[garrett]

Elizabeth, thank you for sharing this. What you just wrote is incredibly ironic since I was just faced with a very similar realization about my reputation. It's very late and I need to gather my thoughts to write some more but I had an encounter with another Jewish man who long ago ago accepted Jesus (that's how he refers to him) as his savior, and he challenged me to risk my neck when it comes to acknowledging Yeshua with others I come across in the Jewish community in my city as well as those who are not Jewish. And I bumped into this guy while I was out of state! And he also asked me if I really really knew what it meant for Him to be crucified. Bells started ringing in my head because of my own struggles as well. You have a really good point. I'm going to have to sleep on this some more.....

[garrett]

Jun 18, 2016 12:59:54 GMT -8 Elizabeth said:

Rabbi Reuel's message today was about trusting G-d. It got me thinking a bit about my own limitations and where I need to improve and trust G-d more. It also ties into our recent discussion about isolation. I think this is an okay place to post my thoughts because I think we can also define an idol as anything we put our trust in that isn't G-d. Perhaps an idol can also be defined as anything that gives us a false sense of security, ability, or control.

I have come a long way in terms of trusting G-d, but the one thing I currently find myself continually struggling to hand over to G-d is my reputation. When you think about all Yeshua has done and all He went through, how much more that He gave over His reputation? For the time being, He is still letting the world completely question His identity and abuse His reputation. So who am I to withhold my reputation from Him? I think this is my next challenge so prayers appreciated.

Rabbie Reuel talked about how Yeshua's concern is always for others. Another thing I know, but don't really spend enough time actually thinking about. Even when He was on His way to be crucified, His concern was for the daughters of Jerusalem that were crying for Him. It just struck me that He was likely unrecognizeable physically at this point. Yet, His Spirit in that same moment is something I know I would have recognized. I know it because those who belong to Him know Him because of that perfect, beautiful selfless spirit He showed in that moment. And what gift does He gives to us to get us through this life, that perfectly beautiful whole spirit that He showed us the world can't touch.

It doesn't get any better than that. Nevertheless, I am struggeling to hand G-d my reputation like I can do a better job taking care of it. I am just sharing what struck me today and how it ties in a bit to our recent conversation for me. Maybe part of this isolation is G-d teaching us to not need anyone but Him and His Spirit because He is the only One who can keep our souls safe and intact. Again, something I know but just struggle to understand and come to terms with.

Finally getting a chance to comment on your post Elizabeth (it's taken forever). - I know my topic isn't entirely on the subject of idols but I was faced with a similar situation that caused me to wonder about my own reputation. I wondered if I was protecting it out of fear and embarassment.

I was out of state recently, having driven an old friend to a wedding and a reception. The whole time he was doing the wedding thing, I just spent time in town at a local coffee shop. They had outdoor seating so I did some reading, etc. I was approached by two men who asked if they could talk with me, I said "sure", and then they started to ask me if I had any religious beliefs, etc. At first I thought, "oh boy, here we go..." but these two seemed very sincere. So...I decided to answer in a neutral sense. I just said, "well, I'm Jewish..." and the one guy says, "so am I!". Well, that spawned a very lengthy conversation. This guy was raised Jewish, I was not. He was a christian, though I said nothing about what I was. But I DID say that I believed Jesus was and is the Messiah. I mentioned a few other ways I try to practice my faith and they were obviously not christian in nature.

Being the religiously isolated person I am, I was happy to interact with these two since things seemed to be going in the right direction, there was a chance I could learn something and (selfishly) be encouraged. He put two things to me that caused me to think. He asked if I really knew that all my sins were wiped away when Yeshua was crucified. I'm paraphrasing things but you get the idea. I think it's been a long time since I considered the fact that no matter what I do, I can ask for His forgiveness and receive it. I had a flood of weird thoughts hit me. I started to think that if I was locked in a 10x10 cell and couldn't read the Bible, make a best attempt to observe the holy days, or wear fringes, etc., etc. I could still be one of G-d's elect. I was reminded of how personal and accessible G-d is. Personally, I still sometimes struggle with the co-mingling of G-d and Yeshua and the One-ness of it all but as described in I Timothy 3:16 it is still a bit of a mystery. That aside, I still believe.

And, he asked me if I would be afraid or even ashamed to share "Jesus" with the religious Jews in my city. I pretty easily said, "oh, they'd kill me" or "I might get spat on". I was being sort of tongue-in-cheek but part of me believed this was possible. And I suspect many would think I was a brainwashed impostor. So yeah, I would be ashamed. It was confirmed and that's when this guy mentioned how Jesus felt about those who would be ashamed of Him. Oh boy. He talked about the consequences of heaven and hell. I wasn't sure what to do with this info...

So later I thought, where is my zeal and what am I doing? Time to re-group. I'm still sorting it out.

I could tell this guy (who is Jewish) might have been a little uneasy with the Judaism-centered form of my approach but I made a point of mentioning that the Messiah and all his disciples and all converts practiced Judaism and patterned out their ministry as such.

I'm not a big fan of on the street witnessing. It's so quick and out of the blue. There isn't necessarily a chance to build a relationship with people before you start talking about such big topics. And then, will the person have a support system afterwards? Witnessing - this word that is used to describe telling others about G-d, is a bit perplexing.

Either way, it was a nice encounter and I realized I wasn't fully willing to stick my neck out. And I hadn't realized what really took place when Yeshua was crucified. Back to square one.

[Elizabeth]

Well, becoming what G-d wants us to be is all a process. I found myself telling Him last week, "well, I guess we're really gonna do this". It sounded so casual I laughed. At the same time He was giving me something I needed; like a reminder I don't always need to make such a dramatic fuss over this life because I have Him. It reminded me how far I have come because I now know that, but it also pointed to the unknown about how much further I have left to go.

G-d is showing us what we need to crucify in ourselves to become more like Yeshua, and the idol is our identity and reputation. I am being patient with myself at the same time I am trying to ready myself because G-d is being patient and taking His time with me. Yet, I know all the preparation time has a purpose. It seems the same with you maybe. We have something to prepare for as all G-d's people do, so I feel pretty safe making that assumption.

On a separate but related note, all of these thoughts kind of came together for me one day last week in the verse about "and now abideth faith, hope, love; these three but the greatest of these is love."

This sounds extreme, but it's G-d we're talking about so call me an extremist. I kept thinking about Yeshua giving Himself over physically but the beautiful truth that He was all still there. I want that, especially if my children ever have to witness me suffering. He was whole no matter what the world did to Him; heart, mind, soul all perfectly whole. His spirit was complete and perfect. It got me thinking about what G-d tells us lasts, and it brought me to faith, hope, and love. Then to that perfect picture of the three in Yeshua.

I see progress in myself with faith and hope, but I have some catching up to do on what it truly means to love. Ultimately, this struggle I am having is about loving G-d and others the way Yeshua showed me to or worrying more about myself.

We should be grateful for the chance to show Yeshua we see Him, like we really see Him. Time, life, death, space, physicality, all of that doesn't prevent us from seeing Him. How much that says about Him. I am so glad I can say that. I want to step up for Him and show up for Him so believe G-d will give me the chance, but prayers for confidence definitely needed. It's hard to put yourself out there, especially when to do so means you literally have to bare your soul. Give it to G-d because He can take care of it when we can't. We know He will show up, we just need to pray for the strength we need so we do.