Alternative Forms of Worship

Dear children, keep yourselves from idols. (1 John 5:21)

You would think this shouldn't be a difficult piece of advice to follow.

The voice of God thundered from Sinai in the second command. "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments" (Exod. 20:4-6).

Within the month, the people of Israel were busily building an idol, a golden calf. It did not last long.

Rachel, Jacob’s wife, stole her father’s household gods. All of Jacob's sons had idols. "So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, 'Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes.' ... So they gave Jacob all the foreign gods they had and the rings in their ears, and Jacob buried them under the oak at Shechem" (Gen. 35:2, 4).

King David’s wife, Michal, had an idol. "Then Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed, covering it with a garment and putting some goats’ hair at the head" (1 Sam. 19:13).

Jereboam built two golden calves, one in Bethel and one in Dan.

In this age of tolerance, we have accepted foreign idols as legitimate "alternative forms of worship". To speak against the idolatry of Buddhism, Hinduism, or Taoism is considered bigotry, intolerance, and hatred of other people. What does God have to say about this?

Gather together and come; assemble, you fugitives from the nations. Ignorant are those who carry about idols of wood, who pray to gods that cannot save. Declare what is to be, present it – let them take counsel together. Who foretold this long ago, who declared it from the distant past? Was it not I, the LORD? And there is no God apart from me, a righteous God and a Savior; there is none but me. Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other. (Isa. 45:20-22)

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Roots by the River

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