#idolatory

-Ezekiel 14:1‭-‬11 ESV

Devotional for December 10: A Bizzarre Form of Idolatory in Church

Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain….;And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me. (Matt. 4:8-9 KJV)

An idol in elementary terms is anything that takes the place of God in our lives. One of the ways in which idolatry manifest itself is in our worship. God alone is to be worshipped, and anything that demands our worship…

Muhammad smashed no idols. Did he?

What is wrong with smashing the idols?

I participated in the discussion on the above topic in my most cherished discussion forum 

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I give here my posts mentioning the post numbers without giving the names of persons in response to whose posts I wrote my comments. Please click the post numbers to get to know the persons.

sc….. said: ↑ Prophet Luqmaan once said to his son “O my son, do not set up…

הִשָּׁמֶר לְךָ פֶּן תִּשְׁכַּח אֶת ה' אֱלֹקֶיךָ . . וְרָם לְבָבֶךָ וְשָׁכַחְתָּ אֶת ה' אֱלֹקֶיךָ - דברים ח, יא-יד)

Beware lest you forget G-d, your G-d… and your heart will grow haughty, and you will forget G-d, your G-d. (Devarim 8:11-14)

The Talmud (Sotah 5a) comments: "From where is derived a prohibition against the haughty? R' Nachman bar Yitzchak said: From the verse, ‘And your heart will grow haughty and you will forget G-d, your G-d'; which is preceded by, ‘Beware lest you forget G-d, your G-d'." Indeed, the Sefer Mitzvos Gadol lists arrogance as one of the 365 unique prohibitions in the Torah. The Rambam, however, does not count arrogance as one of the 365 prohibitions. Why not?

Regarding most sins, the Torah states that G-d "dwells with them, even amidst their defilements", which means, "Although they are unclean, the Divine Presence is among them (Rashi, Vayikra 16:16)". An exception to that rule is arrogance, of which the Talmud says (Sotah, ibid), "Every man in whom there is haughtiness, G-d declares, ‘I and he cannot both dwell in the world'." The reason for this lies in the very words of the verse, "Beware lest you forget… and your heart will grow haughty". For the possibility for a person to become conceited and boastful is a direct result of forgetting the only true existence, G-d. He consequently views the world as his personal space and dwelling place, driving G-d from his own home, as it were.

As such, the Rambam did not count arrogance as a unique prohibition of its own. For in this sense, the prohibition against arrogance is included in the prohibition of idolatry…

"If you do not have a wife, do not seek to get married. But if you do get married, it is not a sin. And if a young woman gets married, it is not a sin. However, those who get married at this time will have troubles, and I am trying to spare you those problems." (1 Corinthians 7:27-28)

You might argue that the problems of the past do not apply today, but the book of Corinthians was plagued by immorality, much as how our society is today. Paul doesn’t elaborate what the problems were, perhaps he was referring to the impending persecution of Christians by the Roman government. Regardless of what history referred to, we cannot deny that marriage brings its own set of problems and does nothing to alleviate yours.

Marriage does not solve your loneliness, especially so, when the other party fails to meet your expectations. This would be destructive when both parties desire constant emotional support from each other, and time, schedule, just doesn’t give. Loneliness, is something that you will have a deal with by yourself before you can serve your partner (or friends) wholeheartedly without any expectations in return. 

Marriage does not solve your sexual temptations. For a while, yes, you can keep your eyes off another. But not for long, if sexual temptation was a struggle before you find a partner. Once the whole honeymoon period is over, and you are back to a mundane lifestyle, it would be easy to slither back into your past thoughts and habits if not dealt with beforehand.