Make no mistake, idols are good things. An idol is made by the process where a good thing gets more worship than God. The soul creates the idol by asking a good thing to be God instead of God. Origen famously said, "What each one honours before all else, what before all things he admires and loves, this for him is God."
Idolatry is the elevation of a good thing to the place of ultimate worship and the giver of meaning to the soul. The idol promises to make you happy, at the cost of the soul's worship. Idols are non-God things that we love, trust and obey. This makes them dangerous because the idol in and of itself has no power; yet the soul gives it power over itself; and the idol then duly robs the soul of its power, reducing the soul to a slave at the idol's mercy.
God is the reversal of idolatry. Only God is the antidote to idolatry. And this by definition. Idolatry is the substitution of worshipping God for the worship of an idol. The cure of idolatry is a reverse substitution: Worship God above worshipping the designated idol.
Idolatry is the elevation of a good thing to the place of ultimate worship and the giver of meaning to the soul. The idol promises to make you happy, at the cost of the soul's worship. Idols are non-God things that we love, trust and obey. This makes them dangerous because the idol in and of itself has no power; yet the soul gives it power over itself; and the idol then duly robs the soul of its power, reducing the soul to a slave at the idol's mercy.
God is the reversal of idolatry. Only God is the antidote to idolatry. And this by definition. Idolatry is the substitution of worshipping God for the worship of an idol. The cure of idolatry is a reverse substitution: Worship God above worshipping the designated idol.
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