A Taxonomy of Idolatry

Zephaniah, chapter 1, lists several species of idolatry.

1. In 1:4 we have outright idolatry, the worship of false gods. Included here is specifically Baal. The worship of Baal was the ultimate in "seeker sensitive" worship. Everything the uninformed visitor might hope for: lots of wine, lots of grilled food, and, lest we forget, orgies.

We evangelicals don't set up statues and ritually fornicate in front of them. But that doesn't mean we are not idolators all the same.

Our churches are filled with folks who got their ideas about God from bumper stickers, and TV shows like "Touched By An Angel." (You don't believe in Providence? The Irish angel who always preached the false gospel at the end of the program was played by an actress named Roma! C'mon!!)

We haven't got carved images, but we have false images nonetheless, set up on their little stands in our brains. The most radical, threatening thing that could happen in some churches would be to have a guy stand up and actually read what the Bible says about the character and nature of God. Something like this would be a good start:

Psalms 5:5 "You hate all workers of iniquity."

What? Does that say what I think it said? Um, yes it does.

But I thought God hates sin and loves the sinner! An angel told me! Last Thursday at 7 PM.

What is called God in many, if not most, evangelical churches is a made-up notion, a fiction, a nice, sugary fairy story.

2. Then we have another species of idolatry, synchretism. Synchretism is the buffet-style approach to religion, where to take a little from here and a little from there.

In Zephaniah 1:5, this is seen in those who, "worship and swear oaths by the Lord, but who also swear by Milcom."

We see this today in people who pick-and-choose which portions of the Bible they want to believe. Like buffet samplers. This here looks yummy, but this other stuff looks a bit questionable, so I'll leave it and move on. Oh, and don't get the yellow stuff whatever you do!

We see it in those who love Jesus, but don't want all the smart people they know to think that they are neanderthals, or snaggle-toothed snake-handling fundies, and so they also accept the pronouncements of the modern high-priests of Scientism, who assert based on nothing but faith that evolution is true and good.

3. Then we have another form of idolatry. In verse 6, it is Apostacy, or the "falling away" from the true faith.

"Those who have turned back from following the Lord." Etc, etc.

Of course, in the Southern Baptist world, we have no apostates. We only have sad instances of our failure to disciple genuine converts. (Please read the last two sentences aloud, with the heaviest possible inflection of sarcasm you can muster.)

Yes, we do believe that once you are saved, you cannot then be lost and going to hell again. However, salvation is not a Get Out of Hell Free Card that you can carry around with you in your back pocket, then whip it out in an emergency. It is a state that you live in, and are transformed in.

Ours in the SBC do in fact fall away. And they fall away at alarmingly high rates...I mean, rates over 90%. But when they fall away, when they apostasize from the faith, they are not losing something they once had: they are proving that they never had it. They were never saved to begin with.

4. The last species of Idolatry in Zephaniah 1 is Indifference or Apathy.

In 1:6, we hear of those who "have not sought the Lord, or inquired of Him."

They knew the true God...they just didn't care very much. And why not?

Because they were basically comfortable without Him. They weren't starving, they had clothes and houses and farms, they weren't under attack from foreign armies. Things were okay.

After a while, if your life doesn't completely far apart, even though you've never studied your Bible, or prayed very much, it's easy to get lulled into this sense that [speak with a whisper here] that stuff really doesn't matter a lot.

This is maybe the worst idolatry there is, where you know the truth and just couldn't care less. This is the lukewarmness that Jesus promises to spew from His mouth.

Don't let this be you. And if it is, repent of your gross idolatry and seek the Lord with your whole heart.

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On the title of the post, What is Taxonomy?