True or False

Isn’t it fascinating to realize that people have been making idols to worship for thousands and thousands of years? You can go to a museum and see statues or read about the evidence throughout history for yourself – and idols still exist today. 

Let’s think about the two choices. Only one can be true. It’s a simple true or false question

Choice One: Human beings can take materials found on earth like gold, silver, stone, and wood, then carve or mold them into representations of people, a deity, an animal, or other things they believe have “powers.” Then by praying to these objects, they somehow come to life and have the ability to “magically” bring luck, fertility, healing, a good harvest, and so on. By doing so, this person believes a physical object, like a crystal, has “healing energy” rather than in The Creator of the crystal. They prefer to worship objects made of non-living materials shaped by human hands instead of the One who created human hands. They sometimes burn incense, offer food, pray to, and even wear these objects, believing their prayers will be heard and answered by some type of “cosmic energy,” even though it is impossible for the object to hear or speak. It’s an idol.

Choice Two: Idols and objects aren’t alive and have no powers. Only the one true God does. He is alive, can hear and answer our prayers, and is the Creator of all. 

Here’s what the Bible says about idols. These are number one and two of the 10 Commandments in Exodus 20:3-5a (NKJV) 

“You shall have no other gods before Me. 

You shall not make for yourself a carved image – any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them, nor serve them.”

To say something is in Heaven above, in the earth, or under the water, means it was created. It is not The Creator. We think it would be crazy to pray to a sandwich or a roller coaster, but in principle one has just as much ability to act and answer as the other. There’s something bigger going on here.

The question behind it all is why did humans ever make idols to worship in the first place? 

One possibility is because humans would rather have something they can see and touch or their own idea to believe in because that, to them, is “real.” God is a spiritual being and therefore too much of a stretch.

Another possibility is that some people don’t want to believe in God and are even hostile to the idea. They argue as if they need to prove it to themselves over and over again. It reminds me of the ABC acronym – the choice to believe in “Anything But Christ.” If you make the choice to be an atheist or an agnostic, one question will always be with you. “What if I’m wrong?”

Jeremiah 14:22 summarizes it best:

“Do any of the worthless idols of the nations bring rain? Do the skies themselves send down showers? No, it is you, LORD, our God. Therefore, our hope is in you, for you are the one who does all this.”

RESET HIGHER: What came to mind for you while reading this? Is anything standing between you and God? Something you worship more than Him or instead of Him? Sincerely ask God Himself to show you the difference between what is false and what is true. If you do, He will.