When doctrine becomes the object of devotion, devotion is no longer worship of anything sacred. Indeed, it ceases to be genuine devotion at all any longer. It becomes, instead, a way of distancing from everything holy, a denial of holiness. Such strict doctrinal adherence substitutes self-aggrandizement for devotion, fostering illusion wherever it can. It is sheer idolatry.
Read moreIdol Worship, Idle Worship (4): Ending the Exchange
If one worships by adopting prescribed postures of worship, and going through all the prescribed motions while reciting all the prescribed prayers, and does so in hopes of reward, then one is not really worshipping at all. Rather, those who “worship” in such a way are really just doing business as usual, trying to cut themselves the best deal.
Read moreIdol Worship, Idle Worship (3): God in Community
Worship, true worship, is always idle. It belongs to the sheer idleness of life simply to be lived, and given to us that it might be lived abundantly: life to be celebrated, not circulated. When we worship truly, which means when we worship God and not some idol, we take ourselves out of circulation.
Read moreIdol Worship, Idle Worship (2): Breaking the Circulation
Water flows. Money circulates. In flowing, water always seeks a way down to the lowest levels, where it accumulates to form wells, ponds, lakes, pools, and seas. The water that falls on the heights flows down to the valleys, to gather in such deep places. Human habitations can be built beside such places, the natural places of water, and along the streams and rivers that flow into them. In contrast, money in its circulation proceeds quite differently. Instead of flowing from above down to what is below, it rises upwards into ever more rarefied heights to accumulate there, where fewer and fewer people can survive.
Read moreIdol Worship, Idle Worship (1): The Trauma of Idolatry
Whoever does not worship God worships an idol, and whoever does not worship an idol worships God. God is the trauma of idolatry.
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