Oddbean new post about login | logout idolatry is a sin of vanity just go look through every instance of mention of idolatry in the Bible and tell me how often the word "vain" and "vanity" and "has no effect" or similar expressions are in context almost every single one the story of Abraham vandalizing his father's room full of graven images is a long story that i've now read in several different versions i'm absolutely on the side of Abraham on this one, he did the right thing because the "least harmful" sin is vanity and that's why it is also the most common
Not sure I agree 🤔
idolatry is based on the idea that you can do anything that will win the favor of God, aside from following his Law vain means "without likely results" "to no useful end" it is pure window dressing and it is the root of the sin of the leader of the Fallen Angels also, the whole point of Jesus is that you aren't doomed just because you have sin we all have sin, but do we seek to heal it and make it holy or do we continue to defend it?
i've heard this one argued as being support for "works doctrine" but it's not a church and it's not a doctrine, i'm not a cult leader and everyone who is a true Christian seeks to correct their mistakes, and forgive themselves and others for those that are made, for... and this is the thing those who are genuinely interested and seeking to not repeat these mistakes number one red flag of an evil person is the way that they pretend at being regretful and then go do the same thing over and over again in my instinctive metric, if i do something 3 times, i'm sick, and i need therapy and i need help, i'm a mess and something is controlling me that i need to grapple FROM THE INSIDE nothing someone else can help me with this was my instinct as a child, and this is the instinct of most people, and i had been conditioned by living under the manipulative control of evil people who persuaded me to forgive them for far more sins than i would not allow myself to feel i was absolved from no, that's something i've learned, if i wouldn't stand by and let myself do these things, how can they do them without inherently being toxic, evil pieces of shit to be avoided? and what to do with them? turns out, ignoring them is the main treatment doesn't matter what the evil is, aside from physically stopping it from hurting your stuff, the main thing you do is avoid the person, shun the person, leave the person's presence so, yeah, there's a reason why the monks sequestered themselves in monasteries, they got sick of trying to live in a society riddled with people who were comfortable with people who committed clear and repeated offenses against the good
People today think they have moved beyond idolatry, but there is definite idolatry. It just looks a little different. I'd argue that the way we (Americans) treat the flag is a form of idolatry. We "pledge allegiance" to the flag when we should only pledge allegiance to God. We treat it with pomp and ceremony in the same way people used to treat their graven idols. We throw a fit when the flag isn't treated just so according to the religious formula. Anyone who mistreats the flag is treated as a heretic that must be destroyed or driven away. It is idolatry. The flag is only one example, but one of which many American Christians are very much guilty.