’Isms’ and Idolatry

Today, many in America and the rest of the world claim that they are “free” from the chains of Christianity and other bondages called religion. They are proud of the fact that they don’t worship anything or anyone.  “Christianity has been the bane of humanity,” they claim.

Of course, it is not possible to be free from the desire to worship. The Russian novelist Dostoevsky, once said that a person “cannot live without worshipping something.” In the Bible we see that Jesus said, “You cannot serve God and wealth.” (Matthew 6.24) There are certainly other gods that can be worshipped. Throughout the Bible we see that people worshipped stone, wood and metal idols. Aphrodite, Baal and Zeus became “gods” to many people, just to name a few.

Today we are also surrounded by idolatry. Man will worship. It’s inherent within us. Money and self are common forms idolatry. We see this all the time. People are often so self-centered that they could care less about anyone else. Or they do all and everything for one more dollar. There are other, less obvious forms of idol worship. Some of these gods are even the objects of some “Christians” devotion. I'm talking about the modern “isms”. I can't even begin to list all of them, but let’s look at a few of them.

Humanism

Princeton University’s Worldnet Web defines humanism as, “the doctrine emphasizing a person's capacity for self-realization through reason; rejects religion and the supernatural.” Wow! If you take the word Humanism, you might think that this was a good thing. But look closer. This is not some preacher’s or theologian’s definition.

Environmentalism

Of course we should protect the environment. It is, after all God's creation. But what’s actually behind the environmental movement. Again we go to Princeton’s definition: “the philosophical doctrine that environment is more important than heredity.” The “philosophical doctrine”?  according to McGraw-Hill, the text book publisher, this is a movement that spans the globe, seeking to unify, and codify, methods to preserve the total global environment. While saving the planet is a good sounding idea, the environmental movement is nothing short of the one world government movement. And it is an “ism” that people actually give their lives for. All the while claiming that they worship no one or thing.

Liberalism

Even here we see that nothing is at it seems. Princeton’s definition of liberalism sounds like it was written by a staunch conservative: “an economic theory advocating free competition and a self-regulating market.” This is nothing like the liberalism that is practiced in politics today.  Wikipedia says that liberalism is, “the belief in the importance of individual freedom.” It goes on the say, “America, the first modern liberal state was founded, without a monarch or a hereditary aristocracy. The American Declaration of Independence, includes the words ‘all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; that to insure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.’”  [Emphasis added]

All men (and women) are created equal. We are endowed by our “Creator”, with certain rights. Even the writers of the US Declaration of Independence recognized that we have nothing if our Creator didn’t give it to us.  “Ism’s” of any nature, usually lead to idolatry.

Let Us Reason Ministries has a web page filled with twenty-six separate “ism’s” for you to pick and choose from. This Christian web site defines and explores these a lot deeper than I can in one paper and if you’re interested, I have the link below. Let’s watch out for isms. In our walk with God they can lead to straying and even falling off the cliff.