IDOLATRY

"I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You can not have others gods in front of me. You shall not make for yourself a carving, or any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or on the earth beneath, or in the waters beneath the earth. You shall not bow down to them, nor serve them; for I am Yahweh your God, strong, zealous, I visit the wickedness of the fathers over the children until the third and fourth generation of those who hate me and I do mercy to thousands to those who love me and keep my commandments "(Deuteronomy 5.6-10).

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THE SECOND COMMANDMENT OF THE LAW OF GOD

We live in a society in which all kinds of cultures, religions, races and languages ​​coexist, and it is well-called, therefore, pluralistic. But in reality, what is pluralism? In addition to the above, this diversity also contributes to the existence of a spiritual truth. No matter what a person believes, that belief must be accepted and respected so as not to hurt the sensitivity of the individual, because nobody, they say, is in possession of the truth. We are, in part, what we do: Respect. We can not, however, accept the tendencies contrary to the Holy Law of God.

He demands of us: "You shall have no other gods before me" (Deuteronomy 5: 7); Christ declares: "I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father except through me" (John 14: 6); and the disciples themselves insisted: "In no other is there salvation; for there is no other name under heaven, given to men, whereby we must be saved "(Acts 4:12). These three verses are also clear and revealing, right?

On the need to fulfill this and the other commandments remember that Jesus himself tells us: "Do not think that I have come to repeal the Law or the prophets, I have not come to abrogate, but to fulfill. Let heaven and earth pass by, not one jot or one tittle will pass from the Law, until all is fulfilled, so that whoever breaks one of these very small commandments, and thus teaches men, will be very little called in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven "(Matthew 5.17-19).

When the terms idol, image and idolatry appear in the Bible, they refer to sculpture or painting that represents God, not only to strange or foreign gods to the people of Israel, but when the people of Israel make a statue that represents God to To feel him closer, he always rejects that image and asks: "Why then will you make God like him, or what image will you make him?" (Isaiah 40.18). A clear example is found in 1 Kings 12.28 "And there was counsel, and the king made two golden calves, and said to the people, You have gone up to Jerusalem very much: behold, your gods, O Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Israel. Egypt". Here no one can doubt that the God who brought Israel out of the hands of the Egyptians was other than Yahweh, the only God.

Even in the New Testament, it redounds to this idea "being, then, the offspring of God, we must not think that the Godhead is like gold, or silver, sculpture of art and imagination of men" (Acts 17.29).

Do not believe that only in isolated passages does God refer to images or idolatry. If you read his Word you will see continuous references to this topic, for example, in Psalm 115 and chapter 4 of Deuteronomy, among others.

Today, the goals, prototypes, desires and almost everything that "sees with good eyes" our society, that is to say, the values ​​that are promoted with maximum exponent, are idolatry. I do not mean exclusively statues, but love, passion or devotion that is professed with priority to all worldly things, excluding God (love of money, beauty, power, etc.)

In the New Testament, Jesus makes us see that all the things we long for before God are also idolatry: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37). ).

It is clear that the first thing is the kingdom of God and his perfect Justice, the rest will be added by Him (Matthew 6-33). We must love, praise or worship only God, leaving our needs in their hands, for He is Omnipotent, Omnipresent and Omniscient.

We should not adore, or desire, a person, animal or anything other than Him, because we would commit idolatry.

CONCLUSION

Replant the fixed idea you had about worldly images and desires. Discard the belief that with your adoration and veneration to no one you do wrong, because it is the opposite, you do it, and without wanting to worship God, but you are taking away the glory and honor that He deserves.