A key text for understanding idolatry in the New Testament is a passage in the book of Romans.
They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served created things rather than the Creator.
Romans 1:25, NIV
Here we should notice that idolatry does not merely refer to the worship of idols and images in the sense of the giant bull statue in 'Molech' worship.
In the light of the recent gruesome activities of the Islamic State (IS) it is timely to re-examine biblical teaching about idolatry and connect this to ideologies, secularism and IS. In this first post we will look at idolatry in the Old Testament.
Idol worship is something which no follower of Jesus wants. Christians know deep down that serving idols violates God's covenant (Exodus 20:1-3).
So how did ancient people worship their idols?
So we have another story about a young person who has suffered trauma and misery through a perceived lack of physical perfection. In 2008, Imogen D'Arcy, a 13 year old girl from Leeds committed suicide because she thought she was "fat and ugly".
When people talk about Christian education, many people think about the archetypal Bible-basher. Someone who attacks you with Scripture.
This is tragic.
In my view Christian education should be about wisdom, discernment and understanding the brutal stories that ruin countless lives. Consider this.
Vicki Lowing is an Australian woman who lives near Melbourne in Australia. She says that she divorced her husband, Greg, after he asked her to give up her pet crocodile, Johnie, in 2005. Vickie has also claimed that her son Andrew, 15, and Johnie have experienced sibling rivalry. "Sometimes Andrew goes to have a shower and Johnie's already in there and not keen to share the space".
A few months ago I was speaking to a group of teachers on a retreat. One of the women present got very cross with me when I dared to suggest that Katie Price (aka Jordan) wasn't a very good role model.
Indeed I would go further than this. Jordan is the living embodiment of a pagan consumerist religion. Listen to what she said recently in an interview with the Daily Telegraph: