One of my greatest accomplishments as a Father is that my kids still refer to the television in the Family Room as Dad's Golden Calf. It's about 4 or 5 years old now. We had just gotten home from vacation. We had spent more money than budgeted. I hit the power button on the very old TV we had and a plume of smoke emanated from the back of it.
The kids were over-joyed that we were finally going to join the real world and get a big screen TV. Thus, the lesson of the Golden Calf!
My entire life I was never able to understand how the Israelites could have been so STUPID as to build a golden calf and worship it when Moses had just been gone a few days. They had been on the receiving end of DOZENS of miracles. They had witnessed the Red Sea parting. They were being lead around by a cloud. They had groceries falling from the sky. Then, Moses goes up on Sinai for a few days and they start dancing around a worshipping a golden calf.
MORONS! Are these the stupidest people to ever walk the Planet?
After purchasing our first big screen TV, I find myself being more tolerant of the Israelites. I NEED to sit in front of this big-screen TV, and RUN through more channels than I can count. I BOW to my golden calf. MORON! Am I the stupidest person on the Planet?
Idolatry. Pagan, idol worshippers. Aren't they on....what channel is National Geographic? Only illiterate, third world people from countries I've never heard of worship idols, right?
Sadly, I am embarrassed to admit that too much of my life was behind me before I was able to grasp what idolatry really looks like. As a matter of fact, I am convinced that in the 21st Century, we practice idolatry in ways that makes those Israelites look like beginners. Oh, do we ever have our idols! And we bow at their feet!
I am not going to go into much detail. I want to challenge the readers of this Blog to think about idolatry. I may address some of these idols on an individual basis in the future. Actually, this whole subject of idolatry could make for a series of posts.
However, I will name a few. See if you can relate to any of these altars.
We bow at the altar of education, career, fame, kids, pets, golf, hunting, fishing, fitness, politics, church (this one will definitely get its own post) MONEY......in fact.....just fill in the blank. Almost anything CAN and everything HAS become an idol for someone.
A friend once suggested that "Kevin, whatever you think about the most....that is your god!" In the spirit of true transparency, I defer on answering that question! I will say this. If I prayed a TENTH as many times as I check into Facebook on a daily basis......
My kids are grown now. I'm not sure I've taught them much. But, I hope they will always remember the golden calf in the family room and not be so hard on those Israelites. After all, we are bowing down just as they did. I just hope we can be mindful of who and what we are bowing to.
1 comment :
I think the idea of the "golden calf" is a pervasive theme throughout history. It all goes along with "wherever your heart is, there your treasure will be also"....or vice-versa, I always get them mixed up. At any rate, I was thinking about today's "golden calves". I say it in the plural because I think there are those among us who have whole herds. Having said that, I think we can call the ultimate precious metal impregnated bovine today the "icalf'. Now there's an idea for a blog entry! You could perpetually pontificate on the perils of how our whole lives, complete with photos and videos, are now wrapped up in little boxes that we carry in our pockets. Or even better yet, how we are raising an entire generation of beings who will grow up with "thumbs of steel"! Can you imagine some archeologist a million years from now, trying to figure out how, when and why our thumbs evolved into the most prominent bones in our bodies?
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