“Christians can agree that people do construct meanings for themselves — philosophies, religions, ideologies, and rationalizations– all in a vain attempt to evade the truth of God. Constructing one’s own meanings and one’s own gods rather than acknowledging the one living God is called idolatry.” – Veith, G. E., Jr. (1994b). Postmodern Times: A Christian Guide to Contemporary Thought and Culture. Crossway, p. 63.

              People construct shelters for themselves from physical elements which they want to avoid. They also construct rationalizations and meanings for reality in order to escape the truth of God. Those who refuse to submit to God and His truth create all manners of philosophies, religions, and ideologies on the grander scale and daily rationalizations on the smaller scale. Some are consciously devised and others unconsciously utilized to avoid facing reality. As John Calvin once stated, man is an idol factory. These attempts to evade God’s call to faith and obedience serve as idols quite effectively as a sculptured image of the creature.

              While non-believers live their entire lives under such influences, followers of Christ can also succumb to such idolatry. Such idolatry in the believer results in nearly as much harm as in the unbeliever. While the believer is secure in their salvation, they may still hinder their witness and limit the blessings of life by pursuing these false idols.

              Many Christians live under the power of simple lifestyle rationalizations. By either neglecting the reading of His Word or simplistic attempts at exegesis, they convince themselves that certain behaviors or beliefs are acceptable. Pursuit of entertainment and pleasure distract many from true joy in God’s ways. Pursuit of power or wealth at the expense of ethics and morals tempt many to excuse themselves from guilt. These rationalizations become little idols which grant permission to rebel.

              Many also go further and due to similar reasons under the power of vain philosophies, deceptive ideologies, and even replacement religions such as cults. Social justice perverts the Biblical term we know as justice into a play for power and even a false gospel if taken too far. Charismatic personalities gather followers, slowly leading others further and further away from God’s truth, so the followers will idolize the person more than God. The list of possible idols like this fill both history books and the contemporary headline.

              In order to tear down such idols in our own thinking and from the world around us, we must return to reading God’s Word and deriving our beliefs and values from the Bible, so that our thoughts and feelings align with what we read there, thus directing our practices both individually and collectively away from such idols. Only then can we hope to lead ourselves and lead others to truth.