As always you have written a worthy article.
But perhaps your piece would benefit from a more radical approach. Literally, radicalism is getting "to the root" of things -- the "radix," the "radish"-- not being satisfied with superficial analyses that can be "pruned away."
Here are my "root" thoughts on the origin of idolatry and why it is evil. (Someone said that "evil" is "live" spelled backwards... a bit corny but to the point.)
"Jesus Approves Bombing"
We imagine what God is not, and then we become our imaginings.
By imagining weapons of war, we begin to train for war.
And, as night follows day, we become warriors... but only because we were idolaters first.
The Old Testament supplies two versions of The Ten Commandments, in slightly variant forms. http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2014/06/the-ten-commandments-both-old-testament.html
As you know, The First Commandment proscribes idolatry.
However, this prime directive -- this commandment that originates the other nine -- deserves careful reading since most Christians only know its truncated form: "Thou shalt have no gods before me."
"The Ten Commandments: Both Old Testament Versions In Full"
Idolatry derives from two Greek words meaning "image worshiping." http://www.etymonline.
The First Commandment makes clear that "graven images" are out of bounds. This prohibition of man-made imagery is the sole reason Jewish temples and synagogues exhibit NO images: no paintings, no sculptures; in brief no representation -- no re-presentation -- of The Living God who IS Present. (I sometimes wonder why television does not present a moral crisis for observant Jews. Or maybe it does...)
"In the beginning" of Judaism and Christianity, "Being" and "Life" were deemed primary.
This inspired REALization of ancient Jewry -- this prioritization of Being/Life -- urges humans to be present to The Presence.
The Presence that IS.
The "I Am who Am."
The Presence that IS.
The "I Am who Am."
Correlatively, any re-presentation that distracts us -- literally, any "thing" that "takes us away from" The Presence by preempting our attention or sullying our field of consciousness -- constitutes The Distraction of Idolatry.
The nature of idolatry is that we drive ourselves to distraction.
And the distractions that most readily accomplish this diabolical "crazy-angry-making" -- which is to say the distractions that get in the way of contemplation-communion with "I Am who Am" -- are images-of-reality rather than direct apprehension of Reality itself.
Unimpeded Reality is where God's shekinah "has built his tent and lives among us." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shekinah
If we believe that God is Love - and that Love is strong enough to transform the world by the unimaginable courage of "loving our enemies" - it is then an abomination "of biblical proportion" to establish bizillion dollar warships (or other weapons) as intermediary distractions.
"Jesus Approves Bombing"
"War, Peace and Political Manipulation"
All images of war obstruct the direct engagement of God by focusing us first on what God is not, rather than what God IS when mutual embrace is unadulterated and unmediated.
Images of war drive us to distraction.
And once distracted, "we become what we perceive."
And once distracted, "we become what we perceive."
We imagine what God is not, and then we become our imaginings.
By imagining weapons of war, we begin to train for war.
And, as night follows day, we become warriors... but only because we were idolaters first.
"Purity of heart" clears consciousness of the God-damned distractions conjured by the violent "images" that invite us to dwell on (and in) "what is not," and thus we lose our grounding in the existential nakedness of "I Am."
Pax vobiscum
Alan
PS It can be argued that words themselves are intermediaries and therefore idols. Indeed, bibliolatry is both real and damaging, a widespread cause of "perdition/lostness." But insofar as Jews and Christians see God as Logos, they also see God intrinsically intermingled with words. Just as God is continually "coming into our world" -- "in-forming" our world -- our ongoing human work is to "make The Word, Flesh." Yes, we are easily distracted by words. But when words are used properly, they become the lens through which most humans -- already distracted by our "fallen nature" -- learn where to look for God. Make no mistake: the "finger pointing" is not "the thing pointed at." But it is essential that words point us in the right direction catapulting us past words to the real "object" of our heart's desire which IS Present in Love among us.
"How Your Present Illusions Hinder Your Future Happiness"
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