"Why do people choose the substitute over God himself? Probably the most important reason is that it obviates accountability to God. We can meet idols on our own terms because they are our own creations. They are safe, predictable, and controllable; they are, in Jeremiah's colorful language, the 'scarecrows in a cornfield' (10:5). They are portable and completely under the user's control. They offer nothing like the threat of a God who thunders from Sinai and whose providence in this world so often appears to us to be incomprehensible and dangerous . . . [People] need face only themselves. That is the appeal of idolatry."
- David F. Wells
Tuesday, August 2, 2011
From The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (Bantam Classic Edition, 1981):
Tom joined the new order of Cadets of Temperance, being attracted by the showy character of their “regalia.” He promised to abstain from smoking, chewing, and profanity as long as he remained a member. Now he found out a new thing — namely, that to promise not to do a thing is the surest way in the world to make a body want to go and do that very thing. Tom soon found himself tormented with a desire to drink and swear; the desire grew to be so intense that nothing but the hope of a chance to display himself in his red sash kept him from withdrawing from the order. (138)A page later Twain through Tom gives us an approximate illustration of how the gospel’s freedom from sin diminishes the attraction of sin.
He handed in his resignation at once . . . The funeral was a fine thing. The Cadets paraded in a style calculated to kill the late member with envy. Tom was a free boy again, however — there was something in that. He could drink and swear, now — but found to his surprise that he did not want to. The simple fact that he could took the desire away, and the charm of it. (139)Cross-posted at Justin Taylor's blog, where I'm a guest blogger this week.
How true. My parents always believed in freedom in Christ so I barely had any do's and don'ts when I was growing up. When our daughter wanted to quit high school get married and have 6 kids we discussed it with her rationally and told her she had to make the decision. She stayed in high school and didn't get married until she was 25 after she graduated from college!