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| Modern Idolatry series |


* Why is Faith the Answer to Sin?
* Why is Good So Good?
* Have We Idolized Reason?
* Can Society Be An Idol?







Society Can Be an Idol



We’ve seen that God alone defines good and evil. Anytime we decide for ourselves what’s good and what’s evil, we repeat the sin of Adam and Eve when they ate from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Anything we allow to subtly influence our understanding of what is good, we allow to hold a position that’s reserved for God alone, making it an idol in our lives. Last time we saw that, in this context, we often allow our own reason to become an idol when we reason our way to choosing what’s good rather than relying on God’s definition and direction. In this way, we allow ourselves to define what’s good rather than looking to God.



We also often allow others to influence our definition of good. This is one of the most common forms of modern idolatry: allowing society to influence our understanding of right and wrong. The problem is that society is a blind guide for morality; only God, not man, has a clear view of what’s truly good for us.



We Get It Backwards



Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!Isaiah 5:20



Earlier in this series, we saw why getting good and evil straight is so important because when God calls something good it’s because it’s good for us; when He calls something evil it’s because it does us harm. Last time we saw that when we take something that’s actually evil and call it good, we are endorsing something that’s harmful to us. We make the opposite mistake as well, condemning something that’s actually helpful. Make no mistake, society gets it wrong in both ways, let’s take a look at one example today.



Being “Nice” Isn’t Always Loving



Our culture has its own definition of love (something good) and hate (something evil). But, like we’ve seen, when people try to define these things, we inevitably get it wrong. Society’s definition goes something like this: “It’s loving to tell someone what they’re doing is good. By contrast, it’s hating to tell someone what they’re doing is bad.” More simply, society tries to indoctrinate us with these ideas of “nice” and “mean” as the definition for “good/loving” and “evil/hate”.



So much of our morality (especially what we’re taught as children) is based on this idea.