Question 17
What is idolatry?
Romans 1:21 and 25
For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened…. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator.
For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened…. They exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.
Prayer
Our God, you are the light of every heart that sees you, the life of every soul that loves you, the strength of every mind that seeks you. Pour yourself into our hearts and let them be so entirely filled with your love, that there is no room left for our idols. We are ashamed and tired of living for other things. Help us, our God, and be the joy of our heart. Teach us to serve and trust you alone. Amen.
Derived and adapted from Augustine of Hippo’s prayer in Pious Breathings: Being the Meditations of St Augustine, his Treatise of the Love of God, Soliloquies and Manual, translated by Geo. Stanhope (London: J. Nunn & Co., 1818), 29–31.
What is idolatry
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