Article January 25, 1913 Issue

IDEAL AND IDOL

RICHARD P. VERRALL.

The word ideal, as defined by Webster, is "a conception proposed by the mind for realization or attainment." Thus the realization of the only true God, and man as His likeness, should be the aim and end of all true Christian attainment. An idol, on the other hand, is "a representation or symbol of a deity made as an object of worship; hence, that on which the affections are strongly and improperly set; a person or a thing greatly loved or adored." In short, an idolater is "one who pays divine honors to that which is not God."

It is evident, from the foregoing, that sooner or later each individual of the human race must determine which of these two he will serve, for he cannot serve both. The Hebrew law forbade the making of "any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath." And further, "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them." In spite of this, however, not only the Israelites, but all mortals, seem to have fallen into the popular mistake of worshiping the creature more than the creator. Abraham, as a marked exception to the general rule, met this test, when asked to lay Isaac on the altar. Jesus also, when tempted in the wilderness, said, "It is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." Saul, David, and Solomon all failed in some respects to meet the temptations of sensuous idolatry, and thus fell short of attaining the spiritual ideal.

The failure of the Jews to perceive the true source of the greatness of their ancestor Abraham, prevented them from ultimately beholding the one even greater than he; and being joined to their traditional idols of ceremonial worship, they crucified the very highest exponent of the spiritual idea. In process of time, Christendom fell into precisely the same error as did the Jews, by going directly to the opposite extreme, and through deifying Jesus as the personal Saviour, the real message of the impersonal Christ was obscured.

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