Biblical Framework for Technology and Idolatry
Idolatry is broadly defined as the worship of any created object or entity instead of God [1]. This can include image-worship or divine honor paid to anything other than the true God [1, 3]. The Bible consistently forbids idolatry, as seen in the Ten Commandments, which prohibit bowing down to images or worshipping other gods [2].
The origins of idolatry are described in Romans 1:21-25, where humanity is depicted as forsaking God and consequently falling into ignorance and moral corruption [1]. Early biblical accounts show instances of idolatry, such as Rachel stealing her father's teraphim (household idols) in Genesis 31:19 [3]. During their time in Egypt, the Israelites also defiled themselves with the idols of the land [3].
Idolatry takes various forms, including fetishism (worship of natural objects), nature worship (sun, moon, stars), and hero worship (deceased ancestors or heroes) [1]. The Hebrew terms for "idol" often convey contempt, referring to them as "nothingness," "a thing of naught," "terror," "a fright," "shame," or "dung" [5]. An idol can be any image or object used for worship in place of God [6].
The worship of the true God through images is also considered idolatry [8]. For example, when the Hebrews in the wilderness asked Aaron to "make us gods," they did not intend to abandon Yahweh but sought a visible symbol of God, similar to the practices of surrounding pagan cultures [8]. This act was denounced and punished as apostasy [8]. John Calvin argued that once people imagine they see God in images, they begin to worship the images themselves, becoming increasingly brutish in their devotion [9]. He also noted that idolatry was present even in the lifetime of Abraham's grandfather, Terah, and his brother Nahor, who worshipped other gods [10].
Beyond physical images, the biblical framework extends the concept of idolatry to include attitudes and behaviors. The Apostle Paul identifies greed as idolatry in Colossians 3:5 [4]. Other New Testament passages list idolatry alongside other sins such as sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, witchcraft, hatred, and contentions [4, 7]. Tertullian, an early Church Father, considered idolatry the "principal crime of the human race" and the "highest guilt," arguing that it is the root of many other sins [12]. He also noted that the devil imitates and distorts divine institutions through the mystic rites of idols [13]. Augustine observed that Jeroboam, fearing his people would return to Jerusalem to worship, established idolatrous practices to maintain his kingdom [11].
Sources
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Idolatry — Image-worship or divine honour paid to any created object. Paul describes the origin of idolatry in Rom. 1:21-25: men forsook God, and sank into ignorance and moral corruption (1:28). The forms of idolatry are, (1.) Fetishism, or the worship of trees, rivers, hills, stones, etc. (2.) Nature worship, the worship of the sun, moon, and stars, as the supposed powers of nature. (3.) Hero worship, the worship of deceased ancestors, or of heroes. In Scripture, idolatry is regarded as of heathen origin, and as being imported among the Hebrews through contact with ”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Idolatry — Forbidden -- Ex 20:2,3; De 5:7. Consists in Bowing down to images. -- Ex 20:5; De 5:9. Worshipping images. -- Isa 44:17; Da 3:5,10,15. Sacrificing to images. -- Ps 106:38; Ac 7:41. Worshipping other gods. -- De 30:17; Ps 81:9. Swearing by other gods. -- Ex 23:13; Jos 23:7. Walking after other gods. -- De 8:19. Speaking in the name of other gods. -- De 18:20. Looking to other gods. -- Ho 3:1. Serving other gods. -- De 7:4; Jer 5:19. Fearing other gods. -- 2Ki 17:35. Sacrificing to other gods. -- Ex 22:20. Worshipping the true God by an image, & c. -- Ex 32:”
- Smith's Bible Dictionary “Smith's Bible Dictionary: Idolatry — strictly speaking denotes the worship of deity in a visible form, whether the images to which homage is paid are symbolical representations of the true God or of the false divinities which have been made the objects of worship in his stead. I. History of idolatry among the Jews.--The first undoubted allusion to idolatry or idolatrous customs in the Bible is in the account of Rachel's stealing her father's teraphim. (Genesis 31:19) During their long residence in Egypt the Israelites defiled themselves with the idols of the land, and it was long before the ta”
- Colossians “Colossians 3:5 (BSB) — Put to death, therefore, the components of your earthly nature: sexual immorality, impurity, lust, evil desires, and greed, which is idolatry.”
- Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Idol — (1.) Heb. aven, "nothingness;" "vanity" (Isa. 66:3; 41:29; Deut. 32:21; 1 Kings 16:13; Ps. 31:6; Jer. 8:19, etc.). (2.) Elil, "a thing of naught" (Ps. 97:7; Isa. 19:3); a word of contempt, used of the gods of Noph (Ezek. 30:13). (3.) Emah, "terror," in allusion to the hideous form of idols (Jer. 50:38). (4.) Miphletzeth, "a fright;" "horror" (1 Kings 15:13; 2 Chr. 15:16). (5.) Bosheth, "shame;" "shameful thing" (Jer. 11:13; Hos. 9:10); as characterizing the obscenity of the worship of Baal. (6.) Gillulim, also a word of contempt, "dung;" "refuse" (Ezek. 16:36;”
- Smith's Bible Dictionary “Smith's Bible Dictionary: Idol — An image or anything used as an object of worship in place of the true God. Among the earliest objects of worship, regarded as symbols of deity, were the meteoric stones, which the ancients believed to have been images of the Gods sent down from heaven. From these they transferred their regard to rough unhewn blocks, to stone columns or pillars of wood, in which the divinity worshipped was supposed to dwell, and which were connected, like the sacred stone at Delphi, by being anointed with oil and crowned with wool on solemn days. Of the forms assumed by the ido”
- Galatians “Galatians 5:20 (Geneva1599) — Idolatrie, witchcraft, hatred, debate, emulations, wrath, contentions, seditions, heresies,”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 44: the time of Moses until now. The worship of the true God by images, in the eyes of the Hebrews, has ever been considered as much an act of idolatry as the worship of false gods. 3. A third argument on this subject is, that the worship of 293 Jehovah by the use of images is denounced and punished as an act of apostasy from God. When the Hebrews in the wilderness said to Aaron, “Make us gods which shall go before us,” neither they nor Aaron intended to renounce Jehovah as their God; but they desired a visible symbol of God, as the heathen h”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 27: God was visibly depicted to their eyes. 9. After such a figment is formed, adoration forthwith ensues: for when once men imagined that they beheld God in images, they also worshipped him as being there. At length their eyes and minds becoming wholly engrossed by them, they began to grow more and 98 more brutish, gazing and wondering as if some divinity were actually before them. It hence appears that men do not fall away to the worship of images until they have imbibed some idea of a grosser description: not that they actually beli”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 27: of idols. There was a kind of renewal of the world at the deluge, but before many years elapse, men are forging gods at will. There is reason to believe, that in the holy Patriarch’s lifetime his grandchildren were given to idolatry: so that he must with his own eyes, not without the deepest grief, have seen the earth polluted with idols—that earth whose iniquities God had lately purged with so fearful a Judgment. For Joshua testifies ( Josh. 24:2 ), that Torah and Nachor, even before the birth of Abraham, were the worshipers of fa”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 2: Augustine — City of God, Christian Doctrine — CHAP. 22.--OF JEROBOAM, WHO PROFANED THE PEOPLE PUT UNDER HIM BY THE IMPIETY OF IDOLATRY, AMID WHICH, HOWEVER, GOD DID NOT CEASE TO INSPIRE THE PROPHETS, AND TO GUARD MANY FROM THE CRIME OF IDOLATRY.: But Jeroboam king of Israel, with perverse mind, not believing in God, whom he had proved true in promising and giving him the kingdom, was afraid lest, by coming to the temple of God which was in Jerusalem, where, according to the divine law, that whole nation was to come in order to sacrifice, the people should be seduced from him, and ”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 3: Tertullian — CHAP. I.--WIDE SCOPE OF THE WORD IDOLATRY. (part 1): The principal crime of the human race, the highest guilt charged upon the world, the whole procuring cause of judgment, is idolatry.(1) For, although each single fault retains its own proper feature, although it is destined to judgment under its own proper name also, yet it is marked off under the general account of idolatry. Set aside names, examine works, the idolater is likewise a murderer. Do you inquire whom he has slain? If it contributes ought to the aggravation of the indictment, no stranger nor personal enemy”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “ANF Vol 3: Tertullian — CHAP. XL.--NO DIFFERENCE IN THE SPIRIT OF IDOLATRY AND OF HERESY. IN THE RITES OF IDOLATRY, SATAN IMITATED AND DISTORTED THE DIVINE INSTITUTIONS OF THE OLDER SCRIPTURES. THE CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES CORRU (part 1): The question will arise, By whom is to be interpreted(13) the sense of the passages which make for heresies? By the devil, of course, to whom pertain those wiles which pervert the truth, and who, by the mystic rites of his idols, vies even with the essential portions(14) of the sacraments of God.(15) He, too, baptizes some--that is, his own believers and faithful”