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Ancient Porn?

Picture
​Idolatry is mentioned over 100 times in the Bible. It is the central topic in many of the stories in the Bible. Those who turned away from God turned to idols. Idolatry was a source of spiritual decline and wickedness. What was the essence of these idols? Why did people choose them over God? Why would people have them sitting around their houses? `

The picture above is an ancient idol that has been found. There are many such idols that have similar characteristics. The obvious characteristics of many of these idols are the large breasts of the women or the large male reproductive organs. Why would these idols have such emphatically large parts? Some believe that the people who worshipped them believed the idols brought fertility.

I believe it is simpler than that. These idols were basicallyancient pornography. It is interesting to note that of the 17 times idols are mentioned in the New Testament, 7 times fornication is mentioned in the same context. The word fornication comes from the Greek word porneia. This is the root of our English word Pornography. 

God says in I John 5:21, “Little Children, Keep yourselves from idols.” God knows that idols will lead His children away from Him (I Corinthians 12:2). Those idols that were not pornographic represented power or possessions. People followedafter idols in attempt to satisfy their hunger for sexual pleasure, power, or possessions. 

When Rachel left her father’s home in Haran, she took his idols (Genesis 31:19). Many have labeled Rachel a thief because of this act. When her father, Laban, confronted her about them, she hid them. Why did she risk her reputationand her life to take her father’s idols? Jewish history tells us that she took them so her father would not worship them. She desired her father to follow God alone. She knew her father’s pornography would turn his heart away from God. 

We feel that we are much better than ancient societies who worshipped idols. We tend to view them as primitive and unlearned. The truth is we are even worse than they. Today, pornography permeates our society. It is readily available on television, on the Internet, and even on our cell phones. Just as pornography permeates our society, so does the lust for power and possessions. These have turned our hearts away from God. 

It is time for the Church to turn from our modern day idols and turn back to God. May we have a testimony like the Early Church in Thessalonica. It was said of them that they “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.”

© Dr. Steven L Smith 2016
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