Idolatry, guilt projection, & evasiveness.

INTRODUCTION

Idolatry or guilt projection or evasiveness
are how a non-Christian:
            stops felt guilt, internal guilt,
            stops hating their own bad points.
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000
,         ,         See earlier section:
,         ,         FELT GUILT MAY TEMPORARILY INCREASE.,,,

,         ,         To see what felt guilt is
,         ,         see first two sections
,         ,         of earlier webpage: How God Forgave us all. ,,,


            It’s only a temporary fix,
            a ‘during this life only’ fix.

Idolatry, guilt projection, & evasiveness, are wrong actions. 
And, as with any wrongdoing, they will attract demons.

            Those demons will then verbally, telepathically,
            encourage you to do (those) wrongs even more.

            If you respond positively
            they’ll respond even more.

,         ,         See earlier section: ANOTHER EXAMPLE: TEMPTATIONS., , .

            All this is something for demons to do.

            Indeed, it’s the only sort of thing they can do:
                       always the spanner
                       never the works.

,         ,         ,         ,         Perhaps see earlier section:
,         ,         ,         ,         DESTROYING EACH OTHER., , .

.

NOTES ABOUT DIAGRAMS

In this webpage:

      The arrows are not necessarily love arrows or hate arrows.
      But they are all sight arrows.

      I draw God as all good, all white,
      because I am drawing him as he is now, in this Church Age.

,         Perhaps see earlier section:
,         GOD DOES NOT CHANGE
,         BUT HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH US CHANGES,,,,,
,         and earlier webpage:
,         The good & bad that God does. ,,,,,

.

IDOLATRY

If I look at God, then look at my own bad points,
I think “I am awful”.

 

So I look, instead, at something or someone
that’s good, but passive:
something less challenging than God . .


 

. . and that can be my God instead (or rather, my idol).

 

WHY WE IDOLISE

1)  We appear to be mortal, temporary,
      and this can make you feel insecure:

                 In which case you grasp for a hub
                 to centre yourself around,
                 for security.

                 God is the right answer, the best hub.
                 But an idol will suffice, even though it’s temporary.

2)  Our mental model of everything:
                 has few fractures
                 and is organic.

,         ,         ,         ‘Organic’, here, meaning:  like a spider’s web
,         ,         ,         with the most important bits in the middle.
,         ,         ,         Perhaps see earlier webpage:
,         ,         ,         Evidence that animals cannot evolve to become humans.


      So, in order to think efficiently,
      and even know efficiently: 

                 our mental model of everything needs a hub.
,         ,         ,         N.B. It’s not true that we use only 10% of the brain
,         ,         ,         and so can be extravagant with it.
,         ,         ,         See: Wikipedia: Ten percent of the brain myth.


                 God is the right answer, the best hub.
                 But an idol will suffice, even though it’s temporary.

.

IDOLS: SOME DETAILS

Any  thing/person/concept/activity/etc  can be idolised.
So the list is pretty endless.

(I don’t make a list here
so as to not unnecessarily offend.)
 
To give you some feel for what idolatry is:
            When a hero has a few, small, bad points
            but you find it virtually impossible to say so,
            then you’re probably idolising that hero.

You see your idol as perfect:
            “Me & my idol will go on forever.”
            “My idol makes me feel complete.”

But it’s mostly:
            feel . . . . . . . . . . . .  in the emotions, which are in the soul,

with a little:
            think and know . .  in the mind, which is also in the soul.

But not:
            believe  . . . . . . . . .  in the heart/spirit.

Idolising your idol, obeying your idol, is always wrong.

            Idols are usually good
            which makes them seem harmless, even right.
,         ,         Perhaps see earlier section: GOOD & BAD, RIGHT & WRONG.


            But, unlike God, idols are never personally challenging.
            And that’s their attraction.

            Instead, they are often soulishly, or physically,
            hard to obey
            which can fool people into idolising them.
,         ,         Like something that’s really overpriced
,         ,         can fool someone into thinking it is indeed worth that much.

Your idol is your replacement for God:

            Therefore your idol is above common law.

            Therefore, if your idol, or its associated documents,
            told you to break the law
            you’d be under pressure to do so.

            Pressure that you wouldn’t otherwise be under.

.

WHY DEMONS ENCOURAGE IDOLATRY

Demons are primarily destructive.

Hence they encourage idolatry because:

            1)  When you idolise something/someone
                 it feels as if you’ve found God
                 so you stop looking for him.

            2)  Idols inspire great commitment
                 but with little benefit.
                  (Whereas Jesus inspires great commitment
                 but with much benefit.)

            3)  If demons reckon it’s worth it
                 they’ll get behind an idol, make it potent:
                 make it supernaturally keep the promises it makes
                 in order to accomplish 1) & 2).

,         ,         ,         Perhaps see earlier sections:
,         ,         ,         HOW DEMONS ARE ABLE TO DO THINGS
,         ,         ,         and:
,         ,         ,         SUPERNATURAL ABILITIES and its two subsections.

.

Many Christians today say:
            “Miracles died out with the apostles.”

But I say:
            “It’s not logical that the ability to do miracles died out.
            But it is a fact that those who did the miracles died out:
            stoned to death,
            crucified,
            fed to the lions, or burnt alive, in the Circus Maximus,
            boiled in oil,
            etc,
            1 Cor c4 v7-14.

            1)  To stop them:
                       Preaching the gospel.
                       Doing miracles to back up the preaching.

            2)  As a warning to others:
                       To not preach the gospel.
                       To not do miracles to back up the preaching.

,         ,         ,         ,         Miracles are for proving the preaching.  Mark c2 v1-12   John c4 v48,,,,

            In those days, in the Roman Empire,
            to disobey Roman gods
            (and the Emperor was one of those gods),
            usually meant death,
            such was the social power of those gods:
,         ,         Perhaps see: Wikipedia: Persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire.,,,


                       gods – like the Egyptian gods
                                    that Moses & Aaron faced down,

                       gods – who were in fact idols,

                       idols – who were continuously
                                    ensconced by demons,

                       demons – who are probably the same demons
                                   who repeatedly mention to us today:
                                   “Miracles died out with the apostles”.

            Such demons today
            also encourage us:
                       to ask God for,
                       then to wait for,
            a second Pentecost.
            So that then, at last, finally, we can do miracles.

            For demons know that:
                       a second Pentecost will never come
            and that:
                        us asking for a second Pentecost
                       will stop us believing the first Pentecost
                       which is all we need to do.”  Acts c2,,,,,

 

ALL ITS POTENTIAL IDOLS
HELP MAKE THE WHOLE WORLD
A ‘BAD’ PLACE

Much:
      In nature.
      In the world – that we’ve built from, & on, nature.
is good, is a material blessing from God.

Sometimes, when we idolise those material blessings,
we make them grow:

            Hence idolatry was the motive behind us building
            some of what is good in the world.

            Hence, sometimes, idolatry has seemed right.
,         ,         See earlier section: GOOD & BAD, RIGHT & WRONG.

 

            But, as I wrote in item 1) of the previous section,
            idolatry makes us feel as if we’ve found God.
            And demons reckon this feeling is worth the cost.

            Besides, if they’re allowed to stay, it’s not over.
            Civilizations fall as well as rise.

Idolatry can also seem to be socially good:

            Being in love, in the infatuated sense,
            seeing someone as perfect
            (with a perfection that, actually, only God can have)
            is an idolatry that can strengthen a marriage,
            certainly in its early years.

            However, such idolatry merely seems right
            because infatuated love can make one (or both) partners
            later fall helplessly in love with someone else!

            Or, infatuated love may not cope well
            with changes such as disability or poverty.

            Or, infatuated love may fade:
                       with wrongs done
                       and lack of forgiveness.

            A couple needs to replace infatuated
            love with agape love.   1 Cor c13 NIV,,,,,

As anything or anyone can be idolised,
Jesus often implied that the whole world
has nothing good in it.
Matt c13 v22     Matt c18 v7     Mark c4 v19    & so on.

Likewise, John wrote:

            1 John c2 v15-17:
            Love not the world,
            neither the things that are in the world.
            If any man love the world,
            the love of the Father is not in him.
            For all that is in the world,
                 the lust of the flesh,
                  and the lust of the eyes,
                 and the pride of life,
            is not of the Father, but is of the world.
            And the world passeth away,
            and the lust thereof:
            but he that doeth the will of God
            abideth for ever.   KJV

,         ,         Notice it’s not:
,         ,         ,         You passeth away.  The world continues.
,         ,         It’s:
,         ,         ,         The world passeth away.  You continue.

.

GUILT PROJECTION

If I look at someone else’s many good points
then look at my own many bad points
I think “I am awful”.

 

So I always look at only
their bad points, however few . .

 

 

. . then I point these out to everyone else.

.

TWO POSSIBLE EXAMPLES OF GUILT PROJECTION

WIFE BEATING

A husband . . who has a good heart/spirit . . but many bad points
hits
his wife  . . . . who has a good heart/spirit . . and a few bad points.

            His wife sees his good heart/spirit.

            So she drops the charges, forgives him.

Technically speaking:

            She is mostly good  (white)
            with a few bad points  (black dots).

            So, when he first hits her, she forgives him.

 

 hate hate hate

            His many bad points made him hit her.

            But he has a good heart/spirit,
            and his good heart/spirit hates his bad points:
            i.e. he has felt guilt, internal hate.

 

 

 hate hate hate

            His internal guilt is painful.

            And that pain gets worse when he’s been hitting her.

            So he blames his wife for his pain,
            projects his wrongs onto her.

            So he hits her again.

            And so the cycle continues.

,         ,         To see what felt guilt is – perhaps again see first two sections
,         ,         of earlier web page: How God Forgave us all
,         ,         and
,         ,         earlier section: FELT GUILT MAY TEMPORARILY INCREASE, , , , .

.

DICTATORSHIPS

A dictator may:

            Ban, not only Christianity,
            but any monotheistic religion.

            Indeed ban anything, or anyone,
            that people might even merely idolise.

 

            All so that the people’s only choice is to idolise:
                       their dictator
                       &/or their nation.

                       Find them to be their ‘spiritual’ satisfaction.

A dictator may also:

            Encourage a majority of the nation
            to practice guilt projection:
                       onto a minority of the nation,
                       &/or onto some outside enemy
                       real or imagined.

            Again, all so that the people find:
                       their dictator
                       &/or their nation,
            to be their ‘spiritual’ satisfaction.

.

EVASIVENESS

 

If ever I look at God,
or at someone’s good heart/spirit or good points,
then look at my own bad points,
I feel awful.

 

 

 

So I evade the whole issue of 

right & wrong, good & bad people,
good & bad things/ways, God, etc.

 

 

 

 

 

CONCLUSION

 

Idolatry, guilt projection, and evasiveness
do work, do get rid of felt guilt.

But only temporarily:

            Eventually, the truth, indeed all truths,
            come out, in this life or the next.

            And such truths will stop
            idolatry, guilt projection, and evasiveness,
            from working.

 

Intelligent unbelievers spot, more quickly than most,
the illogic of their own
idolatry, guilt projection, or evasiveness.

Spotting the illogic of it
may help them stop doing it.

However, the felt guilt will still be there:
the spiritual thirst behind the idolatry etc
will still be there.

The only way to get rid of felt guilt, permanently,
is to:
            believe the gospel
            then renew your mind accordingly.

,         ,         Perhaps see earlier section:
,                WHAT IS A BELIEVER?
                   WHAT IS THE GOSPEL?. , , , , ,

 

.


Home page

Next webpage:
End Times