When I was in Sunday School the thought of ancients worshiping items of wood and stone baffled me. The practice seemed common and the Old Testament Jews couldn't help but be drawn to it. God delivered his chosen tribe from Egypt and the next thing they do is worship a golden bull-calf. How stupid.
Pagan idol worship no longer strikes me as a historical oddity. Today, a college-educated young woman might mix some herbs next to a statue of a Babylonian goddess that she prays to. Later that night she'll meet some acquaintances in the forest around a fire where they will lift their hands toward the moon in prayer and praise.
At the heart of idol worship, nature worship, astrology and a host of other pagan practices is pantheism. Most non-Christian religions share a pantheistic worldview. Pagans, Wiccans, Hindus, New Agers, mystics, and many others view God as immanent. God is one and the same with the universe. God, humans, and creation are all interconnected and therefore it's reasonable to worship the deity through rocks and trees. For the pagan, deity is not transcendent, only immanent. A transcendent deity is distinct from creation, can act upon creation and can hold creatures accountable. Many pagans believe in gods and spirits that might be offended by humans or hold humans accountable, but even these deities are extensions or emanations of a greater, impersonal deity reminiscent of the Force in Star Wars. The great draw to this mindset is that deity lies within. Idols, spirits, gods, spells, worship, prayer and praise are not relational expressions between the creator and the created but are rather tools that are used by the worshiper to manipulate their environment.
The Christian God is both immanent and transcendent. He is immanent in that he is in all things. Paul says in Acts 17 that in God "we live and move and have our being." The Bible also teaches that God is transcendent. He is exalted, he is above all things, and he is holy. The word "holy" relates to the transcendence of God. The word in the Hebrew is qodesh and means "to be set apart." The "set apartness" of God leaps off the page throughout the Bible. Sin, or a lack of holiness, caused Adam and Eve to be banished from God's presence. On Mount Sinai the Israelite were not allowed to go near the mountain because God was there. The focal point for much of the Old Testament is the tabernacle in the wilderness and the temple in Jerusalem. Multiple boundaries and barriers set God apart from his people in the tabernacle and temple. Priests were set apart. The firstborn were set apart. The seventh day was set apart. Certain foods were set apart. Circumcision demonstrated that the Jews were set apart. The prophets envisioned a time when the Messiah would bring man and God back together. Immanuel means "God with us." A blessing that Christians have through faith because Jesus was abandoned by God the Father. The apostle John begins his gospel by describing Jesus as the Word who was with God, became flesh and made his dwelling (tabernacled) with us. Redemption and atonement through Jesus thus make a loving relationship between the Creator and the created possible. If God is not transcendent then love can only be self-directed since loving the deity is tantamount to loving yourself.
Atheists will often group the Christian God with other pagan deities. The phrase, "I simply believe in one less god than you," is common among atheists. This fallacious thinking is a categorical error. The pagan concept of deity is far different than the Christian concept. The "set apartness" or transcendence of God also has an effect on the way we look at universe. For the pagan all things have a supernatural explanation since God is immanent. For the atheist there are only naturalistic explanations since the supernatural does not exist. For the Christian there are both natural and supernatural explanations. Christianity is often criticized for being anti-science. I would contend that a scientific view of the world is difficult to have without the transcendent notion of God. When God acts upon creation we expect law and order. Scientific progress flows naturally from the assumption that the universe is a system governed by laws and by extension governed by a Lawgiver (aka God) who is "apart." The atheist and pagan must borrow this assumption. Left on their own devices pagan and atheist worldviews must conceive of a universe that is inexplicable, random, chaotic, eternal and lawless.
Worldviews matter.
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