How Symbols Become Idols
admin August 3rd, 2010
“These three comprise the foundation of all the doctrines in the world, or that have ever been or ever will be. The lowest is idolatry, which is evil; the second, unbelief, which is darkness; and the first is faith, truth, love, wisdom and peace”. (27/28.23) Ham, Idolatry. Japheth, Unbelief. Shem, Balance.
Truth as a whole is an abstract principle, and because of this is hard to explain in concrete words. In order to try and explain it, we must invoke symbols, which are ‘an approximation’ or ‘accessory to’ or which ‘point to’ the truth, but are not the truth themselves. They are just symbols, and in as much as they try to explain or represent the truth, they run the risk of being mistaken for the truth itself. When that happens, they have become idols.
As an example lets take the truth or reality of a sphere, and suppose we want to convey that reality to someone else. Everyone may use different words (or symbols) to accomplish this. One person may draw a circle in the sand or on paper (but this is not a sphere, it is a two dimensional representation of a sphere). We may draw a mathematical formula for a circle such as (x – h)2 + (y – k)2 = r2 (but this too is not a sphere but just another way of describing it). Perhaps you might point at the moon or sun and say “that is a sphere” (but to someone who had never seen it in 3-dimensions they might think a sphere was just a circle in the sky). In truth a sphere IS WHAT IT IS, and all descriptions of it are just symbols pointing to the real truth.
As a second more complex example lets say one is trying to teach to another the science or “truth” of the earth’s rotations around the sun, which comprises the solar year. Some cultures may choose to divide that rotational circle into ~4 weeks in 12 months and 365 days with 1 intercalary day each four years as we have. Others may choose to divide it into 3 weeks in 11 months and 363 days with 2.25 intercalary days per year like the Egyptians did. The Mayans used a different system of 18 months of 20 days dealing with the 5.25 intercalary days differently…. Anyway do you get the point? Which calendar is true? They are just all different ways of dealing with the same complex truth. None of those calendars are the truth, for the truth is what it is, but they are approximations of teaching it.
God is Truth
Now. GOD is the ultimate TRUTH, the ultimate reality. HE IS WHAT HE IS. As He said, “I AM THAT I AM”. HE is the sphere and the times and the seasons and every culture, religion and dispensational head has been given the difficult charge of describing HIM to their children. To do that they use tokens (see definition: an individual aspect of a sign), signs, symbols, types and shadows. However those symbols are not God, but symbols to point us to HIM. GOD reveals HIMSELF to prophets and seers in “sundry times and in divers manners”, but in reality they only see the aspect of HIMSELF which he wishes to reveal. Those prophets may describe HIM in words, or with symbols, or with temple rites. They may even carve his image or words in stone, but those images and words are not GOD or TRUTH they are a symbol pointing man toward them…
The liturgy words themselves try to teach us this lesson, with God himself being the WORD of God. A Word is a Symbol. The letters composing the words are Tokens of the Symbol. The printed word is a ‘Type’ of the Word which is a symbol of the Reality. A Shadow is a distorted illusion of the Reality. The Reality dwells in an unseen realm above us which we can not see or fully comprehend, but the Type casts a Shadow from the higher realm to the earth so that we can begin to understand the meaning hidden behind the Symbol. Do we see the point of it all? If not, be patient…
26 God shall give unto you knowledge by his Holy Spirit, yea, by the unspeakable gift of the Holy Ghost, that has not been revealed since the world was until now;
27 Which our forefathers have awaited with anxious expectation to be revealed in the last times, which their minds were pointed to by the angels, as held in reserve for the fulness of their glory;
28 A time to come in the which nothing shall be withheld, whether there be one God or many gods, they shall be manifest. (D&C 121:26–28)
The problem which God has always run against is that when he reveals himself to man, and man describes him with symbols, in time man comes to worship the dead symbols, images or letters instead of the living God. Man turns the symbols into idols which become thier own false Gods & doctrines.
This happened to Judaism, it happened to Christianity and it happens in Mormonism. Words and symbols pointing to the truth become chiseled in stone through creeds, decrees, proclamations & dogmas and become dead idols sapping the living spirituality out of the churches or cultures who adopt them. It is for this reason that the Lord told Joseph of Christiandom in his day “that all their creeds were an abomination in his sight” (JS-H 1:19). it is for this reason that Nephi warned that the gentiles would “teach with their learning, and deny the Holy Ghost, which giveth utterance” (2 Ne 28:4). It is for this that Paul declared “for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life” (2 Cor 3:6). In fact, for the mature disciple who has submitted to the schoolmaster (Gal 3:24) which is the law, until they have “become alive in Christ” (2 Ne 25:25), you will see that this is the entire point to the preparatory Gospel and the primary lesson being taught by the fall of Adam and Redemption of Christ (1 Cor 15, 2 Cor 3, Rom 7, 8, 2 Ne 25, 31-32).
Just as the Universe as a whole is steady and unchanging, but each component of it is moving and changing, so also truth as a whole is steady and unchanging but each aspect of it constantly moves and changes, and even more-so, man is unsteady and changing so his perception of truth must needs move and change as well. As Joseph Smith taught,
That which is wrong under one circumstance, may be, and often is, right under another.”
“God said, “Thou shalt not kill;” at another time He said “Thou shalt utterly destroy.” This is the principle on which the government of heaven is conducted; by revelation adapted to the circumstances in which the children of the kingdom are placed. Whatever God requires is right, no matter what it is, although we may not see the reason thereof till long after the events transpire. If we seek first the kingdom of God, all good things will be added. So with Solomon: first he asked wisdom, and God gave it him, and with it every desire of his heart, even things which might be considered abominable to all who understand the order of heaven only in part, but which in reality were right because God gave and sanctioned by special revelation.”
“A parent may whip a child, and justly, too, because he stole an apple; whereas if the child had asked for the apple, and the parent had given it, the child would have eaten it with a better appetite; there would have been no stripes; all the pleasure of the apple would have been secured, all the misery of stealing lost.” (History of the Church, Vol. 5, p.134-136)
So you see that to man not even moral truth is absolute (It is dependent upon circumstance and the sphere in which it is placed– D&C 93:30). No law or description of truth can be set in stone, not laws governing life or death, not those governing sex, not those governing substance abuse, not those governing God. It is as the sun is in the sky, although it never changes, our perception of it through the earth’s veil of clouds and gases changes daily so that if we were to dogmatically describe its color, by sunset we would be wrong. For its color is constantly changing (to us) through so many hues and shades that they could never all be described.
This being the case, we must learn to live by “every word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God” (Deut 8:3, D&C 84:44, 98:11). We must learn to be governed by the Spirit. We must learn to trust those who have gone before and can better judge the truth of the present matter. Children must trust and live by their parents, church members must learn to live by the living prophets and Gods Spirit, and the prophets and followers must learn to live by modern revelation.
And above all, we all must (church members and leaders included), take care not to be so dogmatic, for fear that our words will become idols to future generations. Dogmatism encourages man to forsake his responsibility to self-govern by exercising proper judgment and communing with the living God in lieu of the easier path of depending on the dead words of dead prophets and law makers. The idea of legal precedence eventually destroys every legal system just as it did with the Jews. It is a wicked, idol worshiping people like the children of Israel, who danced around the golden calf who must be ruled by laws and dogmas written in stone. The higher law is to be governed by “righteous judges” not righteous laws, for the latter is, in the long term, an illusion. For even a righteous law will eventually be turned into an idol by a wicked people, and danced around the same as the golden calf.
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Some of this is summed up with the inspired and slightly altered words of song by the Goo Goo Dolls.
I [God & Man] am a question to the world
Not an answer to heard
Or a moment
That’s held in your arms
And what do you think [I'd] ever say?
[You] won’t listen anyway
You don’t know me
And I’ll never be what you want me to be
And what do you think you’d understand?
I’m a boy [Son], no, I’m a man [Father]
You can’t take me
And throw me away
And how can you learn what [can't be] shown?
Yeah, you stand here on your own
They don’t know me
Cause I’m not [there]
Cause I’m [right] here
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Hey Lance I really liked this post. I liked how to tied it into our need to follow the prophet today and live by “every word that proceeds forth from the mouth of God”.
I have a questions though: could you consider giving a few examples of how MODERN teachings have been turned into idols?
To some extent all the symbols and liturgy of our Church become idols when we loose focus of the meaning behind them. The Mormon temple becomes an idol when we go to sooth our guilt instead of to learn. Or when someone gets married in the temple just because its socially acceptable. Adultery and Idolatry are closely related, when we focus primarily on the outward appearance of an individual we are approaching adultery, and when we focus primarily on the outward manifestation of symbols we approach idolatry.
The sacrament is an Idol to me often. I take it because I’m “supposed to” and people are watching, but with no thought to what it really means. The financial prosperity of the church I think has become an idol to many. They think it is a symbol of God’s approval of us. Many might look at the Saints or Christ statues in Catholic cathedrals as idols, but are our paintings or Christus statues in the temple visitors centers any different? They are idols if we loose the meaning they represent and loose our connection with the principles and God they are pointing us to.
Another doctrine that has become an Idol is our view of God. We view Christ and the Father as two distinct personages with resurrected bodies, which is perfectly true, but I dare say it would offend most members to say that the Catholic/Nicene view of a knowable yet unknowable God as a Spirit that is Omniscient and Omnipresent, everywhere and nowhere is also true (or a just as good approximation to it). Our view of God is largely a product of our faith in the picture Joseph Painted to us from his experience. But what of this God of all other gods God in D&C 121:32? If we are to follow the logic of the King Follet Discourse to its end, we must ask if the plural Eloheim is the Father of Christ, who is the Father of the Father? And if space has no end, does the family tree of existence? Sounds to me like there’s an unknowable, yet knowable God of all other Gods (notice the big G this time) out there somewhere. And it also seems as though there’s room in LDS theology for him to be One with us through his long line of Sons. But I sure mocked that God a good number of times on my mission before I had learned to look beyond our own idols. I could offer a similar example of how we have turned our “resurrected”, material God into an idol which causes us to mock other religions “immaterial” Spirit God (in reality matter, spirit, immaterial and material are all just approximations to the true differing densities of what some might call the “ether”).
Is the Word of Wisdom an idol to anyone? Do you think you are better because you keep your interpretation of it, while judging someone of another faith who is vegan or has some other healthy dietary principle… I have at times. My reasoning for my judgment was not any “pure knowledge” on my part, but simple because the written word said we weren’t to teach not to eat meat. But did I ever stop to think that maybe the living Spirit might tell an individual to do what the dead scriptures said not to? No! Because our dogma says that would never happen… (well, you get my point). Polygamy is certainly an idol. Not many really understood it, or understand it now, and so it is used and abused and judged incorrectly. Blacks and the priesthoods is similar. An outdated scriptural interpretation was dogmatically held as church policy, until the leaders joined heart and mind and asked the Lord for living guidance. (not that I’m criticizing the church or supporting the predominate view with that statement- see my article here) I believe that same revelation would have come 50 or even 100 years earlier had a united twelve asked the question with a desire to recieve that answer. Dogma in general eventually approaches idolatry. Dogma can be defined as, “an established belief or doctrine held by a religion, ideology or any kind of organization: it is authoritative and not to be disputed, doubted or diverged from”. It is a doctrine or tenant carved in stone. Many historians have noted how the schism between the Eastern Orthodox Church and Western Roman Catholic occurred along doctrinal differences relating to dogmatic vs. free thinking approaches to religious philosophy.
One historian writes, “..The eastern Christians engaged in high intellectual speculation on theological and Christological questions with a fervor unmatched in the West. You might say that the model of Christian belief in the east was more mystical and philosophical while the Christian belief in the west was more practical and obedience-centered”
The east had an aversion to dogma and idols as was epitomized by the iconoclasm issue, while the west capitalized on these issues. But there is an important lesson in this. During the relatively dark spiritual times of the middle ages, the Western Dogmatic Church seemed to prosper while the East withered and was conquered & converted. So there are times when this approach is the most effective means of maintaining organized religion. But that same highly ritualistic, dogmatic approach to religion has seemed to zap the life out of the Catholic Church during the last few hundred years. A more enlightened people thirst to be freed from dogma and idols and liberated into the light of the Spirit. I believe much of the success of the Mormon Church is its divinely inspired capitalization on what I would call aspects of the Aaronic Priesthood (dogma & icons), but at the same time encouraging people to see past the limitations of icons and to spiritually progress past the limitations of dogma. On the flip side, I also read too many things from enlightened, truth seeking X-Mormons that shows me that the Church failed in help them make that transition. A bishop or a Sunday school teacher too persistently taught you must do things this exact way or that way. An institutionalized ritualization of worship (You must come to this building at this time on this day and worship in this exact manner). We had a returned missionary come back from inner Philadelphia and talk about how he loved how different the branches were there, because people stood up and “Praised the Lord”, and shouted “Hallelujah” and did other things that are socially taboo in Utah Mormon Culture.
I’m not saying the Church or any Church is doing it wrong, but I find it interesting how God has placed the rigidity of the “law” in opposition to the freeness of living by “the spirit”. Philosophically, it would seem to me that the law is the straight and narrow gate through which all must pass in order to enter the realm of freedom and lack of external restraint. I believe like Oogway, that there are no accidents. That everything happens for a reason following God’s plan. But I also believe that in the future the Church will be run differently. That it will progress through differing styles of administration just as it has in the past and as both Israel and Catholicism did through their history. Ultimately, I believe during the millennium that there will be virtually no need to excommunicate or estrange. Nor will there be any distinction between this religion or that (to some extent); but under the direction of the wise all will judge themselves by one light. Whether they are moving toward or away from their desired light.