Comments on: Heart Idols? https://nouthetic.org/heart-idols/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=heart-idols Welcome to the Mid-America Institute for Nouthetic Studies, founded by Jay Adams. INS provides training and resources for biblical counseling. Mon, 11 Oct 2021 13:12:30 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: Hugh McCann https://nouthetic.org/heart-idols/#comment-1021 Thu, 07 Aug 2014 04:05:57 +0000 https://www.nouthetic.org/blog/?p=6864#comment-1021 What about 1 John’s closing comment?
Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.

]]> By: Joanne https://nouthetic.org/heart-idols/#comment-1020 Wed, 06 Aug 2014 20:47:41 +0000 https://www.nouthetic.org/blog/?p=6864#comment-1020 In reply to Donn R Arms.

Thanks for such a quick reply. I do want to have a reasoned understanding why we cannot refer to “idols” in one’s life, especially when the Apostle Paul says in Col. 3:5 that greed is idolatry. In temptation to do evil, Paul instructs us not to become idolators in 1 Cor. 10. I do believe that only God knows the heart. But does mean idolatrous behavior cannot be identified? For instance, I see many who worship sports figures.

]]> By: Donn R Arms https://nouthetic.org/heart-idols/#comment-1019 Wed, 06 Aug 2014 13:31:26 +0000 https://www.nouthetic.org/blog/?p=6864#comment-1019 In reply to Joanne.

“Can it not be said . . .”
Joanne,
Sure, anything “can be said” but the idea that “craving for anything other than God takes on idol status” is a metaphor YOU have constructed. It does not rise from the Scriptures. With perhaps one exception, Scripture just does not use the term “idol” in this way. Jay’s point is that it is an artificial construct and, for the counselor, it is misleading and unhelpful. Counselors cannot know what is happening in a counselees heart, only God can.

]]> By: Jonas Nardes Braga https://nouthetic.org/heart-idols/#comment-1018 Wed, 06 Aug 2014 12:12:01 +0000 https://www.nouthetic.org/blog/?p=6864#comment-1018 I thought it strange when I first heard this teaching about a new way of helping people by detecting their heart idols. It sounds like a “I found the truth after all this time”, based on a single Old Testament prophetic-figurative Scripture. Other reason I started to doubt that approach is, “How can I, being blind (or short-sighted, at best), be able to tell exactly what’s happening inside my own heart (or someone else’s heart)? Maybe a better counsel would be, “Repent, go to the cross and humbly trust that God can know exactly what is happening inside of you, and he can disentangle it.”
I believe in the sufficiency of Scriptures in counseling and I don’t believe modern psychology. I’m afraid we are just creating a new psychology, and using this or that portion of the Bible to support it.

]]> By: Joanne https://nouthetic.org/heart-idols/#comment-1017 Wed, 06 Aug 2014 11:46:06 +0000 https://www.nouthetic.org/blog/?p=6864#comment-1017 I’m reminded of Jesus’ words “Where your treasure is, there your heart shall be also,” in Matt. 6:21. I know the context is the storing up of possessions that supposedly offer security and most assuredly divert our attention away from God. Don’t we sometimes elevate those possessions to positions of worship? And if we do, wouldn’t they be considered idols? For instance, ancient people worshiped statues and gods for prosperity, which the Lord calls idols. Can it not be said that while our focus is not on material figurines, the craving for anything other than God takes on idol status?

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