Last summer I read the book "American Gods" by Neil Gaiman, and the driving concepts within it still influence me today. It was based around the idea that gods exist in a tangible form because people believe in them and worship them, either in how the people live their lives or in explicit actions like sacrifices.
Seeing that America is a melting pot of different of different cultures, it is an easy path to see that there would be many gods within our nation, and this was precisely the case. Throughout the novel, countless cultures and belief systems were represented, from the Native American thunderbirds to the gods of people who found their way to our continent, like Odin and Anubis. Many of the “gods” present weren’t even what we would consider gods in our day, but rather legends from the myths of the many peoples who found their ways to our shores.
The plot of "American Gods" focuses on the decay and almost inevitable decline of these “old” gods versus the rise of the “new” gods. These new gods weren’t the ones of present day religions either, but rather took names like technology, media, and the stock market. The new gods, our modern deities, were exactly what we as a people worship.
This slapped me in the face. It is one thing for someone to say that I spend too much time on my phone, but it’s an entirely different matter to be told that I am treating it, or any object, as a god. However, that’s exactly what this novel presented to me. What’s more powerful is that the new gods were actively trying to destroy the old gods. To think that these small digressions that appear to simply lead us to waste time are actually leading us away from our faith is absolutely terrifying.
This issue is something that I have tried to take into my own faith liberally. After reading this novel I have done my best to identify and remove any idolatrous behaviors or objects within my own life. And, being completely honest, it’s hard. It’s hard to look myself in the mirror and tell myself that I am letting my phone get between God and I or that I am focusing too much on my grades and not enough on Him. It’s hard to identify the things within my life that are inhibiting my relationship and reliance on Him, because my nature is to be apart from Him.
We are so quick to dismiss the Israelites for worshiping their golden calf, yet we fail to see the idols we have made for ourselves. Maybe you’re putting too much focus on your physical appearance through exercise or makeup, when you could be putting some of that attention toward glorifying God. Maybe you have an incredible boyfriend or girlfriend that leads you to find your happiness and self-worth in them and not within Christ. That’s the real issue.
Modern idolatry is very rarely explicit like the golden calf; instead it is found in our implicit nature to seek our identity in any number of things which are apart from Him. This can range from things as simple as our followers on social media to things as complex as the way we feel we are perceived, and it all has to stop. We need to remember that we are not made to reflect the world and that we should not find ourselves in the world. We are made in His image and should find ourselves in Him.
