Idols seem to offer so much on the surface (check out Isaiah's discourse on idolatry - it's a wonderful dialogue on this!). They even tie into a legitimate need: sex, food, companionship, needing to be needed, etc. But the bad thing about idols is that they enslave you. Instead of meeting a real need in a legitimate way (or "the way" that Chris Marshall talked about yesterday), idols meet the need in a way that causes an increased inward focus and an intense hungering of the idol. Golem is a good picture of this. He loved the ring and became obsessed with it - the Lord of the Rings plays this out magnificently. Idols end up destroying you. [seen at The Red Pill]

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In the classic Arthur Miller play, The Crucible, we get a glimpse into what happens when complex problems are reduced to "God" and "the devil." Fallible human judges are given the status of infallible authorities. Hysterical and jealous girls are seen as instruments of the devil. Middle ground and more subtle analysis are not allowed. In the end, innocent people die. Terrible things are done, and anyone who doubts is in league with darkness. This is a story about us. Like it or not, it happened because the critics- of preachers, particularly- were silenced.
[seen at The Internet Monk within this article]