The world is a “vanity fair” which is made up of seductions and dangers of all kinds, as John Bunyan remarkably expresses it. Something or someone other than Jesus Christ can take hold of our heart and become the object of our trust, concern, loyalty, service, fear, and joy. When this is the case, the Bible teaches us that it is an idol.
The idols of our heart are both internally generated and externally inspired. This is why the Bible addresses the problem of idolatry from two sides: the heart and the social environment. This essay explains the close connection that exists between our personal idols and those of our social environment. It demonstrates how the motives of a disoriented heart and various sociocultural systems can converge toward sin, and it reminds us how the gospel can deliver us both from personal sin and from the grip of false systems of values by which we instinctively allow ourselves to be fooled.
Author: David Powlison
ISBN: 9782890824539