2-12-12 REAL Life Study Guide

2-19-12 REAL Life Study Guide

9am Classes

SIGNING 101 (Introduction to the wonderful world of sign language)…with Lori Ferry & Janet Sharik

10:45am Classes

THE MARRIAGE BUILDER (couples class to strengthen your marriage)…with Pastor Carlos & Ruth Garcia

RADICAL MISSIONS (looking at making missions a lifestyle)…with Ryan Tucker

PRESS ON: The Book of Philippians (walk through the book of Philippians)…with David Nelson & Jody Shelton

TESTING YOUR IDOLS

If you are angry, ask, “Is there something here too important to me, something I must have at all costs?” 

Do the same thing with strong fear or despair and guilt. Ask yourself, “Am I so scared, because something in my life is being threatened that I think is a necessity when it is not? Am I so down on myself because I have lost or failed at something that I think is a necessity when it is not?” 

If you are overworking, driving into the ground with frantic activity, ask yourself, “Do I feel that I must have this thing to be fulfilled and significant?” 

When you ask questions like that, when you “pull your emotions up by the roots,” as it were, you will often find your idols clinging to them.  ///KELLER

 A BRIEF LIST OF IDOL CATEGORIES 

 Theological idols—Doctrinal errors that produce such distorted views of God that we end up worshipping a false god. 

Sexual idols—Addictions such as pornography and fetishisms that promise but don’t deliver a sense of intimacy and acceptance; ideals of physical beauty in yourself and/or your partner; romantic idealism. 

Magic/ritual idols—Witchcraft and the occult. All idolatry is in the end a form of magic that seeks to rebel against the order of transcendent reality rather than submitting to it in love and wisdom. 

Political/economic idols—Ideologies of the left, right, and libertarian that absolutize some aspect of political order and make it the solution. Deifying or demonizing free markets, for example. 

Racial/national idols—Racism, militarism, nationalism, or ethnic pride that turns bitter or oppressive. 

Relational idols—Dysfunctional family systems of codependency; “fatal attractions”; living your life through your children. 

Religious idols—Moralism and legalism; idolatry of success and gifts; religion as a pretext for abuse of power. 

Philosophical idols—Systems of thought that make some created thing the problem with life (instead of sin) and some human product or enterprise the solution to our problems (instead of God’s grace). 

Cultural idols—Radical individualism, as in the West, that makes an idol out of individual happiness at the expense of community; shame cultures that make an idol out of family and clan at the expense of individual rights. 

Deep idols—Motivational drives and temperaments made into absolutes: a. Power idolatry: “Life only has meaning /I only have worth if—I have power and influence over others.” b. Approval idolatry: “Life only has meaning /I only have worth if—I am loved and respected by _______________. ” c. Comfort idolatry: “Life only has meaning /I only have worth if—I have this kind of pleasure experience, a particular quality of life.” d. Control idolatry: “Life only has meaning /I only have worth if—I am able to get mastery over my life in the area of__________________.