“Now isn’t that stupid? It’s just plain stupid to worship idols, isn’t it?” the Sunday School teacher said to her class as she held up a picture of an ugly, dark idol. The children listening agreed, of course. Idolatry was stupid.
This attitude toward idolatry is still pervasive in American churches even though the New Age Movement is changing the attitude of the population in general. When we first came to Japan, my husband and I both doubted the reality of idolatry in this country. After all, idolatry is “stupid,” and Japanese people are intelligent; therefore the idols must really just be monuments to history or rather unimportant trinkets of tradition. We were greatly mistaken, and winning Japanese people to the worship of the true and living God from idols is no easy task.
The idolater worships idols basically for the same reasons we worship God. Their worship is not stupid. Rather it is an expression of their longing to fill the vacuum in their lives that only Christ can fill. Through listening to my friends, through reading books on Buddhism, and through seeing idolatry portrayed on Japanese television, I have come, not to sympathize with idolatry, but to sympathize with the needs of the idolater. By trying to understand why intelligent people seek help from stone images, I yearn more and more to see them seeking the True Saviour.
Part of this fellowshipping includes the idea of reporting to the spirits. The Japanese, of course, believe that they are reporting to their dead loved ones, but we know that if there is a spirit present, it is not the departed loved one. It is most surely, most sadly, a wicked deceiving demonic spirit. “The things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils” (1 Corinthians 10:20). The demons have tricked the Japanese people into thinking that they are fellowshipping with their departed loved ones, when really they are fellowshipping with devils.
Is it any wonder that the father of lies teaches his demons to be so cunning and deceitful? Paul wrote, “Absent from the body . . . present with the Lord” (2 Corinthians 5:8). The Bible is very clear that there is “a great gulf fixed” between Heaven, Hell, and Earth. Neither the rich man nor Lazarus could return to earth (Luke 16:26).
However, the Emperor reports once a year to the sun goddess Amaterasu, from whom the Japanese people have supposedly descended. He gives her a kind of state of the union address. Sometimes, if you go to an old-fashioned Japanese home, and you take a present of cookies, the cookies may be presented at the family altar in the home. It is reported to the ancestors that this gift was brought. Supposedly, the spirit of the ancestor eats the spirit of the cookies, then when the family eats the physical cookies, they are communing with the ancestors.
Many Japanese people “report” to their deceased loved ones all kinds of family news. They also ask advice. In Japanese soap operas, one can see, for example, a man bowing to the picture of his dead wife, telling her the problems their teenage children are facing and asking her advice. Then, at the top of the TV screen, the image of the wife will proceed to give advice.
This fellowship with the spirit world is especially sought after a death in the family. It is A WAY OF MOURNING. In the grieving person’s imagination some loneliness is alleviated. When a death occurs in our families, we too, want to do something. We order flowers. We often plan the funeral services ourselves. We write eulogies. In doing something, anything, we feel better. It is a way of lessening our grief through action or through focusing on good memories. However, when the idolater offers flowers, he is actually presenting a gift which he hopes will help the spirit in the afterlife. A Christian wants God’s influencing comfort, but the idolater seeks A WAY TO INFLUENCE THE SPIRIT WORLD through an offering.
Mourning loved ones who have passed away is not an easy thing for anyone. Pretending that they are still around may be A WAY TO FEEL BETTER, but it is not truth. It is not reality, and such comfort cannot satisfy and will not endure. When Japanese people make offerings to the spirits of their departed loved ones, they temporarily feel better; they feel that they are doing something to help the loved one.
Even when Jesus died, the people wanted to do something. Joseph of Arimathea took care of Jesus’ body by putting it in a nice tomb. The women wanted to anoint His body with spices.
Some ancestor worship is done to make the living people feel better in the midst of their mourning. It is contrary to God’s commandments, but it is understandable. When there is no hope of heaven, there can be only weak substitutions for genuine hope and comfort.
Often the offerings to a dead loved one are made, not just because of sorrow, but also because of fear. The surviving family members are afraid that if they do not honor the ancestor correctly, the spirit will give them bad luck. I said to one college-aged girl, “When your father was alive, didn’t he do nice things for you? He made sure you had food to eat and clothes to wear, didn’t he? Then why would you think that he would want to do something bad to you after he has died?” She had no answer.
Of course, we know from the story of the rich man and Lazarus, that even a lousy guy who has died, wants good things for his family. "Then [the rich man] said, I pray thee therefore, father [Abraham], that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment" (Luke 16:27-28). So ancestor worship is A WAY OF CALMING FEARS.
When a loved one dies, those left behind can feel helpless and out of control. Idolatry can RESTORE A FEELING OF BEING IN CONTROL. The human beings who build a statue are in control of it. They choose the materials it is made of; they choose the offerings.
The Japanese god box, or mikoshi, which is paraded through the streets of each community often contains the rice wine that has been produced in the community. It is elevated above the heads of the worshipers and carried high like a palanquin. Human beings are in control of their god.
The ark of the covenant, on the other hand, was designed by God. His Shekinah Glory directed where the children of Israel went. It was carried in a lower position than the Japanese mikoshi.
Christianity is based on the truth that God has come down to us and wants to lead us. As we yield control to Him and His Holy Spirit, we experience tremendous blessings. We don’t have to try to grasp blessings for ourselves by being in control. In Christianity, we relinquish control to a sovereign, all-knowing and all-loving God. In idolatry, the worshiper tries to control the spirits and bring blessings to himself through them.
Most Japanese people don’t pay any attention to the gods until they particularly feel they are in need of good luck, or they feel that they are having bad luck so they must appease the gods. When high school and college entrance exams are held in Japan, all the students feel they need extra good luck, so they flock to the shrines. They are trying to control the spirits and get supernatural help. Every New Year’s holiday the shrines and temples are crowded with people wanting good luck for the new year. Automobile rearview mirrors sport traffic safety “good luck” charms bought at temples.
Idolatry can be A WAY OF SOOTHING THE CONSCIENCE. Aborted babies become gods. The mothers write letters of apology and explanation. They leave offerings of food and toys. You see, the idea is that there is spirit in everything; therefore, the spirit of the dead baby can enjoy the spirit of the food and the toys.
A SENSE OF IDENTITY is established for the idolater in many aspects and actions of idolatry. He identifies with his family during times of ancestor worship. He identifies with the community when community gods are paraded through the streets in yearly festivals. He identifies with the nation when the emperor makes his yearly state of the union address to the goddess Amaterasu.
In worshiping at the family altar, the worshiper identifies himself with the family history. His own IDENTITY is defined and strengthened. He has a sense of security and belonging. This sense of community is found at the family altar, but also at the various neighborhood shrines and temples. The Christian’s sense of identity is in Christ. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me” (Galatians 2:20). His identity is also in the church. “So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another” (Romans 12:5).
The Japanese do not just worship ancestors. Their Shinto religion makes it possible to worship almost anything. It is basically nature worship. If you believe there is spirit in everything (pantheism), you can worship everything. (Do you know that there is even a toilet god?)
One friend told me that her family always kept a home for the gods near the ceiling in the living room. This is quite common. The little house is called a kamidana. Kami means god or spirit, and dana means shelf. They never bothered with it except once a year when her father (as high priest) took it down to clean it and put out new offerings. She wanted me to know that otherwise they seldom bothered with it. But, she did mention that if some difficulty came up in their lives, something that they could not take care of themselves, then they would go to the kamidana and pray for more power. The idolatry in that case is A WAY TO OBTAIN SUPERNATURAL POWER. Even though Japanese people are quite secular and humanistic, they keep the door open to receive supernatural power when humanism fails.
Another thing an idolater wants to get from the worship of his god is A WAY TO BE PURIFIED, that is, supernatural spiritual cleansing. He is aware of his bad thoughts and attitudes. Shrines often have a pool with running water. A worshiper can wash his hands and rinse his mouth to cleanse himself before worship. The One True God bids us to be clean through “the washing of water by the Word” of God (Ephesians 5:26). That is true cleansing, not just symbolism.
“God, grant me the serenity to . . .” is an inscription on a plaque hanging in many a Christian home. But is this truly a Christian prayer? This is the prayer that Buddhists make as they sway forward and back in meditation. Was Christ’s life serene? Was His attitude serene? As we read the New Testament, where is the serenity? The closest thing to serenity in the Old Testament is, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).
The SERENITY the Buddhist strives for is a complete emptying of one’s self, but the meditation of the Christian includes “. . . and know that I am God.” The stillness, peace, and restfulness of the Christian comes because his heart is in agreement with God, because his mind has been disciplined with truth. A Buddhist longs for a passive serenity, but Christians achieve an active peace, the peace that “passeth all understanding” (Philippians 4:7).
Why does a Buddhist worship an idol, a stone statue? To us Christians, who know a God of the strongest love, the strongest emotion in the universe, the thought of worshiping a hard, unfeeling idol is incomprehensible and ludicrous. The statues of Buddha, for example, are almost all expressionless.
However, the love of God caused Him great pain. He loved, and His Son died. It is human nature to avoid pain. It is said that the first Buddha taught that all pain was caused by selfishness. If self is eliminated, then pain will be eliminated. By meditation, that is, completely emptying the mind, self can be eliminated, emotion eradicated, and a serene, emotionless expression like the Buddha’s may be obtained.
Serenity through hardening the heart is not recommended in the Bible. Those who worship idols become like them (Psalm 115:8). Unable to suffer the pain that love brings with it, the Buddhist must give himself up to only callous, indifferent, self-centered serenity.
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change.” A true Christian who worships the True God never has to accept the evil things he cannot change. A true Christian can always pray to the True God about those things. Prayer to the True God is not an exercise in futility. The fatalistic attitude of those who seek serenity through idol worship has no place in the heart of a Christian. The sorrows, trials, and pain of everyday life can be prayed about, and we can trust God Who makes “all things work together for good” (Romans 8:28).
Since most Japanese people do not go to their gods until they come to the end of their rope, when they have done everything humanly possible, it is our goal to teach them Who the True God is. In their hour of need, we want them to come to the One who can truly meet their need. In the depths of their sorrow, we desire for them to come to the God of all comfort. “Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of all mercies, and the God of all comfort” (2 Corinthians 1:3).
"THEIR IDOLS ARE SILVER AND GOLD, THE WORK OF MEN'S HANDS. THEY HAVE MOUTHS, BUT THEY SPEAK NOT: EYES HAVE THEY, BUT THEY SEE NOT: THEY HAVE EARS, BUT THEY HEAR NOT: NOSES HAVE THEY, BUT THEY SMELL NOT: THEY HAVE HANDS, BUT THEY HANDLE NOT: FEET HAVE THEY, BUT THEY WALK NOT: NEITHER SPEAK THEY THROUGH THEIR THROAT. THEY THAT MAKE THEM ARE LIKE UNTO THEM; SO IS EVERY ONE THAT TRUSTETH IN THEM."