The Idolater's Delusion

One of the most philosophically potent denunciations of idolatry is found in the book of Isaiah in an extended passage about the sheer folly of attributing divine characteristics to a material found in nature, used in the construction of an idol.  Even if some form of animism or panpsychism (indeed, panpsychism is a type of animism, or vice versa, depending on what is meant!) is true, one cannot know, because there is no sensory evidence of such a thing, and sensory evidence is not logical proof anyway and hence does not ground genuine knowledge as reason does.  Regardless of whether plants or inorganic substances like metal really are tied to their own immaterial consciousnesses, it is folly to believe that they are because of unverifiability, and to conflate such a status with divinity would add to the errors.  If all matter is conscious, or has a spirit of sorts, this would not make either the physical world or any particular animist spirits divine.

The idolater of Isaiah 44 does not grasp any of this; they allow themself to descend into such madness that they divide the same piece of wood to use a portion for cooking and warmth and the other as an idol to worship.  Mere wood from a dead tree is split apart for these contrasting purposes.  This idolater does not pause to validly contemplate how there is no basis to think that the very tree used to prepare his food can become a god if only it is chiseled or carved enough.  Instead, he himself loses energy if he does not eat or drink, even as he thinks he somehow has the power to imbue a dead tree with divine nature, which is even more irrational because a true deity (an uncaused cause) is not part of the natural world at all.  More aggressively and elaborately than is usually the case, Isaiah 44:12-20 presents idolatry as a sin of stupidity and not only one of false religion or cosmic treason:

Isaiah 44:12-20—"'The blacksmith takes a tool and works with it in the coals; he shapes an idol with hammers, he forges it with the might of his arm.  He gets hungry and loses his strength; he drinks no water and grows faint.  The carpenter measures with a line and makes an outline with a marker; he roughs it out with chisels and marks it with compasses.  He shapes it in human form, human form in all its glory, that it may dwell in a shrine.  He cut down cedars, or perhaps took a cypress or oak.  He let it grow among the trees of the forest, or planted a pine, and the rain made it grow.  It is used as fuel for burning; some of it he takes and warms himself, he kindles a fire and bakes bread.  But he also fashions a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it.  Half of the wood he burns in the fire; over it he prepares his meal, he roasts his meat and eats his fill.  He also warms himself and says, "Ah!  I am warm; I see the fire."  From the rest he makes a god, his idol; he bows down to it and worships.  He prays to it and says, "Save me!  You are my god!"  They know nothing, they understand nothing; their eyes are plastered over so they cannot see, and their mind closed so they cannot understand.  No one stops to think, no one has the knowledge or understanding to say, "Half of it I used for fuel; I even baked bread over its coals, I roasted meat and I ate.  Shall I make a detestable thing from what is left?  Shall I bow down to a block of wood?"  Such a person feeds on ashes; a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself, or say, "Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?"'"

The wording of "detestable thing" in verse 19 is similar to a a recurring phrase in Deuteronomy emphasizing the intrinsic evil of a particular behavior, often in conjunction with an explicit declaration that the sin is of course equally immoral for Gentiles (Deuteronomy 12:29-31, 18:9-13, 20:16-18), for morality is universal (Deuteronomy 4:5-8, 8:19-20, 9:4-6; see also Leviticus 18:1-30, 20:1-24, Genesis 15:13-16, Ezekiel 5:5-7, Ecclesiastes 12:14).  Evangelical Christians and adherents of Rabbinic Judaism hold to the same logical and Biblical errors concerning the Law of Moses.  Separate from their deviation from the Bible they claim to align with, they are insane for their moral relativism, for even moral nihilism is possible, but not relativism, much less race-based relativism!  Returning to the topic of idolatry in particular, Deuteronomy does use idolatry as an example of a detestable thing which is by necessity, if it is truly evil, wrong whoever the practicing individual is.  Moses warns ahead of time that taking the valuable metals on Canaanite idols would separate a person, like the idols themselves, for destruction.

Deuteronomy 7:24-26—"He will give their kings into your hand, and you will wipe out their names from under heaven.  The images of their gods you are to burn in the fire.  Do not covet the silver and gold on them, and do not take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared by it, for it is detestable to the Lord your God.  Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction.  Regard it as vile and utterly detest it, for it is set apart for destruction."

Similarly, taking materials from a city of Canaan is a sin that warrants the execution of Achan after the victory over Jericho (Joshua 6:18-19, 7:1, 10-12, 19-26).  Though he did not actually practice idolatry, worship other gods, entice anyone to worship something besides Yahweh (capital sins according to Exodus 22:20, Deuteronomy 13:1-10, and 17:2-7), he stole what was devoted to God and thus became devoted to destruction himself.  While his sin is not that of the literal idolater who creates or reveres a physical image or representation, the wickedness of disobeying God, the only moral authority, is something both have in common.  The idolater's evil goes beyond this, however.  He or she has regarded something physical and seemingly inanimate as if it has a mind to think, hear, and see or the power to intervene in the material plane.

The apostle Paul later summarizes how such people are fools, neglecting what can be genuinely known about God from pure logic in light of the contingent nature of the external world (Romans 1:18-21) in favor of making idols based directly or indirectly on various aspects of nature, contrary to what Yahweh commands through Moses in passages like Deuteronomy 4:15-20.  It is not sin to craft an image representing a man, a woman, or any non-human animal, as some misunderstand Exodus 20:3-6 and Deuteronomy 5:7-10 to mean, but it is delusion to assume that an image created from the likes of wood or metal or stone is in any way divine or to worship it as if it portrays a true god or goddess (all assumptions are irrational, including this one!).  Moreover, an incorporeal uncaused cause cannot be legitimately depicted in any physical form precisely because it is incorporeal:

Romans 1:22-23—"Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles."

There is nothing rational or sophisticated about idolatry, wholly apart from the Biblical depravity of this class of actions.  Yet a certain kind of pseudo-Christian I have encountered in my life looks upon the idolatry and other sinful practices of Greco-Roman philosophy and culture as if they express an almost enlightened philosophy that overlaps with Judeo-Christianity any more than at the most minute, barest of levels.  Idolatry is heavily irrationalistic for the already described reasons, whatever the culture or motivation, whether ideological or personal.  Neither any individual prohibition nor the sheer multitude of prescriptions against idols deterred these pseudo-Christians.  And of all these direct condemnations of idol construction or worship, Isaiah 44's serves as among the absolute most fierce, calling the idolater deluded as Paul later does.  Judeo-Christianity does not even have to be correct for idolatry to be entirely invalid for the reasons addressed therein.