The New Gods

I've been reading Augustine's City of God, in which he is defends Christianity from the accusation (made by those following the Roman polytheistic religion) that Rome was destroyed as a punishment from the gods due to so many following Christ instead of them. In part, Augustine points to the fractured and immoral status of Roman society in general, and he demonstrates that these societal ills are attributable to the gods that the Romans were worshipping. (For example: if you look at the stories of the gods, you find them committing adultery or deceiving people in clearly unjust ways.)

In describing the low state of Roman society, there is a great deal of overlap with what we see going on in our society today. However, unlike in Augustine's day, we do not [explicitly] have temples to other deities, in which those gods' immoral deeds are celebrated. Even if we say that we treat actors or other rich people like idols, people (usually) do not feel that they owe them ultimate loyalty in the way that the Romans of old actually worshipped Jupiter, Juno, Mars, etc.

So the question I've been pondering is this: for those who are not making the conscious effort to follow Christ, what functions as gods in our society? Even for those of us who are seeking to live for Jesus, what is our default (as those influenced by current Western culture) in terms of what we are actually living for, if we neglect 'taking up our cross' each day?

It's been said, "The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist." 

Perhaps his second greatest trick is influencing those in Western society to implicitly worship idols of emotion and choice rather than explicitly worship idols of gold or stone.

Emotion and choice become substitute gods when they take the ultimate place in driving the decisions in our lives. We hear the great commandment of these gods in the common mantra: "Follow your heart." To give just one example of how following this commandment leads to societal disintegration, consider how many marriages and families are torn apart by 'no-fault divorce' in which couples do away with their marriage vows (vows that usually include promises to be together "for better or for worse... 'til death do us part") simply because one or both spouses have 'followed his/her heart.'

Augustine hoped to persuade the people of his day that following Christ was better than following the Roman gods: better for individual souls, but also for society as a whole. Christians today should strive to be fully persuaded that our emotions and choices should be submitted to Christ (that our relationship to Jesus should NOT take a back seat to how others make us feel). We should seek to point others to Him as the only sure foundation and hope.