THE POWER OF DESIRE

'We are controlled in our world by an implicit affirmation that our desires are worth satisfying. Christians need to make the apologetic case that not all our desires are worth satisfying and many of them are conflicting ones. The greatest and deepest desires, for significance, for security, for eternity, can be satisfied only by being found in God's redemptive grace in Christ.' 

Richard Lints, Identity and Idolatry, p.171. 

CHURCH GOVERNMENT

'Individuals do not govern the church - God does. We all need to be reminded that the major decisions facing the church have already been made.'

Richard Lints, Identity and Idolatry, p.170. 

TRUE WORSHIP

'At the heart of worship is a sense of "giving yourself away" to another. Key to worship then are the questions "To whom are you giving yourself away and in what manner are you giving yourself?" Genuine worship is giving yourself to the living God in whom and for whom you have been created. Idolatry by contrast is substituting the true object of worship (God) for an imitation (idol) and re orientating the relationship from worship to possession.' 

Richard Lints, Identity and Idolatry, p.156. 

IDOLATRY & CONTROL

'...idolatry was not in the first instance a cognitive error (believing in other gods) but a fallacy of the heart (yearning for control).' 

Richard Lints, Identity and Idolatry, p.86. 

IDENTITY & IDOLATRY

'Humans are made by the divine artist as his reflections. The idols were made by the human artists, and in an ironic twist, the human artist became a reflection of the idol.' 

Richard Lints, Identity and Idolatry, p.81. 

THE KEY QUESTION OF SCRIPTURE

'The key question of the Scriptures is, what will images reflect? Will the image of God (humankind) image God? It seems a simple question. Will the image of God find his or her identity in the reflection of God?'  

Richard Lints, Identity and Idolatry, p.42. 

THE IDOLATRY DEFEATER

'Idolatry is unmasked not by a sheer unmitigated self-criticism. Idolatry requires a light that illuminates its true character. Throughout the canon that "light" is none other that the true and living God.' 

Richard Lints, Identity and Idolatry, p.41. 

ATHEISM

'If all claims about God, including the claim that he does not exist, derive from ulterior motives, then atheism is susceptible to the critique of ulterior motives as well.' 

Richard Lints, Identity and Idolatry, p.41. 

IDOLATRY & DESIRE

'Looking for good reasons to believe in idols is a category mistake. We are attracted to idols not on rational grounds but rather as means to gratify desires. We believe in idols because we want to, even as an alcoholic is attracted to alcohol because he wants it. There is rational consideration only in the very vaguest of senses.' 

Richard Lints, Identity and Idolatry, p.40. 

ADDICTION

'Addictions are complex, progressive and often disabling. But addictions are entered into voluntarily and often without much forethought. They do not begin with raging compulsion. But somehow mysteriously desire turns into compulsion and addicts lose a sense of their former identity. What drives the addiction is a longing for satisfaction. This desire for fulfillment runs deep in the human heart. Satisfaction, however, is not to be had simply anywhere or with anyone. It is part of the hardwiring of the human heart that satisfaction will be found in that which is finally good and true and beautiful, namely God.'  

Richard Lints, Identity and Idolatry, p.40.  

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MARRIAGE

'The root metaphor for Israel's relationship to God and idols is that of the marital relationships. As husband and wife are forbidden to have sexual relations with any other partner, so Israel is forbidden from worshiping any but their true bridegroom.' 

Richard Lints, Identity and Idolatry, p.36. 

IMAGE OF GOD

'The language of "image" argues for a dependence upon an "original".'
Richard Lints, Identity and Idolatry, p.29.  

IDENTITY

'The irony of identity is that by looking away from ourselves we are more likely to discover our identity.' 

Richard Lints, Identity and Idolatry: The image of God and its inversion, p.11.