Read Part 1 here.

In my last column, I explained how, thanks to Rogaine, I went from Kojak to Wolfman Jack in the space of a month.  I also pointed out that Rogaine was expensive and that I became worried when my hands started swelling up to Shaquille O’Neal size.

In the end, I decided that spending a lot of money on my hairline was simply too narcissistic.  After all, Bruce Willis and Sean Connery look OK bald; perhaps I could learn to live with a high forehead.  Perhaps I could make a living as a runway beacon; the airport could simply shine a fixed flashlight on my head and I would light up the entire sky.

Now this was the first time I had disclosed any of this information in public.  My family reads Meridian, and I was expecting worried international phone calls about long-term side effects from my experiment from Rogaine.  What did I get instead?  My father, who works for a pharmaceutical company, wrote me to tell me he could get Rogaine at wholesale rates.

Really!  From my own father!  Of course, I’m assuming that my father misread my article and assumed that Rogaine would magically grow my entire body to Shaquille O’Neal size.  I’m sure he was imagining a happy retirement for himself with me in the NBA scoring 30 points a night and pulling down $15 million a year.  Back to reality, Dad:  think runway beacon, not NBA.

Anyway, the subject of my article was idols.  In all seriousness, I am concerned about the pervasive spread of idols in our culture.  Idols are not just statues.   As the scriptures explain over and over again, idols are material objects that people start caring about more than God.  In the Old Testament, idols led people to horrible acts of licentiousness.   Just think about how quickly the House of Israel abandoned God and Moses to chase after a golden calf.

I identified several idols in my own life that I have successfully exorcised.  Television worship, sports fanaticism and narcissism were my big issues.   Then I asked for your input.

One quick note:  I got more than 50 responses, and space does not allow me to print them all.  Several of you were quick to point out the idols of other people but could not come up with any of your own.  Stephen Covey would definitely give you some things to think about.  It’s the easiest thing in the world to find faults in others, but it’s much more difficult to get rid of the beam in your own eye.  See Matthew 7:1-5 for some even better advice.

Help, Grandma’s a video game addict!

Enjoyed your article! I’m a 57-year-old mother and grandmother and when I was in my 40s or early 50s I got addicted to a video game. I played this game 2-3 hours a day and since I was embarrassed to have my grown children see me play I’d hurry and put it away when I’d hear them come home. I didn’t play so much that my house became a pig sty or that I didn’t cook meals for my family; I just could have spend that time going to the temple or doing genealogy work or something else useful. But I can say now I haven’t played any video games for a year or more and I don’t really miss them. I’m thankful my husband doesn’t care for sports at all, but I have an adult son who worships at the church of the NFL. Hopefully, getting married will help, if he doesn’t marry a woman who is a sports nut, too! Thank you again for the article.

No name attached.

Are Christus statues idols?

Dear Brother Biddulph:

I enjoyed your article in Meridian Magazine.  I firmly believe that idolatry is quite prevalent in the Church today.  You mentioned a few personal ones, but perhaps you may want to write about the ones that have become institutionalized in the LDS Church.  Is not the  proliferation of pictures of the Savior in the same category?  Is not the Christus statue at Temple Square an idol?  Such statues are now in every visitor center and little ones are in many LDS homes. 

My neighbor makes such little Christus statues, and it is now the thing to present each child graduating from primary such a statue.  When my son got one, I immediately took it to the bishop and said, “we will not have such things in our home.  It is idolatry.”  He had a set of Joseph and Hyrum statues on his desk.  He said, “They inspire me.”  I quoted him the verses from Exodus 20.  He said not to mention my beliefs to anyone in the ward. The next Sunday we were forced to view a little Christus statue on the podium during a Primary Program.  And so it is . . .

Garry Young

Another warning for sports addicts.

I was shocked one day when I read an ad in a sports magazine.  It said basically, “come to church on Sunday, the sports stadium is your temple and the hot dogs and beer are our sacraments.”   The ad admitted what I had personally thought for years that sports were becoming a religion for some people.

No name attached

Worshipping at the buffet table

Hi there…

GREAT article and very timely. This past Sunday’s Gospel Doctrine lesson really hit me….the topic of the rich man talking with the Savior about how to inherit the Kingdom of God.

Jesus tells his disciples that it’s easier for a camel to go through the eye of the needle than for a rich man to enter Heaven. We discussed what riches meant….ANYTHING we’re blessed with that we start to think about more than God.

Which leads me to what my idol is…. FOOD. I am not extremely overweight, but I do have a weight problem and now at the age of 41 have found that I have high cholesterol among other things. The time has come for me to take care of my body and treat it with respect. In the past I have tried and tried to figure this food “relationship” that I struggle with.  I have determined that I turn to food for comfort or distraction to ease my mind when I’m worried or concerned with “many things”. I also love thinking about cookies, and baking, and cooking…etc. It comes partly with being a mom of 4 children and a wife to a wonderful husband who I enjoy the good treats I whip up. However, again, there is the realization that the wonderful GIFT AND BLESSING of food from our Heavenly Father has turned into an idol I run to instead of to the very source of that blessing.

That’s all…I just wanted to write and let you know your article touched me and has added to the motivation to get on with life…..ENJOY FOOD in times of real hunger, but not get into the downward spiral of food worship.

Thanks,
Kim

No wonder the Joker in some decks of cards looks like a devil.

Dear Brother Biddulph,

I have just read your article in “Meridian” and am happy to see this topic addressed as I have often pondered just what “idol” worshipping in our times really meant.

I’d like to share this experience with having a computer in the home. Not long after the computer came into our home, I was shown the computer card games that came with the “works” program and started to play them. They were fun and challenging! It was relaxing to sit down and play them and before I knew it two or three hours would pass by. This went on for several weeks, maybe into months, till one day I heard the Spirit say to me that I spend more time at the computer playing games than reading the scriptures or genealogy or the things that will get me to the celestial kingdom. Wake up call!! So I made a covenant with the Lord that I wouldn’t play them any more. It was tempting at the beginning but slowly I forgot all about them. That was several years ago.

Then one evening last fall when we were in process of retrieving a crashed hard drive, I was introduced to a new game and I broke the covenant I had made. For a few days I was back to playing again. Then the Spirit reminded me of the covenant I had broken. Did I feel guilty!! Well it was repentance time again and so I recommitted myself to that covenant of not playing computer card games. Back on track. Well, along came a jigsaw site and I could lose myself in electronic jigsaws for a few hours at a time again. Again the Spirit pricked my soul to repentance. What I have learned from this experience, is that we have to watch our behavior patterns for those things that we start to seek daily and become obsessive. And to pay attention to the Spirit!!!

Sincerely,
Jennifer M. Agar

I think one idol I may be contending with is a solitaire game on the computer called “free cell”. I find it extremely challenging and maybe even obsessing. I spend about 1-2 hours a night playing. However, while playing, I am listening to Christian music and programming on a local Christian radio (I don’t have LDS resources in south Florida). Somehow, I don’t feel as “guilty” since I am doing two things at the same time and one of those things is directed toward praising our Heavenly Father. Guess I am rationalizing big time. However, this activity has replaced my watching 3-4 hours of TV every night. I used to do that prior to Christmas of this past year. Is there hope for me?

Georgeanna T. Vagias
Opa Locka, Florida

Consider the lilies of the field.

Dear Brother Biddulph,

I truly enjoyed your thought provoking article (and several of the others you’ve written also). Thank you for getting me thinking and growing.

I sometimes watch too much TV and spend too much time playing computer games, but my biggest idol has to be worrying. I worry about everything. If I don’t have something to worry about I can find something to worry about. Could kidnappers come in the windows? Is the freckle on my arm really skin cancer in disguise? And yet the scriptures clearly tell me not to worry. “Why are ye fearful, O ye of little faith?” the Savior asked (Matt. 8:26). I’m giving up worrying.

Worrying takes me away from the Lord and shows a remarkable lake of respect, love, and honor for someone who has done SO much for me. Trust the Lord is my new motto. When I find myself falling back into that bad habit I count my blessings — they are legion — and the worries melt away. “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” (Phil. 4:13)

Thank you for helping me get a little bit further up the path.

Sincerely,

Cathy Ferguson
South Shore Ward
Plainview NY Stake

Shopping?  How could shopping possibly be an idol?

Mine include:

Shopping in NYC for designer clothes I can’t get in Boise, Idaho. Buying books, especially church books, which I secretly hope will give me insights, instead of reading and pondering the scriptures themselves. Cable news channels, although I am becoming less enamored with their confrontational, loud style. Enough already!

Joan Nicholson

Alright, alright, enough about the Rogaine.

Why don’t you use latex gloves when you apply the Rogaine?

Jane Hallstrom

Get out of the comfort zone

Maybe this is a common one but I find myself too often worshipping the idol of my comfort.  I trust in what makes me comfortable (NOT openly sharing the gospel with non-member friends, NOT working as hard as I could in terms of school, work, and housework type duties).  I spend too much time on things that are already within my comfort level, such as popular novels and movies, rather than reading my scriptures (because the language is sometimes difficult AND  because I have aleady read all of the scriptures once, they most times seem boring and, therefore, outside of the comfort zone).  The phrase “comfort zone” has become somewhat of a catch-phrase, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t something you need to leave behind.

Ben Mason

Honey, now YOU get to have Shaquille O’Neal-sized hands.(I hope this guy isn’t a marriage counselor)

Nice article.  Really liked it.  But Rogaine is cheap now (they have generic brands), and you should have your wife rub it in, it could be great quality time together!!

Name withheld for the writer’s own good

Those fashion promenades sure look like idol worship to me (see Isaiah 3:16-24)

Hi Geoffrey,

I really enjoy your articles in Meridian as they are always thought provoking and make me think about my commitments. I specifically enjoyed this last one “What are your idols?”

I own a small clothing company called Modest by Design, and truly enjoy what I do. We get to travel to different clothing conventions and fashion shows and watch the offerings that the main-stream designers are coming out with. It is so interesting to me to watch these seemingly godless (and usually rather strange) people, and to know that we, as people of God, by and large let them dictate what our fashions will be. I am in awe that people who otherwise seem so very dedicated to following God and his commandments follow fashion with such wild abandonment.

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy clothing and dressing nicely. The only problem is that fashion has become an idol to too many us. When we put our desires to be “in fashion” above our desires to follow God, we have created that idol.

We have seen many Latter Day Saints and their families successfully go against the trends, i.e., the Kansas City Young Women, but where are the rest of us? Are we bending our standards to follow the world’s fashions, or will we stand together and create our own fashion, as well as bend the current fashions to our standards?

I guess this all fits in with the narcissistic part of your article, but I just wanted to throw in my two cents worth!

Heather Gist

The only thing you should use the computer for is to look at Meridian

I spend too many hours a day in front of my computer. There are all those delightful articles ?. Then there’s the e-mail from friends and family. Don’t forget about the news alerts and foreign news articles. Then there are the five or so “This is really fun, you should read” type emails that come each week. That’s not to mention the innumerable junk emails that need to be cleaned out every day. I am simply too “connected” right now, and need to “pull the plug”. The mere fact that I’m taking time to respond to your article is evidence of this addiction. AAAAGggghh!!!!

Jon Allen

Tasmanian idols

Hi Bro. Geoffrey,

I like this idea. Yeah, confess all your sins and thank goodness you never have to see me. A bit like the Catholic priest sitting in his box.

The TV idol seems a bit bashed to pieces so I will go for another idol.   Being married and staying at home. Wow what can you do to take your mind off kids and housework and still sound sane.

Well let’s look at what other Mormon Mum’s do. Yes a lot of them make quilts.

Well that sounded like fun but no one ever told me it was addictive. Every time I went shopping I just had to have another piece of fabric. I was sure I was going to use it somewhere in one of my many quilts I was going to make. Well my fabric stash grew and grew!

A couple of years later I convinced my husband that I could open up a quilt shop at home and make some money. Yes, he fell for that one too. No longer was I bringing home 1/4 meters of fabrics. I was being sent boxes and boxes of fabrics and didn’t even have to leave home. Was I happy? I was ecstatic.

A couple of years later the shop wasn’t doing too well so I decided to sell most of the fabric but simply couldn’t part with about 200 meters of fabric which I still have in my closet today.

Well nothing really stopped me dead in my tracks and said, “hey, you fabric worshipper, stop buying fabric”. I was just gently veered into another direction.

Our ward was in need of an early morning seminary teacher and after two months, still no one had volunteered. I loved the Book of Mormon and had studied it in Seminary and Institute. I had also just recently returned from Central America where I did a six-week tour of the “Book of Mormon Land.”

By now I was convinced more than ever that the book was real. Not only did I feel the “witness” but I also saw the evidence. I was just itching to teach, but I was also the Young Women’s President at the time. Time just passed and still no one volunteered. I just could not contain my self I had to speak to the Bishop. Well I was accepted and I have been teaching for two years now. It has become so much part of my life. I love the kids I teach, I love the scriptures and I love the drive to church everyday. What more can I say.

My sewing machine is now packed away and my seminary books and scriptures have taken over my table in my sewing room. I have renamed my sewing room my seminary classroom. Do I miss my fabric and quilting? Not one bit. I have done it all and don’t have the will to find another excuse to buy any more fabric!

I have found something else that totally consumes my life. I live for it and not only do I teach one class a day but two a day. My daughter cannot attend early morning seminary because we live in the country and she has to catch an early bus to school so I teach her after school everyday too. We love the time together and this is just the best. I now am able to relate to my teenage daughter as well.

Well after many years and without me realizing it, my idol has definitely changed. The same vigor and passion I had for fabric I now have for Seminary.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to reaffirm this to myself.

Patricia Yost
Crabtree, Tasmania, Australia

Hey, how much for that bargain idol in the window?

Excellent article. My most prominent idol is lately becoming strikingly clear to me. I used to pride myself in being able to find a bargain. If I needed something I would wait it out until I found the best price. It saved our family lots of money over the years and I’ve always made sure that nothing was wasted including food, clothes or other usable items. If we didn’t need it, I found it a good home.

But, now all our kids are gone; not too many needs left as we have everything a middle aged couple could want or need. So, why do I continue to shop for the bargain? It has become a habit I suppose. I find myself bringing things home that I thought I had to have because I could afford it and because it was on sale! Really on sale! The better the discount the more I bought and the better I felt about myself. Now, as I see “stuff” piling up around me I can see my problem clearly. I need to find a new hobby and break the habit of bargain shopping. Our house can’t hold anymore and I could use the time and the money in more worthy pursuits. It will be hard, as I feel myself pulled continually into the stores. I’m trying hard everyday to hang onto that steering wheel and keep it heading straight for home. I think I’ll need some prayers to help me, put I can do it. Thanks again.

Carol

Television, internet and work – the most common idols of all

I just finished reading you insightful article regarding idols. I must admit that the black box in my home has become the almighty idol. My children would rather watch it memorized by its idiotic out pouring of drabble than to play outside. Regrettably in Phoenix where we reside, soon it will become too hot to play in the sun.

As an early morning seminary teacher I had to force a change in my daily routing of returning home from work and planting myself in front of the TV. At one time I arranged the dining room table is such a way as to be able to view the TV from my chair. Time and time again I would become upset when during the excitement of the moment my children would ask something of me. It never failed that they wanted to talk during the best part of the show. Now my return home routine does not include the television. I listen to NPR which is a collection of news stories to get my news fix and if the commute home results in anger I pop in a church tape and sing loudly the hymns playing from my radio. Upon my arrival at home, I great the children and my wife, eat dinner and catch up with the happenings of the day. Once play time, baths, family scripture study and prayer are over and the children are tightly tucked in bed, I retire to my room and study my lesson for the following day. The test of my resolve is coming as I only have two more weeks of school. Then I will have “free time.”

Another Idol not mentioned is the Internet. I know many, many people who spend hour after hour on the “net” sometimes in a good cause, but sometimes in questionable causes. I have seen several friends suffer with the ill effects of the Internet as they have turned to the more evil sources of entertainment. For me and my house we have resolved this one by subscribing to a service that allows only 10 hours a month of access to the Internet. I also have a slow connection which helps. In fact I am using my work email.

Which brings me to another Idol. Work. I can go on. I do want to thank you for your article. I know what a struggle it is to not to worship the false gods around us. A long time ago I read a book that helps me. It was called the Divine Center by Steven Covey. The main gist of the book was to place the Lord in the center of your life. Not easy to do but well worth the effort.

Thanks for allowing me to express my views to you.

Trent Foulk
Phoenix AZ

Thanks for all of the great letters!  I wish I had space to print them all, but this is a representative sample.

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