American Idol(atry): How Paul's Words to the Corinthians Speaks to American Culture

American Idol is not only a talent competition, it is also a helpful analogy for Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians.

Recently I have been watching too much television. My theory as to why I am doing this stems from the lack of sunlight during the winter months tricking me into seeking the artificial glow of devices big and small when the sun sets way too early for my liking. After running out of my favorite shows and without the life support that is the steady stream of college football, I turned to watching an episode of American Idol.

In its 14th season Idol has become a staple of Fox's primetime programming. I watched a lot of one of the early seasons when Ruben Studdard (a fellow native of the 205) won the competition, at least partially because of my friends and I dialing up the voting line. While I do not dislike the show, after watching the Voice, I am "over" American Idol. Still nothing else was on, so I watched an episode.

What I discovered perhaps more than anything else is that we have a serious "idol complex" (haha) in America. Sure, talented people audition for the show. Of course, people's back stories are awe-inspiring, if a little predictable. Yes, Ryan Seacrest's hair still looks great. However, the main point I took away focused upon the number of people going on the show to audition who were more excited to meet the talented hosts of the show than to potentially fulfill a dream of their own.

When I was a child I remember seeing a video on MTV that showed people actually fainting when they saw Michael Jackson at a concert. I did not and do not understand this, as much as I love his music, I cannot comprehend this response. Now, with the superfluous number of celebrities running around I would hypothesize that people would be less inclined to show this type of excitement when seeing a star; however, the opposite appears to be true. With the advent of social media and people's desire to show photographic or video evidence that they met someone our celebrity worshipping culture has created this societal urge to produce more and more talent to worship. Our idol worshipping might be at an all time high.

Now we all have idols that attract us like a moth to a flame (mine focuses primarily upon getting the latest gadgets), but what can a responsible Christian do in the face of American Idolatry? Our New Testament reading for this coming Sunday (a portion of Paul's First Letter to the Corinthians) focuses upon what a community of believers does when they observe people falling prey to following idols. The wisdom of Paul's words echoes into today's culture where our own churches face as many distracting idols as any other age in the history of Christianity.

Paul quotes from another source, perhaps from the Corinthians themselves, writing "No idol in the world really exists," for he believed "there is no God but one." He goes on to elaborate that even though none of these idols existed some members still got distracted by them. Even those who were previously idol-obsessed may have known that idols were not really God, but the practices that went along with worshipping idols led them down a dangerous path. We may think this is silly, but the food sacrificed to idols happened in a ritual that also involved concubines, shiny objects, and overindulgence of alcohol. A modern analogy would be a person in recovery who previously got drunk or high watching football games with friends going back to those same buddies to watch football. Maybe the football is not bad, but what about the other surrounding activities? Could this person avoid the temptation.

For the record, I have no problem with American Idol. I might like the Voice better, but my hold up comes when any activity (even keeping up with the latest technology) distracts us and even puts a stumbling block on the pathway to a closer relationship with God. Paul tells us that if we are committing some action that causes another member of our Christian community to stumble on this journey, then we must address this issue. We may even have to give up something we love, or at least not do it when it deters others from deepening their relationship with God. Good thing Lent is right around the corner, when we can root out those secret idols by taking on some new discipline. Until then, what idol is present in your community of faith that keeps on tripping people?