The first epistle of John closes with the significant admonition, "Little children, keep yourselves from idols" (I John 5:21). Though the beginning of idolatry is lost in the mists of antiquity, it undoubtedly had its root in ignorance and fear. Primitive peoples, understanding little of themselves or of the world about them, assumed that supernatural beings dwelt within the objects and mighty forces of nature by which they were surrounded. Accordingly, early religions were based upon the belief that these unseen and mysterious beings were endowed with power to confer or withhold both good and evil, and because of this power they were to be feared, worshiped, pleased, and propitiated. In the course of time symbolical representations of these deities were evolved and were worshiped in lieu of the gods which such symbols were supposed to represent. Thus one of the earliest forms of idolatry, image worship, entered human experience.
While idolatrous beliefs have changed forms, they have by no means disappeared from the earth. Does, for example, the dependence upon material methods of healing, the struggle for riches, or the lust for place, power, and prestige differ greatly from earlier idolatries, except in the forms assumed? Dependence upon any power apart from God violates the First Commandment and thus partakes of idolatry.
Christ Jesus taught and demonstrated the all-power and ever-presence of one infinite, perfect intelligence or Mind, God. When asked which was the greatest of all the Commandments, the Master replied (Matt. 22:37, 38): "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Had those who have claimed to follow this teaching understood and obeyed this first and greatest of all commandments, love for God would have brought about the justice, mercy, and loving-kindness which are indicated in the second commandment, and the command to love one's neighbor as oneself would have reached fulfillment.
