I grew up in a Hindu home. I know the morning prayers, the incense, the garlands and the devotion families give to their gods. I’m not writing to insult anyone I love. I’m writing because I believe the God who made us has spoken about idols, and it would be wrong to stay silent.
So this is my plea to my Hindu friends and family: please stop worshipping idols, and turn to the God who is alive.
1. Idols neither hear nor speak
The Bible is blunt about what an idol is.
“Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: They have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not. They have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not: neither speak they through their throat. They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them.” (Psalm 115:4-8)
Think about what happens in front of an idol. You speak, and it does not answer. You weep, and it does not see your tears. Someone made it, someone installed it, and someone cleans, dresses and carries it.
The prophets said the same:
“What profiteth the graven image that the maker thereof hath graven it; the molten image, and a teacher of lies, that the maker of his work trusteth therein, to make dumb idols? Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.” (Habakkuk 2:18-19)
“They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good.” (Jeremiah 10:5)
An idol is carried on shoulders, but the true God carries His people. Isaiah describes the difference: those who carry their god on their shoulders “cry unto him, yet can he not answer, nor save him out of his trouble.” (Isaiah 46:7)
Many of us bow to something that cannot lift a finger to help us on the worst day of our lives.
2. Idol worship angers God
Many people assume that all worship pleases God as long as it is sincere. The Bible says otherwise. The very first commandments are about this:
“Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God.” (Exodus 20:3-5)
God is not jealous in the petty way a human is. He is jealous the way a husband is when his wife gives her love to another, because He made us, loves us and wants us for Himself. Scripture describes how deeply this grieves Him:
“They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.” (Deuteronomy 32:16)
“For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their graven images.” (Psalm 78:58)
“Cursed be the man that maketh any graven or molten image, an abomination unto the LORD, the work of the hands of the craftsman, and putteth it in a secret place.” (Deuteronomy 27:15)
The Lord is not being cruel. A loving Father is grieved when His children give His honor to something that cannot love them back. The question for every one of us is whether we will keep making Him angry or turn around.
3. Behind the idol, the Bible says, there is something dark
This is the hardest part to say, and I say it because Scripture does. The Bible teaches that idol worship is not neutral, and that spiritual powers opposed to God receive the worship given to idols. This is a claim of faith, from the Bible, and I am presenting it as such.
“They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not.” (Deuteronomy 32:17)
“Yea, they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto devils.” (Psalm 106:37)
Paul says it plainly in the New Testament. An idol itself is nothing, but what happens behind it is real:
“But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils. Ye cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord’s table, and of the table of devils.” (1 Corinthians 10:20-21)
The last book of the Bible describes people who refused to repent, “that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood: which neither can see, nor hear, nor walk.” (Revelation 9:20)
The Bible also warns that deception is attractive, because “Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light” (2 Corinthians 11:14). Something can look beautiful, ancient and peaceful and still lead us away from the truth. Many Hindus who worship sincerely do not intend to honor anything evil, and I believe that. But the Bible says that sincerity does not change who is truly receiving the worship.
“But my family has done this for generations”
I understand this the most. For many of us, leaving idols means disappointing parents, upsetting relatives and facing the question, “Why are you leaving your religion?” But Scripture says something about generational tradition. Peter wrote to believers who had come out of it:
“Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers; But with the precious blood of Christ.” (1 Peter 1:18-19)
Paul told the people of Athens, who were surrounded by idols:
“Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent.” (Acts 17:29-30)
God has been patient with ignorance. But now He has made Himself known in Jesus Christ, and He calls everyone, everywhere, to turn.
The God who can hear you
The most beautiful part of this message is not that idols are false. It is that there is a God who is real, and who hears.
“The LORD is nigh unto all them that call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.” (Psalm 145:18)
“Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.” (Jeremiah 33:3)
You don’t need to climb a hill, buy an offering or hire a priest. You can speak to Him right now, in your own words, and He will hear you.
What God did about our sin
We have all fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 3:23), and sin has consequences. No idol, ritual, pilgrimage or good deed can cancel it. But God did what we could not do:
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:8)
Jesus Christ, the sinless Son of God, died on the cross for our sins, was buried, and rose again on the third day. Salvation is not earned by ritual or effort. It is a gift:
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” (Ephesians 2:8-9)
An invitation
If this has stirred something in your heart, I invite you to make the same turn the early believers made:
“Ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; And to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.” (1 Thessalonians 1:9-10)
“That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” (Romans 10:9)
You can pray something like this:
“Lord Jesus, I admit that I have sinned and that I can’t save myself. I believe You died on the cross for me and rose again. I turn away from every idol and every false god. Forgive me, come into my life and be my Lord and Savior. Amen.”
If you prayed that, tell a Christian friend or find a Bible-believing church, and start reading the Gospel of John. You don’t have to walk this road alone.
The idols are silent. The living God has spoken, and His name is Jesus.
Glory to Jesus Christ, the one true and living God.