As much as we would like to claim that idolatry is an open-and-shut case, the truth is, there is a lot of emotion that goes into this subject.
Consider these verses in Deuteronomy 13. At first glance, they argue that anyone who teaches idolatry, falls into idolatry, or tries to get you to become an idolater should be put to death. Immediately. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.
But what if that person who tries to convince you to follow after other gods is your wife? Or your son? What does that situation look like in real life?
I’ve been a minister long enough to recognize the failings here in others’ lives and (especially) my own. We recognize what a sin is. That’s the easy part. The difficulty comes in looking into others’ eyes and telling them that what they’re doing is wrong.
We make all sorts of exceptions for them. We say that maybe they were just misunderstood, or they’re going through a rough patch, or they didn’t actually mean what they said. Because of that, we excuse away their behavior.
Don’t get me wrong: Grace is real and absolutely needs to be practiced often. But if someone is stubborn and deliberately going the wrong direction, we have to take action.
Sometimes that action looks like disfellowship (1 Corinthians 5). Sometimes that action looks like talking to them in private (Matthew 18). But we have to do something to help them fix it, or, as a last resort, deal with the relationship ourselves.
I’ve seen people take the opposite approach. Instead of dealing with the sinner, they’ll justify the sin. False doctrines are often the result of people trying to reinterpret the Scriptures in light of a loved one.
That’s what makes Deuteronomy 13:6-11 so difficult. The issue is not dealing with a random heretic; the person trying to get you to sin is a dear friend or close relative. Intellectually, we know what we should do, but emotionally, we struggle to make the right decision.
The Text doesn’t make this any easier on us, either. Deuteronomy 13:9 says that, in the moment when our loved one is executed, “[our] hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hand of all the people.”
So not only are you to call out the sin, but you’re the first person to execute them as well.
I don’t know if I could carry that load. If my wife and I were talking late at night, and she remarked that our friend Bill enjoyed his religion (whatever it may be) and maybe, just maybe, we should give it a try, what would I do?
I pray that I would have the strength to not only refuse false worship, but refuse it often. And if she was emphatic, handle it more deliberately.
But if we were under the Old Law (which we’re not, I understand), would I have the courage to take her before the elders and testify against her? When the time came, could I throw the first stone?
Perhaps this section reveals why Israel had such a hard time with idolatry in their history. It’s not their outright rejection of God as much as it is subtle allowance of falsehood that crept in over time, eventually leading to a rejection of God.
If so, it explains a lot. And if so, it should warn us of the reality of temptation.