Interesting—iphone and idol begin with “i”.
Does that tell us something of a connection ?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Perhaps we should consider what makes an idol, and see if the iphone, or any cell phone, qualifies as an idol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(1) — An idol can be a statue or carved image that a person gives homage or special attention, with expectation of protection and blessings in return, acknowledging supernatural qualities with the idol.
(2) — An idol can be a person with so much power that he demands worship as a god.
(3) — An idol can be an unknown and unapproachable deity that makes followers perform unimaginable acts and rituals in hopes of pleasing it and appeasing its anger.
(4) — An idol can be an intangible entity that calls for, and consumes, a priority of our time and attention.
(5) — An idol can be something that we ‘can’t live without’ (we could, but painfully).
(6) — An idol can be identified and measured by what we do, or feel, or say when we lose it (do we ‘lose it’ when we lose it ?)
(7) — An idol can be what we treasure most or work hardest to acquire.
(8) — An idol can be another person, or ourself, or what we are capable of, or what we have accomplished.
(9) — An idol can be something we would not give up, or give away, to help someone less fortunate.
(10) — An idol can be any priority we pursue, with sacrifices over the top.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We might conclude that the above examples of idols don’t apply to us, and can’t possibly have any connection with our cell phones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maybe so, but we’re not done analyzing what idols have in common—and how people respond to their idols.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
— Idols have power over us, voluntary on our part, or involuntary.
— Idols call for, and get, a significant portion of our time or energy or money, or all three.
— Idols entice us (however innocently), and we get accustomed to dependence and allegiance.
— Idols can be like drugs, with godlike control over us.
— Idols take priority over relationships, and come between us and those we love (loved).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can the reader scrutinize each item above, with your cell phone in front of you ?
Re-read slowly, one at a time.
I leave the application to you, to make any changes necessary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(I hope this has been a word for thought for someone.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Interesting—iphone and idol begin with “i”.Does that tell us something of a connection ? Perhaps we should consider what makes an idol, and see if the iphone, or any cell phone, qualifies as an idol. (1) — An idol can be a statue or carved image that a person gives homage or special attention, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,2,3,4,14,7,9,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8153","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-educational","category-faith_based","category-family","category-financial","category-health","category-inspire_lifter","category-political-cultural","category-time"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8153"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8153"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8153\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8154,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8153\/revisions\/8154"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8153"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8153"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.awordforthought.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8153"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}