Last week, I defined an idol as something other than God that we are tempted to worship, emulate, or believe will save us.  I’m specifically interested over this next month in discerning what the most obvious American Idols are and how they have distorted our understanding of the gospel and what it means to follow Jesus.  For each idol, I plan on uncovering its temple so that we can unmask this idolatry in all of its phony glory.  So without further ado, here is Idol #1:
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I’ve heard it said that “fish don’t realize they are wet” – it’s just the world in which they live.  In the same way, it is easy to be unaware that we are reading the Bible as 20th century Americans with a 20th century American way of looking at the world.  As American fish living in an American sea, we have grown up with a culture that plays a significant role in shaping our theology and outlook on life.  Which leads me to an important question:  how have we obscured the gospel of Jesus Christ by looking at it through lenses that are democratic, capitalistic, scientific, and American-dream seeking (among other lenses)?  
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