- Sep 29, 2022
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Idols and narcissism has always been around even way back in ancient days.
But with social media like Tiktok, Instagram, and Youtube etc., it seems that
we are at levels of narcissism we have never witnessed in history before.
Now don't get me wrong. It's great to see people love themselves. But when you
are young and beautiful (because arguably anyone that is physically in their youth
IS physically beautiful and we all had that once too), it seems that we worship
or idolize ourselves to a scale unprecedented in history. Literally all you see
are selfies, face filters, young girls and guys posting themselves how beautiful
they are, how great their faces are, make up, fashion, and how good looking they
are in different sceneries etc. I remember when I was 12 or 16 and I had youtful
skin with no wrinkles, a glow, sure even if u have some acne here and there, you
still have that soft supple flawless skin and nice hair, nice body. Naturally as we
age, our physical bodies always deteriorate relative to it's peak physical youth.
We gain weight in our faces and our bodies, our skin gets wrinkly, age spots form
everywhere, warts, and bumps, and our hair thins or falls out, hair starts growing
out of places you never knew could etc.
Now of course, in your older age, idolizing/narcissism takes a different form. You
don't show off your physical beauty anymore because you don't really have it
compared to a teenager / early 20s, but you do have money, or you start to show
off your car, your house, your travels, your investments, your career, your titles,
achievements etc.
I can see why God made the 1st commandment "Thou shall not make/have any idols
before me". It is the greatest problem I see today in terms of worshipping ourselves
or other idols and not God.
Is there any resolution to this? Is there any way for us to deal or handle this? I don't think there is because ultimately we can't do anything about it. It's their choice to idolize themselves if they want. I mean, there is a solution to it but it's not a great one. If major war breaks out where you live and life is reduced to shambles and desolation, then you won't be idolizing your fashion or good looks or superficial things like that. You'll only be focused on how to find your next meal, shelter, clothes, medicine, and protecting your loved ones. I don't mean maybe that is what we need to stop all this narcissism and idolatry but in some twisted way, I feel like that is the only way to get us back to the basics and focus on what is important in life and not spending 8 hours a day looking at our own faces and recording it to show it off to millions of viewers each day.
I need the love of Jesus to soften my heart and help me because this really upsets me and bothers me a lot. Yes, if I'm not young and beautiful anymore, there would be room for envy/jealousy. Yes, if I'm not rich and powerful even though I am older and should be, then there is room for jealousy/envy to those who do have it. So I do realize it's a personal problem I have within my own heart too and it seems there is no way to deal with it simply because you can't go around telling people not to be young and look beautiful and you can't go around telling people not to be old, wealthy and powerful. So even though narcissism is rampant and out of control in our media, this is more a "me" problem. I need prayer.
But with social media like Tiktok, Instagram, and Youtube etc., it seems that
we are at levels of narcissism we have never witnessed in history before.
Now don't get me wrong. It's great to see people love themselves. But when you
are young and beautiful (because arguably anyone that is physically in their youth
IS physically beautiful and we all had that once too), it seems that we worship
or idolize ourselves to a scale unprecedented in history. Literally all you see
are selfies, face filters, young girls and guys posting themselves how beautiful
they are, how great their faces are, make up, fashion, and how good looking they
are in different sceneries etc. I remember when I was 12 or 16 and I had youtful
skin with no wrinkles, a glow, sure even if u have some acne here and there, you
still have that soft supple flawless skin and nice hair, nice body. Naturally as we
age, our physical bodies always deteriorate relative to it's peak physical youth.
We gain weight in our faces and our bodies, our skin gets wrinkly, age spots form
everywhere, warts, and bumps, and our hair thins or falls out, hair starts growing
out of places you never knew could etc.
Now of course, in your older age, idolizing/narcissism takes a different form. You
don't show off your physical beauty anymore because you don't really have it
compared to a teenager / early 20s, but you do have money, or you start to show
off your car, your house, your travels, your investments, your career, your titles,
achievements etc.
I can see why God made the 1st commandment "Thou shall not make/have any idols
before me". It is the greatest problem I see today in terms of worshipping ourselves
or other idols and not God.
Is there any resolution to this? Is there any way for us to deal or handle this? I don't think there is because ultimately we can't do anything about it. It's their choice to idolize themselves if they want. I mean, there is a solution to it but it's not a great one. If major war breaks out where you live and life is reduced to shambles and desolation, then you won't be idolizing your fashion or good looks or superficial things like that. You'll only be focused on how to find your next meal, shelter, clothes, medicine, and protecting your loved ones. I don't mean maybe that is what we need to stop all this narcissism and idolatry but in some twisted way, I feel like that is the only way to get us back to the basics and focus on what is important in life and not spending 8 hours a day looking at our own faces and recording it to show it off to millions of viewers each day.
I need the love of Jesus to soften my heart and help me because this really upsets me and bothers me a lot. Yes, if I'm not young and beautiful anymore, there would be room for envy/jealousy. Yes, if I'm not rich and powerful even though I am older and should be, then there is room for jealousy/envy to those who do have it. So I do realize it's a personal problem I have within my own heart too and it seems there is no way to deal with it simply because you can't go around telling people not to be young and look beautiful and you can't go around telling people not to be old, wealthy and powerful. So even though narcissism is rampant and out of control in our media, this is more a "me" problem. I need prayer.
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