Hero Worship

Thats interesting, and I don't know any of your answers, but I will definitely keep an eye on this to see what everyone think s about this.
When I was leading the women's ministry, we did a weekly bible study, we usually had Beth Moore. Now theres nothing particularly wrong with Beth Moore, she wants you to keep your attention on Jesus not her. But I noticed women wanting to do a lot more Beth then anything else. And I refused to allow us to it, we were not going to become the Beth Moore fan club. Now I am not leader, and thankfully the new leader mixing i other good authors as well to keep a balance. I can see how having a favorite christian author can easily turn in to some kind of hero worship.

 

Well this is my opinion...

Even while i was a christian up until recently I used to consider my favourite artists as my idols like they were rock gods, I set my philosophies and ideals around their beliefs. This was when I was less mature, after I really "met" christ after he confronted me about living a life that was ungodly (smoking pot, drinking, smoking, partying and etc) He really changed my life. It was a really long process but Christ has accomplised a lot in my life. Like two years back I stop idolizing muscians because I was convicted that only God should have that much importance in my life where I base my life on his teachings and beliefs!!!
YES I THINK IT IS WRONG TO IDOLIZE MUSCIANS!!!

 

While I have loved certain people and even envied them for various reasons, I have never idolized anyone. The only one I idolize is Jesus. Because of that I have no answers to your questions.

 

In many ways, we have a bookstore culture in which those who reach the best seller list are immediately heros for us to follow. This goes for pastors, authors, musicians, etc. The interesting thing is that people will like someone without knowing anything of their actual theology.

Take popular Christian musicians for example. How often do the listeners even know what denomenation the person belongs to, let alone their particular beliefs. I know of one rather famous Christian musician who wrote numerous worship songs and radio hits. He was very popular, yet he believed it was wrong to tell someone of another faith that they needed Christ. He believed that God worked through many faiths. He was very much into native-American mysticism. I had some friends who met him and were shocked when they heard him cuss, saw him drink beer (no, please, let's not take this to another discussion of alcohol), and heard him talk about how native americans had much more spirituality that Christians. My response to them was, why are you shocked. He never said otherwise. You just assumed he believed like you because you enjoy his music.

As Christians, we must be discipled and we must disciple one another beyond the Christian culture.

 

This is a real issue and as you've already figured out, it is not limited to youth culture. Many of us have a favorite pastor who may or may not be the pastor of the church that holds our membership. Innocently, it happens because some folks are more dynamic and appear more authentic than others.

The only way to avoid the dangers in this is to make sure that your youth are grounded in Scripture. Of course, for this to happen, your youth must be redeemed. Once your youth are passionate about God's glory and understand the place of Scripture in evaluating claims, then the hero worship thing will fade.

Now, if the hero is grounded in the Word (in word and deed) and speaks/sings Biblical truth to your youth, you don't really have a problem, do you?

 

In the opening post:

1. At what point is a line crossed from "enthusiastic supporter" to one who engages in hero worship?
2. How do you discourage "hero worship" from taking place with your group you lead? (I'm interested in all responses, but especially those who work with students)
3. What responsibility does the person that's "idolized" have for taking themselves off the pedestal? What should they do to discourage "hero worship?"

Perhaps this is a reason Jesus instructed Christians (Matt. 23:7-10) not to address another Christian by an elevated title, i.e. Rabbi, Father,or Teacher. In todays's jargon, that would be Pastor or Reverend. Good leaders will discourage the use of such titles in addressing another Christian.

 

rbell,

awesome OP! You are being fair and forthright and Im impressed.

I, too, see this from an insider's point of view, not so much with youth though. Over the years Ive even had some ideas on the questions you asked.

1)
IMO, a line is crossed whenever the leader is placed in such a position that he is never to be questioned, even on minor issues. There are some leaders (preachers) who we trust of course, we believe they are right Biblically so we have some trust with what they say. Thats understandable. BUT, when you refuse to even consider that they might be wrong than a line has been crossed. I have seen this taken to such an extreme that the person's outline cannot even be corrected for grammatical errors when transcribing to a typewritten SS lesson. That is over the line.

It is "hero worship" when you refer to their life as illustrations of how we ought to live more than you refer to Biblical examples. I don't really have a problem with using someone's life as a positive example, after all, God did this in the Bible, too. This could be mitigated by also including a negative example, but "hero worship" would never include a negative about the "hero" being held up as an example. This is a problem, too.

It has crossed a line in your youth group when the teens talk more about wanting to live/do/be "just like (hero)", INSTEAD of them aspiring to be more like Christ.

2)
I would discourage this first of all by getting them more focused on Bible study rather than "hero's life study." My teaching illustrations would come out of the Bible more and I'd avoid using that person as an example for awhile.

I think alot of hero worship comes out of the idea that "if Im following the right MAN, than I must be right with GOD." ANd it is that wrong notion that ought to be addressed quickly. The students need to have their own relationship with God, and not focus so much on their hero that they think his relationship with Christ translates onto them somehow.

I would not, however, criticize the hero, as all this does is create defensiveness in the listener, and they will quickly tune you out. With proper Biblical teaching they grow up, and eventually realize their hero is just as human as they are. But because they have that Biblical foundation under them, this realization will not bring bitterness and disillusionment with it.

3)
The responsibility of the hero is difficult. Everyone I know who is getting "hero worship" is adamant that they NOT receive this attention. Yet all that creates is more admiration for their humility! I believe that sometimes they get where they like the attention (even unconsciously), and the hero needs to be aware that their flesh enjoys that attention just like anyone else would.
Some steps I see that could be taken are
- use other people (instead of your own life) as an example of how to live right. Get your "followers" focused on other people around them who are just like they are, yet are overcoming struggles.
- use instances in your own life in which you failed, or had a struggle and another person helped you.
- when you see the hero worshipping start, do what you can to take yourself out of the picture (ie. don't let them name things after you, etc.)
The difficult thing for the hero is that almost anything they do to minimize themself is seen as yet another example of having a humble spirit and not setting oneself up in pride....so it creates even more "hero worship".



drfuss,
I can't say I agree with your assessment of it being about titles. My main experience with hero worship is in the case where the "hero" refused to be called by any "title" other than "brother", a title shared by all the men in the church. And his predecessor has continued that tradition. Neither one of them was/is called Pastor even though that is the position they held/hold in a very large, prominent church.


(sorry about the length of this post!)

 

If your hero is Christ then it is not wrong.

Too many substitute the opinions of others for the hard work of studying the Bible.

 

one red flag to me would be if their reason for believing things is "because Charles Stanley said so...."

 

another would be if my friend decides Im "not good company", "not a 'fundamentalist'", or "not willing to listen to God's Word" just because I disagree with and/or dare to question Charles Stanley.