Idolatry

Idolatry - the worship of anything other than the one true God, whether a carved image, a false god, or one's own desires and ambitions elevated to ultimate importance - is treated in Scripture as the root sin underlying nearly every other, since it dethrones God from his rightful place. The first two of the Ten Commandments directly forbid it, the prophets relentlessly confront Israel's repeated lapses into it, and the New Testament broadens the concept to include covetousness, which Paul calls idolatry, and anything a person trusts or serves in place of God. The Bible's story can be read as God's persistent work to draw his people away from idols, whether literal or of the heart, back to exclusive devotion to himself.