What do Animists believe? What is Animism?

from the old testament

• Genesis 1:1 says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” This establishes that God alone is eternal and that everything else exists because He brought it into being.
• Through the prophet Isaiah, God declares, “I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God” (Isaiah 45:5). God alone has the power to create; His creation is distinct from Him and does not share in His being or power.
• Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof,” clarifying that creation cannot possess independent spiritual authority because it belongs to the LORD. Ownership implies both rule and dependence. Because creation is dependent on God, it neither acts on its own nor responds to worshipers. Treating parts of creation as spiritually powerful assigns to them a role that Scripture reserves for God alone.
• For that reason, Israel was repeatedly warned not to direct reverence toward created things, including celestial bodies or pagan worship (Deuteronomy 4:19; 12:2). Likewise, Scripture rejected spiritual devotion to idols. An idol is a manmade, lifeless object that cannot see, hear, speak, or act (Psalm 115:4–8; Isaiah 44:9–20). Though idol worship is not the same as animistic worship, it is like it in that it indicates that acreated thing can have spiritual power. Scripture condemns any form of worship that is not directed toward the true God.

from the new testament

• Paul confronts the error of animism when discussing idol worship. In 1 Corinthians 8:4–6, he explained that idols have “no real existence” (1 Corinthians 8:4) and that “for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist” (1 Corinthians 8:6).
• The New Testament explains why such beliefs persist: humankind’s unrighteous, which leads us to “suppress the truth” (Romans 1:18).Humankind’s sinfulness leads to exchanging “the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things” (Romans 1:22). This misdirected worship arises because fallen humanity seeks meaning and control apart from God.

implications for today

We see plenty of “signs” in creation, and they all point to a Creator. It’s foolish and dangerous to confuse the two. God is not inside the world. He is the Creator who stands over it, rules it, and sustains it. Creation is beautiful and can be mysterious, but it all points to Him. Creation can’t guide you or help you through life. Only God can.

The Creator–creature distinction means that, as part of His creation, you are responsible to Him. Every sin you commit is an act of rebellion against Him. As the Creator, He says how we are to live, and any deviation is grounds for His judgment.

God knows, however, that because you were born sinful, you cannot live in a way that pleases Him. It is because of that, and to display His mercy, that God sent His Son, Jesus. Jesus is fully God, but He entered creation by adding humanity. As the God-man, Jesus lived perfectly and never rebelled against God. Because He is perfectly righteous, He was able to die for other humans, being the only sacrifice capable of appeasing God’s wrath.

True worship, then, begins by recognizing God as perfectly holy and ourselves as corrupted by sin. For God to accept your worship despite your sin, you must repent of your sin and trust that Jesus’ death was sufficient to pay your judgment. Only after doing that can you enter into a relationship with Him.