The Holiness Conundrum Part 1

To those who subscribe to extra biblical teachings on the topic of holiness, whether or not it can be attained, or whether or not we ought to pursue it, the entire thing can be a real head scratcher. Because men would rather believe the words of other men than the Word of God, there are entire passages of Scripture individuals conveniently avoid, or refuse to read, because to do so would mean to be confronted with the reality that what they believe is contrary to what the Bible says.

 

Today’s modern, sophisticated, open minded, all inclusive, all embracing, tolerant Christian does not like the notion of holiness, nor do they take kindly to the idea that the Bible tells them they must be holy in all their conduct. As such, they’ve taken it upon themselves to put forth the idea that holiness is either that elusive, unattainable thing that we can get within reach of, but never quite acquire, or that man has no input, or contribution when it comes to the notion of holiness in his life.

To those embracing the new doctrine, holiness is not some restrictive thing wherein we are called upon to embrace such antiquated practices as self-control, mortification of the flesh, or self-denial, but in a mind bending feat of mental acrobatics, they insist that we are simply made holy without ever aspiring to holiness, and in spite of any habitual sin we might still be clinging to in our day to day lives.

You can live however you want, do whatever you want, conduct yourself in whatever vile manner you want, and you’re still holy, and nothing you can do can take away that holiness that you’ve done nothing to acquire, or changed nothing in your life to attain.

It’s basically the best of both worlds, wherein you can roll in the mud with the rest of the hell bound masses, and still sit at the King’s table pretending to have the whitest of garments on, enjoying the benefits of being called a son or daughter of the most High God.

Granted, we’ve become a generation which subsists on a steady diet of platitudes and one-liners, and have boiled intellectual discourse down to the 140 characters allowed by Twitter. Hence the reason things are going so smashingly in this country, and why so few are bothering to stir from their slumber to see the train nearing the brick wall.

I have no great expectations of the world. Those in darkness will live as those in darkness, but I do have some expectation of those calling themselves redeemed and sanctified, and one of the expectations I have is that they be diligent when it comes to the Word of God, and God’s expectations of them as His bondservants.

We can’t play it fast and loose when it comes to the Word of God, because there are eternal consequences and ramifications to deal with. We cannot embrace a certain doctrine or teaching just because it pleases the flesh, because there will be a day of reckoning for every lie we embraced as truth, and every truth we rejected as lies.

The church today has a real problem with holiness. Mention it and you’re quickly branded an extremist, someone to be avoided and rejected at all cost, because to insist upon holiness is to turn our back on progress and the new libertine gospel we’ve all come to love and embrace.

Holiness has become a dirty word, something to be snickered at, derided, and maligned, even though it is something the Word of God insist we ought to pursue, and can rightly attain as obedient children of God.

Would God be so petty as to tell us to pursue something He knew we could never acquire? Would God be so small as to make us seek after something we had no hope of ever attaining? Did He just include certain passages in Scripture because He likes to watch us fail, and chase our own tails endlessly?

With love in Christ,
Michael Boldea Jr.