"The Holy Church"

"The Holy Church" in this blog is to be distinguished from "The Separated Church," which I will talk about next week. Although they are very similar and usually go hand in hand, the distinction I would make is that The "Holy" Church discussion has to do more with personal and individual holiness from all that is percieved to be sinful or worldly while The "Separated" Church has to do more with separation from Christians or non-Christians that participate in any of these activities.

Let me begin by making some things very clear. First of all the Bible calls all Christians to be holy. 1Peter 1:14-15 says, "As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, (15) but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct." So there is no question that we, as believers, are called to be holy people. The question that must be answered is "What does it mean to be holy?" The word "holy" in both the Hebrew and Greek simply means "to separate." This is why the angels in Isaiah 6 as they circle the throne of heaven cry out "Holy, holy, holy" to God Almighty. The angels are perfectly pure and sinless, but God is still separated from them because of His very nature. That is the definition of holy - to be separate. In the Scriptures it is very clear that this holiness is in relation to sin. We are to be separated from the sin that comes from Satan, our flesh, and the sinful world system around us. Remember that we are never called to be separated from sinners (cf. I Cor 5:9ff), but from there sinful activities. So this is the biblical definition of holiness. A truly "Holy" church is one that encourages and teaches its people to separate from sin, but also teaches them to interact with the culture around us and love the people of this world (kind of like God does in John 3:16). I have no problem with this kind of church. So why did I entitle this critique "The Holy Church."


The problem is that Christians have redefined  "holiness" What has happened is that we have taken items of clothing, elements in our culture, etc. and separated from them. Then we have stated that our separation from these elements is because we are to be holy. Yet the Bible has never indicated that many of these activities are sinful or should be considered sin.

For example, I was recently told that I should never drink alcoholic beverages because I am called to be holy. Well, if drinking alcoholic beverages is categorized as a sin in the Bible then clearly this logic makes sense. On the other hand, if the Bible never states that drinking alcoholic beverages is a sin then a Christian is being perfectly holy by drinking in moderation (not getting drunk, which is clearly labeled a sin). Anyone struggling with the issue of alcoholic beverages should read the book, God Gave Wine by Kenneth L. Gentry. It is the only exegetical source I have ever found on the issue of wine.  It actually looks at all the passages in the Bible that discuss the issue rather than simply selecting a few and ignoring the rest. I have read several pamphlets and books by those who argue for total abstinence, but none of them ever seriously look at all the passages of Scripture and few consider the culture of the Old and New Testament times except to make some general comment about wine being diluted in that culture.

Another example might be swim suits. I know that growing up I was always taught from the pulpit that any man who took his shirt off or woman who wore a swim suit (any swim suit) at the pool or beach was being immodest. After all the Bible does clearly teach that we are to be modest. But do you see what we have just done. The Bible says we are to be modest. But the Bible gives us alot of freedom to determine as believers in different cultures what is and isn't modest. To point blank say that someone who wears a swim suit is being immodest is to become a modern day Pharisee. In the time of the New Testament, the Bible said you shouldn't work on the Sabbath. So if you walked to far it would clearly become work. So the Pharisees made it easy. They just set a number of steps that a person could take each Sabbath and if you went over that then you were in sin. This is exactly what has happened in "The Holy Church." We are more interested in setting up rules that will tell us whether or not we are being "holy" than we are in allowing for true discernment and freedom in the Body of Christ.

I don't have time to deal with all of the issues, but another issue is the common misinterpretations of Scripture that often support "The Holy Church" mentality. In the KJV in 1 Thessalonians 5:22 it says, "Abstain from all appearance of evil." This has commonly been interpreted to mean that believers should not participate in activities that might "look" bad to others. In reality this usually works itself out to mean that I should live a life of fear constantly afraid of what other "believers" might think I am doing wrong. So I don't go to movie theaters because someone might think I am watching a bad movie. I don't drink wine at a restaurant because someone might think I am getting drunk.

But this isn't what the verse means at all. The word translated "appearance" actually is better translated "forms." A better translation would be "Abstain from all forms of evil." If you check out most of the modern translations they have corrected this and that is how the verse is translated (this is a translation issue, not a text issue). Even in the KJV the idea of appearance doesn't mean something that "looks like" sin, but more the idea of "appearance of" sin which means anything that might be sin or all kinds of sin. So this verse has nothing to do with going around scared that something I do might look sinful. It simply means that I should avoid all sins, not just a few. For example I should avoid the sin of judging others with inconclusive evidence just as much as commiting the sin of drunkness. Oh, and if you still want to cling to the interpretation of "appearance" of evil than please be consistent. Don't go to movie rental stores, get cable (or a TV for that matter), get a computer, or buy books because you might be doing something sinful with all of those. Don't ever be caught talking with someone of the opposite sex because it could be seen as the beginnings of an affair. For that matter you should probably never meet with people of the same sex behind closed doors becuase it could be a homosexual affair. Do you see how ridiculous this is when we really apply it?

But this is the culture of "The Holy Church." It is the culture I grew up in. It is a culture of constant fear and brownie points. A place where I am constantly determining my spirituality and everyone elses by the things we do or don't do. A place where my relationship with Jesus Christ is talked about, but not really important. As long as I don't drink, do drugs, swear, have pre-marital sex, get tattoos, smoke cigarettes, or watch R-rated movies I am doing pretty well and God must be happy with me. Please don't fall into this trap. The Christian life is not about these things at all. We have replaced a life characterized by our love for Jesus and imitation of Him with a poor substitute - living up to human rules and traditions. Let us strive to be truly holy and not become "The Holy Church."