Comments on: Integral Holiness

By: Integral Holiness « Anamchara • The Website of Unknowing « The Search For Integrity

Mon, 15 Sep 2008 09:14:45 +0000

[...] • The Website of Unknowing Posted in Integrity by therevr on September 15th, 2008 Integral Holiness « Anamchara • The Website of Unknowing But what does it mean to be [...]

By: Cliff Post

Cliff Post — Wed, 06 Jun 2007 01:13:56 +0000

Thank you for this post, Carl. There is much food for thought here.

Let me suggest this: Much of our theology is steeped in modernism, which is to say that it is focused on individuality and propositional truth (like scientific propositions). Thus, the prohibition against adultery becomes a way of justifying ourselves as “pure” (contrary to Romans, as Peggy points out), instead of being used to further a relationship. And something precious gets lost when people avoid adultery to make themselves pure (focusing on themselves), instead of using that avoidance as an act of love, communicating to someone special that they are so loved and so special that there is no one else (focusing on the relationship, whether with God or someone else). Further, we damage our relationships when we focus on ourselves in this way.

So I would put your paradigm in a more explicitly relational context. Holiness is a relational concept, not an individual pursuit. Seeking holiness as an individual accomplishment defeats the whole purpose, because it antagonizes relationships, rather than developing them.

Seen this way, Integral Holiness is a way of lovingly relating with others. I think that we integrate with God and others best if we ask what the relationship requires (whether it is purity, love or acceptance) and then try to do that. Praying for the grace of holiness is one way of enhancing our relationship with God, because we continue to foster the relationship. Accepting God’s love and the love of others is another way, as is accepting our own faults, and not letting those detract from the relationship (another grace perhaps?).

Thanks again.

By: Peggy

Peggy — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 20:05:38 +0000

I lived under the Purity code of Holiness for nearly 15 years as a member of a fundamentalist pentecostal group. I wanted to be saved and by adhering to all the precepts I thought I would be “safe”. For some reason the pastor decided to devote several weeks to teaching on the book of Romans. Something clicked within me and I remembered what I had forgotten: That grace saves. I gradually eased my way out of that religion and now I am part of a liturgical and sacramental communion which is more Compassion based in holiness. I really think that living or trying to live within a Purity code will eventually cause mental illness. I suffered from depression for years and it wasn’t until I finally broke free of that rigid life, did I recover. Learning to live a holy life from a holy heart is the essence of a Godly life. But it doesn’t depend on me alone, Thank God!

By: Mike Morrell

Mike Morrell — Sat, 02 Jun 2007 05:31:17 +0000

Wow, what a thoughtful post. Integral holiness, pure gift. Compassion and restraint. "Purity" holiness could be seen as "chastened" in the best sense of the word. I recommend reading Lauren Winner's "Pure Sex" as a helpful articulation of traditional sexuality (by which I am not talking about the homosexuality conversation, just plain 'ol boring heterosex ethics) with compassion and tradition. And...I am really passing this advice on secondhand, as I have yet to read it, but a number of young emerging theologians from the UK and West Coast recommend I read anthropologist/theologian Mary Douglas, particularly Purity and Danger and other works on the Pentateuch.

By: Michael Noyes

Michael Noyes — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 17:01:14 +0000

Hmmmm … you do clearly favor compassion over rules, as do I, and as does the Sufi poet Rumi: “Out beyond ideas of right doing and wrong doing, there is a field. I’ll meet you there.” Holiness codes are about defining us versus them; compassion is about togetherness, about loving one another. Salvation, it is said, is less about defining who’s in and who’s out, and more about God’s love for everyone. We are “saved” to be a blessing. To Abraham God said, “I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.” And someone suggested that salvation is a line drawn in the sand, not a finish line, but a starting line from which we begin a journey of healing and blessing.

By: Darrell Grizzle

Darrell Grizzle — Thu, 31 May 2007 19:16:11 +0000

Also: I’ve tagged you to play “Random 8″ – details at my Blog of the Grateful Bear (the May 31st entry).

By: Darrell Grizzle

Darrell Grizzle — Thu, 31 May 2007 17:17:13 +0000

Purity codes do seem to change a lot, even within relatively short periods of time. When I was growing up, it would be unthinkable for an evangelical Christian man and woman to live together without being married; nowadays it seems like no big deal, even in Baptist and Pentecostal churches.

Holiness based on compassion seems like a more consistent ethic, as well as a more Christian one. After all, aren’t we Christians supposed to give more weight to the teachings of Christ than the book of Leviticus?

Thanks for this entry, Carl. I’ve posted a link to it at my Blog of the Grateful Bear.

bearhugs ~
Bear