Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Holiness
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During societal injustice, is Believer silence violence?
Whose Holiness Is It Anyway?
What does it mean to be holy? Does being holy mean staring into the sun whilst sitting cross-legged? Does being holy mean wearing all white clothing? Does being holy mean retiring profanity and derogatory colloquialisms, from our everyday speech? Does being holy mean engaging in asceticism?
Does being holy mean using VidAngel, or watching Pureflix in exclusivity? Does being holy involve posting Bible info-graphics and Scriptural memes on the socials, for the world to see? Does being holy mean that I must engage in acts of altruism? Does being holy mean that I have to be extraordinarily nice to everyone I meet, even if their worldview is diametrically opposed to my own? Does being holy mean being blissfully oblivious to episodes of police brutality?
Does being holy mean I stay silent during societal injustices?
Wholly Defining Holy
Let’s define what true holiness is, and subsequently examine The Rabbi who is the quintessential example of holiness. To the Torah!
It is to be a tsitsit for you to look at and thereby remember all of Adonai’s [commandments] and obey them, so that you won’t go around wherever your own heart and eyes lead you to prostitute yourselves: but it will help you remember and obey all My [commandments] and be holy for your God. (Numbers 15:39–40, CJB)
Yahweh spoke these words to Mosheh, who later put Yah’s Laws in codified form. Yah says we become holy when we obey all of His Commandments, which are perennially enshrined in His Torah.
Notice also what Shaul says:
(I am using popular language because your human nature is so weak.) For just as you used to offer your various parts as slaves to impurity and lawlessness, which led to more lawlessness; so now offer your various parts as slaves to righteousness, which leads to being made holy, set apart for God.
(Romans 6:19, CJB)
The antithesis of being a slave to impurity and lawlessness, is being a slave to purity and law-abiding. Righteousness is defined as practicing Torah…
