Holy, Holy, Holy….Lord, God, Almighty
 

Disclaimer: this is a controversial, confusing blog that if you don’t like opinions you shouldn’t read.  If you do read it and get confused or angry, I am not liable. 

So I went to church yesterday.  I really like the church that I and my friends go to in Alpharetta.  It is quite a bonding experience due to the two hours, well maybe the hour and a half drive it takes for us to get down there.  My friend David has a SUV and we all pile in and go to church.  It varies from time to time who goes and who preaches so it makes it fun in our concerted effort to be spiritual.  The topic for the sermon was “holiness.”  It was part of a series called “Seeing God 20/20.”  The guy preaching was an associate pastor.  I guess the pastor is on holiday for the month.  It was really good.  There were several points that showed that God had transitioned over time and that God’s holiness was eternal and not limited to time.  He said that the holiness was the barrier between us and God and that God broke the barrier by sending Christ.  He said that when we accept Christ that is when God enters our life and individually breaks that barrier to create atonement.  That we don’t go to Him, rather He comes to us.  He said that God is a jealous god and that God is the only God and that was the distinction and motivation behind holiness.  He said that without it, there would be no reason to distinguish God from any others.  God wants to be worshipped only and without other gods to be worshipped by us, which is the point of holiness.  Uniqueness = Holiness.  He also said that God was so upset by the death of Christ that He turned His back on His son and made the skies go black and Christ called to his fathers saying, ”Why has thou forsaken me?”  And God removed His holiness.  This is the part I have a hard time with because he took most of his points about graven images and jealousy and so forth, from the law of the Old Testament.  (Here comes where Rachel’s mind enters and screws things up!)

Holiness according to Webster’s online: “exalted or worthy of complete devotion as one perfect in goodness and righteousness.”  I like this definition better.  This implies that one does not worship due to individuality rather due to perfection, righteousness and goodness.  Now, Christ taught that there are two commandments that are the highest and of the utmost important: Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, mind and soul and Love your neighbor as you love your self.  These are things that I can do as a vagabond.  This is different from the commandments given in the books of law-similar but different.  My point is that maybe God has grown past the point of being a jealous god and is now a loving God who while being just he is not so jealous.  And while yes the original commandments are important and are guides for our lives, that these two superceded the others in the line of importance and getting off God’s bad side.  (I base the fact that God can grow on the basis that we as humans can grow and we are made in His image.)  Perhaps it is not so much that God turned His back on Christ as it is that God sacrificed His son, to perfect the ultimate miracle, reinforcing His holiness, of resurrection and eternal life, not just for Christ, but for everyone who believes in Christ.  That would be what would and has caught my attention and made me more of a believer.  I am more apt to believe and worship or follow, however it is to be phrased, a God that is worthy of devotion because of perfection, goodness and righteousness as opposed to because He is jealous and despairing. 

I like the preacher though.  He had a really tough topic.  He did some neat things to prove his points even though they were lined with fallacies.  One of the prefacing points that he made to the sermon was that he was talking the series over with the other fella who taught the first two weeks of it and the fella said, “So that leaves you to begin with ‘Holiness’” and he responded sarcastically with, “Oh, great, just what I wanted to talk about.”  He claimed that it was a difficult topic for Him to conceive and that He wasn’t really sure on how to present it to the congregation and that he finally found a way.  He seemed nice.  I like to go for the rock n’ roll band who plays before and after the sermon and the testimonials given prior to the baptisms.  It’s like they get it and that is cool.  The rock n' roll band had a really great rendition of "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" this week.  Who would guess you could sauce that song up?  I guess I will have to wait for Andy to get back before I hear another really good sermon.  His was so-so.  Sigh.