Reply To: The Holiness of God, Chapter 4 – The Trauma of Holiness

[Lynne MazzaHilway]

Yes, the wisdom of scripture in the countless reminders to fear not, as it seems like an instinctive response and why we categorize or try to fit things, sadly people, into boxes to make sense of and master difference. Yet Jesus, even His “love that makes some angry, is beyond typecasting, in a class by Himself, a curve breaker and supreme curve buster.”
“The hound of heaven, just His presence is enough to cause them to recoil from Him; nothing exposes the counterfeit faster than the genuine.” Thankfully,hopefully we are all undone in His presence.

I like Sproul’s responsive question to Freud’s theory that people invent religion out of a fear of nature- “Why would (people) invent a God whose holiness was more terrifying than the force of nature that provoked them to invent a god in the first place?”
Again, although challenging to process the provacative use of the word trauma in relation to holiness, when thinking about how far evil is from holiness I can see, sadly, how many would feel such. And “the threatening power of His holiness is transferred to His people.” What an amazing, humbling and convicting responsibility! Even if we begin with the knowledge that “the overwhelming testimony of the world is to the incompatible perfection of Jesus”, we also must realize, seeing them with His eyes and heart, how far they may be from this holiness, and forgive and love them, as we try to embrace them with His Word of truth. So we pray for His Spirit to lead and cover all.