Growth The Holiness of God

[Edward]

Pardon my jumping in here, Edward, but doesn't this remind you of the whole James 2:18 conversation about Faith (Spiritual) and Works (Behavior)? There's a part there that speaks to me. The 2:20 part. Yeah. I hear that part.

Whoa, my computer crashed on me. Pages stopped responding and the sound quit? I had to wipe it and reload it. It actually didn't take very long. I still have a little more settin up to do but at least it's working again. Anyway,

Oh idk, not really. We were talking about yielding oneself to the Holy Spirit. Jim thinks it is a behavior and I don't see that. It's a choice. Something done in the heart and mind (and spirit) to yield your will to Him. Once one does this, I would think that it should affect ones behavior, but to actually do it, requires no bodily function or action.

When we yield to the Spirit, then we walk in the Spirit. The Spirit leads us. He'll probably lead us into good works of course. But that would only be after we yielded to Him. Right?

 

[Edward]

Yielding to the spirit requires an act of will.
Refusing to submit to the demand of the flesh requires an act of will.
An act of will is not a physical act but it is still an act.

I'll buy that. It's a spiritual act. It's on a spiritual level, internal, in spirit and in truth. That makes sense.

 

[reba]

Oh idk, not really. We were talking about yielding oneself to the Holy Spirit. Jim thinks it is a behavior and I don't see that. It's a choice. Something done in the heart and mind (and spirit) to yield your will to Him. Once one does this, I would think that it should affect ones behavior, but to actually do it, requires no bodily function or action.

How about a combination ... When the Holy Spirit say go lay hands on that kid and pray for him that yielding in your spirit only if you do the behaviour..

 

[Jim Parker]

Jim thinks it is a behavior and I don't see that. It's a choice. Something done in the heart and mind (and spirit) to yield your will to Him.

Choosing is a behavior. When someone chooses to do something he does it. That's behavior.
"Something done" is behavior.
Yielding is behavior. When someone yields to the Holy Spirit he acts in accord with the will of the Holy Spirit. That's behavior.

Something done in the heart and mind (and spirit) to yield your will to Him. Once one does this, I would think that it should affect ones behavior, but to actually do it, requires no bodily function or action.

If you yield to the Spirit, but do not follow up the yielding with action, then you did not yield. You failed to do what the Spirit urged you to do. That is not yielding.
When a parent tells a child to put his toys away and the child hears the parent but does not put the toys away then the child did not yield to the parents will.
Similarly, if someone hears the leading of the spirit but does not do what the Spirit is urging then that person did not yield to the spirit.


It's really not that complicated.

 

[Edward]

Choosing is a behavior. When someone chooses to do something he does it. That's behavior.
"Something done" is behavior.
Yielding is behavior. When someone yields to the Holy Spirit he acts in accord with the will of the Holy Spirit. That's behavior.


If you yield to the Spirit, but do not follow up the yielding with action, then you did not yield. You failed to do what the Spirit urged you to do. That is not yielding.
When a parent tells a child to put his toys away and the child hears the parent but does not put the toys away then the child did not yield to the parents will.
Similarly, if someone hears the leading of the spirit but does not do what the Spirit is urging then that person did not yield to the spirit.


It's really not that complicated.

I'd call that not obeying, lol. I think we just have a different way of thinking. Nothing wrong with that. Don't you have to yield to the Spirit first, to receive the things of the Spirit? I think you do.

 

[Jim Parker]

Don't you have to yield to the Spirit first, to receive the things of the Spirit? I think you do.

Yes.
That is my point.
One's first act is to yield.
No yield - no receive.

 

[Betty]

What does the Bible mean when it speaks of the holiness of God? What does it mean that God is Holy? And as an extension, what does it mean that we are to be holy?

For example, is it a concept of morality? Purity? A friend believes it simply means God is relational. Which I can't wrap my head around. It has to be perhaps the most important thing we can know about God. I believe it has to do with God's utter otherness and His transcendence. His very nature is perfect in every way. Perfection in all things emanates from His very character. He is separate from all of creation and above all things. These descriptions reveal a bit about the nature of God's holiness.

I would be interested in your thoughts including important Scripture passages and perhaps books you've found useful on the topic.

A few years ago I was given a book called, "The Holiness of God," by RC SPROUL. I almost didn't read it as I'd never heard of the author, and I really didn't have much interest in anything, other than the bible at that time. It turned out to be very edifying. I read it straight through.

In it, he showed biblical examples of those who have been in the presence of God. He spoke of how Moses trembled "exceedingly," in God's presence, and was told to remove his shoes as he was standing on holy ground. (Because God was there even the ground was holy.) Abraham who said "woe is me, I am a man of unclean lips and of a people of unclean lips." Right up to the disciples who "feared exceedingly," and said, "what manner of man is this that even the wind and the sea obey Him?

The bible doesn't just say that God is holy, but there's a repeat, as to make it a strong point. God is Holy, Holy Holy.

Isaiah 6:3 And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory.

Revelation 4:8 And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.



He's unfathomable, and goes far beyond what we can even imagine. I think what those who experienced that type of presence of God, where he spoke directly to them, it must have been a very shaking experience.

Even the laws of nature are subject to Him, He walked on water, raised the dead, cast out demons.

Seeing God's power at work, like raising the dead. That would be a shaking experience in itself.

"He is separate from all of creation and above all things. These descriptions reveal a bit about the nature of God's holiness."

I agree.

 

[ezra]

RC SPROUL

he is good he is calvinism in his beliefs.. but i have heard many good things about him

 

[Betty]

he is good he is calvinism in his beliefs.. but i have heard many good things about him

Yes, he is a Calvinist. It didn't reflect in the book at all. It focused on the holiness of God and a little bit on his own life. It was very bible based. I'm not a Calvinist, the book was actually given to me by a Pentecostal minister. (I'm not Pentecostal either.)

It was actually,, something that I needed to read at that time. It was very edifying, it was all about God's holiness, and His glory.

 

[ezra]

Yes, he is a Calvinist. It didn't reflect in that book at all. It focused on the holiness of God and a little bit on his own life. It was very bible based. I'm not a Calvinist, the book was actually given to me by a Pentecostal minister. (I'm not Pentecostal either.)

i been trying to say for some time if we lay aside our personal doctrine preferences. we can learn from each other

 

[Betty]

i been trying to say for some time if we lay aside our personal doctrine preferences. we can learn from each other

I agree. Like Paul said, "Let God be true and every man a liar." He wasn't saying that men should lie, but God's word sure does clear up a lot of confusion when it's examined without denominational and personal bias.

 

[ezra]

I agree. Like Paul said, "Let God be true and every man a liar." He wasn't saying that men should lie, but God's word sure does clear up a lot of confusion when it's examined without denominational and personal bias.

amen

 

[th1b.taylor]

What does the Bible mean when it speaks of the holiness of God? What does it mean that God is Holy? And as an extension, what does it mean that we are to be holy?

For example, is it a concept of morality? Purity? A friend believes it simply means God is relational. Which I can't wrap my head around. It has to be perhaps the most important thing we can know about God. I believe it has to do with God's utter otherness and His transcendence. His very nature is perfect in every way. Perfection in all things emanates from His very character. He is separate from all of creation and above all things. These descriptions reveal a bit about the nature of God's holiness.

I would be interested in your thoughts including important Scripture passages and perhaps books you've found useful on the topic.

I find things about God that I had no idea of when I study the Word, over and over. To start with, God is like any man and yet man is created in His image. God's nature will not allow Him to sin but we are born into sin. God is, truly, set apart, there is nobody like God in any realm. God is Omnipotent and Omniscient giving Him the Ability to work within the Time/Space Continuum He created for our benefit and all the while He is not contained within it.

God is like what I did with my Tropical Fish Tank in the seventies. I had a fifty gallon tank filled with African Cichlids because they are so beautiful and though needing so salt in the water, it is not salt water and does much less damage to the equipment.

These guys hang out in the clefts formed by the all rock background one needs to provide them with. I would go to the Bait House and pick up a bag of Gold Fish or Large Minnows because of their Dietary Requirements. Physically they needed to exercise and mentally, they need to attack their food and it must be fresh killed.

People are like that, they love the smell of somebodies blood, you see it every day on the streets of any big city. If there is a wreck, the city turns on the Alert Sign, miles ahead of the wreck and even if it is on the side of the Highway, out of the flow of traffic, there is a Traffic Jam from people Rubber Necking to view the damage and/or the injured. God is never pleased when one of us is mangled or broken, some to the point of Death.

Nope! God calls us to be Holy also, to be set apart as He is set apart, separated from this world, even as we live out our Testing Period (lives) on this level of existence.