Sunday, January 8, 2012

Holiness

It should never be forgotten that God is a jealous God. Jealousy however, is not the same thing as fussiness. Having made the world and all things that are in it for man to enjoy; being entirely responsible for everything from pansies to petroleum, from nebulae to nudity, He cannot be accused of being overly prim or dull. The Old Testament sentiments of God are, not surprisingly, in agreement with those of the New. His primary complaint concerns Idolatry. When Solomon took many wives, his chief sin was to allow them to draw his affections away from Jehovah and unto other gods.
 
  The Old Testament laws by which the Jews lived were, in the words of Paul, a schoolmaster, to bring them to Christ. Now that they, and we, are saved by faith in Christ, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. Specific rules governing diet, sabbaths, days of the month, sacrifices, and to some degree even dress and appearance, are not binding upon us, especially for Gentiles. The great sin is the sin of unbelief, because God has placed all of his provision for mankind in his Son, in whom we are to believe. To place any other god before Christ is Idolatry.
 
  The Gentiles of the early era were called out of idolatry. Their society was based upon it, their practices and customs depended upon it, and the Graeco-Roman Pantheon was everywhere to be seen. When they embraced Christ, they were walking away from their other gods. The Apostles refused to lay any rules upon the Gentiles save for three basic prohibitions, against: Fornication, Eating or Drinking Blood, and Food Dedicated to Idols. One of these three concerns sexual sin. Two concern Idolatry.
 
  Paul enumerates additional sins and carnal practices in his epistles, citing in many cases the pet sins of his day. Yet these primary prohibitions, when accurately defined, always rely upon the conscience and judgement of the individual in order that they may be appropriately applied to a given situation. Paul derives no specifics, invents no rules, to clarify these primary strictures. Trouser lengths are not given, nor are guidelines governing the looseness of clothing. Peter and James do not forbid the brethren to attend certain functions or events. Whatever they do, they are encouraged to do it to the glory of God. No additional comments are tacked on to tell the reader what the Apostles’ personal taboos are in these areas. They do not consider it safe to burden the conscience and personal judgement of another man with a list of laws to live by that provide some nebulous “evidence” of salvation based upon clothing, appearance, habits, and profession.
 
  Judgement and its wise exercise was placed at a high premium by God. In the Old Testament He rebuked the elders of Israel because they had forsaken judgement. Already at that early stage, they had laid aside their responsibility to apply the law to the people for the benefit of those who came to them for guidance, and began to lay down additions to the law, specifying, prohibiting, clarifying and RE-clarifying in order to craft a lengthy, picayune legal system that would apply in all possible cases without the need for discernment and wisdom. Efforts were made to prevent every possible problem, and by the time Jesus arrived on the scene, he found a separated ‘pharisee’ class who insisted on adherance to the traditions of the elders over and above the laws of God. Whereas God’s law had been elegant and useful, the elders had created through evolution an encyclopaedic one-size-fits-all amalgam of unworkable length and complexity.
 
  This practice continues today in such modern manifestations as New Testament Christian Church, which intentionally separates itself from other Christians by means of a series of awkward and contradictory prohibitions and carnal displays of ecclesiastical superiority. Having decided that R.W. Davis is the Conscience of the Church, they have adopted his personal opinions as the standard of righteousness by which all mankind must live. The annointing of the Spirit enjoyed by all Christians gives life. The only standard that can truly rule our lives is the Perfect Law of Liberty, which entails personal application of conscientious judgement, and which NTCC has abandoned, like the elders of Israel, in favor of the letter that kills.
 
  With these thoughts in mind, here follows a list of ‘holiness’ doctrines that are an important part of the NTCC experience, and which form the basis of the organization’s entire purpose and reason for existence.  

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