Page 523 … someone so Holy
“If you knew Him you could understand someone so holy cannot have sin in his presence.”
Goodness gracious, Lucy! If your God is so “holy” that he cannot abide sin in His presence, then he is not very holy at all! Indeed, for you to say that God can only have perfection in His presence (and this after He is the one who made His Universe purposefully susceptible to imperfection in the first place) is to state that God is as petty and as pious and as arrogant as we humans are. And this is an odd thing to hear, because we have actually been called by Jesus himself to do just the opposite; namely, to remake ourselves in God’s perfect image; to reflect His perfect LOVE (see Matthew 5:48 + 1 John 4:6), to show others His perfect Mercy (see Luke 6:36 + John 5:22), to grant others His perfect & unending Forgiveness (see Matthew 18:21-22 + Luke 17:3-4 + John 20:23), and to enliven His perfectly humble Grace (see Matthew 18:3-4) – not to remake Him in our own image most flawed …
Besides, if God cannot endure the presence of sin, and everyone is innately a sinner, then how do you & yours get into Heaven, my Friend? By being Christians – by being “washed in the blood of Christ”, as you say? Well, if that is indeed the case, then Oliver Clyde Allen – as an ordained Christian minister, no less – is at least as qualified as you & yours to reside with God after he dies. So why won’t you go and hear him preach, my Friend? Because his devotion is somehow less than yours (or somehow not “real” in your eyes) merely because he is gay (which – again – is not itself a sin)? My dear, to say such a thing is to espouse a flagrant example of bigotry – and bigotry has no place in the ministry of Jesus Christ!
“All of you are children of the Most High … You are the all children of the living God.” ~ Psalm 82:6 + Hosea 1:10
“And they shall all be taught by God … And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself.” ~ Jesus Christ (John 6:45 + John 12:32)
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