I don’t usually correspond directly with fundamentalists, mainly because I don’t know many of them, but I do have this friend, a pastor in the “holiness movement,” who recently observed that that movement, whose purpose is to help people increase in “holiness” by perfecting their natures, seems to be missing something, because, as he put it, “the rubber doesn’t meet the road” as far as making a real difference in the lives of the students in the “holiness colleges” despite the fact that they surround themselves all day long with all the right holiness materials & practices. I couldn’t resist this opportunity to explain what I had always thought about such insulation of oneself from life, plus the guy had asked, after all. Here’s basically what I told him:
>>>”Although I had never heard of the modern holiness movement, I understand that it’s an attempt to put Wesley’s teachings about salvation & sanctification into practice, an attempt that I don’t agree with in the first place. I think the whole premise of the holiness movement is flawed in its self-absorbed concern about how holy or how sinful one is. Obsessing about the state of one’s soul seems to me an incredibly arrogant and faithless path to take, and a non-christ-like one at that. It seems clear to me that Jesus was all about LOVE, not sin! He was constantly helping the poor & marginalized, & bringing them the good news that God loves them. Our commission as his followers is to accept the good news and set about spreading it to the world not by going around telling people how sinful they are but by loving them radically with no partiality, as Jesus did. If they then want to become followers themselves, our job is to help them in any way we can, but never to judge that they or others aren’t really saved, much less to worry that we ourselves aren’t holy enough! Our assignment as Christians is to feed the hungry & heal the sick, not to waste our time & energy worrying about holiness.
“In my own work on my book, I’m interested in helping people work on their private relationships to God, as well as their personal transformation into their better selves, but not in the sense of making sure they’re forgiven by God. It seems clear to me that Jesus’s message was that we ARE forgiven and our task is to forgive others, not to worry about whether we’re really forgiven or really saved. We are, and so is everyone else who chooses to accept that fact of God’s love, so the next thing to do is set out spreading that LOVE to others, not going around telling them they’re not really saved or that their beliefs are erroneous. Not only is that approach off-putting & hurtful to those who hear it, but also Christians who get caught up in it are wasting valuable resources as well as sabotaging their own joy! In my view, “the kingdom of heaven is at hand” means it’s time for us, empowered by JC’s message of love, to spread the kingdom by spreading love & healing the way he did! Alleviating poverty & hunger & disease are huge tasks that should keep us occupied full-time!
“In my work, I feel called to help people develop their inner spiritual lives & prayer relationships to God for the purpose of furthering their spiritual growth & the transformation of their flaws, which in turn enables them to serve others, which leads them to deep joy. While this process could be described as “perfecting our natures,” it cannot occur in a vacuum. Moreover, I have no interest whatsoever in telling anyone that they aren’t holy enough or that they’re not saved. Surely this is what Jesus meant when he said we were not to judge. And surely salvation is available to all who accept it, whenever they do decide to accept it. They’re more likely to if they see Christians being joyful & loving, which is what _I_ call holy, rather than morose, fearful, & judgmental of others or themselves.
“I think the disconnect you mention in the holiness colleges, where you say the rubber doesn’t hit the ground as far as making a difference in the students’ lives, stems from the simple fact that trying to be “holy” all the time is a way of escaping from life rather than confronting it. I think the mistake of the colleges as well as the whole holiness movement is that this focus on how “holy” & “sinless” one is itself a self-absorbed, fruitless activity that keeps the person from serving the needs of the world, loving others constantly as Jesus taught & modeled. Loving God is fine but it is not complete without loving our neighbors, radically & actively & continually.
“SO, there you have my opinion of the holiness movement, probably more than you bargained for. . . . I think you are wise to recognize the disconnect in the movement, & would be glad to try to offer input that could help them perhaps retool their approach, but as I’ve stated above, I think it is fundamentally flawed. I pray that they (& you) will see the light and learn the joy of using their energy to help heal the world!
Christ’s peace,
Sara”
