Holiness of God

I listened to an SBC writer last night and came away troubled. He said that we need to "balance" the holiness of God with the goodness of God. Otherwise, he suggested, we will all wind up as sour-puss Christians. What was equally troubling was that no other pastors in the room seemed bothered by what he implied; namely that the holiness of God can be abstracted from attributes such as his goodness, and vice versa. After the event I tried to share with him that the holiness of God is a beautiful attribute that causes us to "rejoice with trembling" (Psalm 2), and is not the cause of "sour-puss" syndrome. But it was immediately apparent that he wanted undiluted praise and much purchasing of his materials, and wanted nothing to do with constructive criticism.

The evangelistic counsel was that we need to have more fun with unbelievers, rather than singing songs of worship and giving them the word of God. I can't help but think of Bunyan's Vanity Fair.