Being Holy in the Proper Way

My prayers go out to the victims of the catastrophic Texas flooding. I’m saddened by some of the responses I’ve seen to this disaster. It is NOT funny to have people dying from weather-related incidents. Making a joke out of tragic events shows me the sinfulness of humanity and our need for the Savior’s love and guidance.

In this post, I want to go over what it means to be holy before God. Some Christians have a presupposition on what holy means, thinking it is a nebulous quality of goodness and saintly action. While being saintly is part of this meaning, it has a more specific meaning in the context of spiritual matters.

Holy in Hebrew is actually the word kadosh, and it means “set apart.”

To be holy before God is to set yourself apart from the rest of the world, to follow His ways and not the ways of mankind (with context).

Anything set aside for a specific purpose is holy. We as believers are set apart to the King of Kings, to carry forth His purposes and ultimate will in this world.

Holy does not mean you avoid secular music, don’t watch movies or television shows, and think everything physical is the gnostic position of evil.

Satan has a grasp on the church because they don’t understand what holy truly means. It’s just as much a prison when you’re tied down by rules that aren’t even in the Bible.

Rabbinic Judaism has this issue, where teachers have made up an “Oral Law” to explain the written Torah. I’m currently reading a book debunking this notion by Eitan Bar from One for Israel Ministries.

There is no Oral Law anywhere in the Bible. In fact, many times when the Israelites had forgotten the written Torah, they didn’t know how to proceed as in the days of Nehemiah. If they had an oral tradition besides the written books of Moses, that confusion wouldn’t have happened.

Being holy means setting yourself apart to the Father of the Heavens, not adding things to His instructions.

And Christianity is just as guilty, taking things away from God’s perfect Torah.

I will say for the millionth time that the Torah does not save us, and works do not earn us salvation. But Christians should be at least “Torah-aware” because Paul tells us, as he tells Timothy, that all Scripture is profitable for correction and training in righteousness.
The Torah is part of Scripture, therefore should be studied. Our Messiah, Yeshua Hamashiach (Jesus the Christ) gave us the correct interpretations of the commandments found in the Torah.

While it is impossible to keep the Torah in the way it is meant to be today, that does not mean we can’t set ourselves apart and be holy by studying and applying its wisdom.

Jesus taught us to love our neighbor, as the Christians say, but that commandment is found in Leviticus 19.

Jesus gave a new command, too, which is to love others as He has loved us. That command is unique to Him and His ministry, so the application is to have the same standard of love that He does. The same level.

To have this form of self-sacrificial love is the ultimate form of love, agape love.

Keeping ourselves holy does not mean following religious rules that aren’t found in Scripture. That’s a prison of humanity’s own making.

I think of pastors who think we should wear bubbles before we go outside when I think of what most Christians think holy means.

Gnosticism does not make you more holy, it makes you a heretic. I may have some unorthodox views on certain subjects, but I don’t straddle the line into heresy with those views. Gnosticism IS heresy, thinking the physical is evil, sexuality is evil, marriage is evil, food is evil, etc.

That a lesser deity made the physical world, and that Yahweh is a demiurge who isn’t the true God of the New Testament.

Rubbish.

Yahweh is so holy, so set apart that none are his equal in all the Divine Council of angels. He is the antithesis of a false god who is lesser. None can compare to Him.

Just as Yahweh Elohim (The LORD our God) is separate from what He has made, we, too, must be separate from worldly philosophies while also not falling into Gnosticism.

Being holy means following God’s commandments in favor of the world’s ways.

It does not mean thinking every little thing is a sin, and, in fact, much of Christianity oversteps their jurisdiction on these matters. God defined holiness for us. He says, “Be holy, for I am holy” (Leviticus 21, 1 Peter 1).
Our God is a limitless fire, an all-consuming flame that sin cannot stand before. When we avoid sin, we avoid the traps of the world, and, in turn, we are made holy.

Following the Torah commandments as they are written is the way, not adding what we think holy should be.

Remember, though, making the Torah an idol is also not holy. The Rabbinic authorities have done this to the point of adding a ridiculous number of laws that defeat the purpose of the original commandments.

The Christian side of things has also failed here, thinking the Torah has little value to a New Testament believer.

Follow God’s definition of being set apart, not the world’s or religion’s ways.

Besides, it’s about having a lasting relationship, anyway.

Set yourself apart so that God’s unapproachable light fills up your soul.

That way, that beautiful relationship you desire will manifest for you.

It’s not about religion, by the way.

Setting yourself apart bypasses religious spirituality and goes deeper into the matters of the human heart.

Be holy, as He is holy.