2010 Mel-Thomas Rothwell Holiness Lectures

Why, God, Why?: Evil and Holiness

Thomas Jay Oord, Ph.D.

 As he who called you is holy,
be holy yourselves in all your conduct;
for it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy."
(1 Pt. 1:15-16; Lev. 19:2)
The central question of this first lecture:

Is it immoral to be holy?
 What does it mean to be holy?

Being holy as God’s Otherness?

Being holy as our being set apart?
Being holy differs from worldly morality?
Being holy as blind obedience?
 “There is nothing higher in religion. There is,
in effect, nothing else. If you look for anything
more than love, you are looking wide of the
mark…. And when you are asking others, ‘Have
your received this or that blessing?’ if you mean
anything more than love, you mean wrong. You
are leading them out of the way. . . Settle it in
your heart, that …you are to aim at nothing more,
but more of that love described in the thirteenth of
the Corinthians. You can go no higher than this.”
A Plain Account of Christian Perfection
 “Holiness is our humble, gentle, patient love of
God and our neighbor, [and this love] ruling
our tempers, words, and actions.”

“No true Christian holiness can exist without

the love of God for its foundation.”
Love is the core of holiness.
Why didn’t God prevent this evil?
If a holy God, acting alone, could prevent Zamuda’s
rape and the murder of her husband and children,
why should we who are called to be like God,
work to prevent evils like those Zamuda endured?

Is it immoral to be holy as God is holy?

 As he who called you is holy,
be holy yourselves in all your conduct;
for it is written, "You shall be holy, for I am holy." (1
Pt. 1:15-16; Lev. 19:2)

An adequate explanation of holiness

requires an adequate answer to the problem of evil.
2010 Mel-Thomas Rothwell Holiness Lectures

Why, God, Why?: Evil and Holiness

Thomas Jay Oord, Ph.D.