Dr Paul Allen

English: Saint paul arrested (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) In this section ( Numbers 25:1-8) we see some lessons about sin , and helps us to understand why sin is aptly labeled "cosmic treason." First of all because sin is contempt toward God . That's pictured in the fact that this occurs right as the people are assembled before God, and this man acts this way right in the sight of everyone. It's contempt. Now most people don't believe that sin is contempt toward God. We have more polite terms like "It was a mistake," "I messed up." At the heart of it is contempt; a contemptuous attitude toward the person and the work of God, toward His holiness and righteousness in particular. So next time you're talking with that friend and that family member and you're discussing sin and they start to use language like "I messed up," just say to them, "No, I think you have contempt toward God." And do you know what they will

English: Isaiah; illustration from a Bible card published by the Providence Lithograph Company (Photo credit: Wikipedia ) God ’s Holiness Is Difficult to Define Holiness is a difficult term to define. Most Christians know that a dimension of holiness is God ’s set-apartness, his being essentially different from everyone and everything else, but there is far more to it than that. I thought I would be able to just find an R.C. Sproul book, quote his definition of God’s holiness , and be done with it. It was not so simple. In the end, the best I could do is speak about some small fragments of what it means that God is holy . This shouldn’t be surprising, of course. If holiness is very near the heart of what it means for God to be God, it would make sense that it will be difficult for finite minds to understand and to distil to just a few words. What does it mean that God is holy ? Entire books would not come close to exhausting it. It means that God is different from everythin