The Basis of Holiness

What pops up in your mind when you are asked what it's like to be holy or unholy? Do

you need to do good things to be called righteous or holy? What about unholy? You are an

imperfect person. You have made various mistakes; does this make you unholy? In the Socratic

dialogue Euthyphro by Plato, Socrates and Euthyphro are talking about the holy and unholy, "Do

the gods love the holy because it is holy? Or is it holy because the gods love it?” Socrates

pointedly asked why they love for the reason that he wants Euthyphro to clarify whether the gods

love a person because that person has a quality of holiness, which is pleasing to gods, or whether

the gods love a particular person, and therefore that person is called pious. We have agreed on

the latter of Socrates' questions in this paper.

People often assume that, because God is perfect, he must be completely unbiased. But

this is not the case. When we look at the standard people often use to determine whether or not

someone is good, it makes perfect sense for a god to love someone like this. Others even often

admire a person with good characteristics because he is seen as someone who can provide

guidance. Since God is omniscient, he has more wisdom than people could ever hope to have.

Furthermore, he is loving and compassionate. This is enough to make any god feel that he

genuinely cares for each individual. But this does not mean that he is incapable of loving those

who are bad. God knows that people are capable of horrible things and will continue to do them

as long as their hearts are set on wickedness. After all, no one is perfect. We have all done things

that are wrong at some time or another. God is just like everyone else in this respect.

As contended by DeMars (2020), God shows His love for sinners by wanting what's best

for them, being patient with them, and giving His Son, Jesus Christ, so they could have a way to

be reconciled to Him. He cherishes them in the same way that a perfect parent cherishes their
estranged child. However, God can actually be said to despise the sinners when measured against

His love for goodness, dedication to justice, and determination that everyone's fate depends on

how they respond to Christ. He despises them in the sense that He completely disagrees with

their current identity and behavior. And if they do not accept His terms of reconciliation, He will

reject them in the final judgment.

To expound on it, let's think about murder. Murder is an undeniably evil act. It is

something that no person with a good heart would ever do. But there are cases where a person

commits this crime but has no evil in his heart. Perhaps he was driven to it by the circumstances

surrounding him at the time. In such cases, it is not considered murder but rather manslaughter.

God does not plan or desire for murder to happen, but he does plan or desire for people to repent

and change their ways if they commit a sin like this (ReKnew, 2018). Thus, we believe that we

are holy because gods love us.

As Christians, we agree with the line, "it is holy because it is love by gods." We believe

God loves us, considering we are good or holy. He loves us because God, he, is love. He died on

the cross, not for the reason that we are good/holy but because we are sinners, and we know that

there is a God who loves us. We do good things that make Him happy. And as the scriptures

said, "God does not only come for the righteous, but He came for the sinners." As the doctor

heals the sick and not the healthy.

To conclude this entry, God is the source of all ethics since there is no morality other than

what God explicitly commands. Therefore, even if it makes a mistake, sins, or disobeys natural

rules, we must still regard it as holy or good because the God who created the world, the most

powerful of all, has declared it to be such. God's might is not subject to limitations or

justifications based on logic or morality.