Whole Means Healthy: No Amount of Application is Helpful Without it.

Steven Covey, A. Roger Merrill, and Rebecca R. Merrill write: "If the basic paradigm is flawed or incomplete, no amount of effective application or implementation is going to bring optimum results."  (First Things First Everyday, p. 363).   This is a major possibility with regard to Christian teaching, if in fact holy does mean whole rather than set apart. 

Holy is so fundamental as a character trait that it is the A1 on the list of character priorities.  It is also the only character trait that is substituted for God's name of Yahweh.  It is part of Yahweh's basic character, which then also implies it must be part of Jesus' as well, since his name literally means "Yahweh saves".  It is also part of the third person of the Trinity's designation as "Holy Spirit."  There is no other moral term that equals it in importance, unless you also include its forgiving sequel of "Steadfast Kindness". 

What I find that many people don't seem to understand, like Covey, Merrill, and Merrill do seem to understand, is that increasing our capacity of application or implementation does not remedy the problem of an overall decline in church goers in the United States.  Many churches that I have visited and many especially among church planters see the key church growth to be in application or implementation, when in fact the basic paradigm might be flawed. 

If holy does not mean "set apart", then that will be the case.  This could explain the meager overall results from megachurches, when you look at the whole picture in the United States.  They have increased their own numbers in the their limited convtext, but they have not changed the overall picture of the decline in church numbers in the United States nor in the larger Western world. 

The question must be asked: Could this be because the basic paradigm for God's character is flawed or incomplete?  Could this then explain how such a massive and well-intentioned effort on the part of many church planters has made such a meager impact on the larger picture?  Can we face such questions?  To face it will required courage over timidtiy. 

In Christ,

Pastor Jon