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A Change of Allegiance  /  Chapter 4, The God of the Bible  /  Discussion Questions
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Question 4
In Isaiah’s vision, holiness produces collapse: “Woe is me… I am undone”; when Taylor says God’s holiness made him feel “everything about me was deficient,” what do you think a real encounter with God’s holiness would expose in a serious Christian community (speech, identity, “people group”), and what do we typically do to avoid that exposure?
Another way to ask: Isaiah fell apart when he saw God’s holiness. If a church really faced God’s holiness, what sins or blind spots would it bring out (in how we talk, who we are, and group loyalties), and how do we usually try to avoid seeing that?

Direct Answer Based on Taylor’s use of Isaiah, a real encounter with God’s holiness would expose how unclean and deficient even a serious Christian community’s speech, life, and group identity can be. The transcript implies we often avoid that exposure by softening God into a safer, less holy, less demanding version.

Support from Transcript:

  • Isaiah’s response to holiness is collapse: “Woe is me, for I am undone… I am a man of unclean lips… and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.”
  • Taylor says he identifies with Isaiah and felt “everything about me was deficient: my speech, my life, and even my own people group.”
  • He defines holiness as “separate… set apart,” meaning God is beyond humans “in morality, justice, righteousness, and love.”
  • He stresses God’s moral purity: “There is no trace of defilement.”
  • He contrasts us with God: we “have to try to be good or keep the law,” but “The law flows from His very essence.”
  • The avoidance mechanism is suggested earlier: attempts to portray God as non-violent and non-judgmental, explaining away what makes us tremble.
Discussion Follow-ups What would it look like for a church to confess “unclean lips” at a community level? Where do we substitute busyness, slogans about grace, or moral comparisons to avoid being undone before God?

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