But whether they are voluntary and compatible or "harmonized" with God's will, they still reflect God's will and purpose and are therefore what he wants.
That's a great way to excuse any type of (mis)behavior, b-d. Isn't that what people have been doing ever since Adam? We called "passing the buck."
When Peter says (1 Pet. 1:15-16, “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy” what he is saying is “be what you are” or as K said to me “act your age”
I am not sure that's what he is saying, for the same phrase in the OT doesn't sound like "act your age".
“That’s a great way to excuse any type of (mis)behavior, b-d. Isn’t that what people have been doing ever since Adam? We called “passing the buck.”
Robert Bloch’s conceit on the above, “The man who can smile when things go wrong has thought of someone else he can blame it on.” I am thoroughly familiar with the conceit.
“I am not sure that’s what he is saying, for the same phrase in the OT doesn’t sound like “act your age”.
You raise a good point. I went back to look at the passage.
Lev.11:42-45, “Whatsoever goeth upon the belly, and whatsoever goeth upon [all] four, or whatsoever hath more feet among all creeping things that creep upon the earth, them ye shall not eat; for they [are] an abomination. Ye shall not make yourselves abominable with any creeping thing that creepeth, neither shall ye make yourselves unclean with them, that ye should be defiled thereby. For I [am] the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I [am] holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. For I [am] the LORD that bringeth you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: ye shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.”
If one defines “holy” as coming in contact with the deity then the Leviticus passage seems to say “be what you are” since it is the presence of God in their midst that makes them “holy” not anything they did. What the passage seems to say is not to touch the “unholy” (the profane, common or unclean)since they are “holy”.