But, like a vaudeville stagehand, God took His cane, and yanked away that Holiness from our Pastor so suddenly that I sensed it and felt it and it scared me. He slowly began sliding out of the Church- he gave up Bible Study, and that is when we all prayed for people. I knew then that the Holy Spirit had fled. But how? How did I know?

Another post which further cements your false belief that God is vengeful. So so sad. ...

When you came together in celebration or prayer, the spirit of God you sensed came from you and the other members of the congregation. You were able to sense it easier because the feeling was magnified exponentially in the same way laughter is contagious.

The spirit or essence of 'God is always there - in your heart - in your beingness.

A false belief usually involves a value judgment.

The pastor wasn't any more or any less holy than you or I. You judged him as so. First holy, than a sinner who needed to be punished & then you found evidence to support your belief.

The 'Holy Spirit' did NOT flee the church because spirit resides in you. I think what you felt was disappointment because you missed the Bible Study & the prayer groups.

A common type of delusion is the delusion of sin.

Research shows, the more ingrained the belief, the more likely it will be a person will be biased & interpret the info, event or evidence in a manner which supports their opinions & further confirms their beliefs.

As for the pastor - the title does NOT denote holiness. Anyone can become an ordained minister via the internet for a small amount of money & not all states require a minister to have a license. Furthermore, many Reverends are not considered Holy by others. I personally have never heard a 'man of the cloth' referred to as Holy & I don't believe many refer to themselves as Holy whether they feel they are or not. They are no more Holy than you or I. As far as I'm concerned, Holiness is a title used to address the Pope or Dalia Lama, NOT pastors.

As for your view of certain friends and loved ones as Holy - will this view change if they did something you judged as bad. Would your label be a blessing or a curse? Jai, NO one is all good or all bad. God does NOT punish. Punishment comes from within or from other humans.

ETA

Belonging to, derived from, or associated with a divine power; sacred.

I have sensed and experienced spiritual/cosmic energy from my connection with the cosmos or Source in addition to sensing the energy in several places deemed sacred as well in nature in addition to having this experience of sacredness & spiritual energy with different people in my lifetime. I've seen sacredness in the faces of the young & old.

ETA

In my view, this is 'Holy' (goosebumps & awe)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2429903/Peace-Day-Reminder-millions-lives-lost-war-artists-stencil-9-000-bodies-Normandy-beach.html

perhaps the nature of being
human, allows for a wide
range of choices, from muck
and mire to that of holiness

I personally think that it is wired into our nervous system. Why not? History has demonstrated that humans have a built-in impulse to seek out a higher power; that feeling of joy or ecstasy when you are connected with Source is just a natural part of that. Why would it be any other way?

God is spirit and God is holy. God created us in is image, you are a spirit that is holy with the same potential as the holy father and you need to grow to be the light that you can be. you are not in darkness any more walk while you have the light. experience and enjoy.

Holiness means plenitude, wholeness, overflowing abundance, wholly self sufficient and complete, everything's in harmony and developing perfectly and you attain this state when all thoughts cease and are in a state of pure consciousness, pure awareness

When you project and crystalize your thoughts of holiness, of perfection in the form of an object, writings, personality real or virtual you're automatically separating yourself from the whole, you're automatically becoming unwhole. Your reality becomes separated from the rest with the formation of distinct groups of people with different beliefs and practices. There's exclusion and separation with those groups that have different beliefs to yours.

Under these conditions the only way you can reattain the feeling of wholeness, of holiness is to regularly form the pattern in your mind of what you consider as being holy, and in so doing you're forming an image in your mind which automatically excludes other possibilities and prevents greater awareness.

When the container, a cup for example, contains something it cannot be empty and expansion is temporarily limited. One extremity of the continuum is the zen state represented by the empty circle (yet full of plenitude), and the other extremity is the thought state represented by the circle "lost in thought"

L&L

Holiness is formed. The closer you get to God, the holier you are.

Being humble and giving to others is what creates the holiness.

Feeling control over others and better than everyone lessens it.