Holier Than Thou by Jackie Hill Perry
Week 1: Introduction — The Problem With Holy
Read the Introduction of Holier Than Thou. Key passages: Isaiah 6:1–8; Exodus 3:1–6.
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Before we can appreciate what Jackie Hill Perry is building, we need to honestly name the baggage we already carry around the word 'holy.' Take a moment to come with open hands.
Discussion Questions
7 questions1.When you hear the word 'holy' — whether applied to God or to a person — what images or feelings immediately come to mind? Be honest: are those associations mostly positive, negative, or mixed?
2.Jackie opens by identifying a gap that many believers live with: we say we trust God, but our actual lives tell a different story. Where do you most clearly see that gap in your own life right now?
3.The book's central thesis is that our inability to trust God is rooted in a misunderstanding of His holiness. Before reading further, does that diagnosis resonate with you? Why or why not?
4.Jackie traces the distrust problem all the way back to Eve in the Garden — the assumption that God might be holding out on her. In what areas of your life are you most tempted to suspect that God is holding out on you?
a.What does that suspicion reveal about how you actually picture God?
b.How does that picture differ from the God described in passages like Isaiah 6?
5.When Isaiah encountered God's holiness in the temple (Isaiah 6:1–8), his first response was undone terror — 'Woe is me!' — and yet the encounter ended in commissioning and purpose. What does it tell us that a true view of God's holiness doesn't destroy us but sends us?
6.Jackie suggests that the church has often domesticated holiness, shrinking it into a behavioral checklist. How have you seen this happen in your own church experience or spiritual formation?
7.What do you most hope to gain — or most fear you might be confronted with — as you work through this book?
Closing Prayer
Father, we confess that we have heard the word 'holy' a thousand times and barely let it touch us. We have domesticated You, squeezed You into categories that make us comfortable, and then wondered why we don't trust You more. Like Eve, we have suspected You of holding out. Forgive us. As we begin this journey, shake the dust off the word 'holy' for us. Let us see You — not a safer, smaller version of You, but You as You actually are. We are willing to be undone, like Isaiah, if it means we finally see You as You are. In Jesus' name, Amen.
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