Throughout the ages, believers have come up with some interesting approaches to becoming holy.
1. First, there was Asceticism.
2. The Institutional Church: The Dendrites lived in trees, basing the practice on a verse in James about keeping oneself unspotted from the world. Self-flagellation and contemplation were popular at times.
3. Performance or the Spirit’s Power? — The New Testament conveys this message: No excess, but no unnecessary abstinence, either.