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From: dubois@uwmacc.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.religion
Subject: Holier Than Thou
Message-ID: <218@uwmacc.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 21-Aug-84 13:53:38 EDT
Article-I.D.: uwmacc.218
Posted: Tue Aug 21 13:53:38 1984
Date-Received: Wed, 22-Aug-84 06:00:11 EDT
Organization: UWisconsin-Madison Academic Comp Center
Lines: 38


Actually, the phrase "holier than thou" does derive from the Bible.

	Isaiah 65:1-5, KJV:
	I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them
	that sought me not:  I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a
	nation that was not called by my name.  I have spread out
	my hands all the day unto a rebellious people, which walketh
	in a way that was not good, after their own thoughts; A people
	that provoketh me to anger continually to my face; that
	sacrificeth in gardens, and burneth incense upon altars of
	brick, which remain among the graves, and lodge in the
	monuments, which eat swines' flesh, and broth of abominable
	things is in their vessels; which say, stand by thyself, come
	not near to me; for I am holier than thou.  These are a smoke
	in my nose, a fire that burneth all the day.

Hence we may say that there is some legitimacy in the typical
association of this phrase with with religious people.
However, those using it as a term of derogation may not always
know the derogees well enough to meaningfully apply the phrase.
For example:

A couple of years ago a woman told me that I had a holier than thou
attitude for maintaining that Christians should in fact live
according to a higher standard than the rest of the world, and that
in many cases, we do.  Was she right?  It might be surmised that she
came, in time, to the conclusion that her perception of me could
stand revision, as she is now my wife.  And a Christian.

Note:  I do not submit this as a pat on the back to myself.  But
neither am I going to claim to be completely fault-ridden.
-- 

Paul DuBois		{allegra,ihnp4,seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!dubois

And he is before all things, and by him all things consist...
						Colossians 1:17