A General Assessment of Their Doctrine

It is difficult to ascertain a positive goal or doctrine for the Holic Group. They live primarily in an oppositional stance toward other Christians and toward the churches, and they reproach them as not living according to the Bible any more. The Holic Group’s identity is strongly formed by their understanding of themselves as an alternative to a exaggerated conceptualization of a sinful world and a sinful church. The opposition to those two, and a distancing from them, constitutes a big part of their purpose. Affirmative formulations of their own are almost unknown. Their attitude toward life is ruled by the concept of a special purity and a most perfect following of Christ, which is fulfilled only in their group, as opposed to the “lax environment” outside of their group. They would like to live perfectly and entirely for God, and to understand the Bible radically and starkly. Accordingly, their own interest seems to lie more in practical living than in theological discussions. The distinct feature of the group’s doctrinal structure emerges primarily with the topics of morality, lifestyle, and community structure / shared life of the Christians. On other topics, if anything, the general theology of the big churches is repeated (e.g., in the exegesis of the creation narrative, doctrines of grace, predestination, eschatology, the Real Presence of Christ in the Eucharist, the doctrine of the Trinity …). In general, the theological activity inside the group happens at quite a high level.