God is holy. But holiness as an isolated concept leads to
exaggerations of fear, guilt, shame, alienation, and the like, which
always tend to draw people even farther away from God. Self-hate and
self-love are both aspects of the same self-centeredness; neither of
these is the goal of holiness. Therefore holiness does not mean the
extinction of desires, as Buddha taught. Nor does it necessarily
require self-sacrifice and asceticism.
"If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the
flames, but have not love, I gain nothing." (I Cor. 13:3 NIV).