Lutherius, thanks! Your essay made a lot of sense!
Quote:
For example, if a person within the congregation thinks God has spoken to him a particular thing, and another person claims that God has spoken to him about something that contradicts the first person, there is no rational method by which to resolve the conflict other than authoritarianism – some guy at the top of the pyramid basically says, “What I say is law, and that settles it.”

So that's why holiness is such a big issue! They've got to have something to base their authority on so as to say “I'm holier than thou so I get to be the boss!”