Traditionally, fundamentalism has often held that women are not permitted to teach men, or to hold offices of authority over men in the church. This point of view is based on some of Paul's comments on women, which are being misunderstood, as we shall see.

Once we see that the starting point for traditional thinking on this subject is deficient on exegetical grounds we realize the need to find an alternative understanding. No complete attempt will be made here to explore all of the possible resolutions to the problem, but we will survey some solutions sufficient for the lay reader.

Formalism refers to a tendency in religious thought and practice to shift focus away from the abstract, the spiritual, the personal, or the ethical principles in a religion and toward the outward forms that embody that religion. Outward forms can refer to:

- the sacred buildings or shrines in which worship occurs
- the calendar of sacred days and times around which religious life is oriented
- the rituals through which followers can experience the sacred or be fixed in some way
- special dress, diet, language, or other behaviors unique to that religion

When local churches face large scale change, members often feel upset. Why do we have to change the way we do things? I thought the changes last year were supposed to have so many answers! How many times does this make? How many more of these upheavals will we have to endure? These are some of the feelings that unavoidably come up when major changes in direction are presented to the church.

When reading these two passages, Christians can easily become totally confused and give up. Yet, these are surely two of the richest passages in the whole of Scripture. Therefore, the author rebukes those of his audience who have no taste for meat (5:11-14) and who are therefore immature. They couldn't understand, and it will be even harder for us to do so, since we have none of the Jewish liturgical background they did. For this reason, we will have to start with some background considerations.

A review of New Testament passages on how the church should use its money, how it should handle its money and how it should go about collecting money.

At Dwell, we define the church in a way that is incompatible with this declaration, regardless of whether or not we view Catholic doctrine as sufficiently close to ours to warrant some level of cooperation. At Dwell, we would not sign a declaration that any church institution (including our own) lies entirely within the circle of the Body of Christ. At the same time, we would not deny the true Christianity of particular individuals within churches which may not teach evangelical doctrine. Therefore, in our view, the command to cultivate unity would apply only to that part of any church composed of people truly spiritually reborn. This is why we have not agreed to sign onto this accord.

The defense offered by Steven in Acts 7 has confused interpreters as much as any passage in the book of Acts. In his excellent commentary on Acts, Howard Marshal says,

". . . the purpose of this speech is still much disputed. In form it is a lengthy recital of Old Testament history, discussing in detail what appear to be insignificant points and culminating in a bitter attack on the speaker's hearers. What is the speaker trying to do?" 

This paper is a study in the history of religion. "Objectification" is the religious tendency to reduce abstract principles to tangible, visceral objects and rituals. This tendency, found in all religious complexes, has also been prominent in Christianity, despite explicit prohibitions in the New Testament. The author believes objectification (also known as formalism) remains as one of the greatest stumbling blocks to people considering Christianity today.

If it were not for the traditional use of the word 'worship' amongst Christians, substantial arguments could be raised against its continued use. For one thing, the denotative meaning of 'worship' is different from the related Greek and Hebrew terms. For another, the connotative meaning of 'worship' in the Christian community is substantially different from the biblical teaching on the topic. Since the evangelical Christian community is committed to the use of the term worship, it certainly bears careful examination so that we mean what God intends when we use it.