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Ethical Systems

Gary DeLashmutt and Dennis McCallum

Essay Summary
The ethical rules stated in the Bible are all applicable today, because the God who gave them does not change. It is our responsibility to bring into expression as many of the biblical rules as possible, even if this requires restructuring society to do so.

Factors in Leading Change in the Church

Dennis McCallum

Essay Summary
We should consider a number of special factors when our leadership is taking people from an established way of doing things to a new way.

Fellowship as a Means of Growth

Dennis McCallum

Essay Summary
Christians who are serious about spiritual growth are also serious about the Body of Christ. Growth is never a matter of mere individual pursuit of God. It is always pictured as something we pursue as a community. The importance of fellowship for growth is seen, not just in experience, but in the pages of the Bible.

Five Views on Sanctification

Mike Sullivan

Essay Summary
Sanctification is the process of becoming more like Christ in our conduct and character. But how does it occur? What disciplines, habits, and ways of thinking and living do Christians need to cultivate to become "sanctified"? In Five Views on Sanctification, Protestant theologians explore these questions and share their understanding of how sanctification occurs. In this paper, I will summarize and react to each contributor's view of sanctification. At the end of the paper, I will offer my own explanation of how sanctification occurs.

Five Worldviews

Dennis McCallum

Essay Summary
It sometimes seems as if there are more philosophical and religious views than any normal person could ever learn about. Indeed, there are more than six thousand distinct religions in the world today. However, some people are surprised to find that the world’s religions and philosophies tend to break down into a few major categories. These five worldviews include all the dominant outlooks in the world today. 

Follow Up Workshop

Dennis McCallum

Essay Summary
In general, the primary person responsible for interacting with new guests is the person who brought them. Bringers should not abandon their guests unless they are satisfied that others have already engaged them. New people should not be left alone during social times before or after meetings.

However, most bringers are happy to have others in the home church talk to their guests, either together, or even instead of the bringer. This could be because the guest is a different gender than the bringer (especially in singles groups), or because the bringer has already made progress, but would now like to have other voices confirm what they have been saying. Typically, other members from the same cell group as the bringer should feel special responsibility to follow up guests. Those from the related men’s or women’s cell would be equally suitable. If a bringer wants others in their cell group to help follow up with a guest, the best thing to do is let them know of the need beforehand.

For Whom Did Jesus Die?

Conrad Hilario

Essay Summary
Christian thinkers have been divided over the teachings of John Calvin for nearly four centuries. And there is good reason for this long-standing controversy. The debate over Calvinism is exceedingly complex and the sweep of all that has been written on this subject could easily fill the largest of libraries.

Formalism and Prayer

Dennis McCallum

Essay Summary
Formalism is an outlook that focuses on outward religious rites more than on inward heart attitude. Just as legalism seeks to reform the inward by focusing on outward behavior, formalism shifts the focus from the inward to things like rituals and observance of sacred calendars and liturgies. Of course, every Christian group and individual has forms through which they express or practice their faith. And any of these forms has the potential to replace a real heart encounter with God.

In many religions, including some that would call themselves Christian, people practice formalistic prayer. Instead of a time of personal relating with God, formalistic prayer becomes a ritual, a form to be followed.

Formalism: What is It and Why Not?

Dennis McCallum

Essay Summary
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

Geisler's Three Schools of Principlized Ethics

Dennis McCallum

Essay Summary
There are three schools of principled ethics taken from Norman Geisler's Christian Apologetics: unqualified absolutism, conflicting absolutism and hierarchicalism.

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