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Phillip Ross - ArticlesHypocrites and Cognitive DissonanceThe real danger to Christianity is not sinners, but hypocrites, people who identify themselves as Christian but who disregard the practice or essence of Christianity. We must note that no one is ever completely free from sin in this life. The difference between a Christian and a hypocrite is that a Christian repents of his sin, whereas the hypocrite does not repent. He wallows or stagnates in sin. He makes no effort to resist or avoid it. Community UnionChristians need to fellowship with other Christians. Because our values and interests change once we have been converted, we find that we have less and less in common with people who are not Christian. Our circle of friends changes because we like being with Christians more than with non-Christians. The old adage is that birds of a feather flock together. Viral PrideThe problem today is not keeping people from the pride virus because virtually everyone has it. The problem today is finding the cure. And again, the key to the cure is like the key to contagion -- contact. Sin & JudgmentWe confuse ourselves when we neglect the fact that Scripture treats repentant sinners differently than it treats unrepentant sinners. Repentant sinners have the protection of Jesus Christ the advocate, where unrepentant sinners face the full consequences of God's law on their own. PorneiaIt is very interesting to simply define a word that Paul used and understand it as he understood it. This kind of clarification speaks volumes about our own abandonment of God's law in the Twenty-First Century. By simply defining a word, we come face to face with our own immorality. Foolishness, Pride and Church GrowthImagine that Paul is your boss, who has been away, and you are talking to him on the phone. He has a disagreement with how you are handling things in his absence, and he tells you that he will return next week. Then he asks you how you would like him to approach you about this problem when he gets back. Against OriginalityWe are taught in our schools, colleges, universities and through the media that being human means being original, that we become most human when we are most original. Indeed, Humanism is the celebration of original thinkers as embodying the best that humanity has to offer. Artists will know what I'm talking about. But the Bible teaches that human beings were created in God's image. We are not originals, but some sort of copies of the Original. The Art of Genuine ImitationPaul calls Christians to imitate him, but not to be mass produced copies of the real McCoy. Rather, Paul has called Christians to become life artists, artists whose medium is life itself. False ChristianityThe Corinthians were engaged in worldly thinking and outright sin -- all in the name of Christianity! He told them that they were proud of the success that their church enjoyed -- it's wealth and political power -- because they were worldly minded and unfaithful to Christ. Their pride in their church was an expression of their faithlessness and their misunderstanding of the gospel. Divisive WatersApollos, prior to meeting with Aquila and Priscilla, appeared to have everything right. Yet, Paul faulted him for knowing only the baptism of John, implying that there was something significant that Apollos lacked -- some sort of baptism, or something related to baptism.
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