-------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 1995 by the Christian Research Institute. -------------------------------------------------------------------- COPYRIGHT/REPRODUCTION LIMITATIONS: This data file is the sole property of the Christian Research Institute. It may not be altered or edited in any way. It may be reproduced only in its entirety for circulation as "freeware," without charge. All reproductions of this data file must contain the copyright notice (i.e., "Copyright 1995 by the Christian Research Institute"). This data file may not be used without the permission of the Christian Research Institute for resale or the enhancement of any other product sold. This includes all of its content with the exception of a few brief quotations not to exceed more than 500 words. If you desire to reproduce less than 500 words of this data file for resale or the enhancement of any other product for resale, please give the following source credit: Copyright 1995 by the Christian Research Institute, P.O. Box 500-TC, San Juan Capistrano, CA 92693. -------------------------------------------------------------------- BBS-FYI 2:13 September 6, 1994 LISTSERV NEWS Apologia-L has been focused on the King James debate lately. Majority Text proponents seem to be holding their own. The Christian Telecommunications Toolkit List recently published the names of its subscribers. Most are in a positon of influence within cyber-Christendom. TELESTATS "America Online Says Users of Service Exceed 1 Million" -- in comparison the article reports both CompuServe and Prodigy claim 2.2 million (though Prodigy is said to only have 1.3 paying accounts at the most because it estimates multiple users for each membership). Oddly, GEnie is rated at only 100,000 subscribers and Delphi at 120,000. New York Times, Aug 17 '94, pC4. Only 5% of Internet users are female. Most are young males from 21 to 25 years old (29%). After that 27% are 26-30, 17% are 31-35, 11% are 36-40, 8% are 41-50. Time, Sep 5 '94, p20. "Guide to Desktop Publishing Without Any Paper" -- I've seen this theme before. The incredible bulk of documentation behind large technology efforts ends up adding massive costs for printing and storage alone. The example given here notes that "Boeing Aerospace is ... one of the world's leading publishers. ...The weight of documentation, particularly the servicing and operations manuals, needed for a 747 exceeds that of the aircraft itself." Going digital a'la CD-ROM slices costs dramatically. New York Times, Aug 30 '94, pB8. I suppose this is where I should say it. My previous account of a survey by Boardwatch magazine of the top 100 BBSs in the country included some inaccurate figures. All of their top 100 surveys do. The recent issue (Sep '94, p28) just made it more obvious for me. Their survey method works by reader feedback. The key is understanding that the average Boardwatch reader is NOT the average BBS user. The Boardwatch crowd tends to be much more advanced in technical skill. With this in mind, this year's survey found that 13% of BBS users are female. Of all the features on most boards download libraries are held to be the greatest draw. E-mail comes in second. Half of all respondents ran 14.4 modems with about 8.5% at 9600 and 8% at 19.2 kbps. What is interesting is that 30% are still running at 2400. But again, from the looks of it, the survey isn't quite up to Gallup standards. NET NEWS "CompuServe To Offer Link To Internet" -- they intend to build on some of their existing infrastructure to start "a new business [that] would be formed, possibly as soon as mid-September, to offer Internet services to commercial customers" including high-speed T-1 access options. Later a term is introduced that was new for me. The article refers to "points of presence" with regard to the local numbers information providers have set up in major population centers across the country. CompuServe is said to have 380 points of presence while Netcom, "currently the largest [commercial] Internet provider," has just 32 (and only 50,000 subscribers). Get the picture? New York Times, Aug 31 '94, pC3. RESOURCES We have received the stand-alone freeware DOS applicaion, "Executable Outlines" (EXEOUT.EXE) from its author, Mark Copeland (copeland@gate.net). The program is a polished, self-contained text reader featuring a number of Christian topics. Included is an apologetics category which has a healthy but almost exclusive focus on the reliability of the New Testament. The only concerns we might have with Copeland's views are his anti-denominational perspective and his position on baptism which is moderately similar to that of the Church of Christ. Jim Gallagher (73557,2342@compuserve.com) with Wisdom Research sent us his International Christian BBS List on disk. The list package contains multiple encrypted text files that can only be accessed by the included DOS file-reading application. He explained that it is set up this way to maintain the accuracy of the original. The idea is that without the ability to edit the list users will report changes to the creator. I printed the list to disk and brought the resulting text file over to the Mac environment. The first leg of my second residence on America Online has concluded. It has been almost two years since I was last there for a serious look. The Religion & Ethics Forum has grown as you might expect but its bulletin board (Message Center) still lacks in comparison to that of GEnie with regard to size, diversity, and organizational design (a function of the host software). However, at the rate things are changing, GEnie will close down and AOL will overtake CompuServe. Here's an idea of what you'll find on the Religion & Ethics Forum boards of AOL: ---------------- *General Overview* -Topic- -Subjects/tot msg's- Atheism 44/3844 Buddhism 44/3458 Christianity Doctrine/Theology 49/10336 Christian Fellowship 45/10970 Christian Living 44/4195 Debate 38/11303 Ethics 46/1759 Hinduism 33/767 Humanism 29/760 Islam 19/1885 Judaism 43/3332 Judaism II/Interfaith 37/2204 New Age 50/3832 Other Religions 43/4530 Pagan and Magickal Traditions 18/3927 Pagan Issues and Concerns 46/4768 Philosophy 45/2328 --------------- Detail on Topics: *Atheism* -Subject- / -messages- Christian Service 1 Christianity&Islam 6 Bill Clinton& "God" 4 The nature of atheism 49 Religious Victims 2 *NEWS & ANNOUNCEMENTS* 3 Orthodox Jew asks re atheism 72 ExtraterrestrialLife&Religion 40 How to deal with death 9 Quotes for Atheists 50 The "Morality" of Religion 25 Divine intervention in Vista 29 BUNK BUSTERS TV Show 16 The New Generation of Atheist 84 Atheists Are more intelligent 135 Sunday Morning 45 Education & Religion 21 Carl Sagan 53 Double Standards 37 Pedophilia -- right or wrong? 224 So where did God come from? 113 Atheism and You 79 Peace in our time online 80 Atheist and Proud 59 BURDEN OF PROOF 243 The "Christian Coalition" 267 Atheist Publication 14 The Case Against Christianity 146 Humanist Sex and Violence 9 Science vs. Religion 298 intelligence 52 Atheist-Theist Interaction 92 Atheist Messages 39 Atheist jokes 87 Discrimination Against Atheism 62 Choices in Life & Death 24 Help and advice needed 81 How We Became Atheists 80 Former Christians Group 53 Can't atheists spell "God"? 487 Atheist morals vs JeffDahmer 53 separation of church and state 81 Problems in Atheism 120 Atheism 323 ---------------- *Buddhism* -Subject- / -messages- east tennessee zen? 0 Pure Land Journals 0 Anger/Strive/Ambition/ Desire 9 Buddhists in New York City 5 Kuan Yin 6 KALACHAKRA 2 Western Pure Land Buddhism 14 Buddhist Women 35 SGI/Nichiren Shoshu 45 Buddhist Iconography 15 Catholic Zen 10 Buddhism and the Work Place 31 Buddhists Singles 35 Copyright, etc.10 Jewish Buddhists 30 Nichiren Seikai Shu Soka Gakka 98 Japanese Cults and Nikken Sect 204 zen posture - how come? 28 Buddhists who r consultants 10 Ganden Jangtse Monks 7 Anybody Want to 29 PLACES TO PRACTICE 21 CHANTING 36 Nichiren Shoshu 73 anyone in WYBL? 13 Buddhist Holiday Dates 22 I Go To The Sangha For Guidanc 140 Little Buddha Movie 93 Buddhism & Environment 15 Shambhala Sun 53 TBLD-Tibetan Buddism 52 Zen -- Dharma Combat 78 Zen Mysticism 212 New Comers 64 Vipassana 27 Soka Gakkai Int/Nichiren Shosh 500 What is Zen? 117 Japanese Cults and Soka Gakkai 250 SGI-USA 418 zen 191 Buddhism and Western Culture 108 Zen Teachers Folder 122 Vajrayana 68 BUDDHISM - OTHER 162 ---------------- *Christianity Doctrine/Theology* -Subject- / -messages- TRADITION OR TRUTH?????? 5 DO YOU KNOW? 17 How Do I Know Im Saved? 11 Historical Jesus 41 Eastern Orthodoxy 80 Liberal Baptists 58 Learning God's Word 26 LAST DAY 58 The Book of Hebrews 22 Repentance/Reform 42 Do Jews need Jesus 83 Creation and a Young Earth 59 Pro-Gay Church Movement 137 Liberation Theology 24 CALVINISM--PURE AND SIMPLE 191 Traditional Catholic Forum 461 Western Orthodoxy 71 Televangelists 91 Orthodox/Continuing Anglicans 61 Dietrich Bonhoeffer 47 What is Salvation? 196 RESCUING BIBLE FROM LITERALISM 402 Purpose of Christianity 163 fundamentalist anonymous 320 Recovering Mormons 265 trinity: truth or fiction? 272 Profound Questions 113 New Catholic Catechism 138 Biblical Studies Dialogue 107 Christianity and feminism 112 Watchtower/Jehovah's Witnesses 223 Catholic-Protestant Debate 453 Assurance & Grace Gospel 68 Christian Mysticism 151 Orthodox-Protestant Debate II 463 Baptism essential to salvation 202 Marian Apparitions 451 BIBLE PROPHECY 385 End of the world: 1994? 456 Churches of Christ 267 Mormonism Dialogue/Debate 461 Orthodox - Catholic Dialogs 430 Reformed Believers 453 Catholic Debate 451 Anglican/Episcopal Faith 312 Wounded Pilgrims 257 FreeWill/Elect Poll 277 Jehovahs Witnesses 452 20-something Catholics/post-Vat2 451 ---------------- *Christian Fellowship* -Subject- / -messages- NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS 267 Global Church of God 3 Christian Women's Fellowship 145 FourSquare Gospel Church 15 Old Catholics 9 Youth Ministry Concerns 45 WWCOG 11 Byzantine Christians 73 Christian Teens Only 101 Christian Singles 186 Deacons 39 Calvary Chapel 107 Cooperative Baptist Fellowship 70 Christian Science 343 Mennonites 56 Quakers Friends Society of 123 United Methodist 164 LDS Topics and Discussion 466 Buechner Readers 295 African American Christians 106 PROMISE KEEPERS 321 Liberal Christians 228 The Moravian Tradition 72 Clergy Forum 444 Catholic-Protestant Dialogue 450 Christian & Missionary Alliance 83 Jehovah's Witnesses 452 Ask Father 657 Jews For Jesus 198 Korean-American Christians? 94 Church of the Nazarene 246 Church of Christ 308 Assmblies of God 175 Our Lady's Messages 322 Seventh-day Adventists 268 Charismatic Episcopal Church 331 Liturgy/Catholic 176 C.S. Lewis and Inklings 450 Lutherans again 490 Reformed Believers 2 445 Apostolic Pentecostals 353 Southern Baptist 455 Pastoral Musicians 429 Eastern Orthodoxy 450 Episcopalians out there? 451 ---------------- *Christian Living* -Subject- / -messages- Young Adult Christians 1 Amish Online! 1 The Urantia Book 9 Exchange Christian Newsletters 4 Politically active Christians 7 Christian Child Abuse 6 Where are the Believers on AOL 22 Divorce/Remarr from HELP & GS 62 Christian Radio 21 Vineyard Christian Fellowship 18 The Monastic Tradition 31 Spiritual Direction 17 House Churches 17 Catholic Parenting 38 Chastity Support Group 10 Catholic protest 13 Christians in Comic Book field 11 Help For Growing Families 284 Christianized Idolatry 65 PRO-CHILD 18 Living the life 64 Inclusive Language? 49 Word of Faith Believers 32 Why not a Christian AOL Forum? 159 Larry Norman & Co. 45 Holy Ghost Revival 83 Catholic Cult? 172 Christian Educators 21 Gentle Spirit/Titus 2 493 The Christian Research Institu 121 The Rosary: Power and Blessin 57 AOL PRAISE & PRAYER 56 Catholic Christian Music 62 Focus on the Family 101 BILL GOTHARD SEMINAR 186 CHRISTIANS LOOKING FOR CHURCHE 90 Great Christian Books 115 Getting More Christians Online 98 Christian Counseling 111 Promise Keepers 80 Christianity and Sexuality 291 Christian music 238 Christian Alternative Music 323 Petition AGAINST Porn on AOL 496 ---------------- *Debate* -Subject- / -messages- Religious Experience 178 One God, No Trinity 115 Miricles or Coincidence 39 Homosexuality III 696 Cyber Flirting or Harassment 74 Homosexuality Cont. 455 Abortion Cont. 458 BIBLE CONTRADICTIONS 449 Bible Contradictions Cont. 795 Racism 163 Hyphen-American 110 Family Values 223 Christmas & the Christian 108 Issues in Technology 53 Peace in our time online 75 GAY "MARRIAGE"/Fact or Fantasy? 448 interracial Marriages 122 Overpopulation 109 Homosexuality 450 Homosexuality & mainlin 448 Stand Up For God! 570 Christians Look At Your History 195 EVOLUTION VS. CREATIONISM 469 FIGHT PORNOGRAPHY: Help! 215 Prophecy 253 CHRISTIAN ROCK 90 Ayn Rand 171 Knock, knock -moderates here? 116 Sabbath 122 AIDS: Why should we pay? 522 Cybersex and Morality 88 ATHEIST CONTRADICTIONS 449 Religious Liberty 448 AOL Censorship 228 Superiority of Atheism 448 Feminism 448 Rush Limbaugh 448 ABORTION 460 ---------------- *Ethics* -Subject- / -messages- Death Penalty, Yea or Nay? 10 Clergy Abuse; Non-Catholic 3 RENEWAL 2 NEWSLETTER 2 Alcohol & Other Drugs:Preventi 1 Circumcision:Child Sexual Abus 14 Sexual Abuse By Priests 10 "Pro-Life" Killers 195 Homosexuality: Causes 40 Locker Searches 8 What happened to the Evolution 8 The Moral Argument 9 Rape 14 Work ethic 14 Environmental Ethics 15 Keeping an eye on government 2 Sexual Herassment on AOL 95 Military Intervention 12 Ethics In Science 54 Feature Films & Ethics 17 The Golden Rule: Do Unto Other 10 Madalyn M. O'Hare 19 Adoption - Does It Exist Anymo 47 what is incest? 15 Heterosexual violence 54 What is beauty? 16 Animals 16 Stealing 4 Death 15 Journalism Code of Ethics 10 Ethics in Journalism 36 Adultery 46 Abortion? 106 Casino Ethics 9 Regulating Technology 56 Corporal Punishment 17 More Heresy? 30 Real World Ethics 58 God & Guns 31 physician assisted suicide 22 RACE UNITY 23 What is GOOD? 29 Vegetarianism 128 Ethics of Genetic Engineering 172 Pat Robertson et al 91 WhiteWater or WhiteWash??? 59 ProLife/ProChoice 118 ---------------- *Hinduism* -Subject- / -messages- THE ART OF MEDITATION 1 Miracles in Hinduism 4 Anandamayi Ma 3 School/College Help 0 Hindu Youth Group 2 Sathya Sai Baba 7 Vedic Marriage Ceremony 3 Kripalu Fellowship 1 Good Books 14 Maharishi Mahesh Yogi 4 The "Christian Coalition" 5 Alt.Hindu and Hindu Digest 2 You are God 6 Tabla1 Kriya Yoga 47 Movies 8 Diciples of Prabhupada 27 Half-man/Half-lion 15 "Murder of Ahinsa & Gandhi" 3 Hinduism & Christianity??? 51 Kundalini 8 Mother Meera 15 Vedanta 6 Devas 9 Song of God/Bhagavad Gita 40 Siddha Yoga 34 Hindu/Vaishnava 93 Dharma book review 45 TANTRA 22 Hinduism==> Own folder!!! 36 Guru Maharaj Ji 51 Hindus 127 Hare Krishna! 77 ---------------- *Humanism* -Subject- / -messages- Humanist Children 2 Ethical Culture 14 Unitarian Universe Chat 18 UU Reading Club 26 Rational vs. Spiritual 66 ANOTHER VIEW 4 Speak now, or forever... 64 RASK 7 Reading Club, Campbell 6 Humanist Quotes 2 Humanistic Judaism / Beth Adam 2 A Call for Contributions 1 Science Fiction 8 Renaissace Of The Sacred Femin 12 New Definition of Humanism 50 Secular Humanist Concepts 2 Freethought Library 7 The Meaning(s) of Life? 14 Political Humanism 19 Announcements 15 Universalists 64 "all in the family" 8 Learning about humanism 6 Varieties of humanism 70 Humanist Jokes 78 Humanism 89 Humanism International 25 Humanist Heroes 27 Humanism and death 54 ---------------- *Islam* -Subject- / -messages- Music and Islam 16 Culture 70 Women in Islam 105 Al-Kitaab wal-Qur'an 10 SUNNIH MUSLIMS 97 Sufism - Rumi 6 Muslim who wants to meet musli 15 The Muhammadans 23 Kalifaite Propoganda 65 HELP ME OUT!!! 11 The Shiah 90 ANGEL EXPERIENCES 27 Submission - Only Religion 74 Muslims in USA 103 Need Islamic Clothing 16 Christians asking about Islam 393 Arabic 66 QURAN 248 Islam 450 ---------------- *Judaism* -Subject- / -messages- Jewish Cemeteries 2 Conservative & Reform Rabbis 2 AEPi Fraternity 1 Srugah 1 MIKVEH 1 NFTYites Only! 18 Traditions 4 A Rabbi is.... 10 Spiritual Moments 3 MEDITATION 2 Elat Chayyim-Woodstock Cntr. 4 TALMUD STUDY 26 Holiday Angst 4 Jewish HomeSchooling 12 Chronically Ill & Disabled Jew 23 Bris Milah 23 Forgiving 14 Rebbe Nachman 9 Reclaiming Shabbat 46 Jewish Defense League 29 Rosh Hashana- 1or2 15 Noah's Ark on Mt Ararat? 18 Comments on "answers to ques." 28 "Who Is A Jew?" 103 Sephardic answers to modern li 38 Jewish Family Issues 56 Places to Live 27 High Holidays 13 Kashrut - What's Hot, What's N 114 Cybershtetl 2000 50 Jews, Homosexuality and Torah 450 Reconstructionism 40 NFTY/UAHC 82 Kvetch a little :) 222 Women's Study Group 115 Jewish Education 60 USY 133 Sexual Abuse of Women by Rabbis 177 ANNOUNCEMENTS/EVENTS 112 Judaism: answers to questions 341 Kabbalah 311 Jewish BBS 147 Jews By Choice 450 ---------------- *Judaism II/Interfaith* -Subject- / -messages- Downloading Humash 2 Unaffiliated Congregations 12 Brandeis-Bardin Institute 2 Day School Fundraising 2 Jews Meeting Other Jews 4 Rabbi needed 16 PROJECT MEZUZAH 4 Orthodox Jews on AOL 157 Jewish...but not... 11 Get Rid Of Non-Jewish Topics 36 Machaneh Miriam 1 Camp Galil Online Year Round!! 5 Parents of BT's 5 The Kibbutz Experience 14 The Buenos Aires Massacre 27 Warsaw '44 8 Jewish fiction 18 Volunteers for Israel 11 Searching for Balance 215 Ba'alei Teshuvah 29 No Protestant Anti Semitism? 99 SHLOMO CARLEBACH MUSIC 6 Bene Noach 33 March of the Living 9 Judaica CD-ROM 11 How will we know Moshiach? 106 BEYOND BABYLON 24 Anti-Semitism on the Net 29 Will the Rebbe Rise? 73 Counter-Missionaries 184 Temple Mount 64 Jews and Blacks in America 48 Can I convert and still be a J 119 Intermarriage 98 Messianic Jews 173 Jewish Angels 98 Jews for Jesus 449 ---------------- *New Age* -Subject- / -messages- THE MESSIAH'S SECOND ADVENT 1 Neuro Linguistic Programming 2 Esat and the Landmark Forum 1 Light and Sound Machines 23 For the Undecided 8 Martial Arts/Mysticism 25 * News & Announcements * 3 11:11 A WAKE UP CALL 14 A Course In Miracles 35 MotherWorks 15 Genesis 34 CROP CIRCLES 30 NEW AGE TV Network 9 Monroe Institute on WWW 11 Atlantis 56 Works of Carlos Castaneda 25 Questions and Answers 36 Prayer: Aid or Arrogance? 50 Psychic Friends Network 31 prophets, we got'em 54 O.O.B.E. and Altered States 47 New Age Chat 92 The Human Aura 116 The Gifts of Many Paths 63 Kundalini 67 Crystals,energetics,and others 17 Paranormal research 41 NEW FRONTIER Magazine 63 The Arcturas Probe 25 Way too woo-woo! 77 LightWorkers/StarSeeds 96 Kabbalah 139 UFO's Have arrived 26 Channeling 74 SOMETHING IS COMING SOON! 83 ASTROLOGY REDUX 67 Mystical Experience 57 Castenada/Sorcery 70 Michael Teachings 151 Alien Abductions 104 ANGEL ENCOUNTERS 44 Past Life Experiences 115 Keys of Knowledge 256 Books&Music of Special Interes 64 Lucid Dreaming 170 Native American Spirituality 281 *NEWS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS* 81 The Celestine Prophecy 452 NEW AGE FORUM NEEDED!! 170 Women's Spirituality 263 ---------------- *Other Religions* -Subject- / -messages- Spiritual Exercise and Exp. 449 Unitarian Universalists Forum 450 Freemasonry 450 Scientology 450 Eckankar Online! 449 Church of Satan 123 Necronomicon 52 Baha'is online 450 Dianetics 69 Meher Baba 214 Theosophy 110 UU & Other Liberal Religious E 43 OAHSPE 44 Taoism 32 Gnosticism/heresies 76 Rosicrucianism 347 Zoroastrianism 30 Fourth Way/ Gurdjieff 70 Psychedelianism 34 Science of Mind 50 Church of the Subgenius 56 Mithraism 13 Dark Night of the Soul 13 Gimme That Online Religion 29 Thinking and Destiny 9 TEMPLE OF THE HOLY GRAIL 15 1st CHURCH OF APPLIANTOLOGY 82 Unificationism 12 Unity Prayer Request 21 Sufism 21 Self Realization Fellowship 5 African based spirituality 115 Native American 4 Deism 12 Nature of the Soul 13 The Shakers 6 Mouravieff Study Group 2 Celestine Prophecy 5 ***ANNOUNCEMENTS*** 8 RUSHLIMBAUGHOLOGY 37 GNOSTIC ACADEMY 14 Warriorship 15 Da Free John 11 ---------------- *Pagan and Magickal Traditions* -Subject- / -messages- Discordian 48 *News and Announcements* 323 ORDO SERVORUM ISIDIS 46 Festivals and Conferences 94 Messianic Paganism 46 Wicca Discussion 455 Celtic Ways and Druidism 450 Asatru/Norse Paganism 443 TEMPLE OF SET 159 T.O.P.Y. 62 Church of All Worlds 148 Occult 185 The GOLDEN DAWN 345 Greek/Classical Paganism 47 Online Rituals and Activities 244 Ceremonial Magick 195 Crowley 450 Shamanism & Plant Teachers 188 ---------------- *Pagan Issues and Concerns* -Subject- / -messages- Tarot and Divination 449 Pagan Scholarship 119 Pagan media, books, music 143 Looking for Pagans 450 Book of Shadows 139 In The Broom Closet 241 Myths and Holidays 49 Pagan Parenting 132 The Pagan Book Club 113 THE LAUGHING CRONE 137 Pagan Community 96 Pagan Ethics Discussion 167 Love among the Heathen 55 The Black Dog 62 Wicca VS. Ceremonial 80 Just what IS Paganism anyway? 107 Christian/Pagan Debate 450 Pagans in the military 70 Pagans in Recovery 89 Pagans & the Media & the Law 161 Single Pagans 79 Intermarriage 31 The Goddess in the office 111 Poetry 78 Faerie Folk 129 I knew I was a Pagan (or ?) when 115 Birth of a God(dess) 31 Gate to the Summerland 28 Queer Pagans and Witches 68 Healer, WiseWo/man, Green Witc 65 Familiars 45 *News and Announcements* 34 PAGAN CHAT GRAFFITI 325 Individual Autonomy Day 10 Counseling Pagans in Jail 6 Web Weaving 116 Take Back Halloween 18 Pagan Economic Strength 48 Pagans and Politics 29 Censorship of Pagans 24 Dimensions 7 Pagan Miracles 7 Pagan Music 23 census??? 4 Teenage Pagans 14 Menstrual Magic14 ---------------- *Philosophy* -Subject- / -messages- SCIENCE OF SPIRITUALITY 2 Humanism 2 Logic 21 Vedic Astrology 2 The Infinite Way 1 Vegetarianism 2 *News and Announcements* 4 Transcendalism 5 Ishmeal 6 Tom Robbins 5 morphic resonance 3 Stuart Wilde's Warrier's Wisdo 4 God The Prime Mover 36 Philosopies of Black Nationali 10 Life After Death Experiences 9 pain/suffering 20 Belief and Knowledge 30 THE ART OF MEDITATION 15 Hermetic philosophy 9 U 19 Catholic Objectivism? 19 RASK 13 Justice as a Spiritual Quality 12 existentialism 26 Revolution 18 The Electronic Stoa 21 Agnostics search for Faith 66 The Soul 12 Catholic faith: "dumbing down" 35 book reading & dialogue club 80 reality 53 NONVIOLENCE AND SPIRITUALITY 43 WHAT IS CREATIVITY? 14 The 3 Big Questions 25 Move Philosophy out of Religio 30 Out-of-Body-Experiences 24 Mystic Experience 50 Is Atheism Logically Coherent? 421 Ayn Rand 305 Herr Nietzsche 86 Ludwig Wittgenstein 33 What is Truth? 87 God vs. Free will. 333 Taoism 237 Jung & Jungian Psychology 81 ---------------- Next, a look at the Religion & Ethics Forum file library. BBS-FYI 2:14 October 17, 1994 SOFTWARE NEWS "Christian Magazine Advertises RLDS Bible" -- reports that Christian Computing magazine has an ongoing ad for Christian Technologies Incorporated. CTI offers a CD-ROM which includes (among others) the Inspired Version of the Bible by Joseph Smith, from Herald House the RLDS publishing arm. CTI "is owned by members of the RLDS church." Christian Computing continues to run the ad with full knowledge of complaints that Joseph Smith is not a Christian source. The Evangel, Sum '94, p6. LISTSERV NEWS The Christian Telecommunications Toolkit list recently included a post that was a list of "Christian" Internet mailing lists which contained two I don't remember seeing before: FEMREL-L Feminist theology, women & religion listserv@mizzou1.missouri.edu RUSSIA-NET Churches of Christ, Russian and Ukranian evangelism listserv@bible.acu.edu The Apologia-L list has focused on Mormonism for a short time. Frank Beckwith was sparing briefly there with a very articulate LDS type. Someone else posted the 83K article, "Solving the Mystery of the Joseph Smith Papyri" from the Salt Lake City Messenger (#82, Sep '92), in case you're interested in a digital copy. It has been interesting to watch the NuRel list since the Solar Temple incident took place in Switzerland. At first no one seemed to know anything about the group. The only post of real significance that came across the screen was a press release dated October 5 from the Ecumenical News International's ENI News Service (a news wire I had not heard of before). Then about a week later came a great deal of information from the recent Communal Studies Association conference "at Oneida" where Massimo Introvigne and J. Gordon Melton presented a paper on the Solar Temple, the text of which was posted to the list. Also posted was a press release by Introvigne and Melton on the subject and a summary of documents apparently mailed out by the group before the suicide/murders. A 32K collection. About the same time that Melton's work arrived a unique account of Urantia Book influence within the Internet was sent to the NuRel list. The document refers to itself as The Urantia Book FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) version 1.0, 1994 and is a product of the Urantial-L mailing list. Included along with introductory explanations is a record of the Urantial archive, directions for its access and detail regarding other related anonymous ftp site resources. NET NEWS "To Our Readers" -- After the first full year of operation Time magazine considers their presence on America Online to be a success. Activity there has grown 175% since its startup. "A year ago, very few magazine publishers had even heard of online services. Now almost every magazine in America is either online or thinking about going online, or losing sleep, worrying if they've missed the boat." Time, Oct 3 '94, p4. "Access Internet Newsgroups via CIS" -- "Members can now access one of the Internet's most popular services, USENET Newsgroups, directly from their CompuServe accounts. ...CompuServe's planned additional Internet services include remote log-in to Internet hosts and file transfer from Internet archive sites. Ultimately, CompuServe plans to provide full Internet access. To access CompuServe's Internet services, GO INTERNET. To access the USENET Newsgroups directly, a part of CompuServe's extended services, GO USENET." From a CompuServe announcement dated Sep 26 '94. "Prodigy Developing a Service for Internet" -- while the story wasn't that informative, it did sound like Prodigy didn't have much beyond vaporware to offer at the present. And for now all they are talking about is newsgroup access. New York Times, Sep 29 '94, pC5. "Supernatural, Strange, and Sinister: Fascination with the occult, other-worldly, and macabre is found on the Internet in a range of forums" -- has a focus on UFO interests. Lists twenty newsgroups that are related to the title in a general way. Internet World, Nov/Dec '94, p88. "Reed Elsevier Enters Big Leagues of On-Line Services" -- notes the "Anglo-Dutch" company just purchased Lexis and Nexis and that it wants as much as it can get of Ziff Communications. Mentions that Europe averages 12 PCs per 100 households compared with 30 per in the US. (It seems odd that business figures weren't used.) Also, "...a host of European companies have announced on-line service ventures in the past six months." The story briefly describes some including Europe Online and Italia Online. Wall Street Journal, Oct 6 '94, pB4. TELESTATS "While a third of all American homes have computers, industry observers say probably only about 5 percent are online." Newsweek, Sep 12 '94, p61a. "Sysops Are Reaping the Benefits in the Wake of a BBS Explosion" -- notes that "17 million people regularly dial into one or more of 60,000 BBSes in the United States. The average BBS has between 600 and 800 regular callers..." InfoWorld, Sep 5 '94, p52. "Cyber Servants" -- the title refers to the agent software from General Magic that will be unique to AT&T's new PersonaLink network. A sidebar is included that describes the entire online market of which the consumer sector, the smallest but growing the fastest, is only 5% -- this leaves 44% represented by brokerage services, 18% for financial news services, another 18% for credit reporting, 8% as "professional" and 7% as legal. Wall Street Journal, Sep 27 '94, pA1. "Online Subscribers Total 5.52 Million, Newsletter Says" -- membership totals are given for all the major players. The numbers weren't anything new in comparison to reports in previous issues of the BBS-FYI. However, the article did confirm that GEnie is down to just 100,000 accounts along with the news that it was "overhauling" its operation. Orange County Register, Oct 8 '94, pB3. RESOURCES "Digital Dharma" -- reports on the Asian Classics Input Project that has Tibetan monks preserving early Buddhist Sanskrit on old PC XTs in India. Later the content goes to CD-ROM and eventually the Internet as freeware. In reference to the end product, "By selecting different keywords from the various citations, the user gets a feel for the complex web of Buddhist philosophy. The interactive, probing nature of hypertext surfing is ideally suited for the logical, dialectical approach to enlightened understanding that the Tibetan monastic tradition prizes." The conclusion of the article includes several Internet and BBS sources. Wired, Aug '94, p54. SETIQuest is a new quarterly print/electronic mail (E-mail) periodical containing news, technical information, and tutorials devoted to bioastronomy and its subset, SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence). SETIQuest is published for professionals, serious amateur astronomers, and individuals curious about this fascinating field of observation. SETIQuest fills the need for a specialized astronomical publication devoted exclusively to the on-going search for evidence of life in the Universe. Such evidence could be intentional or inadvertent signals of other civilizations. Such evidence could be found in spectral signatures of biological activity on extrasolar planets or in the interstellar medium. SETIQuest is written and edited for the scientifically literate individual taking part in the progress of our technological civilization, with articles by amateur and professional scientists. 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(Publishers of Sensors, ID Systems and SETIQuest magazines) INTERNET: carl@pixelacres.mv.com; SNAILMAIL: 174 Concord Street, Peterborough, NH 03458; PHONE: 603-924-9631; FAX: 603-924-7408 Announcing an electronic ruling class/conspiracy research resource from A-albionic Research: 1. Those who would like to participate in intensive discussions of ruling class/conspiracies should subscribe to my New Paradigms Project List. Just e-mail: majordomo@mail.msen.com Subject: Doesn't matter Message Body: subscribe prj 2. Those who would like a low volume weekly up-date should subscribe to A-albionic's Weekly Up-date. Just write weekly@a-albionic.com with your request. This list is not automatic. 3. Those who would like to explore the free info from A-albionic can: a) Gopher: gopher.a-albionic.com 9006 b) E-mail: majordomo@mail.msen.com Subject: doesn't matter Message Body: info prj index prj get prj gopher/keytogopher (Note: You need not subscribe) >From James Daugherty, volunteer Postmaster for A-albionic Research (POB 20273, Ferndale, MI 48220), a ruling class/conspiracy research resource for the entire political-ideological spectrum. Quarterly Journal, book sales, rare/out-of-print searches, & networking since 1984. New Paradigms Gopher and FTP Site loaded with unique files and book catalogs. For "the largest collection of pro-life files in the country" try the Cheese Whiz BBS [how's that for mission-centered identity ] at (602) 279-0793 and notice all the pro-Catholic files there as well. This Rock, Sep '94, p5c.7 "Increasing Book Information Now Available on Internet" -- describes the IBIC (Internet Book Information Center) for retailers who want to attract the online masses. Snoop around at http://sunsitelunc.edu/ibic/ibic-homepage.html or contact ibic@sunsite.unc.edu with your questions. Publishers Weekly, Jul 25 '94, p12. The Summer/Fall '94 issue of the Folio Corporation's Buyer's Guide included some new items in its religion section: Journal Search -- includes "the Christian Science Journals from 1883 - 1910 along with Science & Health, miscellaneous writings and selected C.S. publications from the period." $250 FMI: Aequus Institute, (909) 625-1435 (Claremont, CA) Works by Hazrat Inayat Khan -- 15 volumes-worth from the old Sufi master on disk. $149 FMI: Sufi Order, (206) 782- 2001 (Seattle) The Teachings of A.C. Bhaktivandanta Swami -- I had called to check on this because the entry has the spelling "Bhaktivedania." My call confirmed it as being ISKCON material and that it was not available as a CD-ROM, yet. I was told the CD was on its way but not yet on the market. Enter one, Eric Pement, who called me on the same subject just two days later. Eric had also received the Folio guide and had also called the Hare Krishnas on this. However, Eric dug deeper than I. Turns out this isn't just all the Swami's writings (along with his private correspondence), it includes even the transcribed conversations he had with everybody that desired his audience. Scribes faithfully recorded the holy man's every word, along with his incredible gaffs in pontification. To quote Eric, "This is intended for devotees only." (I guess Eric sounded like an HK that day.) The forthcoming CD will arrive in edited form for public consumption, sans all the embarrassing material now available. So, the time is now if you want the skinny. They will send all 105 megs of it on tape for DOS or Mac. No tape drive? They will LOAN you one of theirs! Don't want a tape? Send 'em an external hard disk and they will load it up and send it back. How's that for service? For $595 I guess it makes sense. Nice work Eric. One more thing, Eric wants to know if anyone would like to pool their money with him to get this material before the window of opportunity closes for good. The Religious Works of Cleon Skousen -- no price. Verity Software, (801) 222-7329, Utah. Missing were a number of lesser-known works including the William Branham material found in past listings from Folio. And then there is the New World Translation of Jehovah's Witnesses which I've never seen mentioned even though it has been available as a Folio Infobase for over a year. "Good News for Neophiles" -- mentions the existence of a "free electronic newsletter" answering the questions of new Internet users. If you would like it just e-mail to newbienewz-request@io.com and include the phrase "subuscribe newbienewz" in the text. Newsweek, Oct 10 '94, p8. AOL TOUR: PART TWO I had expected to use this issue of the BBS-FYI to begin an overview of the file library within America Online's Religion and Ethics Forum, but that proved to be more work than I was prepared for. Instead, I'll to introduce you to something else within AOL, something very new. I got wind that Christianity Today Inc. had finally opened its America Online presence. Here's what I found when I logged on: The sequence began at the initial window to the Religion and Ethics Forum. Like most AOL introductory windows the dominant object in the rectangle is a scrolling list flanked on two or three sides by logo graphics and/or icon buttons that change their identity from day to day. This time one of the icon buttons was labeled "Christianity Online." Clicking that button brought up a window with the heading, "Welcome to Christianity Online." This window had a single vertical row of icons forming a column on the right. They were named (top to bottom): Christian Newsstand CT Magazine Message Boards Fellowship Hall A Christianity Online logo rested at the top of the window, off-center to the left. Below it, the scrolling list read: About Christianity Online What's New on Christianity Online Coming Soon on Christianity Online Fellowship Hall: A Place to Chat Message Boards Church Leaders Center Express Your Opinion/Suggestion Box Campus Life CHRISTIAN COMPUTING Magazine Christian History Christianity Today Leadership Journal Marriage Partnership Today's Christian Woman Ignoring this list at first I clicked on the Christian Newsstand icon button. That presented me with a window titled: "Christianity Online Newsstand." This rectangle had two columns of icon buttons along the right side of the scrolling list which was topped by a graphic for the Newsstand. The icon buttons read as follows: First row, "Christianity Today" and "Christian History" Second, "Today's Christian Woman" and "Campus Life" Third, "Leadership Journal" and "Marriage Partnership" The scrolling list for the Newsstand window included the following: Search Past Christian Magazines Campus Life CHRISTIAN COMPUTING Magazine Christian History Christianity Today Leadership Journal Marriage Partnership Today's Christian Woman Your Church At first I was surprised to see Christian Computing in the list. Then I remembered that CTi intends to broker access to other titles besides their own. Christian Reader is on deck. -------- Next, I elected to check out what the mother title held. Clicking on CT opened a window titled, "Christianity Today: The Current Issue." In this window there were only two icon buttons on the lower-right, one of which was in the corner. It was part of another row of icons along the bottom below a scrolling list. Icons, lower right side, (top to bottom): Browse Past Issues Search Past Articles Icons at the bottom of the window, (left to right) Information Center Write to the Editors Discuss Current Topics Subscriptions and Products Here the scrolling list was made up of multiple headings which represented individual items, the contents of the magazine. This consisted of five different lines labeled "cover," one "sidebar," two "article," two "editorial," fifteen "news," one "newsbriefs," and six "books," followed with what appeared to be four regular column titles. Double-clicking any one of these list items would dish up the text of the piece in the printed magazine. I didn't notice the inclusion of any graphics. Maybe I didn't go deep enough. ------------ I did go snoop around the Message Board area. Here's the first level of activity: Yakety Yak: Student Talk 21/151 Christian Computing 10/115 Discuss Church History 13/126 Discuss Current Topics 11/311 Church Leaders Forum 34/112 Marriage Forum: For Better... 3/46 Woman to Woman 9/124 Church Business Forum 13/22 (The digits represent the number of topics/messages.) ------------ Diving in I wound up reading a thread that was supportive of the Jesus Seminar under "Books/Commentaries" within the "Church Leaders Forum" above. (Not just Evangelicals here folks, no, uh uh.) I'd say that is a plus over the design of CompuServe's Christian Information Net. More people on AOL, religious or not, are bound to visit CT's area than you'll see within the parallel environment on CompuServe. Even though you get unlimited access for $6.00-a-month with CIN, many other areas will cost you dearly if you visit them. The America Online plan on the other hand has you paying a flat hourly rate where ever you go. And that rate just dropped from $3.50/hr to $2.95 -- almost a 16% decrease. ------------ For those of you without an AOL account, try chrstntyol@aol.com to contact those in charge. I have left out a lot of detail but I'm sure this has given you an idea of what Christianity Online is like. It won't be like this for long -- it's going to keep expanding. And so will the rest of cyberspace. Hold on tight. We are all in for some fast flight. HANDSHAKE Alan Gomes and Eric Pement both gave me Alan's electronic address this week. So, that must mean I should pass it on here -- right? alan_gomes@peter.biola.edu Douglas Wade (74152,624), Sysop of Christian Servant BBS in Redondo Beach, CA (which sports about the best application of a graphical user interface that you'll find among non-commercial systems out there) recently informed me that he will also be the sysop for a new section within CompuServe's Christian Information Net called "Mac-N-Ministry." I didn't get a date but it should be opening soon. Please note: CRI's file, named BBSFYI2A.TXT is assembled verbatim, and with permission, in five parts at ICLnet to make the file available to our World Wide Web Readers. Please do not respresent this file in incomplete form elsewhere without express written consent from CRI. bbsfyi2a-1.txt bbsfyi2a-2.txt bbsfyi2a-3.txt bbsfyi2a-4.txt bbsfyi2a-5.txt (continued in file bbsfyi2a-5.txt) --------------------------------------------- file: /pub/resources/text/cri: bbsfyi2a-4.txt .