---------------------------------------------------------------- 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 3:1 March 27, 1995 "Rich Poll Leaving CRI" -- see the conclusion of this issue for details. NET NEWS Dave Harmeyer, Acting Library Director with the International School of Theology, sent me a copy of the _Christian Telecommunications Newsletter_ (Sep '94) edited by Jim Gallagher and published by Wisdom Research in Texas. Only one previous edition of this new quarterly had come out to date. At $19.95 for a year's subscription, it won't be growing very fast. Try 73557.2342@compuserve.com or (214) 539-7855 for more info. The next issue is slated to take a look at SoftArc's FirstClass LAN/WAN/BBS software package (that's what we have set up for staff to use here at CRI). "Religious Fracas Debunks Myth of Anarchy on Net" -- reports on a recent tumult within the Internet's alt.religion.scientology newsgroup. Notes that Scientology officials and lawyers are trying to stop ex-member dissidents and critics. Included is the sidebar, "Internet Tips," which mentions the weekly e-journal, _In, Around and Online_, by Robert Seidman. In it he covers not only new Internet developments but he also watches the commercial services. To subscribe, e-mail listserv@clark.net with the message "subscribe online-l YOUR NAME" (without the quote characters). _Los Angeles Times_, Jan 25 '95, pD1. "Is There Life Beyond the Internet?" -- John Barker of the U.K.'s _Inside Multimedia_ newsletter warns businessmen: "If you are not on the Internet you are not going to be around by the end of the decade. (from _Inside Multimedia_ 11/30/94 p.30) in _Edupage_, 2/21/95 Citing abuse, CompuServe's Christian Information Net has now moved to cancel its unlimited access feature in lieu of a five hour credit for its monthly $6.00 charge. After that every hour will cost you another $2.95. And with this change look for a substantial exodus to America Online and other systems. Some folks on CIN say they are moving laterally to SBCnet (Southern Baptist) within CI$ which still has the same unlimited access rate that CIN used to have. The rate change hit CIN near the end of February. CIN had 6000 members at its peak from what I can tell. We'll see where it goes. I recently logged on in the middle of the day and I was the only person in the main forum. I've never seen it look like such a ghost town before. "Cyberspace Tilts Right" -- A _Newsweek_ poll suggests that cyberspace is "trending Republican," at least for now. Whereas national party identification is divided fairly evenly (33% Republican, 31% Democrat, 36% independent or other), the figures for people "who use the computer networking" are: 48% Republican and only 24% Democrat. (from _Newsweek_ 2/27/95 p.30) in _Edupage_, 2/21/95 "A federal judge in San Jose denied a request by the Church of Scientology to hold an Internet service provider [Netcom] and a local bulletin board operator responsible for messages posted by one of their members, according to a story in the _San Jose Mercury_. This was a setback for the officials of the Church of Scientology who were attempting to silence one of their most vocal critics. The judge however did issue a restraining order against Dennis Elrich, a former scientology minister who left the fold in 1982. The freedom of info fighters were upset that the Scientoligists may have been deleting messages in the alt.religion.scientology newsgroup. The Scientologists maintain that Mr. Elrich is potentially damaging them by posting trade secrets and copyrighted information." _In, Around and Online_ - 2.8, 2/24/95 "A Child's Internet Sins Visited on the Parent" -- does not actually deal with the Internet, but with America Online instead. The author reports on how his 11-year-old got the family account cancelled. Of more interest to me was a quote from a CompuServe spokesperson that they have kicked off "probably less than 10 people in the last couple of years." That is hard for me to believe from what I've seen. _New York Times_, Feb 26 '95, p2E. "America Online Joint Venture with Bertelsmann AG -- AOL is entering the European online services market via a joint venture with "the second-largest media company in the world." (_Atlanta Journal-Constitution_ 3/2/95 E5) in _Edupage_, 3/2/95 "Join Gnosis Online" -- from the masthead page of the Spring '95 issue. Gnosis magazine has chosen a very limited online audience with the Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link more commonly known as the Well. Apparently there is nothing more there than writer's guidelines and a back issue list. Use gopher.well.sf.ca.us to see for yourself. With gnosis@well.com you can e-mail them. The masthead recommend the soc.religion.gnosis and alt.religion.gnostic newsgroups as well. Ecumenical News International (ENI), a news agency with a special focus on providing religious news for the international media, is perhaps the first religious news service now available on the World Wide Web (WWW) - the fastest growing information source on the Internet. The Geneva, Switzerland-based ENI is sponsored by the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the Conference of European Churches (CEC). E-mail eni-info@wcc-coe.org for further information about the ENI. Web address: http://193.73.243.3/eni.html I SPY Anton Hein has been sparring a bit with Rick Joyner (rickjoy@aol.com) on the subject of Holy Laughter within AOL's boards. Let me know if you'd like a look at the dialog. Or e-mail abbaiibbs@aol.com and ask him yourself. In addition, I've been passing metric tons of related text files to Paul Carden that others have emailed me from all corners of cyberspace. Plus, Anton passed on something that FACTNet sprayed across cyberspace locations regarding its legal battle with the Church of Scientology. The contents of the "cc" field constituted an interesting collection: alt.censorship alt.conspiracy alt.law-enforcement alt.mindcontrol alt.recovery.religion alt.religion.christian alt.society.civil-liberty alt.society.mental-health alt.support.ex-cult comp.org.eff.talk misc.legal misc.legal.computing news.admin.misc sci.psychology soc.rights.human TELESTATS "Online Services Boom" -- News on the progress of cybergrowth... "[T]here are now 6,320,650 million online customers. That's 1,735,000 users or 38 percent more then the IISR census found a year ago. ...CompuServe, with 2.45 million users; America Online, with 1.5 million users; Prodigy, with 1.2 million users; Delphi, with 100,000 users; GEnie, with 75,000 users; and eWorld, with 65,000 users." A related story I saw said that "much of that growth was in the last three months of 1994" -- which suggests things are accelerating. But it looks like GEnie continues to be on the road to oblivion. _Newsbytes_, 15:24, 1/13/95 "Managing Desktops Costs Plenty" -- "Forrester Research Inc. estimates the annual cost to large corporations of maintaining each personal computer is $3,830. The biggest expense is support personnel, with one support person per 50 PC users estimated at $1,420 per user. Downtime runs a close second, at $1,350 per PC per year. The good news is, the cost of PC management is expected to drop by half over the next three years, as computer products become more compatible and less troublesome." (from the _Wall Street Journal_, 2/16/95, A1) in _Edupage_, 2/16/95 "Industry Focus: On-Line Firms Try to Win Europe's Modems and Minds" -- Here are some rare numbers on CI$ outside of America. "CompuServe, the dominant player so far in Europe, says its European subscriptions have doubled in the past year to 200,000 (compared with 1.5 million in the U.S.)." Looking ahead, "of the 160 million European homes, only 10% have personal computers." And you know those numbers will grow soon too. Profiles (Dow Jones and Company), 2:25, 1/13/95 My first edition of the In, Around and Online e-journal (see elsewhere in this issue of the BBS-FYI) had a lead story that tended to support the figure of approaching 30 million total Internet users and reported that over 50% have e-mail access only. In, Around and Online, 2:5 Postings to Usenet groups which are concerned with consciousness from 1-12-95 to 2-10-95: 1 5367 alt.atheism 2 4902 alt.religion.scientology 3 4332 alt.pagan 4 4148 talk.origins 5 3407 alt.philosophy.objectivism 6 2828 talk.religion.misc 7 2667 alt.religion.mormon 8 2608 alt.astrology 9 2517 sci.psychology 10 2274 misc.health.alternative 11 1419 soc.religion.christian 12 1317 alt.magick 13 1291 alt.paranet.ufo 14 1282 soc.religion.christian.bible-study 15 1111 alt.religion.islam 16 1071 talk.philosophy.misc 17 1053 alt.satanism 18 1049 alt.mythology 19 1025 alt.folklore.herbs 20 897 alt.dreams 21 813 talk.religion.buddhism 22 777 comp.ai.philosophy 23 715 soc.religion.islam 24 690 soc.religion.unitarian-univ 25 675 talk.religion.newage 26 622 alt.consciousness 27 567 alt.meditation 28 533 alt.paranormal 29 521 alt.dreams.lucid 30 466 aus.religion 31 433 alt.evil 32 426 alt.religion.wicca 33 416 soc.religion.bahai 34 413 alt.religion.eckankar 35 409 sci.med.psychobiology 36 363 alt.religion.asatru 37 343 sci.philosophy.meta 38 332 alt.out-of-body 39 323 alt.bible.prophecy 40 296 alt.freemasonry 41 283 alt.religion.buddhism.tibetan 42 274 alt.paranormal.channeling 43 256 alt.support.dissociation 44 261 alt.psychoactives 45 232 alt.paranet.paranormal 46 221 soc.religion.quaker 47 217 alt.consciousness.mysticism 48 191 alt.magick.tyagi 49 165 alt.paranet.science 50 155 alt.paranet.skeptic 51 154 alt.philosophy.zen 52 151 alt.consciousness.4th-way 53 143 soc.religion.eastern 54 139 misc.creativity 55 138 clari.news.religion 56 134 alt.yoga 57 128 alt.magick.chaos 58 117 alt.consciousness.near-death-exp 59 113 alt.religion.shamanism 60 109 soc.religion.shamanism 61 107 sci.psychology.research 62 103 alt.paranet.abduct 63 72 soc.religion.gnosis 64 66 alt.virtual-adepts 65 61 alt.mythology.mythic-animals 66 60 alt.religion.subgenius 67 57 alt.religion.gnostic 68 51 alt.religion.zoroastrianism 69 41 alt.folklore.gemstones 70 34 alt.fan.kali.astarte.inanna 71 31 alt.masonic.members 72 30 alt.meditation.quanyin 73 27 alt.folklore.aromatherapy 74 29 alt.masonic.demolay 75 26 alt.magick.order 76 16 tx.religion.pagan 77 8 alt.religion.santaism 78 6 sci.psychology.digest 79 4 alt.magick.moderated 80 2 carleton.psychology.general The above data was recently posted to the NuRel list. "The Ever-Widening Web -- The World Wide Web is the most important invention since Velcro, and the proof is in the statistics. There are now 27,000 WWW sites, and the population is doubling every 53 days, according to Sun Microsystems. And a research computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon estimates there are some five million documents stored on Web servers, a figure that is doubling every six months to a year. (from _Business Week_ 2/27/95 p.78) in _Edupage_, 2/26/95 "America Online announced that they'd surpassed the 2 million member milestone and declared that 'the new figure clearly establishes America Online as the #1 online service in the U.S.' CompuServe and Prodigy did not (at least publicly) dispute the claim. While CompuServe allegedly has 2.7 million members, 800,000 or so are International customers. America Online has leaped from the distant third largest service in the U.S. to the number one spot in less than one year and has signed up about 500,000 additional customers since December." _In, Around and Online_ - 2.8, 2/24/95 "Disabled Worshipers Find Being Online Divine" -- mostly about folks in prayer with one another online, it also notes: "Usage of EcuNet, a computer network of 20 mainline Protestant and Catholic groups, has more than doubled in the past two years, with an average of more than 3,300 participants daily." (AP story) _Orange County Register_, Jan 14 '95, n.p. "Racial Breakdown on Household PCs" -- Census figures show that 13.8% of African American, 26.9% of white, and 12.9% of Hispanic households have PCs. (from _St. Petersburg Times_ 2/27/95 B3) in _Edupage_, 2/28/95 "Playing Catch Up in the Cyber Race: Japan is now determined to make up for its lag on the info highway and give the U.S. some competition" -- Includes the following: "In the U.S. 52% of all personal computers are hooked into a network of some kind vs. only 8.6% in Japan." And, "Less than 10% of offices are computerized, in contrast to 42% in the U.S.; only about 17% of personal computers in Japanese businesses are inked by networks, vs. 66% in the U.S." _Time_, Mar 6 '95, p66. "Taking Work Home Is The American Way -- The U.S. home computer market is thriving thanks to employees who take work home with them, according to a study by International Data Corp. IDC found 37% of U.S. homes have one or more PCs, versus 30% in Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Denmark, 28% in Germany, 24% in Britain, 15% in France, and fewer than 10% in Japan. U.S. consumers spend about 13 hours a week on their home PCs, 80% of which is work-related." (from _USA Today_ 3/7/95 B1) in _Edupage_, 3/7/95 "Want to Hear the Beatles? Log On to the Internet" -- Estimates of Internet user totals are now up to 30 million. I've seen this figure twice now. This story notes that you'll find just about anything on the Net and gives examples. It also informs the reader that "the number [of Net users] is expected to soar next year" when Windows 95 finally rolls out (96?). The Microsoft OS is supposed to include Internet navigation software as part of a free introductory package for Microsoft Network, their new online information service. _Christian Science Monitor_, Dec 20, 94, p8. "FTP Still Rules on the Net -- Although the World Wide Web has experienced a huge surge in usage over the past four or five months, FTP (file transfer protocol) still accounts for by far the largest chunk of traffic on the NSFnet backbone, according to Merit, which tracks monthly statistics on the Internet." (from _Data Communications_, March '95 p.18) in _Edupage_, 3/12/95 "How the Internet Alters Us" -- a review of the book, _Being Digital_, by Nicholas Negroponte. Included is the first estimate I've seen that there may be as many as 40 million users on the Net today. (At this rate by the year 2000 there will be more users than human beings on the planet.) Later the reviewer reports that 33-to-38 percent of U.S. households now have computers. _Orange County Register_, Mar 19 '95, p30-Show LISTSERVE NEWS ANNOUNCING a new H-Net List H-AmRel, for the discussion of American religious history. H-AmRel is a forum for the discussion of the influence of religion, in all its wondrous manifestations and complexity, upon American society from pre-colonial times to present. H-AmRel is not a forum for proselytizing, witnessing or arguing over the merits of ones own religion. The primary goal of H-AmRel is to foster discussion on issues of methodology, historiography and teaching ideas/methods relating to all aspects of American religious history. Discussions on the list will be nonpartisan and nondenominational but we hope not noncontroversial. H-AmRel is part of the H-Net family of electronic discussion groups for humanists. Anyone may subscribe but preference is given to teachers, professors, scholars, librarians, and graduate students. Undergraduate students may join the list but must be sponsored by their instructor. TO SUBSCRIBE TO H-AMREL: Send the following message to : sub H-AMREL firstname surname, school where you put your own first name, last name, and the name of your school in the place of "firstname", "surname", and "school", e.g.: sub H-AmRel Sam Spade, Southern Montana U. Someone on the NuRel list recently asked for book suggestions regarding a course on new religions that they were planning to teach in their religious studies department. Here are the suggestions that were made: James Beckford, _Cult Controversies_ (Tavistock, 1985) Thomas Robbins, _Cults, Converts, and Charisma_ (Sage, 1988) Bromley and Shupe's _Strange Gods_ (updated edition coming soon I heard/read) Robbins and Anthony's _In Gods We Trust_ Lewis and Melton's _Perspectives on the New Age_ Timothy Miller, ed., _America's Alternative Religions_, (SUNY Press, mid to late '95) Robert Ellwood and Harry Partin, _New Religious and Spiritual Groups in America_. Englewood, N.J.: Prentice Hall, 1988, 2nd edition Robert Emmet Long, ed., _Religious Cults in America_ (H. W. Wilson Co., 1994) "...anything by J. Gordon Melton" There has also been a discussion of the changes going on within the Worldwide Church of God on NuRel. I found it interesting to see what the religious studies crowd does and does not know about WCG changes. Included was the mention of a WCG e-mail list/forum. For more info on that contact forum administrator Mark Palmermino at mpn@netcom.com or mbp@wjh12.harvard.edu (Australia). This is a moderated list, so subscriptions must be approved. It has fairly heavy traffic. Here's how CRI-Article, our new service on the Internet using the Institute for Christian Leadership's system, stacks-up against other related Internet e-mail subscriber lists. Gary Bogart reports: "CRI-Article has taken off ... the list certainly is big. ...Figures for the subscriber lists [below] were taken during our survey in November. As I think you can see, Apologia-L has a very healthy standing amongst these lists. The biggies have been around for years and have had that time to develop a following here on the Internet." CRI-Article had at that date only been available for a matter of weeks in comparison. ICLnet System Administrator, Martin Bush, adds: "I'm encouraged. I hope that the folks at CRI are, as well. That's a remarkable record in such a short time." NAME SUBSCRIBERS Apologia-L 180 B-Greek 260 B Hebrew 248 Open Baptist 211 Bible (Va) 219 BSTUDY-L 140 Byte of Torah 788 Calvin-L 60 Cell-Church 278 Christia 848 Christian Brethren 63 Christian Leadership 236 ChristLit 251 Conservative Christian 304 CRI-Article 266 ECCHST-L 342 Ekklesia 28? Episcopal 540 Faith-Learning 213 HISTEC-2 230? IVCF-L 310 JOHNLITR 120 MissionNet 150? MKnet 72 Orthodox 363 Prayer Network 200 ProLife News 200 Renaissance-L 50 Stone-Campbell 109 Wittenberg 126 Contact Gary Bogart at gbogart@iclnet93.iclnet.org for additional information about the CRI-Article list. And try http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/cri/cri-jrnl/crijnl.html if you'd like a look at CRI's Internet archive on the World Wide Web. (Here's an update, Martin Bush tells me that CRI-Article had about 330 subscribers as of March 15.) The TicTalk list (Christians Using Technology Talk) recently included: "[A] compilation of FTP by mail servers. Persons with email only access to the Internet can use these servers to retrieve files and documents from Bible.acu.edu as well as any other anonymous FTP site on the internet - follow the instructions below to find out how. If you have E-mail access, you have ftp access through the ftpmailers. If you don't know how to use the ftpmailers, then first choose the one closest to you from this list: Australia ftpmail@cs.uow.edu.au France ftpmail@grasp.insa-lyon.fr Germany ftpmail@ftp.uni-stuttgart.de Great Britain ftpmail@doc.ic.ac.uk Ireland ftpmail@ieunet.ie Sweden ftpmail@lth.se USA ftpmail@sunsite.unc.edu USA ftpmail@ftp.uu.net USA ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com In the body of the text, send the word HELP. You'll then get a file back explaining their use." Also on the NuRel list recently was a discussion of Eckankar which included criticisms of David Lane's work. In contrast, _The Lost Gospel_ by Burton L. Mack was viewed as superior to Lane. The Christian Telecommunications Toolkit list recently included the announcement that Answers In Action now has a Worldwide Web home page "devoted to Christian Apologetics and Cult Research." It is administered by an AIA volunteer (who forgot to give his name in the announcement). I tried to swing by but got the 'ole "Unable to connect to remote host" message. On March 18 Andy Culbertson posted the following to the Apologia list: "A group of atheists called the Internet Infidels have a page on the world wide web. The McDowell critiques are buried in there as well as lots of other interesting stuff. They also have ftp and gopher sites listed in the document." The list has since included significant related dialog. HANDSHAKE James White (screen name, Orthopodeo) just e-mailed me from AOL. Sounds like he's stirring up the natives in the Religion and Ethics forum folder on Sola Scriptura. Can't imagine why... And guess who's e-address I found when I went and looked? Here's a hint: Madrid1@aol.com An unnamed fellow (Relwatch1@aol.com) dropped in on the NuRel list recently responding to someone's request for info on Lifespring. He said he was the editor of the Religion Watch newsletter. Larry Pile (LawPile@aol.com), with the Wellspring Retreat and Resource Center, gave a lengthy response (which included some bibliographic entries I wasn't aware of) to that same Lifespring info request. DOWNLOADS Here are some new goodies Probe Ministries recently uploaded to their Christian Information Net area on CompuServe: NATLIM.TXT, "Natural Limits to Biological Change", by Dr. Ray Bohlin. Ray looks back at the main points of his book (by the same name) and addresses some new thoughts and data that have arisen since the book was written several years ago. Subtopics are: Obstacles to the Theory of Punctuated Equilibrium Another Alternative Natural Limits to Biological Change Confirming New Data BUDDH.TXT, Pat Zukeran examines Buddhism-- Subtopics: The Origin of Buddhism The Way of Salvation Karma, Samsara, and Nirvana God and Buddhism A Comparative Study of Christianity and Buddhism W-VIEWS.TXT, Jerry Solomon looks at World Views, a foundational concept for Probe's ministry of presenting a Christian world view to believers and unbelievers alike. Subtopics: What is a world view? The need for a world view Testing world views Components found in all world views Examples of world views RESOURCES >From Anton Hein regarding the "Holy Laughter" movement within the Vineyard... Check the following: http:/groke.bechman.uiuc.edu/vineyard/ (Vineyard Archives) http:/www.tit.fi/~mark/xian_1.html (See under "Renewal") http://www.dcs.ed.ac.uk/misc/local/ecwww (article on Toronto Blessing) [there may be a dot between dcs and ed] Not directly related, but interesting: http:/fender.onramp.net/~analyst/snake/snakeoil.html Gary Bogart writes... Over the Christmas vacation NJB added the archives for Jesus' Witnesses, an apologetics group that provides support for ex-Jehovah's Witnesses, and combats the heresies behind Watchtower. The JW archive is located at the following, via Web or FTP: Jesus Witnesses: Web: http://www.iclnet.org/pub/resources/text/apl/jw/1jw-home.html FTP: iclnet93.iclnet.org (directory: /pub/resources/text/apl/jw/) Incidentally, I've just located a set of World Wide Web pages for Tien Dao Christian Media Association this past weekend. Tien Dao works closely with The Chinese Christian Research Center. http://webcom.com/~tiendao/tiendao.html "New TREN for Theological Research" -- Notes that the database for the Theological Research Exchange Network is now available on CompuServe and America Online. The TREN database contains research papers from several main evangelical seminaries (among others). It also includes the papers presented at Evangelical Theological Society meetings. A CD-ROM is reportedly in the works. FMI, (800) 334-8736. _Christian Computing_, Jan '95, p14. THE CHRISTIAN NETWORKS LIST 11 MARCH 1995 (15th edition) A_C BBS P FILE NAME NETWORK IDENTIFICATION ============================================================== 416 498-5259 Q 0394SON.ZIP SON-net 619 582-2402 F ACFN0295.ZIP American Christian Family Net 404 413-6579 F ACNET.ZIP Agape Christian Network 910 452-2914 F ACTS_.ZIP A.C.T.S. Network 317 664-3312 Q AFN0395.ZIP Agape Family Network 619 630-7437 Q CALV0395.ZIP CalvaryNet 607 625-4433 Q CAPNET95.ZIP Christian Apologetics Network 403 481-4977 F CCI_APP.ZIP Canadian Christian Interchange N. 504 878-3023 F CDN_KIT.EXE Christian Distribution Network 318 397-2987 Q CENT1094.ZIP Christian Evangel Network 708 362-7875 F CFCINFO.ZIP Computers for Christ Any CFN BBS F CFNKIT.ZIP Christian Fellowship Network 310 398-7804 Q CHRIST94.ZIP Christ Connection 718 893-7553 Q CMUSNET.ZIP Christian Music Network 310 398-7804 Q CNET1094.ZIP ChristNET 609 586-4847 Q FINET93E.ZIP Freedom Information Net Any CDN boardF FMLYNET.ZIP FamilyNet International 612 474-0724 P GRACENET.ZIP GraceNet 314 394-6522 F MJCNNET.ZIP Messianic Jewish Computer Net. 403 472-8089 F NAZARENE.EXE Nazarene Network 408 286 2263 Orthodox Christian Network 318 982-7668 F PNNET.ZIP PneumaNet (Charismatic) 214 222-7519 Q PN-0295c.ZIP PhileoNet 206 823-1267 Q PNWC1209.ZIP Pacific Northwest Christian Net. 408 229-0706 Q THEO-NET.ZIP Theology Net 618 937-3962 TNETAPP.ZIP Truth Net 219 926-2060 Q XSN0395.ZIP ChristiansNet (Disciples, etc) ---- LEGEND: F = FIDO-style network (front-end mailer) Q = QWK mailer Source: Charles Wootten I recently came across a host that has the lofty goal of maintaining a searchable compilation of all known FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions). Most newsgroups and well administrated older lists have FAQ archives to help new members get the lay of the land and keep FAQs in their proper place -- off the screen. FAQ archives are a great place to learn the basics of particular subjects fast. Point your Web software to http://www.cis.ohio-state.edu/hypertext/faq/usenet/top.html for the buried treasure. Speaking of FAQs, the NuRel list included a post of the entire FAQ file for the alt.religion.wicca newsgroup. Very interesting stuff including references to lots of digital and analog recommended resources. Here's where you will find info from the Unification Church on the Internet: Home Page = http://www.cais.com/unification FTP Site = ftp cais.com as user id ftp, cd /pub/unification These locations contain Moon's speeches, the Divine Principle, the "World Scripture" anthology and the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg. How's that for metasoup? Not likely to be an official presence. QUOTATIONS "...Yet in this vengeful era, acts of genuine forgiveness are as unusual as the recognition of sin itself," says the writer of a short "Religion" piece in Newsweek, Jan 16 '95, p62b.8 CLASSIFIEDS If you like what you see in this issue of the BBS-FYI and would like to see volume two (all of last year, 15 editions), you'll find it on the ICLnet. FTP: ICLnet93.iclnet.org/pub/resources/ Web: http://www.iclnet.org/ Go to /pub/resources/text/cri/bbs/ once you are there to find it. Volume one of the BBS-FYI is nearby as part of the larger CRI TEXT bibliographic apologetics database. (Contact its system administrator, Martin Bush , for further details.) If your Internet access is limited to e-mail, Gary Bogart recently reminded me that "_most_ if not all FTP sites allow automated email download. People just aren't aware of that fact. There exists an excellent FAQ designed to help people do this, located at the University of Buffalo. For more information send GET INTERNET BY-EMAIL NETTRAIN F=MAIL to: LISTSERV@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu ------------------ You are reading the last issue of the BBS-FYI that I'll be writing for CRI. This news comes after having received a wonderful offer from the International School of Theology (ISOT). At ISOT my new position will be that of an independent research associate. As such I will have 80% of my time free to continue the sort of research and writing that I have done for the last decade with CRI. The remaining 20% of my time will be spent helping the school offer seminary courses on the Internet and include the occasional teaching of a class in apologetics to resident students. However, I will be off raising support until perhaps as late as the end of this summer. The plan I have is to remain on-line during this time, but not be as active in the role of apolojedi cybresearch and publishing similar to the FYI or BBS-FYI *until* I get back from support raising. Even so I will be continuing with CRI as a research consultant at-large indefinitely. Look for more news from me this Fall on related developments. Anticipating your questions: CRI has no official e-mail address or BBS. There is presently no one at CRI to take over the BBS-FYI. I do not know if the CRI TEXT software package will be updated in the future. Nevertheless, by His grace I *will* be able to continue feeding content to the CRI-Article list. The CRI-Article list will therefore be where to look for news of changes to the above. ------------ The BBS-FYI is an in-house publication of the Christian Research Instutute Compiled and reported by Rich Poll richpoll@iclnet93.iclnet.org <-- preferred RichPoll@aol.com 72642.2555@compuserve.com (Having posted my eaddresses, please understand that I can not always respond to all who write. I often get plenty more e-mail than I can manage. These are my private accounts, not CRI's.) *Please* refer all CRI-related questions to the main office. ------------- End of document, BBSFYI3A.TXT (original CRI file name), "BBS-FYI 3:1" release A, March 23, 1995 R. Poll, CRI ------------------------------------------------------------------- YOURS FOR THE ASKING The Christian Research Institute (CRI) -- founded in 1960 by the late Dr. Walter R. Martin -- is a clearing house for current, in-depth information on new religious movements and aberrant Christian teachings. We provide well-reasoned, carefully-researched answers to concepts and ideas that challenge orthodox Christianity. Did you know that CRI has a wealth of information on various topics that is yours for the asking? In fact, a free subscription to the Christian Research Newsletter is yours if you contact CRI and ask for one saying that you found out about the offer from this computer text file. We offer a wide variety of articles and fact sheets free of charge. Write us today for information on these or other topics. Our first-rate research staff will do everything possible to help you. Christian Research Institute Post Office Box 500-TC San Juan Capistrano, CA 92693 (714) 855-9926 ------------ End of file. -- -------------------------------------------- file: /pub/resosurces/text/cri: bbsfyi3a.txt .