Conference yukon::christian_v7

                                 STATEMENT OF FAITH
                _____________________________________________________

WE BELIEVE...   o the Bible is the inspired and only infallible and
                  authoritative Word of God (2 Timothy 3:16; 2 Peter
                  1:19-21)

                o there is one God, eternally existent in three
                  persons: God the Father, God the Son and God the
                  Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19; 2 Corinthians 13:14)

                o in the deity of our Lord Jesus Christ, in His virgin
                  birth, in His sinless life, in His miracles, in His
                  vicarious and atoning death, in His bodily
                  resurrection, in His ascension to the right hand of
                  the Father, in His personal future return to this
                  earth in power and glory to rule a thousand years

                o in the blessed hope, the rapture of the Church at
                  Christ's coming (1 Thesselonians 4:17); in the
                  resurrection of both the saved and the lost, the one
                  to everlasting life and the other to everlasting
                  damnation (Daniel 12:2; John 11:25,26; Revelation
                  21:7,8)

                o the only means of being cleansed from sin is through
                  repentance and faith in the precious blood of Christ
                  (Ephesians 1:7)

                o regeneration by the Holy Spirit is absolutely
                  essential for personal salvation (John 1:13; 3:3;
                  1 Peter 1:23)

                o in the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit by whose
                  indwelling the Christian is enabled to live a holy
                  life (Galatians 5:16)

                ______________________________________________________
  

    The 100 line limit guideline was introduced to make the notes entered
    less frustrating for the readers, especially DECwindow Notes users.

    Another area of concern that introduced the 100 line guideline was
    to better facilitate the discussions.  Replies would keep growing
    in size, as people made replies which included the text of the previous
    reply, which included the text of the reply before that, etc...

    The guideline is now modified to the following:

    Original notes that participants author must follow the 100 line guideline.

    Notes that are posted which have come electronically from another
    source (not the person posting the note) do not have to broken up
    into approximate 100 line chunks.

    However, an informative note must be posted before the large reply.
    The informative note indicates to the readers that a note over 100
    lines is next.

    Please note that the only procedure when one is offended in notes is to
    contact the offender off-line to seek resolution. If that fails, then
    ask for moderator assistance off-line.

    Thanks,

    All the moderators

We will not discuss the topic of homosexuality in the Christian Notes Conference.
Postings of this nature will be hidden without warning.  Notification will be
made to the author to review these guidelines.

In the past, the topic of homosexuality produced an immense amount of
heated and fruitless discussion.  

Digital gives homosexuals minority status as a group and as such, value 
judgments for nor against this lifestyle cannot be made.  

The position of this conference stands in opposition to the value
Digital has chosen to embrace on this issue and so this conference
will not violate the good will of the company for the use of its 
resources for this employee interest conference.  Other conferences
have no such restriction and you are free to debate it there.

All value judgments on the topic of homosexuality, either for or against, 
will be censored from this conference.  This is a Digital Employee 
Interest Notes Conference on Digital resources and not a public 
street corner.  First Amendment rights do not apply as they would in
public *because* this is a Digital-owned resource which is provided
from the benevolence of our company.

    The following memorandum has been circulated to the moderators of all
    notes conferences for posting in each conference. Please read and
    observe the guidelines in this memo.
    
                  I N T E R O F F I C E   M E M O R A N D U M

                                        Date:     29-Jan-1992 11:49am EST
                                        From:     RON GLOVER
                                                  GLOVER.RON
                                        Dept:     Corporate Employee Relations
                                        Tel No:   508-493-9569

TO: Conference Moderators

Subject: A Message to Employee Interest Notes File Users                        



By way of introduction, I am the Corporate Personnel Policy Manager.  
Part of my responsibility includes providing interpretation of Digital's 
Personnel Policy, including the Personnel Policy 6.54.   I would greatly 
appreciate your assistance in posting the attached memo from John Sims in 
the Notes files you moderate, and as many other Employee Interest Notes 
Files as possible.  Please give me a call if you have any questions.




                  I N T E R O F F I C E   M E M O R A N D U M

                                        Date:     30-Jan-1992 
                                        From:     John Sims
                                                  SIMS.JOHN AT A1 at CORA @ CORE
                                        Dept:     Strategic Resources
                                        Tel No:   223-7243

TO:  Employee Interest Notes File Participants 


Subject:  A message to employee interest notes file users

           A MESSAGE TO EMPLOYEE INTEREST NOTES FILE USERS
    
    
    Over the last few months I have received a number of complaints 
    from employees, and individuals outside of the company about 
    material communicated in electronic mail systems and posted in 
    various employee interest notes files.  After reading some of this 
    material it is clear that a reminder about appropriate comment and 
    behavior in these systems is necessary.
    
    First, and most critically; the electronic mail systems and notes 
    files are company facilities subject to normal workplace rules of 
    conduct.   As such, the same rules that govern conduct and comment 
    in any other Digital workplace apply with equal weight in these 
    systems.  Stated simply, if you wouldn't say something in a 
    Digital business meeting, you shouldn't say it in electronic mail 
    or notes. PERIOD.  
    
    Statements that attribute improper, illegal or immoral motives or 
    actions to others; statements that cast aspersions on the 
    character or integrity of others or that amount to libel or 
    slander are not permitted. PERIOD.  In this regard, it does not 
    matter whether the individuals subject to the comment are elected 
    public officials or directors of organizations disfavored by the 
    author.   There is no "Public Figure" exception in these systems.
    
    Comments of a sexual nature are not acceptable whether they are 
    about the author or directed at others.  Similarly, comments that 
    degrade, devalue or discriminate against others are also 
    prohibited.
    
    Neither the notes conferences nor electronic mail should be used 
    to solicit other employees.  This prohibition covers efforts to 
    solicit employees for personal or political gain, to sell or 
    market goods or services (except authorized marketplace or 
    discount conferences) and efforts to solicit employees to take 
    action, sign petitions or support particular causes or candidates.
    
    Finally, employees should remember that it is never appropriate to 
    spend working time in employee interest notes for non-work 
    purposes.  Personal or entertainment activities in these notes 
    files should be limited to assigned break times, lunch time and 
    before or after business hours.  
    
    Employee interest notes files and conferences provide an 
    electronic forum to share ideas and opinions about matters of 
    common interest.  In supporting these conferences, the company 
    understood that there would be occasions where employees would 
    disagree on issues being discussed, but we believed and continue 
    to believe it is possible to disagree without being disagreeable.  
    Personnel Policy 6.54, Proper Use of Digital Computers, Systems 
    and Networks provides further information about appropriate 
    conduct and comment in these systems.  Employees who fail to meet 
    these expectations, or who use company computer systems in ways 
    that are contrary to the letter or spirit of that policy are 
    subject to Corrective Action and Discipline up to and including 
    the termination of their employment.
    
    The moderators of these conferences, along with your system 
    managers, personnel representatives and the Personnel Policy 
    Manager are all available to answer any question you might have 
    about appropriate use of these systems.
    
    Please feel free to forward this memo to other Digital notes 
    files and conferences.

Distribution:  Selected conference moderators
        [Original list deleted]

        As you  may (or may not, I guess depending on how near physically to
GOLF:: you are) have noticed last week, but access times to this conference
were starting to become a little slow.

        The major reason for this is the sheer physical size of that version
of the conference. Now for some lies...uh... I mean statistics ;)

        Number of Topics:        1200
        Number of Entries:      26383
        Av.entries/Topic:          22 - but we know that some went for 500+
        Size in Disk Blocks:    97389

        The last statistic is the killer. 97 389 blocks - each block is 512
bytes, which gives us 49 863 168 bytes(characters) in the conference file!!!
That is equivalent to about 11 000 A4 pages of single spaced type!!!

        Needless to say, that is a lot.

        When we archive the file to ATLANA::, we will consume something like
20% of the remaining free disk-space on that particular disk. Add the previous
versions of the conference, and we are consuming a vast amount of disk space!
(V4 is almost as big as V5, and V3 wasn't _that_ much smaller, either. Over
250 000 blocks for three *archived* conferences!)

        Hence the need to cut down large postings, and supply pointers instead.
If the text you are referring to is in another conference, point to it, don't
drag it in. If you have a file that you want everyone to see, point to it! If
you need help in making the file world readable, as for help, either myself,
or one of the other mods. They may not be able to tell you what to do, but
they *will* point you in the right direction.

        Disk space is *not* an infinite resource. Some of you may remember the
mail last year about 'employee interest' notes conferences. Well, we are one
of those. Our future as a conference is _not_ secure, our Future as Christians
is!

        I have been having discussions with a Christian here in Oz who is also
a bit of a technical genius. We will be looking into various file tuning
techniques that we can then discuss with our brother Jim Glenn (System Manager
& Christian on GOLF::). This *may* have the result of giving resonable access
times over the lifetime of this version of the conference, it should also give
us reduced disk usage.

        We can all take part in this by being a little more careful about what
we post. The short 'I'm Praying' and notes like that are _not_ the killer - it's
the 200, 300, 400 line replys that are the killer. *Especially* when they
already exist on the network (usually in archived format on ATLANA::).
         My desire is that this conference will be a Blessing to us all, and to
the various 'read-only's who vist from time to time.

        God Bless you, as we are all...
                                    in Christ's Service,
                                                      Harry Woodward-Clarke
                                                  (co-Moderator|GOLF::CHRISTIAN)

                   ATLANA::CHRISTIAN_V1
                   ATLANA::CHRISTIAN_V2
                   ATLANA::CHRISTIAN_V3
                   ATLANA::CHRISTIAN_V4
                   ATLANA::CHRISTIAN_V5
                   ATLANA::CHRISTIAN_V6

THE BIBLE       THE BIBLE, GOD'S WORD, IS THE STANDARD. As such it
                becomes the standard by which entries will be judged.

                Any entries that are derogatory, attempt to alter it,
                or attack Biblical beliefs will be be set hidden and/or
                deleted.
____________________________________________________________________________

This forum permits discussion on almost any subject, but all subjects are 
measured for truth and wisdom in a God-inspired Bible.

In the past, the Christian Notes Conference has tolerated those who purport
to voice Christian principles, yet have also stated unbelief in the standard
for Christian life, as set forth by the Bible.  They view the Bible as a good 
book, a guide, and a document written by men only, not inspired by God (and 
God-breathed).

This conference is founded on the premise that the Bible is God-breathed
and those who attack this premise show themselves to be antagonists to the
conference and its participants, perhaps also in violation of corporate 
policies to value difference, and moreso, in opposition to the God of the Bible.
Repeated antagonisms would not be tolerated in some other employee interest
notes conferences, and if these antagonisms reach a level of intolerability, 
it may warrant action outside the conference.

Please be mindful of the premise and those who have chosen to come to this
conference looking for fellowship, wisdom, and learning from other Christians
who believe the Bible to be inspired of God and without flaw.
    
    The Moderators of Christian

In a conference that is predicated on an inerrant Bible, we will see
numerous translations of the Bible reprinted in this conference.
It is best and helpful if you will identify from which version you
are quoting, and identify if you intend to paraphrase (can't quite
remember the reference or text) so that someone with a Bible handy
can double check it for you.

I have asked Barry Dysert (BD�) who has spent "about 2 years a few years back 
studying textual criticism, ancient manuscripts, and different versions of 
the Bible. I have taught a few courses at my church regarding these topics. 
While I would have to crack a lot of books to supply much of the detail in 
some areas, I can still provide some important fundamentals that I trust 
will be of some use. The dates I give are my best take on when the first 
1-volume complete Bible (both Testaments) was published."

I'd be interested in Barry's further comments, but he's off to vacation
for a time, and if he will, we'll start a separate note someday.  For
now, here are the most common abbreviations and translations used in 
this conference (not all are recommended for various reasons).

KJV (King James Version), 1611
  - Conservative translation from the Textus Receptus
  - Formal equivalence, Middle English

RSV (Revised Standard Version), 1952
  - Revision of the American Standard Version (which was the American
    revision of the Revised Version) from the Critical Text
  - Preferred LXX to Masoretic Text
  - Used by scholars but has a liberal bent

Phillips, 1958
  - Paraphrase into common English

NWT (New World Translation), 1960
  - Translated by the Jehovah's Witnesses and published by the Watchtower
    Bible and Tract Society

Amplified, 1965
  - Dynamic equivalence translation, where important words are "amplified"
    (clarified and commented upon) to show their various shades of meaning

TEV or GNB (Good News for Modern Man: Today's English Version), 1966
  - Paraphrase into common English
  - Based on Masoretic Text and Critical Text
  - Vocabulary limited to common words
  - Geared toward those with limited Christian background

Living Bible, 1967
  - Paraphrase into common English

NAS (New American Standard), 1971
  - Conservative revision of the American Standard Version using
    contemporary English (translators professed their belief that "the
    words of Scripture as originally penned were inspired by God")
  - Very literal translation using the Masoretic Text and Critical Text
    (expressed intent is "to adhere as closely as possible to the
    original languages of the Holy Scriptures")
  - Formal equivalence

NIV (New International Version), 1979
  - Conservative translation of Masoretic Text and Critical Text into
    contemporary English (translators professed to "authoritative and
    infallibility of Scripture as God's Word")
  - Dynamic equivalence presented in paragraph form

NKJV (New King James), 1982
  - Conservative revision of King James utilizing new manuscript evidence
    (all scholars professed to "verbal and plenary inspiration and
    inerrancy of autographs")
  - All scholars professed to "verbal and plenary inspiration and
    inerrancy of autographs"
  - Maintains King James tradition while moving to contemporary English
    and cleaning up inaccuracies
   - Formal equivalence

--------------------

Barry's opinion: "Use NIV for a good reading Bible. Use NAS and NKJV as primary
study Bibles and cross-check with NIV."

    Please heed the following message from your moderators of CHRISTIAN:
    
    Notes that are personal in nature and have a negative connotation will
    be deleted from this conference with no prior warning to the authors.
    
    Any forum for discussing spiritual matters will inevitably be a sensitive
    place, where strongly contentious views will conflict.  As moderators, we
    endeavour to hold a balance, not only accomodating the many flavours of
    Christians who participate, but also endeavouring to make this a place of
    favourable witness to many non-Christians, to whom we are on display.

    We welcome many expressions of unity and faith, when founded upon a clear
    Biblical basis.  Obiviously, different views are held, even as to what
    constitutes 'a clear Biblical basis'.  However, when other authorities
    creep in, conflict becomes inevitable.

    Both in the interests of maintaining a peaceful balance, and in view of
    our responsiblity towards digital, significant care has to be taken to
    guard against any difference of stance from becoming personally directed.
    
    It is important that all participants bear in mind that no-one is a 
    Christian by virtue of being a Catholic, Protestant, or a member of any 
    other denomination. A Christian is only one who is trusting in the work 
    of the LORD Jesus Christ on the cross alone for salvation.

						Jim Henderson
						Bing Hunt
						Nancy Morales
						Andrew Yuille
					co-moderators, CHRISTIAN conference
    
    
    

	I'm moderating solo today, and may even end up at home
	shortly due to illness.

	Please be mindful of that today.  

	Also, it is not appropriate to respond to write-locked topics
	by responding in other notes or creating new topics to discuss
	the write-locked topic.

	Please be advised that such replies will be set hidden.

	If you have an issue with a particular note or note string,
	PLEASE address it via MAIL to the conference moderators.

	Thanks,
	Karen

    Please read the previous reply 2.11.  We are short handed for
    moderators and this conference does have a tendancy to heat up.  I will
    be checking things periodically, but am imploring each of you to read
    these guidelines and use them.  Remember, God is love and while I know
    love can be interpreted in many ways, I think if we each ask ourselves
    if the love of Christ is evident in our writings, prior to entering
    them, we may alter/altar a few things. :-)
    
    Thanks,
    Nancy

Regarding note 960, which was set hidden yesterday and deleted today.

It was a posting of a large portion of copyrighted material.  The copyright
in this case is slightly vague, allowing for making copies for friends but
prohibiting retyping the material.

We have previously allowed and will continue to allow the posting of excerpts
from copyrighted works - segments, stories, etc, we can't allow the posting
of large amounts of copyrighted material.

The Moderators