List Guidelines

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The following is a copy of another "Christian" lists guidelines that I have
found on the internet....I believe they have some additional suggestions that
would do us good to observe.

thanks for reading them
bro bruce
 
 HOW TO OVERCOME A SPIRIT OF OFFENCE
Sometimes a thread can become highly polarized and there are a lot of strong
feelings on both side of the issues, which can make it less than edifying.
When this
happens, there is often spiritual warfare going on against the list and a
"spirit of
offense" may be trying to gain a stronghold on the list. This spirit's
assignment is to
stir people up against each other, to cause offense and miscommuniciation and
to
hurt as many people as he can.
The spirit's strategy is to cause misunderstandings and to magnify things so
that
they feel much more offensive than they really are. Under the spirit of
offense's
influence, discussion on a thread can sometimes harsh, heated or even
attacking.
This occurs because the enemy is trying to stir things up and get list members
"fighting each other" instead of fighting our real advasary -- the devil.
The strategy agaist this type of attack is to operate in the opposite spirit:
a spirit of
love and honoring/perferring one another. By manifesting the spirit of Christ,
we
take away the spirit of offense's leeway on the list. Here are a few
guidelines that
will help us to do that...
GUIDELINES

Please say things gently and in an attitude of love. If you can't find a
loving
an polite way to express your view, perhaps it should not be expressed. It is
OK to disagree with each other, but that disagreement must be expressed in a
polite and loving manner. Please prayerfully review you post and make sure
that you would not be embarassed to have Jesus read it. Invite His presence
into your posts.

Emotionly charged subjects tend to breed misunderstanding.. There can be
cases in the discussion where people have misread what one person said and
then posted a hot reply on their misinterpretation of the post. So if a post
urks you, wait a few minutes and then carefully reread it to assure it really
said what you thought it did.

SLOW DOWN! If you are feeling upset or heated or intense about a post,
then it is not an appropraite time for you to compose your reply. You have
two reasonable options... a) write you reply to a file and then come back
later
and reread/edit to assure it's not hostile, harsh, attacking, etc before you
post
it or b) write your reply at a later time when you're no longer feeling heated
about it.

Do not speak for someone else. Do not try to explain what someone else
meant to say. Allow each person to speak for themselves. If necessary, ask
clarification questions.

Do not attack or put down anyone, even if you disagree strongly with what
they said. Keep the discussion on the subject, not on the personality or
faults
or weakneses of the individuals involved in the discussion.

If you feel you have been personally attacked or put down, do not respond
publicly. Instead speak directly to the person or send email to the list admin
or to one of the leaders/advisors of the list.

If you feel that someone else on the list has been attacked or put down or
harshly treated, do not defend them publicly on the list. Do not publicly
rebuke (bawl out) anyone for behavior you consider inappropraite. If you
perceive a problem please either take it politely to the offender or to the
admin of the list.

Don't make snap decisions in the heat of anger/frustration (such as
unsubscribing from the list or refusing to ever read another of a certain
person's posts). Instead give yourself a brief cooling off period (a day or
two)
and then pray about it and ask God to show you His will/heart regarding the
decision.
In addition to these guidelines, pray for the list, invite the Lord's presense
on it and
even pray His blessings on your fellow list members.
blessings