[BillSPrestonEsq]

Given the current state of the theology forum it has become necessarry to fundamentally change the rules here at CGR.

1) Participation in the theology forum is to be limited to those who can uphold the Apostles and Nicene Creeds.

2) Participation in the theology forum is also to be done in a spirit of humility. We come from all walks of life here. We have people who are in Bible College, Seminary, High School, and Junior High. As such our places in life will color our perspectives. However, humility is a key issue for the seminarian or pastor as well as the junior high school student.

3) Posts which are Ad-hominem attacks will result in a warning. Excessive warnings will lead to banning.

4) In all things we must seek to build each other up. Theology is not about a contest of logic. In fact Christ declared it quite the opposite when he said he picked the foolish things to confound the wise and calls the gospel foolishness to the Greek. If you seek debate and conquest, please leave now. There are plenty of places on the web where you can go.

This has been a change which has been thoroughly discussed by the administration and is not a spur of the moment decision.

[mtlmouth]

(long-time CGRers please note - this is nothing new, I'm just cleaning up the CGR FAQ and putting things in more appropriate places)

Some additional rules:

• If you have a problem with something somebody posted talk to that person first in private (PM, Email, AIM, etc.). If this does not solve the problem then click the "Report this post to a moderator" link at the bottom right of each post. Give the reason why you are reporting it (even if the reason is obvious) and a moderator will intervene. If your problem is with one of the moderators, send a private message to an SM or an admin.
• If you don't have something to say that actually contributes to the topic at hand, don't say anything at all. Stay on topic as best you can; don't start any rabbit trails on purpose. If you want to respond to something somebody said in a post that would take the thread off topic, start a new thread with that person's post and your response, or request a moderator to split the thread if several replies have already been made and the thread is thus off topic.
• Do not post "let's-all-get-along-and-go-hug-tree-posts". They are annoying and don't do anybody any good.
• Do not copy and paste articles written by somebody else for your posts, even if you properly cite the author. The exceptions to this rule are if you are the article's author, or if it is a short article being posted to answer someone's question outside of a debate setting. If you want people to read an article, give the link to that article. If the article is not on the web, put it on the web, just not on CGR: Theology.
• When citing verses, do not cite a version that has Strong's Numbers and other useless things unless you are actually referring to them for valid reference. Using colors when citing verses is highly encouraged. The convention of the forum is to use blue for citing Scripture passages, and (sometimes) red for words of Christ. Please don't use red or blue for any other purpose. Several people use boldfaced purple for Hebrew or Greek words. If you are going to be quoting a lot of verses in your post, try to condense them by making them into one paragraph or not putting a different verse on each line. It will make it much easier to read your post.
• When you are responding to some one's argument please use a "point-by-point rebuttal" format. The "point-by-point rebuttal" format is when you quote one point made to you, and then make your reply to that point, then quote the next point made in the post, then reply to it, etc. etc.
• When you are quoting somebody, please use some method of distinguishing between the person's quote and your comments. Colors are nice, indentation, using the quote button just above each post, etc are good ways to help distinguish between quotes and responses.
• Please have a gist of the most recent discussion in a thread before posting in it. You usually don't have to read the whole thread, just the last few pages will do. Please do not respond to a post on the first page of a thread when there are several pages after it unless it has not been discussed. (Yet, at this point it might be easier to start a new thread.)