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THE INTERNET, GOOD OR BAD?
I want
to begin this article with a question.
Think before you answer it. Is an
automobile good or bad? It is hard to say,
isn't it? Maybe you have had wonderful
luck with your automobiles and you would
answer positively. Maybe you have had
something tragic happen in an automobile
and you would cry, "No, a car is a
terrible thing." It simply depends on
your perspective and experience.
In a
recent message, I spent some time
addressing some of the dangers of the
Internet. While the sermon was borne of
the Holy Spirit, it also evolved out of my
frustration (both as a pastor and a
presbyter) of having to deal with such
issues as Internet porn and Internet
addiction. Up until recently these
problems didn't even exist, now they
affect thousands if not millions of
Americans. No one knows the full extent of
either problem.
Why is
there a problem? The old carnal man stills
lurks about in all of us to some lessor or
greater extent. Then too, Satan does his
job well. He knows how to trip people up.
In addition to this, the Internet allows
people to do things that they never would
have thought of doing in the past. People
who never would have bought a porno
magazine or video, or who would not have
been caught dead in an adult book store
can and do visit sexually graphic porn
sites on the Net on a regular basis.
(There are presently over 100,000 such
sites on the web and the number is growing
daily.) Men, women, boys and girls; laity
and clergy alike are being sucked into
this evil. Believe me when I say, this is
now the number one moral issue that I have
to deal with as a counselor/pastor. The
impact of this vice on a marriage can be
truly devastating. Then too, the children
and one's relationship with God are
dramatically affected as well.
Psalm
101:3 declares: "I will set before my
eyes no vile thing. The deeds of faithless
men I hate…."
1
Corinthians 6:9-11 adds: "Do you not
know that the wicked will not inherit the
kingdom of God? Do not be deceived:
Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters
nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor
homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the
greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor
swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
And that is what some of you were. But you
were washed, you were sanctified, you were
justified in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ and by the Spirit of our God."
Revelation
22:15 likewise warns that the sexually
immoral will be left "outside"
of heaven throughout eternity. Now I know
how people hate to be beat up with the
Word. I do not mean to do that. I simply
want to provide you with a strong
scriptural foundation for my feelings on
this issue.
I want
for you to look with me now at some of the
risks that go with the Internet. These
risks cover both the child and the parent.
Exposure to Inappropriate Material. One
risk is that a child may be exposed to
inappropriate material that is sexual,
hateful, or violent in nature, or
encourages activities that are dangerous
or illegal.Physical Molestation. Another
risk is that, while online, a child might
provide information or arrange an
encounter that could risk his or her
safety or the safety of other family
members. Pedophiles have used E-mail,
bulletin boards, and chat rooms to gain a
child’s confidence and then arrange a
face-to-face meeting.Harassment. A third
risk is that a child might encounter
E-mail or chat/bulletin board messages
that are harassing, demeaning, or
belligerent.Legal and Financial. There is
also the risk that a child could do
something that has negative legal or
financial consequences such as giving out
a parent’s credit card number.
Let's
now look at ten ways we can reduce these
risks. While children need a certain
amount of privacy, they also need parental
involvement and supervision in their daily
lives. The same general parenting skills
that apply to the "real world"
also apply while online. If you have cause
for concern about your children’s online
activities, talk to them. If your child
tells you about an upsetting person or
thing encountered while online, don’t
blame your child but help him or her avoid
problems in the future. Remember — how
you respond will determine whether they
confide in you the next time they
encounter a problem and how they learn to
deal with problems on their own.
Make it
a family rule to:
- Never give out identifying information -- home address, school name,
or telephone number -- in a public
message such as chat or bulletin
boards (newsgroup), and be sure
you’re dealing with someone that
both you and your child know and trust
before giving out this information via
E-mail. Think carefully before
revealing any personal information
such as age, marital status, or
financial information.
- Never allow a child to arrange a face-to-face meeting with another
computer user without parental
permission. If a meeting is arranged,
make the first one in a public place,
and be sure to accompany your child.
This is the old "Don't talk to
strangers" rule brought up to
date.
- Become Computer Literate! Get to know the Internet and any services
your family uses.
- Learn how to check your computer system for sites recently visited,
"cookies," email locations
and graphic files that may contain
porno material.
- Locate your family computer in a highly visible area of your home,
NOT in a bedroom or area where family
members rarely go.
- Be extra careful when entering a CHAT session. They are loaded with
dangers. Remember that people online
may not be who they seem. Because you
can’t see or even hear the person it
would be easy for someone to
misrepresent him- or herself. Thus,
someone indicating that
"she" is a "12-year-old
girl" could in reality be a
40-year-old man.
- Microsoft's IE4 and 5 have default settings of 20 for last sites
visited. This will simply let you know
the last 20 sites that your machine
accessed. The setting can be changed
to 30, 50, or whatever you chose.
Internet access creates many temp
files and cookies are common as well.
Some of the porno sites even download
a special access program file to the
user's station. These can and should
be checked occasionally as well.
- Each spouse should know the password of the other spouse; parents
should know the passwords of their
children.
- Never respond to messages or bulletin board items that are
suggestive, obscene, belligerent,
threatening, or make you feel
uncomfortable. Encourage your children
to tell you if they encounter such
messages.
- Check out blocking, filtering, and ratings.
In
short, set reasonable rules and guidelines
for computer use. Discuss these rules and
post them near the computer as a reminder.
Remember to monitor your children’s
compliance with these rules, especially
when it comes to the amount of time your
children spend on the computer. A
child’s (or parent's) excessive use of
online services or the Internet,
especially late at night, may be a clue
that there is a potential problem.
Remember that personal computers and
online services should not be used as
electronic baby-sitters.
I would
like to now share with you a few of the
various watchdog devises that are
presently on the market.
- CYBERsitter is a utility program that uses filtering, which updates
itself automatically and secretly in
the background while logged in to the
Internet. Its features are difficult
to defeat for even an experienced
computer user. Cost: $39.95. A free
10-day trial version is available. (www.cybersitter.com)
- SurfWatch is another commercial product that offers filtering in
five categories, including newsgroups
and Chat groups. Cost: $49.95. A free
trial version is available. (www.surfwatch.com)
- Pedowatch is an organization devoted to creating an awareness of the
dangers of porno on the Internet. (www.pedowatch.org)
- www.SafeKids.Com
For help in regards to children and
the Internet, I highly recommend
SafeKids.Com. (I lifted some of the
material for this column from this
site.) SafeKids.Com was put together
to help kids have a productive and fun
time on the Internet. There is also
plenty of advice at the site for
parents, teachers, librarians,
community leaders, law enforcement and
anyone else who works with kids.
Speaking
of favorite sites, I want to give you ten
of my "favorites." I hope you
enjoy visiting these places as much as I
do.
http://www.gospelcom.net/peggiesplace/Cresources.htm
http://www.botcw.com/index/
http://www.refdesk.com/
http://www.thebighub.com/
http://www.ag.org/
http://www.goshen.net/WebDirectory/
http://www.the700club.org/
http://www.nccn.net/~clc/links.htm/
So
again, is the Internet good or bad? It is
neither. It is simply a tool. Whether it
is a good and useful tool or a bad and
dangerous tool depends on the heart that
manages that tool. How is your heart? That
is the better question.
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