The Internet and Us

Hebrews 11:3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

The “world” referred to is not the Greek word kosmos which refers to the order or arrangement of things or more literally translated to mean the earth. The word “world” there is the Greek word aion which means an age or a period of time. This tells us that the different ages, times and dispensations are all created by the word of God. That tells me that the different times, dispensations and ages and the things we see in these different ages; the internet or the plane for example, were all created or brought into existence by the Word. I believe that God allows those things to exist in the time he wants them to exist.

On August 19, Anne Marie-Miller posted an article on her blog titled “Three Things You Don’t Know About Your Children And Sex (Here’s the link  http://www.annemariemiller.com/2013/08/19/three-things-you-dont-know-about-your-children-and-sex/. Forgive me, I’m not that techie to shorten the link. Hope to learn though). One thing that occurred to me was the danger that the internet posed to children and the Christian faith. Children are going to the internet to find out about things they learnt from their peers which they are too afraid to ask their parents. And Google or the internet does not discriminate. It doesn’t ask whether you’re supposed to be Christian or not. Typing an innocent word like “sex” into the search engine and Google will lead you down paths you never intended to walk. If you start young enough, by the time you’re an adult, it will be a struggle to leave those paths. I know a lot about that. Even when you’re on the straight and narrow, there’s something about the crooked path that calls out to you. There’s a lure about the path that we know we shouldn’t be on.

The internet on its own is like most things in the world, it doesn’t take sides. It’s passive. Forgive the analogy but the internet is like a gun. Michael Moore, the well known and award winning film and documentary maker recently said “Guns don’t kill people, Americans do.” He was referencing the fact that most violent crimes committed with guns leading to someone’s death are committed in America. I agree with Mr. Moore. Guns kill people. But the fact is that someone needs to hold that gun for it to be effective. Therefore I believe that more should be done to stop guns from getting into the hands of those who would use them to commit violent crimes. And the people who say they don’t want to use the guns to commit violent crimes should also be ready to suffer some inconvenience to ensure that it’s hard for the violent ones to lay hold of the guns and not just say it’s their right to bear arms.

I therefore believe that there is a responsibility on every person of the Christian faith to be conversant with the internet and social media to be able to engage with them in a responsible manner. I believe that not only should we engage with them but make use of them and post things on them that are relevant to our faith, especially on the internet. If our children go to the internet on a subject, wouldn’t we feel more comfortable to know that they were going to find something edifying rather than something that would lead to an unwholesome addiction? Addictions do not show on the surface. They simmer underground for years until they show up at the most inopportune times and destroy lives and relationships.

Someone recently pointed out that a lot of Bible verses are short enough to tweet. There’s nothing wrong with posting a chapter of the Bible on our Facebook pages. We are not of this world but we do live in it. I believe we have a responsibility not to run from the bad but to drop our own little bit of goodness and love into the oceans around us for the benefit of those we love.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers.http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal

Parental Discretion Advised

"Col 3:8 - But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth."

I had a friend while I was in school who I considered to be more spiritual than I was. He was the kind of person people looked up to. If the Bible didn't enjoin us to work out our salvation with fear and trembling I would say that I would have loved to be like him. There was however something about him I didn't like or understand. He, like quite a lot of other Christians I have met since then, thought it was okay to swear.

You'll have to forgive me but I have never been too impressed by the desire to be cool or belong. The Bible says we should be different. I have therefore never understood how Christians think it is cool to swear or use the "F" word. The interesting thing was that my friend felt he had a ministry calling. That used to give me a funny feeling. Not that I didn't think he wouldn't make a great pastor, I was afraid of what he might say in the process of operating in his ministry. Whenever I think of the topic, I think of a scenario where a pastor is preaching to his congregation and he tells them, "Jesus "f-----g" died for you, that's the message of the gospel" or something like that. I have told myself if something like that were to happen, I would get up and walk out of that church.

I believe that there is a place for big open door outreaches where a great number of souls who are hungry for Jesus can come to and meet with him. However I think we are too fascinated with numbers. The Bible tells us that heaven rejoices over one sinner that repents but we want to see as many as possible repent at once. A thousand people become saved at the outreach and we rejoice. The person leading them in the prayer of salvation tells them to lead new, holy lives but we don't really tell them how. No one is there to model the new life for them so they wing it. They live the life they want to live or feel they should live not knowing the life God wants them to live in the Word by the help of the Holy Spirit.

Because society has become inured to the meaning of a word or it's root does not take away the meaning. Also because it acceptable in normal society doesn't mean it's acceptable in Christianity. When a rappers's CD is labelled, "Explicit Lyrics, Parental Discretion Advised", it not only relates to the content explaining what they want to do with the Uzi, it's also about the swear words used. It is believed that the words are not proper for children to know or hear. Jesus told us that in this new life that we have, we should be like little children. I wonder, how many of us who are parents would love it if our or our neighbour's four year old daughter walked up tp us and asked "Who the f--- are you?"

Exactly.

JC Cruz is the author of DECEPTIO published by WestBowPress, a division of Thomas Nelson publishers.http://bookstore.westbowpress.com/Products/SKU000194087/Deceptio.aspx and LOST, BUT FOUND available at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00DPLLEUQ/. You can follow him on Twitter @Cruz_JCReal.