Kevin's Watch

How do you know you can trust any religious site on the internet?

What does the lord think of the internet?

We are talking about a man-made sin induced tool. [/b][/i]

This should be bumped to the Think Tank!

Anyway, I view most of what I see on the net most skeptically. But, it is like EVRY other man-made technologically created comfort. While it is mostly beneficial, and has changed our lives for the better (flow of info/knowledge/social), it can also be a vehicle for hate, misnformation (Drudge Report, etc.), to say nothing of spicy/adult material.

It is what it is. I am sure the Lord has more to do than monitor our collective net use!

A tool, is neither good nor evil, except in the wrong hands. The internet can be a tool for learning, or an implement of sin. The only religious institution I have anything to do with is www.tomorrowsworld.org
Man I hope that link works. At first glance this site appears as a "fire and brimstone" church, but it is led by true apostolic christians, with vast experience with greek, aremaic and latin vulgate versions of the Bible, one of them with a phd. The message they send is nice and all of thier booklets are free!!!

If your curious check em out.


-B

I agree with Baradakas here. All knowledge is morally neutral. It is the use we put it to that determines its worth.

I don't trust the internet, but not because it may cause me to "sin" (a nebulous concept at the best of times).

I don't trust it because I know what people can do if they have the knowledge and the inclination. I love it, but I recognise, and protect myself against, the dangers.

Your link worked Baradakas, but the creepy picture on the landing page put me off a bit

Later
--Avatar

erm... Is that Leper Fairy? i mean it is her avatar...

There's nothing wrong with the internet.. Nothing at all, it's some of the uses that humans put it to that's wrong. But much can be used for good as well.

ENDLESS SUMMER wrote: What does the lord think of the internet?

God likes broadband; he hates AOL.

Darthina wrote:erm... Is that Leper Fairy? i mean it is her avatar...

Does it say "The Leper Fairy" above the avatar?

THe internet is the beast of revelation, the image of man. Useful currently however.

Asking me if I trust the internet is like asking if I trust my microwave. Which is to say, emphetically, no. I don't care if the dang thing can make toast (it's a toast-n-wave), how do I know it's not secretly trying to poison me by making my food carcinogenic?

Seriously, the 'net's just another tool. It can be used for good or evil... but mostly pr0n.

It's greatest advantage is also it's greatest disadvantage. It allows widely seperated people of similar interests to congregate and exchange information.

--A

CovenantJr wrote:

Darthina wrote:erm... Is that Leper Fairy? i mean it is her avatar...

Does it say "The Leper Fairy" above the avatar?

She could have schanged it.

Now you're the Avatar police? The poor new member doesn't know any better and prob has no idea who LepFairy is.

Yeah Darth!

Darth Revan wrote:

CovenantJr wrote:

Darthina wrote:erm... Is that Leper Fairy? i mean it is her avatar...

Does it say "The Leper Fairy" above the avatar?

She could have schanged it.

Like me, Claire has never changed her name, and probably never will. Pay attention

On topic, I agree with the bulk of the opinions so far. The internet, like anything, is inherently neutral. It can be used harmfully, but it can also bring people together - this very site is a perfect example of the latter.

CovenantJr wrote:It can be used harmfully, but it can also bring people together - this very site is a perfect example of the latter.

Took the words out of my mouth

--A

danlo wrote:Now you're the Avatar police? The poor new member doesn't know any better and prob has no idea who LepFairy is.

*Looks at comment with distaste and scorn*

CovenantJr wrote:

Darth Revan wrote:

CovenantJr wrote: Does it say "The Leper Fairy" above the avatar?

She could have schanged it.

Like me, Claire has never changed her name, and probably never will. Pay attention

Why should I know that? I barely talk to her. i don't ven know her.

Off topic folks, back to the Internet. What about Spyware? Cookies? Any comments? Tivo records your likes and dislikes on TV and rumors say they might use this info for individual companies and marketing....

There seems to be two important questions: 1) Do I trust the reliability of the information on the internet? 2) Do I trust the processing of information on the internet? (i.e. will my anonymity be preserved or will it be compromised, leaving me possibly a target of identity theft, among other things?)

Well, I'm definitely wary about No. 2. I regularly check for spyware and cookies lurking in my PC, I regularly run my antivirus program, I always have my firewall on, and I keep things like Windows XP's Remote Access Services disabled to prevent, well, remote access to my system. And I make sure my passwords aren't easy to crack. It just makes sense to do these basic things to protect my computer.

I try to keep an open attitude about what I read on the 'net. I try to be critical, too, but believing that I'm being lied to at every single turn doesn't make for a healthy existence, I don't think. If I discover that something I've read--which I thought true--turns out to be false, I accept that I was duped and move on. This applies whether I'm browsing the internet or a newspaper. I don't view the content of print or television media as intrinsically superior or more reliable than what I receive on the internet. I value all three methods of delivering information.

Thats pretty much the way I approach it too, MatrixMan. If anything, the Net has a less focussed agenda than print and television media, at least in the sense that most "traditional" media tend to have a certain amount of convergence, while the Net caters for every opinion, and makes it possible to disseminate those opinions widely, without any controls.

Now on the whole, I'm all for that. But as you say, it increases the possibility of being duped. And as transient as the information on the Net is, it remains out there. Somewhere. I sometimes wish there was a clean-up crew going around removing out-dated information.

Still, best advice for it is "Shields Up" and take every possible precaution. (Best one, obviously, is to leave your modem unplugged. )

--Avatar

How about on a moral standpoint? Pornography, death sites etc? Does the internet threaten the moral fiber by which society judges itself?