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The Internet Pledge
The Internet is a wonderful "place" and
a super-handy medium of communication. And all the resources
that are available on it!! Then toss in the on-line services
and all the BBS's around. Lots of information is out there,
awaiting your modem's attention.
Much of what can be found would fall in the useful and amoral
categories. However, we all know that the enemy of mankind
continues to introduce monstrous amounts of immoral and evil
stuff. Wanting to be faithful and accountable, some of us
modem-ites in my home congregation have signed the following
covenant (a totally personal, non-congregational move):
"I purpose
before God and my Brothers [and Sisters] to never use
my modem
to intentionally download or view any file (text or graphic)
that is sexual, pornographic, obscene, immoral and/or
lustful in nature. I also purpose to avoid newsgroups
and mailing lists that disseminate similar material.
By signing this covenant of Brotherhood accountability,
I give my co-signing Brothers the privilege and responsibility
of checking up on my faithfulness in this area."
Quite a number of you "out there" have written
to say that you also have bound yourself with this covenant.
(The foregoing is taken from www.anabaptists.org/pledge.html.)
Comment
It is our view that probably most people are not
able to adequately control their use of the Internet. Although
this is an amazing means of accessing thousands of helpful
sites and tens of thousands of bits of helpful information, most do
not exercise self-control in their use of the worldwide web.
For this reason, we cannot give unqualified endorsement of
the Internet. If anyone wishes to use their computer to access
the Internet for medical, geographical, spiritual, or other
beneficial reasons, we would recommend the use of Internet
providers that offer reliable filtering, such as Character
Net or Integrity. Apart from such an alternative, we would
recommend that you not use the Internet.
We have known of brothers who fell into sins on the Internet
and finally renounced its use. I commend them for this. If
you find yourself spending too much time with email or Internet;
if you fail to exercise self-control in what you access;
or if you are failing to fulfil your obligations to study
Scripture, pursue regular prayer, serve your spouse, or nurture
your family, then you may need to forsake any use
of the Internet. If these elements are not a problem for
you, you may wish to take the foregoing "pledge" to
be accountable to your brothers and sisters in the body of
Christ in your use of the Internet. May God help all of us
to glorify Him and walk in holiness and integrity before
Him.
Richard Hollerman
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