[an error occurred while processing this directive] TheBible.net: Surfing Safeguards
Surfing Safeguards
by unknown
Tips On Using Computers Online In The Home


  • The computer should be in public areas of homes. The monitors should face the doorway and/or room of the family room, den or kitchen.

  • The computer should not become a baby sitter. Too much time surfing the net can lead to sinful paths. In a recent survey of 500 children, 63 percent said they would rather surf the Web than watch television. Adults also should be careful of this pastime. This can easily lead to a desensitizing of morals and wasted hours of time.

  • Parents should monitor chat rooms visited by children. Personal information should never be given out. Adults should avoid intimate conversation with the opposite sex. Conversation that is inappropriate in person is inappropriate in cyberspace too. A person who would not carry on the same dialogue with his or her spouse present should not communicate in such a way through a chat room.

  • Ground rules for computer usage should be established, and all should respect them. Remember, it would be much better to pluck out the eye, cut off the hand, or remove the computer from the home than to lose our souls.

  • A server-based filtering service is a wonderful safeguard. This service filters the objectionable material out of the net before it reaches the computer. Because the Internet is changing every day, a server-based filtering service seems to work much better than client-based filters that reside in your computer to block the information from being seen.

  • Remember, the client-based filter is installed; therefore, it can also be uninstalled. Some filtering services boast of filtering 99 percent of all pornography, hate sites and other inappropriate material. This is a wonderful tool to enable one to flee from the sin offered on the Internet.

  • Check the cache. The history of family members' browsers should never be considered private. The family computer should be checked often. Spouses should be free to check each other's browsers for recently visited sites.

  • Parents must lead by example. Parents must create a pure heart. They must safeguard their lives to avoid temptations and to present themselves as a good example to others.

  • Seek God's forgiveness of sins! "Repent ... or perish" (Luke 13:3 NASB). "Shall we continue in sins that grace may abound? God forbid" (Romans 6:1-2 KJV). God will remove the guilt of past sins, but the individual must perform "deeds appropriate to repentance" (Acts 26:20 NASB). The viewer of pornography must stop justifying his sin and create genuine remorse for defiling his mind with such filth (2 Corinthians 7:10).


(This article originally appeared as a sidebar to "Sin Is Crouching At Your Computer." See the articles index for that article.)

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