Pastoral Internet Regulation & Control

[ReformedDave]

Originally Posted by StMark

If there's nothing to hide then why would anyone have
a problem with it ??

Not a biblical requirement.

[dizzyde]

Originally Posted by Pro31:28

I was going to say the same thing! But I didn't want people to think I was like that Baron guy!

Oh no, stay away from him, he is nothing but trouble!!!!

[Pro31:28]

Originally Posted by dizzyde

Oh no, stay away from him, he is nothing but trouble!!!!

Thanks I think I will... for a while anyway

[StMark]

Originally Posted by ReformedDave

Not a biblical requirement.

what about "obey them that have RULE over you" ???

[Baron1710]

Originally Posted by StMark

what about "obey them that have RULE over you" ???

Sounds like a good catch all verse to legislate anything you want.

[tbpew]

Originally Posted by nwlife

It gives the pastor too much control in their lives, now there are some who in counceling it wouldn't be a bad idea to do a situation similar to this because of the particular need for counceling ...But for most normal people, no way.

The starter premise does provide a good mix of specifics that I think may actually be served by something like a discussion at an online forum.

The reason I quoted nwlife's post above, was because when I read it I heard some one expressing a hard linkage between accountability and control. IMO, this linkage can not, and never does, exist...but I think I completely understand why a person would make the statement.

Accountability DOES NOT equate to OR EFFECT control.

If you see the details of my life, you still have ZERO control of my life choices.
The acountability component just adds another level of consideration that I must INDIVIDUALLY and PERSONALLY process before I make a decision to ACT.

The thought of a PASTOR mandating any particular compliance with any particular activity, is fully predicated upon:
1. His real authority to rule (which is directly linked to his ability to punish/put in bonds)
2. His ability to supply or withhold the things another seeks to have.

For my part in this thread, I am not immediately interested in what RULERSHIP a pastor has...as much as I am interested in how people subject themselves to accountability initiatives.

[Pro31:28]

Originally Posted by StMark

what about "obey them that have RULE over you" ???

I am sure that is exactly the kind of argument that followers of Jim Jones and David Koresh had...

[Baron1710]

Originally Posted by dizzyde

Oh no, stay away from him, he is nothing but trouble!!!!

Originally Posted by Pro31:28

Thanks I think I will... for a while anyway

In the words of an old man who has passed on now, "Watch it."

[MissBrattified]

Originally Posted by StMark

what about "obey them that have RULE over you" ???

Mark, there are limits. Would you allow someone to supervise your every move, just to make sure you were making moral and righteous choices?

It also has the potential to undermine authority within the home. Our children, (1 of whom will soon be a teenager) for instance--they are OUR responsibility to supervise, instruct, discipline and protect. They "report" to us--their parents. Not to their pastor.

In my opinion, it's good for husbands and wives to be accountable to one another in regards to sexual purity. So how does the pastor figure into that equation? Will men report to their pastors, but hide their internet usage from their wives? Or vice versa?

I am for pastoral authority, but I am not for dictatorships or tyrants. Again, specific to this thread--I'm not calling the pastor in question a tyrant, necessarily. We don't have all the facts. But mandates will not result in a change of heart--only a change in behavior, and not necessarily in a positive way.

[Michlow]

Originally Posted by MissBrattified

For the same reason I wouldn't be on staff at a church that required me to keep surveillance cameras in my home, in order to supervise my activities.

Like I said, VOLUNTARY accountability is a very good thing...but mandatory? The pastor is being over-zealous at best. There may be some circumstances that are prompting him to take this action, but in the end, it won't bring about the results he's after anyway.

Mandatory morality is just tossing away the NT in exchange for the Old. If a person doesn't pursue purity and morality from a point of his own love for and consecration to God, then it's a moot point. Remember the scripture about a man looking on a woman...with lust...has already committed adultery? You can make all kinds of rules, but if the heart isn't right, the rules accomplish nothing.

To be blunt, a man who can't look at porn because his pastor is looking over his shoulder can still THINK about porn if the heart problem isn't fixed.

I wrote about this recently on a different thread, and I guess it is still in my mind because it was a major revelation for me.

God created us with free will, he wanted us to choose right out of love, not out of coersion. (or fear, or anything else for that matter).

And I think part of the curse of eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Is that we try to madate that good and evil, and we try to do it by coersion.

I think if we really want to mirror God's love, we have to allow those we love to exercise their free will. Which doesn't mean we can't talk to them, and pray for them, and reason with them, etc.

I think this is one of our biggest problems in the church. (At least it was for me).

**Disclaimer, I realize that in the post I both implied that the Biblical account of creation was correct, and I also later implied that I was a member of the church, in that I referred to "our" problems in the church. Please chalk this up, simply to a moment of impassioned debate!