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 Why Filtered Internet?

A STATE OF THE INTERNET REPORT
Updated 8/2005
By Steve Ensley

This is my fourth update of this particular report and I wish I could say I have seen some improvement. Unfortunately, it continues to get worse.

Why do people not understand or ignore the dangers of the Internet? The same people who would not think of driving without a seat belt or drinking unfiltered water will open their home to destructive Internet material and then set themselves up to be the next victim. What is it that allows our culture to march blindly to the beat of immoral behaviors disguised as “free speech”? What drug or magic causes us as a people to justify or even tolerate the immoral and criminal activity on the Internet? The Internet is a tremendous resource for good and yet it has a dark side! The following is the surprising truth about what the Internet really is and how we as Christians should be aware of this truth!

Current Status of the Internet

There are an estimated “202,888,307 Internet users in the United States as of June/05, equaling a 68.5% penetration, according to Nielsen//NR” This is out of a population of just under 300 million. A recent article about Yahoo reports their database contained 19.2 billion web pages (http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20050810/tc_cmp/168600247). This represents pages of information available to everyone on the Internet. An estimated ten to twelve thousand new web sites are registered and brought online every day.

There are currently over ten thousand Internet Service Providers nationwide and although many claim to have filtering there is only a very small percentage offering serious filtering as a service. Lately the intrusion of SPAM has gotten all the headlines and rightly so because now the porn is finding you through SPAM email. It is no longer necessary for a person to look for the destructive material, now it will find you.

Some interesting comparisons of Internet site content tells us who “owns” the Internet. These statistics were taken straight from the AltaVista search engine and can be duplicated by anyone. They are very revealing. The web contains:

  • 44.7 million game sites/pages compared to 14.4 million church sites
  • 26.7 million adult sites/pages as opposed to 9.4 million ministry sites
  • 13.9 million Bill Clinton sites versus 2.1 million for Rev. Billy Graham
  • 10.7 million gay and only a little over 67,500 pro-family sites/pages
  • 6.8 million Madonna (material girl) sites versus 1.6 million for Mother Theresa
  • 2.7 million pages on the occult against 1.5 million youth ministry pages
  • 2.1 million Howard Stern pages to 1.1 million pages for Dr. James Dobson

It is clear the secular humanist world “owns” the Internet by almost a four to one ratio!!!

General Usage and Myths

In an Internet released copy of a pirated search engine statistical report, 184 out of the top 200 search terms for this search engine were sexual. The report had to go to the top two hundred search terms because one hundred of the first one hundred terms were sexual.

It is generally known that an estimated 80% of the newsgroup activities are porn related and some have estimated that 65% of regular web activity is sexual, adult or pornographic. Even with this widely known data, it is estimated that less than 15% of residential Internet users have significant filtering and of those it is estimated that less than half of the filters are in use. The use of email to spread destructive material and web links has become epidemic. With the higher speeds and capacities now available, many emails even contain the graphic images that would be illegal in most communities if printed and distributed. Currently almost 90% of all email on the Internet is SPAM and almost 30% of that activity is pornography or sexual in content. In fact email has become the number one transport to force destructive material into your home. And email does not know age, it just send to every address it can find.

A quick search by anyone reveals that almost all game sites contain games that are violent or erotic or both. Chat rooms are one of the most popular activities on the net and yet almost all chat rooms are vulgar at best and downright dangerous at worst. A person need only spend a few minutes in any chat room before being assaulted by vulgarity.

Gambling is one of the fastest growing and most financially destructive activities on the Internet that has developed so far. These are just some of the destructive activities on the net. We haven’t even begun to talk about hate or other illegal activities such as guns and alcohol which one report indicates is targeting our youth with web sites designed to appeal to the young (http://www.pewtrusts.org/pdf/camy_youth_alcohol_internet_facts.pdf)!

It is also a widely held myth that children are the only family members that need filtering. But based on readily available data from the respected Nielson Company, it is obvious that the entire family needs Internet protection. Their research show that 85% of Internet activity is by adults, not children. And although some “adult” material may be legal (pornography and obscenity is not legal), it still is not good for adults. Just like smoking is legal but not good for your physical health, Internet adult material is BAD for you marriage, your relationship with God and your moral health.

There is also a wide spread, but extremely inaccurate belief that filters block too many good sites or can be bypassed too easily. Although this may have been true years ago, it is far from the truth today. Filters have gotten very smart and some filters have technology that defies bypassing. The old line that a filter may block a legitimate site for breast cancer research is not only patently untrue, but is a sorry crutch and common excuse to justify not protecting one’s own family or purity.

How About Christians

How about us Christians? Is purity important to us? Do we care? Are we doing any better on the net than the rest of the world? What is our responsibility? What are we called to? I think the following verses make it quite clear:

  • EPH 4:17 So I tell you this, and insist on it in the Lord, that you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. [18] They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts. [19] Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, with a continual lust for more.
  • EPH 4:22 You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; [23] to be made new in the attitude of your minds; [24] and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.
  • EPH 5:3 But among you there must not be even a hint of sexual immorality, or of any kind of impurity, or of greed, because these are improper for God's holy people. [4] Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place, but rather thanksgiving. [5] For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person--such a man is an idolater--has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God. [6] Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God's wrath comes on those who are disobedient. [7] Therefore do not be partners with them.
  • 2COR 7:1 Since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.
  • ROM 6:19 I put this in human terms because you are weak in your natural selves. Just as you used to offer the parts of your body in slavery to impurity and to ever-increasing wickedness, so now offer them in slavery to righteousness leading to holiness.

So how are we Christians doing on the Internet? The answer is not good! In fact, it appears that statistically we are no different than the rest of the world. Shouldn’t we be different? Shouldn’t our statistics reflect the holiness that we are called to by Jesus whom we profess as God? Here is some interesting data:

In four informal polls taken at past Christian World View Conferences, 95% of families by our polling have access to the Internet, however less than 25% have filtering of any kind. These are Christians that care about their families, their country and their culture and yet the majority of these do not have an effective form of Internet protection for themselves and their families!

Of those Christian families that do not have filtering, 10% are not aware of the dangers on the Internet, 25% know the material is there, but they believe their family will not use that material or be harmed by it or they believe there is nothing they can do about it. However, the largest group, 65% simply doesn’t want to give up some material or feature of the Internet that they perceive a filter will deny even though they know it may not be good for them.

Statistically speaking, every major destructive behavior in this country is the same for Christians as it is for the secular world. And it is adults that are refusing or neglecting to set the moral standards within their homes. Further evidence of this is the letters we get every week from victims of Internet material. These letters are tragic and they break our hearts. Why are we Christians a victim to this? I wish I knew, but it seems that Christians either don’t know or won’t admit there is a problem.

What do we do?

An obvious solution is the use of a Christian Internet Service Provider that provides a complete filtering system. However, too many of us but out pocket books ahead of our families safety and we turn to discounted, but unfiltered Internet. So like the secular world some Christians are trading their values for their pocket book and using cheap Internet instead of paying for and supporting filtered Christian Internet service. Often the only difference between safety and unfiltered Internet is less than $2 a month.

We can also help pass legislation and we have, but Satan owns the courts and the media and the laws get thrown out. And laws that do not get thrown out are not enforced.

Is there help? Yes, fortunately many ministries have arisen to help combat this pervasive and destructive email and web material. AFO partners with several very good ministries to not only help protect you and your family from exposure, but to help you if you have already become a victim.

We have a very clear responsibility. And those of us who are married and have spouses need to ask ourselves and our spouse, “why do we not have a filter”? Scripture gives us clear testimony on what is expected from us. We will be held accountable.

  • HEB 12:14 Make every effort to live in peace with all men and to be holy; without holiness no one will see the Lord. [15] See to it that no one misses the grace of God and that no bitter root grows up to cause trouble and defile many. [16] See that no one is sexually immoral, or is godless like Esau, who for a single meal sold his inheritance rights as the oldest son. [17] Afterward, as you know, when he wanted to inherit this blessing, he was rejected. He could bring about no change of mind, though he sought the blessing with tears.
  • HEB 12:10 Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, that we may share in his holiness. [11] No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it.

I hope this report has given you some idea of the scope of the problem and the battle. It is very discouraging from a human perspective, but there is an answer. JESUS CHRIST!

KNOW THAT THE VICTORY BELONGS TO JESUS, BUT ALSO KNOW THAT WE TOO ARE CALLED!

OUR CALL IS TO

BE HOLY OURSELVES
FIGHT THE GOOD FIGHT
HELP PROTECT AS MANY AS WE CAN
AND TAKE AS MANY WITH US AS WE CAN

YOUR CALL IS TO

SET THE VALUES AND MORAL STANDARDS WITHIN YOUR FAMILY.
LEAD BY EXAMPLE! GET A FILTER FOR YOURSELF.

THE ANSWER IS JESUS AND IN OUR OBEDIENCE HE WILL USE US TO FIGHT THIS BATTLE. THE VICTORY IS ULTIMATELY HIS!!




About the Author

Steve Ensley is the Executive Director of AFO, originally founded by the American Family Association. AFO I(AFO) is a Christian Internet Service Provider (ISP) that offers a filtered full service Internet and also a Filter-Only option if you already have service but want the full protection. The mission of AFO is to help protect families and marriages by providing access to the Internet that is safer.

850-897-3842 Voice
850-897-8201 FAX
850-582-3339 Cell
sensley@afo.net


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