I remember learning about the ten commandment from an early age in Primary. The first commandment is to not have any other gods before Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. My teachers told me that other gods included TV, movies, video games, and other things that took the place of church stuff.
In more recent years church members have heard about being careful with the Internet because of pornography and other things that take away the Spirit and distract us from family time and eternal progression.
Elder Bednar specifically talked in a CES fireside about not letting Second Life and other online sites where you create an avatar and live in another world. He said that this is not real and that we came to earth to experience our own real life. http://www.lds.org/library/display/0,4945,538-1-4830-1,00.html
I think that Elder Bednar's talk and the counsel of church leaders in recent years on the dangers of the Internet tie in well with what I learned at an early age about what the first commandment.
So my question is: How will following the counsel of church leaders concerning the Internet help us obey the first commandment and bring us closer to Christ?
I think the counsel of the church leaders concerning the internet help us obey the first commandments and bring us closer to Christ by putting no other Gods like the internet or other material things before Christ. All the technologies are blessings in a way that can make life easier and to connect with others. If we just use these sources in sharing the gospel I think it is a great tool, as well as educational purposes. I think people need to understand that everything needs balance and not all our time should go into one thing. It is always good to check ourselves and see how much time we are putting into the internet which can take away from things that we should be doing like spending more time with our families.
ReplyDeleteThe apostles point out the dangers of things like second life so that we can be aware of them. I would have never known the potential danger of activities similar to second life. I did not know how involved people become in them. If we follow the apostles we will be guided towards things that lead us to God
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ReplyDeleteElder Bednar hits the nail on the head when he talks about a second life lived on the internet that is not reality but fantasy. Obviously he is referring to pornography, but also I think he is talking about any other desire or interest may covet a little too much. For example, I find myself sometimes too involved and reading irrelevant articles about a certain team or sport I like. Sometimes we spend too much time enjoying our likes and hobbies online because it is so accessible. This could detract us from keeping the commandment talked about. We get too focused in the fantasy instead of focusing on our spirituality.
ReplyDeleteI strongly believe it all comes down to balance. The leaders of the Church have admonished us to have balance in our lives. I think of the recent talk by Elder Oaks, "Good, Better, Best." The Internet obviously has a lot of plain bad stuff. However, our leaders have also cautioned about spending too much of our time on "good" stuff and not progressing to the "best" things in life. The Internet, as Elder Bendnar pointed out, can flood our lives with "good" things that rob of us of the opportunity to seek out the best things. If we are putting the Lord first and worshiping Him above all else, we will seek Him and fill our days with the "best" and most fulfilling things.
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