Last week I wrote about the blessings of singleness (you can read it here), but it wouldn’t be fair to write about its blessings without also writing about it’s challenges. The greatest of these is living up to what I like to call “online integrity”
Online integrity can be defined by being above reproach with everything viewed online. That does of course mean we stay away from things such as pornography or R rated, and profanity filled programming. But it also includes websites or programs that it would be best for a Christian to stay away from (even if you aren’t looking at something bad) and the “look away moments” in much of todays streaming services.
Living at this higher standard of online integrity is absolutely essential…but its almost impossible to do alone. So online integrity means having an online accountability partner
Some people would view having an internet filtering system that keeps you from going to certain sites as enough for achieving online integrity. This is an absolute must (I heartily recommend Net Nanny which sets the standard for online filtering) but you must actually go deeper than just being blocked out. There must be a level of accountability with someone who will be alerted when you go to a suspicious site.
Another reason I love Net Nanny is they send a detailed report to an accountability partner you have chosen once a week, and more than that if you go to a site that they have flagged. In my case I’ve chosen the person I have more respect for than anyone (my father) to receive notifications.
They (Net Nanny) also allow you to set your standard at different levels which leads to some interesting sites being flagged.
- Instapaper.com (a news reading site)
- The SVG tv guide
- And reedit.com (understandable but I use it for news)
In a way Net Nanny (along with my accountability partner) has helped me begin avoiding websites that could possibly have something bad on them. It is annoying taking some sites out of my daily habit since they are flagged, but its better to cut them out now, than have sites destroy my testimony later.
Johnhwilburn.org 