BENEFITS OF THE INTERNET TO THE CHRISTIAN YOUTH
Adebayo Ola Afolaranmi
Introduction: The Great Commission
While Jesus Christ left the earth after His resurrection, He gave a mandate popularly known as the Great Commission to His disciples. This can be found in Matthew 28:18-20, Mark 16:15-18, Luke 24:46-49, and Acts 1:8. The disciples and other faithful Christians carried out this mandate in various ways. This resulted in many Christian ministries. One of the tools for Christian ministry is the Internet. It was as if the Psalmist had known about this when he said: “Praise be the Lord my Rock, who trains my hands for war, my fingers for battle” (144:1).
The Internet
The Internet came in to existence because of advancement in information and communication technologies and the need to share information globally. It has become a powerful means of communication because it is broad, fast, and grows quickly. It has turned the world into global village with more connection to transmit information at speeds almost instantaneously.
The Need for Internet Christian Ministries (Internet Ministry)
The evolution of the Internet has been seen as the handiwork of God. The Internet and other aspects of information and communication technology are not about technology at all – they are about the Great Commission. The Internet has become the new mission field of the twenty-first century and a positive tool for evangelisation. In fulfilling the mandate of the Great Commission, youth and other Christians have a great opportunity to use the Internet. Modern communications, particularly the Internet, not only offers us a variety of media that convey the Good News but gave birth to a ‘new culture’. It is indeed a potential to spread Good News! The Internet is not the only means of communicating Christ to the world but is the most appropriate means to integrate the Good News of Jesus Christ to the new culture in which the Church is.
The Term Paper on Internet Censorship One Communication People
Internet Censorship For centuries governments have tried to regular materials deemed inappropriate or offensive. The history of western censorship was said to have begun when Socrates was accused 'firstly, of denying the gods recognized by the State and introducing new divinities, and secondly of corrupting the young.' Hew as sentenced to death for these crimes. Many modern governments are ...
The Challenges of the Internet
Some of these challenges are pornography online, time wasting games, cyber crime, ineffective services, and so on. Nevertheless, the Internet has been seeing as a call of God full of a lot of potential to win souls for God. Christians must distinguish what is good and what is bad about the world around us. We should not lump all scientific or technological progress together as being bad or too complex to understand. We cannot drop out of the race. Much of the Internet technology we see before us is adaptable and useful for the cause of Christ.
Benefits of the Internet
1. Collection of Information on the Internet
The Internet has become an important source of information. There are many different types of resource information available on the Internet. The relatively low cost and effort to create a web page has inspired millions of people representing different groups or different religious beliefs to spread their messages to an audience that extends longer. The best way to gather information on the Internet is by using search engines. Search engines are free to use. They are operated by private companies such as Google, Yahoo, Live, and the like.
* The application to Christian youth: The information from the Internet can broaden the knowledge of the youth on any topic/subject he wants. It can even help you to pray with others. This information may be versions of the Bible, other features of the Bible, Christian literature, and so on.
2. Email
EMAIL (a short form of e-mail) is a widely used Internet application that enables individuals or groups of individuals to rapidly exchange information and messages, even if they are separated by long distances. The email has become a seemingly indispensable part of people’s lives, since correspondence by post seems tedious and slow by comparison. More people use it than any other Internet services.
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What regulatory issues does the brokerage industry face with respect to the retail investor and the advent of online securities trading Introduction The number of securities trades conducted online has taken a dramatic increase in recent years, rising from under 100, 000 trades per day in 1996 to over half a million in 19991. The SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission) expects the level of online ...
a. Uses of Email
i. Compose a new message
ii. Respond to messages received from others
iii. Forward these message to a third party.
iv. Send an e-mail attachment in the form of a file, document, image, video or any other information attaching such information to be sent a message by email.
v. Send a chain mail from one person to another and someone else sends a message to another person.
vi. The Group email can be sent to an Internet group.
* The application to Christian youth: Email, especially to group e-mail messenger, can be used to send messages devotional, sermons, bible study outlines, short quote, prayer wishes, and so on to church members and others throughout the world. Chain mail can also be used to pass through information such as warnings, advice and other uplifting message to others, and such persons may forward such mails to others as well.
3. Chat Online
This is a means whereby a person can communicate by typing a message on his/her computer and send it instantly through an online means, and the receiver can also reply immediately if he/she is online, thereby enabling both of them to chat or communicate simultaneously with each other. Some online service providers like Yahoo store such messages as offline messages for recipients that are not online to be read when he/she is online.
The Internet telephony: An interesting aspect of online chatting whereby one can orally communicate with another person online and make a phone call through your computer. This service is free apart from Internet access subscription.
Webcam: Another interesting aspect of online chatting webcam whereby people that talk can be seen by a web camera.
* The application to Christian youth: Apart from sending devotional messages, sermons, bible study outlines, short quote, desires prayer, and so on for online chatting, it’s good advice and pray especially for church members for to / from and others who have internet facilities.
The Essay on Tongue Piercing Online Internet
Tongue Piercing I remember my first encounter with tongue piercing. The pierced was absolutely gorgeous, with brown eyes, messy black hair, and a 3/4 inch barbell in the center of his tongue. His name was Phish, like the band. I admired Phish because he did not care what other people thought about him. He was an intelligent, artistic, and interesting person. I think that body piercing is a ...
4. Blog and Websites
A site or area on the World Wide Web that is accessed by the Internet address or Uniform Resource Locator (URL) is called a site. A website can be a collection of related Web pages Each site contains a home page and may also contain additional pages. An individual, company or organization has and update each site. The site is not easily handled as other aspects of the Internet. It requires special training to do so. Because the Web is a dynamically moving and changing entity, many websites change daily or even hourly. What one finds on a web page or site now can no longer be there in the very next minute. Apart from normal sites with your unique URL, there are other quasi-websites that are easily manipulated. Most of these quasi-websites are free. Examples of quasi-websites are weblogs (or simply blogs), forums, Internet groups, and so on.
* The application to Christian youth: A church can have a unique website or quasi-website where information and/or about the church can be found. Likewise, an individual may have a unique website or quasi-website where information and/or about the individual can be found. The sermons, devotional messages, Bible study outlines, short quote, prayer wishes, announcements, information about the church, and so on can be placed on the church website. Members of the church and others that do not have the opportunity of attending the worship service may partake in the service through the website as they watch everything that goes on in the service live or recorded online wherever they may be.
Web-Based (Bulk) SMS
Short Message Service (SMS) is a means of sending text messages to mobile devices like mobile phones (GSM), smartphones and Personal Digital Assistants (PDAS).
The most common means of sending SMS is mobile phones. However, SMS can be sent at rate cheaper, more conveniently and to many people at a time over the Internet. This can be done by some companies bulk web-based SMS. It is a fact that almost all members of our churches now have a cell phone. They can now easily be reached by SMS more than before. Recent research has shown that these church members eager to build SMS from their pastors.
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In Nigeria, there are companies like Skannet, Kullmessage, Aratext, BulkSMS4All, Web2smspro, eTextMail, Deftsms, and other companies that provide bulk SMS service web-based.
There are minor variations in sending SMS for any of these companies’ websites. One should not download or install any special software to use these services. The only requirement is a computer game with an Internet connection.
* The application to Christian youth: web-based SMS is good, especially service to send short, desires prayer, announcements, and so on bulk SMS to many people at once. SMS program can be used for advertisement / information about meetings, birthdays, cyclic votes, weddings, and so on.
Other Online Opportunities
There are many other opportunities to reach others through the Internet.
a. E-greetings
b. Birthday Alarm
c. Internet fax
d. live broadcast over the Internet
e. Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)
f. Social Network Services E.g. Facebook.com, MyChurch.org, Bebo.com, orkut.com, MySpace.com, Chilreia.com, Friendster.com Hi5.com,, Ning.com, Youtube.com, Multiplica.com and others.
Uses of Facebook
Because Facebook has become the most popular online social network service in Nigeria, if not in the whole world, it will not be unfair if more attention is given to it than the other social network websites. Facebook was founded in February 2004by Mark Zuckerberg with his college roommates and fellow computer science students Eduardo Saverin, Dustin Moskovitz andChris Hughes. Facebook has affected the social life and activity of people in various ways. It can reunite lost family members and friends. These are some of the uses of Facebook:
1. Having a personal page: this is in form of a quasi-website where one can have his personal information like email address, phone number, birthday, and the likes. This homepage of this website is called wall page. There are other pages like the info page, photo page and friends’ page in this personal page.
2. Having a group page: this is another form of quasi-website for group of people that share similar interest or that are pursuing the same goal. One can add other people that are on Facebook to the group. People on Facebook can join or request to join the group. Members of the group will have access to the activities on the group through their email boxes and Facebook mailboxes. Depending on the settings of the group, the owner and moderators of the group as well as other members of the group can send messages to the group or post messages directly on the wall page of the group. The group will have a wall page as its homepage and other pages like the info page, message page, photo page and members’ page.
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who see through to nothing." First, the italicized preposition highlights an internal conflict. Unconsciously she looks "away" and "down" as if in avoidance. But here, the preposition "through" would suggest that she thinks that her perception penetrates reality to its essence, as opposed to avoiding it. This contradicts the comment the narrator makes, "for she seldom paid close attention to her ...
3. Having a page for a celebrity, cause, etc.: this is another form of quasi-website similar to the group page. This is created for a celebrity, cause, etc. that one wants to promote. People can join this page by “liking” the page. The page will have a wall page as its homepage and other pages like the info page, message page, photo page and members’ page.
4. Adding friends to one’s page: one can add other people on Facebook as friends to one’s page. This can be done by inviting such people, and the people will have to accept the invitation. One automatically becomes a friend of such people that have accepted one’s friendship invitation on their Facebook pages.
5. Writing/Posting on one’s page: one can write or post messages on one’s page. These posted messages will appear on the homepages of one’s Facebook’s friends. People on Facebook, especially one’s Facebook friends can comment on and/or “like” the posted message through their homepage or one’s wall page.
6. Writing/Posting notes on one’s page: a note on Facebook is a longer message that is more than 500 words posted one one’s page through a special page. One can tag other friends, celebrities or causes that have Facebook pages on this note and the note will appear on the wall pages of such people/causes.
7. Writing/Posting on friends’ pages: if a Facebook friend permits, one can write or post messages on his/her page. These messages will appear with one’s name and picture on the friend’s page and the homepages of his/her friends. There will be a notification on one’s page about this action.
8. Sending personal messages to people: like ordinary email, one can send messages to people’s Facebook message boxes that they will also get through their email boxes.
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On September 7, 2012, Amanda Todd posted a 9-minute YouTube video entitled “My Story: Struggling, Bullying, Suicide and Self Harm,” which showed her using flash cards to reveal her experiences of being bullied. During the video, Amanda writes that when she was in seventh grade, she once used video chat to meet new people over the Internet and soon began receiving compliments on her looks. A ...
9. Instant Messaging and online discussion: one can chat/communicate instantaneously and simultaneously with other Facebook friends that are online. If the friend goes offline, the chat will be delivered as a message to the friend in his/her message box. One can also chat/discuss with people in a Facebook group. This affords people in a Facebook group to have a sort of online conference.
10. Posting memorable photos on one’s page: one can post as many photos as possible on one’s Facebook page. These will be stored in one’s photo page. One can tag one’s Facebook friends on these photos and the photos will automatically be placed on the wall page and photo page of such friends. One can create as many albums as possible and organize these photos on one’s photo page. One can also give description and comments to each of the photos, and one’s Facebook friends can also comment on the photos.
11. Finding people and other information: Facebook is a sort of search engine like Google and other online search engines where one can find people and other relevant information. Facebook will firstly list people and groups, institutions or/and causes that are associated with what one is trying to find before Facebook links one with another search engine like Bing.com that will give other Internet findings.
Conclusion
The Internet is here to stay. It is indeed a major media and the twenty-first century frontier driving mission. Christians should be ready to make good use of it to fulfill the mandate of the Great Commission.
Pastor Bayo Afolaranmi is the Chief Responsibility Officer of The Word through the Internet ).
He is now the Internet Ministry Officer of the Nigerian Baptist Convention at Baptist Building, Oke Bola, Ibadan, Nigeria. You can reach him by email address or phone number +234 805 515 9591.
