Southern Baptist Church used spyware to track congregants online behavior

[AnywhereElse]

Originally Posted by Hayle White

Though my household does not partake, who decided watching pornography was a bad thing? Is it an act between consenting adults?

Although not breaking the law, unless it is underage porn, from a Biblical standpoint, it is a sin. Lust is sinful, and if one is married, the lusting would constitute adultery. It is all in the Bible.

Originally Posted by normstad

I am VERY familiar with conservative Mennonites and Hutterites (Amish, except they live in colonies). See them all the time in Walmart, and depending on the colony, many have cell phones. Heck, the girls even browse the Harlequin romance books.

Those are Hutterites in the photo, and they do differ from the Amish quite a bit. I have compared both, along with other similar religious groups, most flourished and then disappeared though. Some do have cell phones, even the Old Order Amish for necessary business, the ones I am familiar with used those throw away phones that they call out on, but cannot receive incoming calls.

The girls you see may be at that time when they are deciding whether they want to remain Amish. During that time, they are allowed to "experience" the world in order to make that choice.

Originally Posted by mordant

Well BF did say, "Amish and CONSERATIVE Mennonites" and I think that is an accurate description of the things they want to avoid in terms of modern technology.

Although there's the official line and the practical one. Officially, Amish can't have telephones. Practically speaking though they can ask to use their "English" neighbor's telephone. Where I once lived near a western Michigan Amish community, the neighbor got so tired of this that he hung a telephone on the fencepost between his property and the Amish neighbor so they could use it whenever they wanted without bothering him.

I think the individual sects make decisions as to what is and is not appropriate for their group. As I said above, they were using the disposable phones, and that was probably 10 years ago when I had contact with them. They are wonderful people. I grew up near the MI/IN border, we saw them and shopped their products at the Farmer's Market in South Bend. Now, they are at least 3 groups here in KS that I know of.

Originally Posted by normstad

Yeah, I know they are not to use electricity, but I have driven through the Amish areas in Indiana, and seen the solar panels on the barns. Not sure if they connect them to their houses or not. It was interesting to see them getting "around the rules".

Not so much supposed to use electricity, and again, it depends on the particular sect. They don't connect and become dependent on the utility companies, so solar should not present a problem for them. I know in one SE KS area, they use kerosene and horse/buggy, while an area just a couple hours away, they use tractors to do their farming. They do not want to be dependent on "the system".

They are not "getting around the rules".

As far as the Southern Baptist, they are very strict, and this app just sounds like something to help those that want help when they cannot control their porn addiction. Let's see "app?" or "burn in hell for sinning"?

Some of the Southern Baptist churches are VERY strict, and helping someone from sinning if they need help doesn't sound that bad to me.

[normstad]

Originally Posted by AnywhereElse

Although not breaking the law, unless it is underage porn, from a Biblical standpoint, it is a sin. Lust is sinful, and if one is married, the lusting would constitute adultery. It is all in the Bible.

Those are Hutterites in the photo, and they do differ from the Amish quite a bit. I have compared both, along with other similar religious groups, most flourished and then disappeared though. Some do have cell phones, even the Old Order Amish for necessary business, the ones I am familiar with used those throw away phones that they call out on, but cannot receive incoming calls.

The girls you see may be at that time when they are deciding whether they want to remain Amish. During that time, they are allowed to "experience" the world in order to make that choice.

No, those are not Amish, they are Hutterites. We have no Amish in our area. The girls I mentioned were Hutterites. The Hutterites do not have rumspringa like some Amish groups do. We also have very strict Mennonites in the area, many who belong to the Church of God in Christ, a Mennonite fundamentalist group. I feel sorry for their women, as that group is one of the worst, up there with JW's and Scientologists as far as controlling their lives. Sexual and physical abuse is covered up, and to be dealt with internally if at all. It's a horrible way of life for those trapped in that cult.

I think the individual sects make decisions as to what is and is not appropriate for their group. As I said above, they were using the disposable phones, and that was probably 10 years ago when I had contact with them. They are wonderful people. I grew up near the MI/IN border, we saw them and shopped their products at the Farmer's Market in South Bend. Now, they are at least 3 groups here in KS that I know of.



Not so much supposed to use electricity, and again, it depends on the particular sect. They don't connect and become dependent on the utility companies, so solar should not present a problem for them. I know in one SE KS area, they use kerosene and horse/buggy, while an area just a couple hours away, they use tractors to do their farming. They do not want to be dependent on "the system".

They are not "getting around the rules".

As far as the Southern Baptist, they are very strict, and this app just sounds like something to help those that want help when they cannot control their porn addiction. Let's see "app?" or "burn in hell for sinning"?

Some of the Southern Baptist churches are VERY strict, and helping someone from sinning if they need help doesn't sound that bad to me.