Apostolic voice of warning - Bednar

[martybess]

I was talking with my wife about this months ensign article by Elder Bednar and the question came up "is this going to be the next great evil and if so how long will the prohets warn us and how long will it take before it's a huge, huge problem?" When I say next great evil I think back on "tipping points" of evil. To me I wonder if this is going to take a toll comparable to the "drugs and free love" of the sixties (I witness it and it was bad!) or even have such an effect comparable to drugs, (once again the sixties was the tipping point) It's interesting how he says this tactic employed is taking mortals back to a premortal state of bodiless. Great article.

"I raise an apostolic voice of warning about the potentially stifling, suffocating, suppressing, and constraining impact of some kinds of cyberspace interactions and experiences upon our souls. The concerns I raise are not new; they apply equally to other types of media, such as television, movies, and music. But in a cyber world, these challenges are more pervasive and intense. I plead with you to beware of the sense-dulling and spiritually destructive influence of cyberspace technologies that are used to produce high fidelity and that promote degrading and evil purposes.

If the adversary cannot entice us to misuse our physical bodies, then one of his most potent tactics is to beguile you and me as embodied spirits to disconnect gradually and physically from things as they really are. In essence, he encourages us to think and act as if we were in our premortal, unembodied state. And, if we let him, he can cunningly employ some aspects of modern technology to accomplish his purposes. Please be careful of becoming so immersed and engrossed in pixels, texting, earbuds, twittering, online social networking, and potentially addictive uses of media and the Internet that you fail to recognize the importance of your physical body and miss the richness of person-to-person communication. Beware of digital displays and data in many forms of computer-mediated interaction that can displace the full range of physical capacity and experience.

Read carefully the following quote describing an intense romantic relationship a woman had with a cyberspace boyfriend. And note how the medium of communication minimized the importance of the physical body: “And so PFSlider [the man’s screen name] became my everyday life. All the tangible stuff fell away. My body did not exist. I had no skin, no hair, no bones. All desire had converted itself into a cerebral current that reached nothing but my frontal lobe. There was no outdoors, no social life, no weather. There was only the computer screen and the phone, my chair, and maybe a glass of water."

[LocalFarms]

Google project blueray

[Guest mormonmusic]

I read this very article and I agree wholeheartedly that a purely virtual existence is hard on the soul.

People get addicted to facebook, and fall madly in love with others based on the strength of their text words, and nothing more. The case in point about the man and woman in Second Life who got married is well-taken. I too would be offended if my wife married a virtual partner -- it would hurt our marriage.

I even think one has to curb involvement in discussion forums like these, as they too can be addictive, and not good for the soul, even though they are generally focused on well-doing and positive religious topics. People have been addicted to facebook and other networking sites; one must always be on guard that you don't let it overrun your life....

[martybess]

Moderation....... message boards is a part of this and can be good or bad and the knowledge gained can be good or bad however this really got me wondering. The Brethren are really worried about the kids that I call "stuck in limbo".

[martybess]

Google project blueray

Couldn't find anything? You mean bluebox? , blue beam?

[applepansy]

I agree MM... online interaction can be dangerous. In the mind its real, but all it really is is deceptive.

I'm continually shocked at how complex and involved online interaction has become. I remember when something like Second Life was a dream. MSN had chat rooms where you could choose a 2D Avatar. That was about as complicated as it got. Even then it was addictive and relationships became inappropriate. I have a friend who ruined her life, and broke up a family over the involvement online, which then turned into a real life affair.

I think its important to heed Elder Bednar's counsel.

[marshac]

I agree with MM as well, but want to add that I think the 'virtual world' distances us from some of our more positive human traits such as empathy and compassion. How many times, even here on this forum, have we seen discussions take on decidedly negative and personal tones? People say things in the 'virtual' world they would never say to someone's face... the problem is that we can only partition our online persona from our true persona for so long- eventually they spill over into each other, usually not for the better.

[justaname]

I even think one has to curb involvement in discussion forums like these, as they too can be addictive, and not good for the soul, even though they are generally focused on well-doing and positive religious topics. People have been addicted to facebook and other networking sites; one must always be on guard that you don't let it overrun your life....

Good point when it comes to curbing involvement in discussion forums. If you do a little math, you can see that there are some contributors to this forum that post from 14-25 times a day. Are they contributing, or deteriorating?

[marshac]

Good point when it comes to curbing involvement in discussion forums. If you do a little math, you can see that there are some contributors to this forum that post from 14-25 times a day. Are they contributing, or deteriorating?

Obviously the latter. Now that my wife is back at work, and I'm home with the 6mo/old kiddo until school starts back up in about a month, it gets a bit lonely- when my phone goes "bing!" indicating new email, i'm like "oh boy! something to do!" You can only clean the house so many times before you go a little nutty.

[Justice]

Very good stuff from a very good man.