Heart Touchers

Your Children and the Internet

American Family Filter is dedicated to making the Internet as safe as possible. Unfortunately, there is much more to it than blocking pornographic and violent sites.

As parents, we have a moral obligation and a God-given responsibility to raise our children according to His principles and commands. When we compromise our values and allow them to view inappropriate material of any sort (TV, books, music, games, Internet, etc.) we are shirking our responsibility and will be held accountable for it.

Aside from prayer and adherence to sound biblical principles, we offer the following suggestion to help protect your children from objectionable material on the Internet:

Never (even with protected Internet service) let your children browse the Internet without keeping a close eye on where they are going. The best way to do this is to have the computer located in an area of the house which has a lot of traffic. If this is not an option, make sure the computer is where you can see the screen at a moments notice. In other words, the moment you walk into the room you should be able to see the screen.

Vital Facts

The Industry
1. Over $10-Billion spent on porn annually.
2. Larger than NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball combined
3. Over two million known porn site URL's
4. More than 2,500 new sites coming online every week
5. Pornography is obscenity, not "free speech," and has never been protected by our Supreme Court
6. Most of it is temporary and hard to find, to punish legally.
7. Most of it originates off-shore, not covered by US law.
8. Unimaginable things most people would not even remotely consider sexy are routinely available on the Internet.
The Scale of the Problem
1. Nine out of 10 children aged between eight and 16 have viewed pornography on the Internet. In most cases, the sex sites were accessed unintentionally when a child, often in the process of doing homework, used a seemingly innocent sounding word to search for information or pictures. (London School of Economics January 2002)
2. 25 million Americans visit cyber-sex sites between 1-10 hours per week. Another 4.7 million in excess of 11 hours per week. (MSNBC/Stanford/Duquesne Study, Washington Times 1/26/ 00)
3. Even 51% of pastors say cyber porn is a possible temptation. 37% say it is a current struggle (Christianity Today, Leadership Survey, December 2001).
4. 63% of men attending "Men, Romance & Integrity Seminars" admit to struggling with porn in the past year. Two-thirds are in church leadership and 10% are pastors (Pastor's Family Bulletin, Focus on the Family, March 2000).
5. 1 in 7 calls to Focus' Pastoral Care Line is about Internet pornography (Pastor's Family Bulletin, Focus on the Family, March 2000).
Past Internet Filters. ("Blocker" is the same term among consumers.)
1. They were very hard to set up and install.
2. They were quite slow?slowed down your normal surfing times.
3. They were inaccurate and unreliable.
4. They often under-blocked or over-blocked.
Bsafe Online. Something entirely New. Product Features and Advantages
1. Highly effective and reliable?in the 99% range?best on the market today.
2. No noticeable time degradation when you use your computer.
3. Works with any Internet Service Provider (ISP). You don't have to change your connection when you download Bsafe.
4. Works from any Internet connection in the world.
5. Does not under or over-block.
6. Works in a new way to plug the holes where pornography can get to your PC.
7. Full online and telephone support available when you need it
8. The basic filter costs $49.95 per year, only 14� per day.
9. Our maximum security package offers a tamper-proof accountability option that generates three reports every week to wife, pastor, accountability partner, etc., to show exactly what websites have been visited by that PC.
10. Bsafe web-based email blocks spam, porn, objectionable content and helps protect children from predators.

Protecting your Marriage

The American Family Filter allows for the highest degree of accountability available to Christians who have a need to access the Internet. Why do we need such a high degree of protection and accountability?

The following is an excerpt from an article by American Family Filter Associate, entitled, No One Is Immune!

...none of us are immune to temptation. Not the saved, not the clergy, not the leaders. We are all still living in a fallen and corrupted world. Satan and his minions will work even harder on those of us who have made decisions, because before our decision he didn't need to work on us. He will stop at nothing to try and put separation between God and us. There is "no immunity here"!

This November I will be celebrating my third year in this ministry and the longer I serve, the more I am beginning to understand that Internet filtering and indeed all of the battles we wage to save our families are the result of our culture failing to respond to a call to personal holiness. We are called to be pure, to seek that which is pure, and to avoid at all costs that which is impure.

1 Thessalonians 4:7 For God has not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness.

As a culture, and even in our churches, we do not hear anything about a call to holiness. And yet, personal holiness seems to be exactly what is missing, because a person seeking holiness is not going to allow themselves to be put in a situation of temptation....

...We must flee temptation. If we are to be holy, we must run, crawl, scratch and claw to flee temptation. It is no coincidence that the "Lord's Prayer" includes the reference to temptation. I have seen more Godly people destroy and crush their relationships with God and family because they simply did not avoid temptation. What makes us think we can resist temptation any more than Adam and Eve or King David or any saint of God. We can't and we are such fools when we ignore this fact.

...We need to be accountable to God, our spouses, and each other. I don't believe we can hope to avoid and resist temptation if we do not have the immediate awareness in our minds that we are accountable for our every action. My good friend Dr. Bill Curnow often said, "we need to live our lives as if everything we say and do will be printed on the front page of the local newspaper for all to see." That's accountability!

Personal holiness! This is the core issue behind an Internet filter. That is why we here at American Family target our Internet filter at adults. If we as adults hope to respond to this call for personal holiness, we would not even consider going on the Internet without a filter based on Christian values that cannot be disabled with an "adult password override." We would know how the adult material, the chat room relationships and other Internet attractions will put us in situations of temptation that will threaten and maybe even destroy our personal holiness. The filter is our tool to avoid temptation. By acquiring a filter we are making ourselves accountable to our family, and setting a standard of moral behavior and holiness for our family.

So please, let me say it again! In our obedience to God... to maintain our purity while using the Internet, we will acquire a filter as a tool to avoid temptation to all types of immoral activities, and we will establish accountability by setting the moral standards of Internet usage for our whole family.

Five Quick Tips to Keep Your Child Safe Online:

Talk to your children about sites they visit and other online activities. WHY: According to the Girl Scout Research Institute, 86 percent of the girls polled said they could chat online without their parents' knowledge. And 54 percent could conduct a cyber relationship. By opening the lines of communications with your children you are helping to ensure that they will come to you if they do receive inappropriate solicitations, e-mails or instant messages.
Advise children to never agree to a face-to-face meeting with someone they have met online. WHY: The Internet is an open, anonymous community and people are not always who they say they are. According to the FBI, at least one adult crosses state lines every day to meet with a child they have developed a relationship with online. Someone who would pressure your child to meet face-to-face, could have dishonorable or even dangerous reasons for doing so.
Keep the computer in a common room in the house such as the family or living rooms. WHY: The Internet has an abundance of useful information, but it also contains adult-oriented and even illegal information. By making using the Internet a family activity you can learn how your children behave online, while learning the latest about the Internet from some savvy teachers. Plus, children will be much less likely to engage in behavior that you deem inappropriate, when they are using the Internet in a common area and as a family activity.
Advise children to not to post any personal information in an online profile or in an email or chatroom and not to upload or download photographs. Personal information includes but is not limited to name, phone number, address or school attending. WHY: According to the eMarketer, 75 percent of children are willing to share personal information online about themselves and their family in exchange for goods and services. Just as you wouldn't give this information to a stranger on the street, you shouldn't give it to a stranger online. Those with criminal intent can use this information to find and harm your child.
Install filtering software. WHY: Filtering technology has improved significantly over the past couple of years. Through new content filtering technology, Internet users can create multiple access levels and receive accountability reporting all in one easy-to-install, easy-to-use package. Using a content filter can help you to be aware of your children's online activities and enforce family rules regarding Internet usage. To check out the BSafe Filter that we highly recommend, click on the banner below!