Background & Schedule

The Tech-Wise Christian is an Adult Discipleship Class at North Wake Church held in the summer of 2022.

  • August 21, 2022: Redeeming Social Media
  • August 28, 2022: Don’t Give Your Child a Scorpion: Fighting Porn In Your Home

Social Media

On August 21, 2022, we held a panel discussion with Dani Black, George Robinson, and Josh Hemphill.

Download the Student Handout Here: Session1 – Social Media – Tech-Wise Christian – Student Workbook – NWC Adult Education

Key Points

  • Social media is a powerful tool available to every person to communicate powerfully into the minds of many.
  • It allows Christians to demonstrate and speak the love of Christ – even in such a limited context.
  • We must be aware of how we are influenced and how we influence because humans are easily conformed.
  • A key limitation is that social media only allows a tiny amount of information compared to an in-person (ā€œin-real-lifeā€ IRL) conversation ā€“ like the weight of a paperclip vs the weight of a skyscraper.
  • Therefore we need to pay special care to how we disagree and rebuke.
  • We need Godā€™s help for this work – and he promises to be with us wherever we go!

Applying Scripture

For each of these passages, spend some time thinking: How do I apply God’s Word to my personal use of Social Media?

  • 2 Timothy 2:23-26 — Have nothing to do with foolish, ignorant controversies; you know that they breed quarrels. And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will.
    • Note: This passage was written in the context of speaking to people within the church.
  • Colossians 4:5-6 — Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.
  • Titus 3:1-2 — Remind them to be submissive to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good work, to speak evil of no one, to avoid quarreling, to be gentle, and to show perfect courtesy toward all people.
  • James 1:19-21 — Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Therefore put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.

Practical Tool

This is a set of guidelines from the discussion you can use to help make maximum beneficial use of Social Media for reaching the world with the love of Christ.

DEPENDENCE ON GOD Am I asking and relying on God to work through me in Social Media? James 1:5-6; Ephesians 6:19
NEIGHBOR LOVE How can I bring the love of Christ to people who will see what I post? Colossians 4:5-6
CONFLICT When I disagree with someone, can I connect personally with someone I disagree with to help bring them to repentance? If this is not dangerous to their soul, do I need to disagree? 2 Tim 2:23-26
QUICK & SLOW Am I listening carefully to whatā€™s being said? Before I post, should I take some time and wait before saying this? James 1:19-21
FORMATION If Iā€™m looking at a post online: What is this teaching me or modeling for me? Romans 12:2

For the post Iā€™m creating: What are my words and example teaching others?
BUILDING UP Will my post build up everyone who sees it? Will it help to fill a need? Ephesians 4:29

Don’t Give Your Child A Scorpion: Teaching Children to Resist Porn

Download the Student Handout Here: Session2-Resisting-Porn-Tech-Wise-Christian-Student-Workbook-NWC-Adult-Education

Key Points

When we provide devices that give Internet access to our children – laptops, phones, TVs – we can unintentionally be providing something dangerous. Christians and Secular Culture do have a certain amount of common ground, but we disagree on other points. Pornography ā€“ Sexually Explicit material intended to be viewed lustfully is a dangerous and pervasive temptation to rebel against God. Weā€™re teaching and guarding our children so that as adults they can make choices in wisdom which please God and make their best life. But Porn is especially dangerous to young people, so we implement practical and technical measures to provide safeguard and limit our childrenā€™s access to dangerous content.

“PRESENCE” Mnemonic

  • Pray
    • Seek God for Wisdom when Teaching & implementing Practical Safeguards. Pray for God to humble themselves to God (1 Peter 5:6)
  • Refuse
    • Refuse to accept the ā€œdefault settingsā€ that make a pornified culture normal for your family. Look at the TV, movies, and games you accept as a family for places in entertainment & advertising where sex (particularly things close to nudity) is being sold or modeled as normal.
  • Explain
    • Explain the truth of Godā€™s design for man, women, marriage, and sexuality. Educate your children so that they donā€™t turn to the smartphone to learn. Keep teaching regularly!
  • fENCes
    • Build practical ā€œfencesā€ ā€“ safeguards against porn – filters, limited device access. But no fence is perfect!Ā Provide filtering at the network & each device.
  • Evaluate
    • Test the filtering on a regular basis using test sites.
    • Be aware! If your filter is failing, these links go to legal or customer service pages on sites that contain explicit content. As of August 28, 2022 accessing them will not show you any explicit content. But if your filter is working, you should not see anything except a warning or failure message.

    • Test the filters on every PC, every laptop, every phone, every TV, every browser, every smartwatch

Resources For Talking To Your Children and In Your Home About Marriage, Sex, and Porn

Building “fENCes” – Quality Filtering & Management Tools

Key Scriptures For Prayer

  • Ephesians 6:4 Fathers, do not provoke your children to anger, but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.Ā 
  • 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7 For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body in holiness and honor, not in the passion of lust like the Gentiles who do not know God . . .Ā  For God has not called us for impurity, but in holiness.