New Camp for Addicts to Internet

The News:
Thirteen percent of the 20 million Chinese people younger than 18 that use Internet are classified like addicts… China set in motion an experimental summer camp to help 40 youths to suppress their addiction to Internet… The program of 10 days will accept youths between 14 and 22 years old that previously answered to a questionnaire and to a psychological evaluation, indicated the newspaper China Daily… In the camp, the youths will receive treatment against depression, fear, low disposition to deal with others, panic and anguish… Because worries about murders and crimes of youths related to Internet, the Government is taking measures to diminish the number of addicts to the web prohibiting new cyber places and establishing restrictions for violent videogames … (reform.com)

Comment:
It is curious how even the positive things, like the existence and usefulness of the Internet, can be transformed in the hands of men in something negative. I don’t have to mention the thousand advantages of the Internet (this Blog wouldn’t exist without Internet and my friends at the office would be the only ones reading me), but now we must consider also that Internet could be as harmful, or more, than TV.

(Editor: It doesn’t seem very appropriate the explanation that you placed between parenthesis)
(Author: You take care if it is correct, I am in charge to decide if it is appropriate or not)
(Editor: Aren’t you going to ask me why do I think so?)
(Author: OK then, ¿why do you say that?)
(Editor: First, it is presumptuous to imply that is an advantage to publish your Blog, second, we don’t know if even your friends would read you, third, we don’t know if someone aside from your friends is reading you, fourth…)
(Author: Stop, stop… Jeez! I’ll never ask you again!)
(Editor: Do I remove it?)
(Author: ¡Mmghmh!)
(Editor: Is that a yes?)

The same Internet that serves to spread the Gospel can be used to create porn sites and communities of addicted web users. The same television that serves to carry news and events in real time to homes can be used to send messages (subliminal or direct) of consumption, dissatisfaction with one’s life and also as an alienation vehicle. The cell phone that serves for mobile communication can be used for blackmail and extortion. The cars that nowadays can reach astounding velocities and that serve to reduce the time of trips can also be the cause of premature death of a whole family upon incurring in an accident for lack of caution.

Where is the problem? It doesn’t seem to be in the technology by itself, but in the wrong use that some of us apply to it. It is not evil to desire a car that can transport us comfortably, but we fall in wickedness upon aspiring to a car that destroys the economy of the family and upon conducting it violating the speed limits. It is not evil to be connected to Internet and to check the electronic mail every morning, but we fall in wickedness upon get distracted with contents that take our minds to lust, envy, or gossip. It is not bad to communicate with another person through the computer, but it is the inability (or unwillingness) to go out and relate face to face with others.

What the Bible says:
Direct my steps by Your word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me. (Psalms 119:133)

Science, technology, medicine, etc.., are all part of human progress that man achieves thanks to the capacities that God gave him. It is something that we should never forget. Everything, after all, originates in God and will go back to Him. Let’s honor Him in everything.

Man Spent Seven Years Dead in Bed

The News:
The decomposed body of a German man was found in his bed almost seven years after his death, said the Police of the German city of Essen… The Police said in a statement that the man was 59 years old and he was unemployed at the moment of his death… Probably he died of natural causes November 30, 2000… Near the bed of the deceased, the Police found cigarettes, an open TV guide and some German coins, that stopped circulating in 2002 after the introduction of the Euro… The apartment of the man was in a building with offices and residences, many of which are now uninhabited… "Nobody miss him. Nobody denounced his disappearance", the Police said (taken from reforma.com)

Comment:
Death is natural, what is not natural is to spend 7 years unnoticed. Even the most far away relatives take less time in trying to establish contact, but let’s assume that they had an argument and distance themselves. Didn’t a single neighbor try to complain about the bad smell (that I suppose spread when the body was decomposing)? Nobody went to ask him for a cup of sugar or to invite him to the typical meeting of neighbors? Didn’t he meet any friends to play golf with, dominoes, cards or Nintendo? And more surprising: Nobody went to cash some debt, services, taxes, interests or quotas And doubly surprising: Nobody went and tried to sell him long distance services, magazine subscriptions, scouts cookies, or discount coupons.

Death is natural, what is not natural is to smoke. The natural thing is to eat and to enjoy that delicious German food.

(Editor: The Germans drink a lot of beer and this Blog is against the alcohol)
(Author: But surely they also have other beverages, so instead of criticize, investigates a typical German beverage without alcohol and complete the previous paragraph)
(Editor: Why bother? Coke is universal)
(Author: Don’t be lazy! Investigate and complete the paragraph)
(Editor: "The natural thing is to drink water". There! Should I add it?)

Death is natural, what is not natural is to live watching television. Not because many people do it, makes it natural. The natural thing is to take a walk at the park, to greet the neighbors, to visit the friends, to communicate with relatives, to play chess, to pay taxes… (Well, please erase the last one before the editor sneaks in, at any rate, being unemployed and 59 years old, perhaps he received instead of paying). Anyway he should have contact with some social worker, his dentist or simply his doctor.

"Nobody miss him…" the sad thing is not so much his isolation but the form in which he spent the little time that we have in this life: smoking and watching television. Is there an alternative? Of course: to change the TV guide for a Bible and to switch the time in front of the screen for time in the congregation praising God. First, it would prepare him for eternal life and second, it would provide him with a new family in probable replacement of the carnal one that give up on him.

What the Bible Says
A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother (Proverbs 18:24).

We do not know the reason why the man of the news remained alone, but if we follow the Solomon’s advice to be friendly, that will not occur to us.