Within involuntary societies, tolerance is generally a virtue. Not that every idea or action can be tolerated—far from it! Nevertheless, within an involuntary society, presumption should be on the side of tolerance. In any given instance, people who wish to deny tolerance must be required to provide clear and compelling reasons.
In the present discussion, society simply means a relationship between two or more persons. An involuntary society is one into which the persons do not choose to enter and from which they cannot readily choose to withdraw. The most obvious example of an involuntary society is a nation or other civil unit. For a nation to exert unnecessary control over the actions or ideas of its people is tyranny.
A voluntary society, on the other hand, is one into which people may freely enter, and from which they may freely withdraw. Voluntary societies are formed for all sorts of reasons. Some are professional, others are religious, yet others are directed toward avocations, and some exist purely for the purpose of providing people with an occasion to meet other people. Voluntary societies may be organized formally or they may be informal movements or associations. Involuntary societies are held together by some form of necessity, and for them tolerance is generally a virtue. Voluntary societies, however, are held together by the commitment of their members to a common purpose. In order for them to survive, they must be intolerant with respect to their purpose. read more
Go here to read the story.Did you know that this “add-on” to the US economy is bigger than the entire economy of Communist China? This is real story about the US economy that the MSM does not want anyone to know about! What is truly incredible about the US economy is that the US is by far the largest economy in the world and yet it grew by 20% in less than three years. It is much easier to “double” your economy when you are small, for obvious reasons. But to add 20% to your economy in less than three years is truly incredible!
NOTE:The following standing resolution was presented at the 86th Annual Fellowship of the Fundamental Baptist Fellowship International on June 13, 2006, at Hamilton Square Baptist Church in San Francisco, California.
The FBFI realizes the great tool for ministry and discipleship the Internet can be, and we encourage those that do advance this tool to do so with New Testament principles in mind.
Use it wisely, considering the temptations and shipwreck that can be made through unfiltered and unaccountable Internet use.
Use it personally, avoiding the anonymity that often abandons the decorum that is Biblically appropriate between real people—such things as respect for age and elders, discretion with minors and children, consideration of position and wisdom.
Use it with restraint, avoiding the “knee-jerk” reactions and unbridled speech that commonly accompany private discussion. Remember that the whole world can see what is being written.
Use it with conviction, taking a stand for the things that are true and right and avoiding softness toward worldliness and compromise.
Many new technologies produce ethical challenges not envisioned by previous generations. We are confident that the ethical principles given us by the Word of God will guide us through this new ground. But we must be careful to apply those principles diligently. We encourage those who are involved in the use of the Internet for ministry to eagerly grapple with these issues from a Biblical perspective for the sake of the Kingdom and generations to come.
NOTE:This article appears in the July/August 2006 issue of Frontline Magazine. It appears here with permission of the publisher.
What Is Blogging?
“Welcome to the new tech boom,” exclaims Newsweek. What is this latest discernable culture trend? It goes by many names—Web 2.0, the “Living Web,” user-generated content… Whatever you call it, it is obvious that the Internet has erupted into a hub of personal interaction and networking. “Collective intelligence” is valued and desired.
Examples of the embracing of community and social networking online can be seen in the increased usage of particular sites. While Internet activity continues to accelerate at the modest rate of 4% more users here in the US (February 2005–February 2006), Google’s blogger.com grew to the tune of 528% more users over the same time frame. Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia assembled by the collaborative efforts of its readers, regularly appears among the top visited sites on the Web and experienced a surge of 275% usage growth in 2005. MySpace.com, with an astounding 37 million visitors in March 2005, has become the second most popular site on the Web, right behind Internet portal site Yahoo. MySpace was recently acquired by Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. for $580 million. read more
Within involuntary societies, tolerance is generally a virtue. Not that every idea or action can be tolerated—far from it! Nevertheless, within an involuntary society, presumption should be on the side of tolerance. In any given instance, people who wish to deny tolerance must be required to provide clear and compelling reasons.
Involuntary societies are held together by some form of necessity, and for them tolerance is generally a virtue. Voluntary societies, however, are held together by the commitment of their members to a common purpose. In order for them to survive, they must be intolerant with respect to their purpose.
NOTE: The following standing resolution was presented at the 86th Annual Fellowship of the 
NOTE:This article appears in the July/August 2006 issue of Frontline Magazine. It appears here with permission of the publisher.