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Volume 4, Issue 2 Page 2
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Pastor’s Desk George Orwell’s 1984 seemed like crazy science fiction to me when I read it years ago. Now it doesn’t seem that strange. NSA wiretaps were obtained illegally. Cell phone records are for sale on the internet. The Patriot Act gives the government permission to find out what library books you have checked out. In addition to these there are several other technologies that could easily be used for harm. Many cars have OnStar which allows the car to be tracked by satellite. Your every movement could be tracked (satellite radio & cell phones could be used as well). Your purchases are being tracked by stores like Kroger (every time you use your Kroger card). Your TV habits are being tracked by Tivo and DVR. There has also been suggested a technology be put into automobiles to control the automobiles speed (making people obey the speed limit). Cameras are being put up in some towns that use face recognition software to try to locate persons. Maybe George Orwell wasn’t that far off. It would be easy for the government to track people’s whereabouts, purchases, tv habits, and more. Some would even argue that this is a good thing. Wouldn’t it be better if we were forced to be good? If we were forced to obey the speed limit? If we couldn’t do bad because our every move is tracked? In the book of Genesis, God creates the earth and creates people. God places the people in the garden filled with all kinds of fruits. At that point God could have made it impossible for us to be bad. God could have created us to only act in ways that are good. Or God could have made the world without the possibility of bad. Why put the tree in the Garden if God didn’t want us to eat of it? Why create the snake if God didn’t want the snake to rationalize with the people? |
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But God didn’t make it impossible for us to make mistakes. God made us to be able to make choices both good and bad. God could have made the world perfect, but instead God created the world to have imperfections. So how about all this new technology with the possibility for harm. A couple of years ago a law was passed about privacy and health care. HIPPA places restrictions upon how a persons medical information gets shared with others. So too a new law needed to be made. A law that restricts how companies (like Kroger, Tivo, DVR, OnStar, Satellite radio, & Cell phone companies for starters) use and distribute information. Nobody should have access to a persons records (not even the government) unless a person waives that right. Although the constitution doesn’t have a privacy clause explicit within it (the founders never imagined today's technology), I do believe in a right to privacy inherent in our system. |
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FUMC Secretary I will be leaving my position as Secretary at Fayetteville United Methodist Church. My last day at FUMC will be on Thursday, February 9th. I have accepted a secretarial position at First Baptist Church in Beckley. My family and I attend this church and have recently become members. I am very grateful for the kindness I have received by the members and staff here. Thank you for all of your generosity. I will greatly miss each of you.
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