I agree with Rizen1. I use Myspace to talk to friends and witness to unbelievers or other religions. My church leaders check all of the teenagers that go to my church Myspace's and see if they're appropriate. I also think we need to be checking on our friends and relatives and see if they're putting up appropriate profiles. We should encourage them to spread the gospel of Christ on Myspace. Like God used Paul, we should use Myspace for witnessing purposes.

I have recently become a toby mac fan. Once I tried to download toby mac ringtones for my mobile, and saw that some people view his music as devil music. should I be warned.

just one on myspace, it does have all the pitfalls of walking out of your house into a real enviroment were everything imaginable is happening, including quite a lively religous forum were you can put your veiws forward to the full spectrum of the worlds views, this battle ground has been home to a couple of victories for me with the help of the holy spirit. however these people have eaten lots of rocks, and its hard to get them onto a staple of bread, but there are lots and lots of hungry souls on it, it can be very rewarding.

I do agree that myspace is one of the MANY venues that can corrupt our children, but we can help that. The biggest thing we can do as Christian parents is talk to our children, and be involved. We can't shelter them from EVERYTHING, but we can teach them what's wrong and what's right. If they really want to set up a myspace account then make sure they know the risks, and the obvious: set the profile to private, never use their full name/age/location, and ask for the password or set up your own account so you can check their site randomly. This works well for my Aunt and her 16 year-old daughter.

Thank you hallswifee06.
Your aunt is a very good parent. Children by nature are very curious about everything, you can make them feel like prisoners because of the sick people in the world, or leave them to their own devices and unchecked. In both these cases they will certainly become victims either by being over rebellious and secretive or by being careless because they simply don't understand who may be around them. This unfortunately is the case for a majority of families. Your aunt appears to understand this and this is the third option. A good open and balanced communication within the social fabric of they family and her daughter seems to understand that it is her welfare that is at issue and your reply needs to be spread across the national media so all can share in the wisdom. This is something that needs to be mentioned often and also published by TJ internet wide. I will be writing down the particulars on this thread and your reply and I'll be pushing it in the chatroom when I can. >>> Again thank you and keep up the good work may you always be blessed with every step you take in your walk with our Lord.

Hello rizen1 how are you very good post its awesome, have you seen hallswifee's reply you two should get together on this her aunt has a good story of a Godly family on this myspace thread. Good work my sister.

your brother in Christ

I was concerned about this site as well. My daughter however, encouraged me to open an account so we could communicate through it. I have met some very sincere believers there. It has been a blessing to me in many ways and I keep in touch with my kids and my nieces and nephews. It has worked for me and God gets the glory.

This is an interesting topic actually. We were attending a church last year that the youth were encouraged to get a myspace page to keep up with all the activities going on. Of course, I was in total disagreement about it, and eventually was on of the major factor's in leaving that church. When we moved to Texas it was hard to try to find a church that even measured close to what we had been attending for the past 8 years. At any rate, most of the youth who attended this said church who encouraged myspace activity, were youth who's parents would just drop them off at church because they didn't want to deal with them. The youth was not brought up with Christian morals and values. Basically it's a church who is reaching out for the lost youth in our day.. The parents didn't attend church. I have to say hooray for that move! However--my daughter was born and raised in church were her peer's were too raised in church all thier life, so this change of scenery was not a smooth move on my part. Exposing her to unacceptable behaviors I felt uncomfortable when some behaviors were being repeated.

My point in telling you that detail, was my daughter was 12 and the youth leaders were telling her to sign up on myspace to catch the events. She wasn't even old enough to sign up, let alone the youth pastor's going against my authority. That in itself was enough for me.

When my daughter turned 14, (recently) I decided that I am not going to be one of those parents whom withholds things such as myspace from my children, yet I am going to be one whom educates and guides them in the proper direction. I have recently signed my daughter up.

There are so many steps that we as parent's and those whom are youngsters need to take to protect from the dangers. I did some research also, and found that as to secular music, there is a christian alternative so there is a secular myspace to a few christian ones. I have her signed up on them all.

We obviously cannot avoid unGodly things, but we can take the initiative and educate and teach and train a child in the way they should go.

I have a myspace. I have friends from when I was in school I have recently caught up with, and family. I also like the fact that there are TONS of christian bands featured, christian radio stations, churches, etc... So I hope I didn't come across as being against myspace. If used correctly, it can be a huge blessing!

Where there is evil lurking, we CAN shine brightly. Instead of learning from a generation of sticking our heads in the sand, lets be the generation to teach sound judgements for the next and the next...

Ok! How was that for my very second post?!?! HEHEHE-

Very good post Bratface. We, as true Christians, are easily lured into a certain degree of paranoia. We have had our lives bombarded with both not very Christian religious material as well as from more conventional evil sources. I continue to reassure friends of mine here(in Canada) that our lives need to be an extension of us, therefore our children also carry the same extension. You and your family sound well adjusted and that is more Godly(in most cases) than many sermons I have heard in the last 30 some odd years. I'm glad you have the same attitude about being a guide and teacher on-line. It does fill my heart to know people are re-establishing a moral base in their lives one that show as long as we mind the Gospels and not the petty goings-on around us.
God bless you... your brother in Christ

gran4jc thank you. Trying new things is sometimes scarey but I have found when my faith is totally in Jesus the initial apprehension disappears quickly. I hope you enjoy your new found freedom(myspace). Just remember the news only covers the negative stuff in life. There are likely just as many or more good stories about these sites. Ohh yeah!! With Jesus truly in your heart just remember that a good heart can only bear good fruit.
May you always share in the abundance of the good fruit of our Lord.