דתניא אחרי לבבכם זו מינות וכן הוא אומר (תהלים יד, א) אמר נבל בלבו אין אלהים אחרי עיניכם זה הרהור עבירה שנאמר (שופטים יד, ג) ויאמר שמשון אל אביו אותה קח לי כי היא ישרה בעיני אתם זונים זה הרהור ע"ז וכן הוא אומר (שופטים ח, לג) ויזנו אחרי הבעלים [ברכות י"ב:]
“You shall stray neither after your hearts nor after your eyes, after which you would lust” (Numbers 15:39). As it was taught: “After your hearts” refers to following opinions of heresy that may arise in one’s heart. The Gemara offers a proof, as it is stated: “The fool said in his heart: ‘There is no God’; they have been corrupt, they have acted abominably; there is none who does good” (Psalms 14:1). The phrase: “After your eyes,” in this verse refers to following thoughts of transgressions of licentiousness, that a person might see and desire, as it is stated: “And Samson said to his father, ‘That one take for me, for she is upright in my eyes’” (Judges 14:3). The passage: “You shall stray after” refers to promiscuity, which in the parlance of the prophets is a metaphor for idol worship, as it is stated: “The children of Israel again went astray after the Be’alim” (Judges 8:33).
Two of the main problems with the Internet are pornography and apikorsus.
Here are some pornography statistics:
Every Second:
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28,258 users are watching pornography on the internet.
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$3,075.64 is being spent on pornography on the internet.
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372 people are typing the word "adult" into a search engine.
Every Day:
- 37 pornographic videos are created in the United States.
- 2.5 billion emails containing porn are sent or received.
- 68 million search queries related to pornography- 25% of total searches- are generated.
- 116,000 queries related to child pornography are received.
How Online Pornography Affects Americans
- About 200,000 Americans are classified as “porn addicts.”
- 40 million American people regularly visit porn sites.
- 35% of all internet downloads are related to pornography.
- 34% of internet users have experienced unwanted exposure to pornographic content through ads, pop up ads, misdirected links or emails.
- One-third of porn viewers are women.
For Torah Jews, just about every site is close to pornography b/c for us a picture of an immodestly dressed woman is forbidden material to view. So besides sites like Torahanytime or kolhalashon, how many sites are careful to have only modest images?? I disabled images on my chrome internet explorer and highly recommend that everybody do so. [When I am on a clean site I can use Firefox which still allows images. That is how I have images on the blog.
The Internet is also filled with websites and also ads that come up against one's will advertising Christianity and other heresies. One ad that has come up on my screen a thousand times [even though I click on that this ad is inappropriate] is that Tefillin are a pagan invention רח"ל.
Here is an article debunking that theory.
It is important to remember that we are all people and there are individuals who might have been much better and more pious than us who have been ensnared in all of the filth for the mind and soul of the Internet.
Yes you have heard this before but we need constant reminders, b/c as we speak GOOD JEWS are watching things they shouldn't be and contaminating themselves. And it goes w/o saying we have to be on top of our children making sure that they are not being exposed to anything harmful.
If someone is going through some emotional distress and they need an excuse to stop being religious - a convenient website that is just a click away will "prove" that our Torah is a fairy tale. Most people don't have the knowledge to even argue.
