Monday, April 16, 2007

Biometrics in Ministry?

In most states there are now legal remedies for any who have been harmed because their personal information was not properly protected. Church and ministry networks have information that, if not properly protected, could cost a lot of money in penalties plus a hurt reputation in their community.

I recently wrote an article about the use of biometrics in church and ministry networks. Though retina scanners and voice-print analysis probably won't make it in ministry settings, fingerprint scanners are reasonably priced and easy to use. They solve the problem most in ministry face in trying to create a security-minded culture.

What do you think? Is it time to consider the use of this technology in church and ministry settings?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

From an anonymous CCMag reader (I know his name and email address, but don't think I should publish it here) in response to my biometrics article there:

"I just read your article in ccmag. I was shocked and saddened. You spell out the wonderful talking points the biometric organizations are talking about, but you overlooked the biblical perspective on it completely. I will be discontinuing my subscription to the magazine, because of you and your groups' worldview.

Please take the time to look at both the worldly view and the Christian view of technology that you are offering and recommending."

Nick Nicholaou said...

The only thing I can figure that he could be concerned about is whether the use of biometrics is related to taking on "the mark of the beast" referred to in Revelation 13:16. I emailed him asking for clarification, but unfortunately he never responded.

If that's the concern, let me just say that the mark referred to in Revelation is one which people chose to take on themselves, something which is not true of our fingerprints. And a fingerprint scanner is merely a reader of one of the many identifying marks that God, our Creator, put on us.