Discussion Jumpstarter
Study leader reference - not a definitive answer
Question 6
In the Brechfield Trailers hacking story (49 viruses, then 12,000; “all the energies… went to build that firewall back up”), what is the spiritual parallel he is making about “bandwidth” and “margin for error,” and how have you seen a lack of self-control consume a person’s (or church’s) energy so they “can’t focus on anything else”?
Another way to ask: In the hacking story, rebuilding the firewall took all their energy and left no “margin for error.” What is the spiritual point he’s making, and when have you seen a lack of self-control drain a person or church so they can’t focus on anything else?
Discussion Jumpstarter
Direct Answer
He parallels a broken website firewall with a believer’s broken self-control: when the firewall is down, all energy gets consumed by crisis-management, leaving no “bandwidth” or “margin for error” to grow or focus on anything else.
- He describes the hack: the website was defaced, moved around, malware scans found “49 viruses,” then when everything was brought in it jumped to “12,000 viruses.”
- Key diagnosis: “our firewall wasn’t working.”
- Operational effect: “All of the energies… went to build that firewall back up. We couldn’t get anything else done.”
- He makes the spiritual leap explicitly: “that’s what happens when you don’t have self-control. You have no bandwidth. You have no firewall.”
- He explains “margin for error”: “when you have no margin of error, you put all your energies into… creating the firewall, and you have no time to grow on anything else.”
- Summary line: “When your firewall is broken, your city wall is broken. You can’t focus on anything else.”