Wow, we’re sure getting quite the response online to this idea of TalkToJesus. People seem to think we’re trying to replace the Real Jesus in your hearts with our Fake Jesus in a phone? Amazing how people jump to conclusions. That’s not our intent.

Have you ever had some issue troubling you, and you knew there was a passage in the Bible that could probably help, but you didn’t know where or even what it was? Sure, most of the time you’d speak with your pastor, priest or other spiritual counselor to help sort through the problem and find the words from scripture to guide you on your way.

But what if your pastor was busy? Out of town? Speaking with another person? What if your friends and family didn’t know where to point you? Wouldn’t it be useful, as an alternative, to have a number to call, 24/7, where a virtual persona could ask you a series of questions, diagnose your problem, and deliver the appropriate biblical passage to help you through your day?

Of course you have your own relationship with God, Jesus, the Universe and your spiritual leaders. TalkToJesus will never replace those and wasn’t meant to. TTJ is simply an incredibly unique service, where, if you need to connect with passages from the Bible and don’t know where else to turn, you can call up, talk through the issue, and get a relevant answer from scripture, tailored to your specific need.

It’s an innovative way to search for answers from the Bible that’s never been done before. There are several good Bible lookup sites on the Internet, including www.biblegateway.com — we’re just taking it to the next level.

Feedback so far...

• The Virtual Jesus Wants to Talk to You
• Sign of the Apocolypse #347, or, Can you tell me who’s going to win the Tour De’ France?
• iJesus, or “You’re freaking kidding me”
• A New Deception: “The Interactive Jesus”
• Why Pray to the Real Jesus?
• TalkToJesus™
• Today’s Buzz: Church Pays Secretary the Same as Pastor, Meanwhile, Affluent Pastor Sues ABCNews…
• Talk to Jesus
• 1-800-Jesus

Sure, privacy is a hot topic these days and it should be. I value and guard my privacy passionately and so should you. However, I do purchase goods and services online. I access my voice mail and email online and trust portals like Yahoo and AOL to keep my records confidential; and they do. I also bank online, and trust Bank of America too.

Today we have identity theft, street cameras, camera phones and digital video and photos capture our daily lives and expose us immediately to the world. YouTube® is an excellent example of instant exposure gone wild. Yes, most of the exposure is self-induced, but still, instant attention and immediate feedback is now part of our lives.

Take our launch of TalkToJesus for example. Just today, the first day, we have over 450 views of the introductory video announcing our intent to produce a first-of-a-kind program enabling Christian’s to use amazing technology to reach out to Jesus. I call this immediate exposure…and are getting instant feedback.

Many of you are concerned about privacy and are concerned that we will broadcast private conversations for “our personal enjoyment”. Absolutely not going to happen. While we are still in formation and developing the advanced technology required to launch the TalkToJesus program, our privacy policy, ethics and religious position will be posted for all to see soon.

So, let me ask you, how private is your life now? How private are your conversations with anyone that you talk with, disclose personal facts to, or openly share details of your life with?

Gossip starts private and ends up public and that is a fact. However, we are different and will maintain that confidentiality.

TalkToJesus is a new technology that will provide a valuable service to Christians worldwide. We believe that praying to Jesus is Talking to Jesus and this may not be for everyone. But, it will be useful and it will happen -soon.

TalkToJesus is programmed to listen and respond using only the information received. It will respond to each caller personally with information taken directly from the Bible, not using our interpretation. Let me ask you; do Pastors and Ministers do that? Are they relevant 100% of the time? Are they always there 24 hours a day to listen…and respond…are your conversations always private?

The end is not near… if you understand the intent of TalkToJesus™, and believe in the value of maintaining a personal and private relationship with him.

Many people seem to think that they know what’s best for you and how you should communicate with Jesus. But, we believe that only you can make that judgment. Our goal with TTJ is to give people a tool to interactively read the Bible having it hearing it read to them by the virtual Jesus. This is not blasphemy (see Wikipedia entry here) because TTJ does not defame Jesus or God. TTJ observes the sacred nature of Jesus and God. Again, it is merely a new, exciting tool to hear the Word read that is most interesting or desired by the caller.

So, without giving away how we actually do this (which, by the way is pretty hard to do and uses advanced technology), here is the basic theme:

Step 1: A user calls TTJ’s toll free number and an auto-assistant will answer the call, and thank you for calling. They will ask for your name and then connect you with VJ.

Step 2: VJ will address you by your first name and ask how he can help you today.

Step 3: The caller speaks and tells VJ why they are calling. VJ responds, based on what he hears and there is a conversation, an actual dialog between them in a private, secure environment, almost like a confessional, except without the priest (which is not truly private by the way).

Step 4: The VJ then reads an appropriate passage from the Bible that most accurately reflects the conversation with the caller.

Step 5: The caller and VJ continue their dialog. He asks the caller if they would like to listen to a prayer or pray together. An appropriate prayer will be selected, again, based on the dialog, then read to the caller, and the call ends.

The goal is to extend the Bible’s reach, and deliver its message, verbatim, to millions of Christians worldwide. It has been created to help, not desecrate.