Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Faith and Technology: What is the point of technology?

Here in North America, it really seems that we have this desire to have the newest and the latest thing in technology.  When the iPhone was introduced, it seemed like many people rushed out to get it.  Same thing with the iPad.  Now there are TVs with internet capability, and I find myself wanting to go out and get one. 

In part, I think that this is the way that God made us.  I really don't believe that the world would have simply remained static had Adam and Eve not fallen into sin.  Since God is a creative God, and He told His creation to continue that creativeness, I believe that we humans would have continued to be creative when it came to this world.  Would that mean that we would have the same things?  Perhaps not.  But I do believe that we would have continued to demonstrate that creativeness.

Which brings me to the point of this blog post.  What is the point of technology?  Is technology simply a continuation of the creativeness that God has put in us?  Or, now that we live in a fallen, sinful world, is the point of technology to overcome our need for God?  For example, do we continue to seek advances in medicine because we want to overcome death and illness, in a way, overcoming our need for God?  If so, we're not doing so hot at that.  Or, is technological advancement both a reflection of the creativeness that God has put in us, but a trait that is, sadly, tainted by sin and therefore, in some ways, both self-serving and a demonstration of our creativeness?

How we answer these kind of questions has a great deal of impact on faith matters.  If technology is an outflow of our God-given creativeness, then we will tend to focus on the benefits, even though they are tainted by our sinfulness.  If technology is a way to declare that we have no need of God, then suddenly nothing is off-limits.  I would be greatly interested to know how many people think about this.

1 comment:

  1. I haven't bothered to look into getting one yet, bt the coolest piece of technology I've seen so far is the Kindle. Loading book after book sounds great to me!

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