Technology: What is it?

(A continuation of the Biblical Anthropology series. Click the link to start at the very beginning (a very good place to start).)

Here’s a question for you: What invention from the past 150 years has most transformed our culture?

Think about it for a minute. But I’ll give you my answer.

I think that one of them has to be the affordable, mass-produced automobile. And some people may say – what about the telephone? personal computer? television? the camera? nuclear energy? antibiotics? the internet? the microwave? Ah, I’ve got it – the tea bag!

All right, all of those were pretty important.

But remember, before the last century, human beings were moving at the speed of a horse – at the most. In fact, before telephones and telegrams, most messages could only move at horse speed.

But then, along came cars and improved roads designed for them. Things may have started slow, but in a very short time in world history, many families owned their own cars.

Cars were kind of like a semi-private home that you could take with you. Public transportation wasn’t quite as private, but it still provided you with amazing independence. It became very easy to leave your family and your community and be free from their protection. You could quickly get to a place where no one knew you, and escape again when these new people got to know you. 🙂

The world became smaller. But there was a problem – you couldn’t get mama’s cooking in this new town. Wherever you travelled, you wanted to know where you could eat. And so along came the fast-food chains – McDonald’s, Subway, Dominos. And now you would also want to shop in a familiar place – Walmart, Gap, Nike. How about something to drink? Coca-Cola, Corona.

Specialized institutions were better but farther away. Hospitals. Universities.

Modern transportation contributed to the destruction of families and communities by breaking centuries-old bonds. Modern transportation allowed us to visit families and friends who lived far away – and yet, it also encouraged us to live farther away. Modern transportation transformed the economy and allowed for massive global companies. Modern transportation made knowledge more available. Modern transportation allowed the rich access to almost anything.

And all that began in Canada with the first steam buggy in 1867. Well, really, the early 20th century, when car production exploded both in Canada and Mexico.

Technology has its benefits and consequences. And yet we rarely really evaluate the latter.

Technically, “technology” is not a thing, it’s knowledge. The Cambridge Dictionary defines it as: “(the study and knowledge of) the practical, especially industrial, use of scientific discoveries…” You could say that we use technology to make things.

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.

Genesis 1:1

…and then, God began to divide and organize. He used technology. And of course God used technology – or we could also use the word wisdom, to create everything in the first place – “the heavens and the earth”.

I, wisdom, dwell with prudence,
and I find knowledge and discretion.

Proverbs 8:12

Down to verse 22:

The LORD possessed me at the beginning of his work,
the first of his acts of old.
Ages ago I was set up,
at the first, before the beginning of the earth.

Proverbs 8:22-23

A little further down in the chapter:

When he established the heavens, I [wisdom] was there;
when he drew a circle on the face of the deep,
when he made firm the skies above,
when he established the fountains of the deep,
when he assigned to the sea its limit,
so that the waters might not transgress his command,
when he marked out the foundations of the earth,
then I was beside him, like a master workman, and I was daily his delight,
rejoicing before him always,
rejoicing in his inhabited world
and delighting in the children of man.

Proverbs 8:27-31

Of course, the man and the woman themselves were technological marvels. As David says:

For you formed my inward parts;
you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
my soul knows it very well.

Psalm 139:13-14

And God commanded the use of technology:

…fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.

Genesis 1:28

That’s from the Creation Mandate, and that’s what we should do. Use our knowledge to put the creation to good use.

But as we have already learned, humans are fallen creatures. And so we sometimes use technology for sinful purposes.

God’s creation itself is fallen and stained. But in Jesus Christ we see the ultimate triumph of technology. He took the form of a man. He died, but then conquered death. The resurrection is a technological triumph, a victory of knowledge, that only God could accomplish.

This will be a foundation for our future exploration. So let’s put it in just a few words as we finish for today:

1. God is the ultimate technician.
2. God commands us to use technology, and when we do, we imitate Him.
3. God triumphed over the limitations of human technology when He raised Jesus Christ from the dead.

That’s enough to chew on for today. But next time we’ll try to learn some things from technology in the Bible. You might be surprised at what we discover.