Redeeming Technology
We unlock some kind of knowledge of evil and good within us through the temptation of the satan. We were under the training and tutelage of our Father God, learning how to navigate the tensions of good and evil, learning wisdom from the Word.
But we lose track of that. We fall prey to the temptation of being like Father God without the control. We want to take that which is uncontrollable, which is out beyond our comprehension, time, and space, and make it controllable, discernible, understandable. So we go after created things, because that's something we can figure out.
We become like the woman: desiring God, desiring control, desiring power. But we are ruled over.
And ruling isn't supposed to be bad. It's a good thing. But we can't endure it. We are supposed to be partners, beneficial adversaries, questioning, pushing back, but submitting.
The Virgin Mary is the example of submission.
We are to become like the bride of Christ, the body. He comes to earth through us.
Eating the tree is taking wisdom for ourselves.
And when we wanted to become like God, we actually became like the children we really are... God doesn't cease talking with us. He continues to try and show the way. He advises Cain, for instance.
But we're continually seduced by the powers of darkness.
But no technology could get us back in to paradise.
We couldn't fight our way back into the garden. We couldn't get the glory.
We couldn't get the light back. We tried.
Even Gilgamesh couldn't get it, though empowered by the dragons.
No amount of fallen creatures' power could bring it back.
But there was grace all along. There was promise of destroying the works of the evil one.
One of those works was exile of the Adam.
How much easier to tear down than to build up. But carefully, thoroughly, thoughtfully, powerfully, God would redeem, in time.
Technology became a kind of way to cover up, to create cities, to put body around our own bodies. To insulate us and protect us against the wild and waste, and at the same time to insulate and protect us against the Wild One.
Good and evil ran through our hearts, and like children, when given the chance to power up, we used it for evil.
Corrupting, we became lovers of the created thing.
And like the son who asked for the inheritance while the Father yet lived, we sought pleasure, joy, and purpose in the created thing. We despised the Creator, disparaged Him. We had no father. And having no father, we became subjugated to new fathers, worms of the earth, that slinked and slithered in, offering their petty trifles in exchange for our souls. They drank our life blood and empowered our frivolities. They didn't care for us truly, like wolves they guarded us, but only so they could eat us at will.
And the wisdom they gave us was fleeting, fallow, shallow, and worthless.
Ultimately, God allowed this dance between the darkness and the light, the shadow to crawl its way through the world. As one tower would be erected, though, it would ultimately fall. Even as the languages were divided, so God would use even this to his purpose and glory.
No good can remain unaccomplished for Him who wills it.
No justice can not remain undone for Him who rules by it.
No righteousness can remain unestablished for the Righteous One.
And He longed, yes, he wept for His people. He continued to call, reach out, and share His Word. He continued to bless, even when cursed. He continued to forgive, even when iniquities mounted up to the heavens.
He gave images, types, lights in the darkness, guides to show us the way. And He gave His Son, the Light of the world. Shining on a hilltop for all to see, He endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of God on high.
And He rules forevermore. Wherefore, those who in every place and time have looked to Him, they have lived. They have found their inner diseases healed. They have found their iniquities forgiven. They have found themselves cleansed, purged, and purified, protected from the refining fire. They have found a provenness within them, something of wheat and precious gemstones that will survive the threshing floor and the refining fire.
They have found to the extent that they've partaken of the Divine Nature, participated in His holiness, they've been transformed into children of light in the kingdom of light, able to endure the light, because they are clothed in the light. And donning new robes, though their sins were like scarlet, they shall be white as snow. And walking in with head held high, knowing they've been invited to the grand party, they enter at the behest of the head of the house.
Watching and waiting, the virgins keep their lamps ready for the groom to enter in continued, constant prayer, worship, and good works, befitting the guests of the marriage feast of the Lamb.
And ushered in to that great feast, these truants become nobles. The rugrats and peasants, the poor, downtrodden, dirty, and dusty become elevated to the place of honor, at His bidding. They who submit to Him, who allow Him to clothe them, become co-rulers, vice-regents in the royal court of the King of Kings.
We participate in the restoration of all things, the setting right, the redemption of the world, and the bringing of paradise.
No eye has seen, nor ear has heard, nor heart can imagine what God has prepared for those who love Him.
So what does that have to do with technology? As we await the redemption of all things, we must also await the redemption of technology.
Generation after generation, we have seen it created, mishandled, and abused. The crafty and shrewd serpent wants us to have this knowledge that we might accidentally blow ourselves up.
But the God of all doesn't let that happen. No, He prevents it. And He gives more grace.
So that even the insulator, the separator, the cover, the barrier, the partition between God and man contrived of our own devices, and inspired by the devil himself, become the stuff of goodness-making.
Much goodness and much evil can be achieved through means of technology. But it is up to the righteous of the earth to submit and subdue the creation to the order of righteousness.
And it takes often a generation or more to apply themselves to this task, but it is made possible.
This generation must take on the task of reconciling Information Technology to Himself.
What could that possibly mean?
It's not merely the doing of good works, but also the protection against evil works.
It's thrusting down the powers of darkness's use of information technology.
It's destroying the works of the devil. It's breaking apart the powers and principalities that trap and enslave through their wicked and tormentuous devices.
And it's fractally accomplished. We take responsibility for our selves, our homes, the smallest possible thing we can subdue, and we do so in His wisdom, power, and might. And in His wisdom, as He sees fit, He expands the scope of responsibility that we might be entrusted with.
It's a continual sacrifice of worship, submitting to Him, living sacrifices, with every faculty, every potentiality, every power of ours submitted. In this way, the power of darkness can be broken in our own hearts.
In this way, when we know evil and yet choose the good over and over, the light grows in our own hearts and minds, our own bodies become beacons of light, and that shines out, casting out darkness in whatever reaches and recesses we come into.
Purification, taking in the light, healing, cleansing, abiding, drawing near, waiting, hoping, faith/allegiance giving, prostrating, kneeling, humbling, serving, submitting, continuing in the disciplines of the Spirit, and watching as the fruit of the Spirit abound – these are the works worthy of repentance. These are the works we hope the Father finds us doing.
And we will add all these things to ourselves, and finally, love.
There is real danger here. We might be unfruitful like the fig Christ cursed. The axe is at the tree.
Technology will not protect against the axe. Death finds us all. May we be found in Christ on that day.
Technology amplifies what's inside.
If it's goodness, then goodness flows. But if it's badness, then pity to whoever's on the receiving end of that.
The interesting thing about Christ, who holds true power... He doesn't rely on technology, or magicks, to achieve His ends. He doesn't make bread from stone, but lives on the Word of God.
He doesn't employ mechanics, levers, pullies, ships, mercantilism, or trade to save the world.
He saves the world through love, healing, forgiveness, truth, grace, wisdom, righteousness, justice, mercy, kindness, gentleness, meekness - an overwhelm and abundance of virtue. He is God Himself. And God is Good, Beautiful, and True.
And yet He doesn't abolish technology. The New City which comes down from heaven is not merely a new garden, but a new city. It has incorporated humanity's technological wonders while removing all darkness.
The mode of defeat of the works of the devil, in the midst of technology's encroachment, is not to live by it. For those who live by the sword will die by the sword.
Instead, it's to offer up oneself as the sacrifice in its clutches. As the beast devours, the sheep are slaughtered, and the blood of the martyrs seeds the church.
It's the very blood of Christ that spreads, purifying, cleansing, and turning hearts confounded by evil into hearts inclined to good.
It seems loving Christ is the act and aim of our lives, and technology can empower us to do that better. But we must not think in it is our salvation.
It can never salve; it's no balm. It's just another created thing, another work of our hands, and if we bow down in submission and surrender to it, we actually bow to the power that is behind it, the beast.
But if we lay it down, like Peter laid down the sword, we will live. If we lose our lives for His sake, we will find them. If we give up lands, and homes, and families, we will find all that and more in abundance in the kingdom of Christ.
And in the Kingdom of Christ there is no power that can overcome. He looks at the kings of the earth and laughs. There are more with us than with them.
The angels are not scared of technology. The great dragon itself is bested by Michael, the great champion of the Holy guard.
No worries can consume those in Christ. No fears can overcome, for perfect love casts out fear.
So then if technology is neither good nor bad in and of itself, but we must be wary of it, learn to master it, availing ourselves of its power, but not foolishly, knowing its risks, then what is the technology you can next master? Perhaps you're not ready for the palantír, but maybe the humble hammer. Maybe not the television, but perhaps the whiteboard.
Master the smaller, the weaker, the less complex and dangerous first, then as you excel and level up, take on greater challenges.
But if you start with the palantír, beware lest you be consumed by its power.