WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:14.759 Okay, so this is the third of our series as it were on Christ and the digital age and 00:00:14.759 --> 00:00:21.760 we've been looking at technology. The first one, Corey looked at God and technology right 00:00:21.760 --> 00:00:30.400 from the beginning, the Bible and how it took such things as the building of Babel and also 00:00:30.400 --> 00:00:35.960 the building of the ark. Two different examples of using the technology of the day in good 00:00:35.960 --> 00:00:43.160 ways and in bad ways. And then last time you looked at TV and film particularly. So today 00:00:43.160 --> 00:00:48.120 we're going to look at the limitations of tech and the limitations of technology and 00:00:48.119 --> 00:00:55.359 then hopefully for our last one and the last one will be in three weeks because next Wednesday 00:00:55.359 --> 00:01:04.200 evening is table talk. So we're having a meal together upstairs in the church and also communion. 00:01:04.200 --> 00:01:08.400 And then the following week will be the question time from here and in the week after that 00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:14.640 will be our last Sunday. We'll look more at kind of iPhones and Instagram and the more 00:01:14.640 --> 00:01:20.640 kind of practical side of it. But today we're going to look for a week while before we move 00:01:20.640 --> 00:01:30.719 into our seven days of prayer as we were at technological limitations. And by doing that 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:36.840 I think it's important to recognise who we are as people. When we think about ourselves 00:01:36.840 --> 00:01:41.840 and think about life and think about ourselves and technology, it's always important to ground 00:01:41.840 --> 00:01:48.320 that in who we are ourselves and recognising that as Christians who we are at the core 00:01:48.320 --> 00:01:54.920 level of our responses to everything that we face. And the first I think that it's recognising 00:01:54.920 --> 00:02:00.840 that we are first of all image bearers. That's what we are as people. We're image bearers 00:02:00.840 --> 00:02:11.120 of God. So you see iPhones, iPhone sources, the plug and the cable, they're uniquely designed 00:02:11.120 --> 00:02:17.080 for iPhones. You can't put a kettle cable into an iPhone to charge it up, it doesn't 00:02:17.080 --> 00:02:23.960 work. It wouldn't power it in the right way. And if the iPhone is not connected to its 00:02:23.960 --> 00:02:31.200 power source, it eventually loses any value whatsoever because it goes dead. I mean it 00:02:31.200 --> 00:02:36.040 will work for a while as we know, but then it goes dead and it doesn't really have any 00:02:36.039 --> 00:02:42.120 other use if it's dead, possibly as a beer mat or something. But it doesn't really have 00:02:42.120 --> 00:02:52.359 any meaningful use if it isn't connected and isn't powered by its own unique cable. And 00:02:52.359 --> 00:02:57.039 a foundational level, that's very true of us as well, that we are meant to be and we 00:02:57.039 --> 00:03:03.799 need to be and we were created to be connected to God and in relationship with Him. That's 00:03:03.800 --> 00:03:10.520 a really basic but an absolutely critical truth about ourselves. We were made by God, 00:03:10.520 --> 00:03:16.800 all of you, all of us, and we know this, but we were made by God and made for God so that 00:03:16.800 --> 00:03:23.240 when we are separated from Him in any sense, in any way, we're separating ourselves from 00:03:23.240 --> 00:03:30.600 the source of all life and the source of all our life and it's the deepest and most costly 00:03:30.599 --> 00:03:35.759 tragedy in the cosmos. So whatever else we think about the world in the cosmos and everything 00:03:35.759 --> 00:03:41.039 else, the greatest and the deepest tragedy is when humanity and when people are separated 00:03:41.039 --> 00:03:46.000 from God, their source, the source of life and love and power in their lives. So with 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:52.079 Image Bearers, we know that and that means a few things. It means that we are creative 00:03:52.079 --> 00:03:57.000 and we've seen that in this study and it's quite a significant and important thing. So 00:03:57.000 --> 00:04:06.000 that we recognise the place of technology and Corrie has very ably defended that biblically 00:04:06.000 --> 00:04:13.479 that there's an important place for technological advance and technological gifting and there's 00:04:13.479 --> 00:04:17.560 no point in pretending, there's no point in being troglodytes as Christians and pretending 00:04:17.560 --> 00:04:21.879 none of this has happened and I wish we could go back to the days before all these things 00:04:21.879 --> 00:04:26.560 because that isn't going to make any difference. It's just simply not right to think like 00:04:26.560 --> 00:04:33.519 that. We were made to be imaginative, we were made to solve problems, to steward our resources, 00:04:33.519 --> 00:04:41.959 to find solutions. As Image Bearers, we become Image Makers and we also seek to master the 00:04:41.959 --> 00:04:47.439 world that is our home, that God has given us, that is the creation mandate that we're 00:04:47.439 --> 00:04:52.519 called to master and subdue the universe, the world in which we live. And that's where 00:04:52.519 --> 00:05:00.319 that's the source of all engineering and all medical and sporting and artistic and agricultural 00:05:00.319 --> 00:05:08.279 developments and many more besides. We've seen before that technology is really about 00:05:08.279 --> 00:05:16.000 empowering us, making us more efficient, making us better at who we are, improving our techniques, 00:05:16.000 --> 00:05:24.759 whether it be in agriculture or whether it be in industry or in our workplaces or in our 00:05:24.759 --> 00:05:32.879 sport or whatever it might be. It's applying that science to life and making improvements 00:05:32.879 --> 00:05:41.120 and innovations and moulding our techniques so that things are easier for us. That's really 00:05:41.120 --> 00:05:47.920 what works about. It's about being creative and it's about doing something well. You see 00:05:47.920 --> 00:05:51.360 that all through the Old Testament and indeed the New Testament, maybe the Old Testament 00:05:51.360 --> 00:05:58.000 is better. The different giftings and skills that individuals are given, the design of 00:05:58.000 --> 00:06:04.120 the temple, the tabernacle, the different architecture, the machineries that was used, 00:06:04.120 --> 00:06:10.240 the tools, the musical instruments, all these things. They all point to technology and technological 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:18.560 development and being creative image bearers of God. That's all very important for us. 00:06:18.560 --> 00:06:22.920 As well as being, because we're made in the image of God, we are creative but we are also 00:06:22.920 --> 00:06:32.720 created. That is a significant reality for us as well. Ecclesiastes 3, 11 reminds us 00:06:32.720 --> 00:06:38.759 that God has put eternity into man's heart. We're not just technological beings. We're 00:06:38.759 --> 00:06:47.879 not simply machines, making machines. We are people who are created by God to worship 00:06:47.879 --> 00:06:55.879 God, to be in relationship with God, to have a loving relationship with Him, to serve Him 00:06:55.879 --> 00:07:00.680 and to serve other peoples. That is right at the beginning of the creation mandate for 00:07:00.680 --> 00:07:06.680 us. We are body, yes, we're mind, yes, with all the intelligence and all the imagination 00:07:06.680 --> 00:07:14.120 and all that goes with that, but we're also body and soul. We're made for more than just 00:07:14.120 --> 00:07:24.600 this material and physical world. We're made with ultimate purposes that include that which 00:07:24.600 --> 00:07:35.240 is not technological, love, righteousness, belonging, companionship, meaning, identity, 00:07:35.240 --> 00:07:40.759 our place in the universe. All of these things remind us not just that we are to be creators 00:07:40.759 --> 00:07:47.079 in the image of our Creator, but we ourselves are created by God to be in a spiritual relationship 00:07:47.079 --> 00:07:54.879 with Him and we recognize and see how important that is. Along with being created and being 00:07:54.879 --> 00:08:02.480 creators, we know the biblical truth which reminds us that we're also rebels. We're rebels 00:08:02.480 --> 00:08:10.879 against that order and that affects how we relate to God, obviously, separates us from 00:08:10.879 --> 00:08:15.920 God, but also affects how we relate to technology and how we deal with technology. I'm going 00:08:15.920 --> 00:08:21.879 to read Psalm 20. There are Bibles at the back if you want to have it, but you can follow 00:08:21.879 --> 00:08:27.879 them. It's just a short Psalm and it's a Psalm of David, probably a Psalm of David when he 00:08:27.879 --> 00:08:34.679 was either going into war or had been in war and been successful. To the choir master, 00:08:34.679 --> 00:08:39.480 it is a Psalm of David. May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble, may the name of 00:08:39.480 --> 00:08:44.320 the God of Jacob protect you. May he send you help from the sanctuary and give you support 00:08:44.320 --> 00:08:51.279 from Zion. May he remember all your offerings and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices. 00:08:51.279 --> 00:08:57.480 May he grant you your heart's desire and fulfill all of your plans. May we shout for joy over 00:08:57.480 --> 00:09:02.519 your salvation and in the name of our God set up our banners. May the Lord fulfill all 00:09:02.519 --> 00:09:08.360 your petitions. Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed. He will answer him from his holy 00:09:08.360 --> 00:09:15.240 heaven with the saving might of his right hand. Some trust in chariots and some in horses, 00:09:15.240 --> 00:09:21.120 but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. They collapse and fall, but we rise and stand 00:09:21.120 --> 00:09:31.759 upright. O Lord save the king. May he answer us when we call. So we see and we recognize 00:09:31.759 --> 00:09:36.320 in this Psalm a little bit of the tension between the fact that we are gods, we've rebelled 00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:42.480 against God and the two different directions that take. That takes because of sin and because 00:09:42.480 --> 00:09:49.560 the reality of sin, we use creativity and we use technology to substitute for what only 00:09:49.559 --> 00:09:56.519 a relationship with God can give us or we use technology to usurp God's place and God's 00:09:56.519 --> 00:10:06.159 Lordship in our lives. So it's the misplaced creation of a godless world which abandons 00:10:06.159 --> 00:10:12.559 the Creator himself in their own creativity and that is disastrous because what happens 00:10:12.559 --> 00:10:19.039 is we become a world of little gods and it's an ugly world that we've ended up living in, 00:10:19.039 --> 00:10:25.000 isn't it? We know and recognize that as the result of sin and harass, but it isn't. It's 00:10:25.000 --> 00:10:34.719 this world of little gods of creative beings, of technological monsters is in some ways 00:10:34.719 --> 00:10:42.639 an increasingly spiraling downwards ugly world. This world without God get me out of here. 00:10:42.639 --> 00:10:49.519 It's far worse than the jungle and that's the tension that's revealed in this Psalm 00:10:49.519 --> 00:10:55.480 because there's a reality of war and division and separation and the use of technology in 00:10:55.480 --> 00:11:03.240 that and also a recognition of what is the right use of technology and what is the wrong 00:11:03.240 --> 00:11:10.240 use because David in this Psalm as the king, as the warrior king of his people is clearly 00:11:10.240 --> 00:11:17.759 and rightly looking to God in his distress for victory and for help. You see he's going 00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:22.879 to the right place to find what he needs. He's going to the Lord who has already been 00:11:22.879 --> 00:11:29.960 his rescuer and he recognizes the Lord's protection and help verse 2 that the one who will bless 00:11:29.960 --> 00:11:36.240 him is the Lord blessing his plans and blessing his heart and his desires verse 4. He's the 00:11:36.240 --> 00:11:42.399 one who will bring victory verse 5 and who is his saviour verse 6. We see all of these 00:11:42.399 --> 00:11:48.120 things in the Psalm so that as David is going to war he's recognizing ultimately where his 00:11:48.120 --> 00:11:54.399 hope and his help is coming from and who in whom he must trust. It's not saying he is 00:11:54.399 --> 00:12:02.000 not taking any warcraft with him, any technological advances that might help him in that warfare. 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:10.519 We know in the past that he was a skillful sniper and using only stones and a sling against 00:12:10.519 --> 00:12:16.679 much more technologically advanced weapons but he went on to become a great warrior king 00:12:16.679 --> 00:12:24.000 in battle but he knows that that is not where his reliance must be in the technological abilities 00:12:24.000 --> 00:12:31.320 and weaponry of his people and he recognizes where the problem is, where he speaks about 00:12:31.320 --> 00:12:38.920 those who trust in chariots and in horses but they are the ones, Jesus God David and 00:12:38.920 --> 00:12:44.120 his people are the ones who trust in the name of the Lord our God and these chariots and 00:12:44.120 --> 00:12:50.240 horses that he's speaking about of the enemy were absolutely the most powerful war technology 00:12:50.240 --> 00:12:59.520 of the ancient Near East. Possibly the chariots kind of modern day equivalent of a tank or 00:12:59.519 --> 00:13:07.759 something like that but they were very powerful and these war weaponry gave nations great 00:13:07.759 --> 00:13:13.399 power and they rested on and they leaned on that military strength and we saw quite often 00:13:13.399 --> 00:13:17.919 the Israelites trying to do the same thing, not relying on God but relying on their own 00:13:17.919 --> 00:13:24.279 wisdom, their own creativity, their own strength, their own warfare and their own inventiveness 00:13:24.279 --> 00:13:32.600 and technology as it was in these days and we see that that throughout history as nations 00:13:32.600 --> 00:13:40.039 and kings and rulers rely on all their own technological advances and their own power 00:13:40.039 --> 00:13:48.720 and their own wealth it leads to domination and influence but ultimately to destruction. 00:13:48.720 --> 00:13:56.320 So that Old Testament Sam with that old vision of technology and that old picture of the difference 00:13:56.320 --> 00:14:01.480 between what we trust in and whom we trust in and how we should think of our lives as 00:14:01.480 --> 00:14:07.879 those who are created in God's image brings us right up to the modern day, recognizing 00:14:07.879 --> 00:14:13.720 that the modern world in which we live that it was you and I live it really worships technology 00:14:13.720 --> 00:14:22.920 now. Technological advances what many people put their hope in and their trust in if not 00:14:22.920 --> 00:14:28.960 explicitly at least sometimes implicitly and we're living in age and you young people 00:14:28.960 --> 00:14:34.480 are living in an age unlike any other because this exponential growth of technology now 00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:41.560 is developing far faster than it has in the last thousand years. Frighteningly so if you 00:14:41.559 --> 00:14:49.000 do if you did get the book that we've been using that I've got a basing our thoughts 00:14:49.000 --> 00:14:55.119 on it's quite a scary book it's quite a really interesting fascinating book for the chapter 00:14:55.119 --> 00:15:04.599 that I read for this chapter three had quite scary revelations about the development of 00:15:04.600 --> 00:15:12.560 technology and scientists particularly may be the new priests of this world religion 00:15:12.560 --> 00:15:20.680 and many people's hopes when you think of feeding the world or when you think of climate 00:15:20.680 --> 00:15:26.120 change or any of these huge issues that we see the hope is in science the hope is in 00:15:26.120 --> 00:15:32.960 humanity in ourselves to make the difference in technology and in advances the evolution 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:40.120 of ideas and answers and technology been harnessed to such a degree obviously that God is just 00:15:40.120 --> 00:15:44.200 thrown out the window no need for God now that's just for the simple people who needed 00:15:44.200 --> 00:15:52.240 someone something to rest on when the technological advances were not in place and we see that 00:15:52.240 --> 00:16:06.639 technological focus bearing or feeding into some of our kind of sinful impulses certainly 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:15.200 for control you know the more technology advances the more control it gives us we want to be 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:21.039 the nations want to be in control of their own destiny they want to be not just in control 00:16:21.039 --> 00:16:30.159 of destiny makers we live in a world which wants to be sovereign over its own destiny 00:16:30.159 --> 00:16:37.519 to control the future to control our health to control aging to increasingly control other 00:16:37.519 --> 00:16:44.639 people's behavior and other people's thoughts we see that happening more and more when you 00:16:44.639 --> 00:16:50.679 think of how much your own iPhone is listening to you and responding to you and advertising 00:16:50.679 --> 00:16:59.079 to you and controlling where you think and what you want to do little gods we want to 00:16:59.079 --> 00:17:03.799 be gods in control using technology as the means of doing that we see it in medicine 00:17:03.799 --> 00:17:10.759 constantly seeking I will come at the there's positive things of course in all of this but 00:17:10.759 --> 00:17:19.879 I'm looking at in a sense where where tech is limited and is valuable for us but medicine 00:17:19.880 --> 00:17:25.320 we see that isn't the great search for eternal youth where increasingly medical advances are 00:17:25.320 --> 00:17:33.080 not just curative or the relief of suffering but augmentative to make us better stronger 00:17:34.920 --> 00:17:43.000 more amazing people to help us to live longer the the technology of genetics is an 00:17:43.000 --> 00:17:49.720 astonishing field very interesting I'm sure and very challenging where there's this desire 00:17:49.720 --> 00:17:56.200 to resist the aging process turn it back completely eternal youth 00:17:58.440 --> 00:18:02.839 in the book we've been looking at there's a quote in chapter four 00:18:04.839 --> 00:18:11.720 chapter three I think is man aims to regenerate through genetically fabricated designer babies 00:18:11.720 --> 00:18:19.079 and eventually by ectogenetically wombless children purified from all disease defilement 00:18:19.079 --> 00:18:29.159 and defect so this this move towards perfection sinlessness and freedom from any kind of disease 00:18:29.879 --> 00:18:37.240 designer babies we've seen and hear it and know all about that and disembodied transhumanism 00:18:37.799 --> 00:18:44.039 we're moving towards that Gnostic idea of just the mind being able to exist 00:18:44.039 --> 00:18:51.960 just apart from the body eternally can you imagine can you imagine the awful hell of that 00:18:53.240 --> 00:18:58.680 of in our current situation not being allowed to die but living in an eternal 00:19:00.359 --> 00:19:11.000 state of spiritual or mental torture is all I can think of being so control is 00:19:11.000 --> 00:19:19.480 is is one of the ways that technology is being manipulated by humanity as is power of course 00:19:20.440 --> 00:19:25.559 the desire for power for inventions that create great amount of wealth and a great 00:19:25.559 --> 00:19:30.920 amount of power to give us independence see that in the military field increasingly we see it in 00:19:30.920 --> 00:19:43.480 the Ukraine at the moment where security and domination is is driven along further by high tech 00:19:44.279 --> 00:19:52.360 weaponry which allows conquering nations to happen even conquering space the prestige the 00:19:52.360 --> 00:20:00.279 meaning the influence the identity that comes from the new frontiers that we seek to be empowered 00:20:00.279 --> 00:20:04.680 over so I think it works in that way of 00:20:08.519 --> 00:20:14.920 the misuse of technology for us where we become the creator as it were our desire without God 00:20:14.920 --> 00:20:26.039 for control for power and indeed for glory the redemptive power of technology without the need 00:20:26.039 --> 00:20:31.399 for a redeemer without the need for a savior self redemption coming from all that we can invent all 00:20:31.399 --> 00:20:40.519 that we can do all that we can redefine gender redefinition technology enabling us to find our 00:20:40.519 --> 00:20:49.399 own identity and create that self identifying feeling which is the ultimate interestingly I 00:20:49.400 --> 00:20:56.920 think technology is what we're finding as we look at it technological advance is driving 00:20:56.920 --> 00:21:03.160 individualism and therefore isolation interestingly it's driving people more and more away from one 00:21:03.160 --> 00:21:11.320 another towards and complete independence and individuality which of course goes 00:21:11.319 --> 00:21:19.799 directly against our created instinct which is that we are social beings made for God and made 00:21:19.799 --> 00:21:27.720 for one another so the paradox of so much of this is that humanity trusts in its own technology 00:21:28.119 --> 00:21:36.039 to bring meaning now our ability to stem global warming our ability to stop starvation and to 00:21:36.039 --> 00:21:46.440 stop wars and to create this evolving and glorious world and it trusts in itself to do that but the 00:21:46.440 --> 00:21:53.720 paradox is it also blames itself for it not happening humanity is the one that's being wasteful 00:21:53.720 --> 00:22:00.519 and being destructive and so there's this deep paradox even in humanity's own thinking where 00:22:00.519 --> 00:22:08.279 they're seeking technology to bring us utopia and yet they blame humanity for that utopic not 00:22:08.279 --> 00:22:15.799 happening so just to finish with a just what we're seeking to do I guess and this is to encourage 00:22:15.799 --> 00:22:23.879 you to have a thoughtful critique of the world in which we live and the technology that is an 00:22:23.880 --> 00:22:31.080 inevitable part of that much of it really positive and good and some of it and our attitude to it 00:22:31.080 --> 00:22:37.960 destructive so it's good to think about where technology is leading think about that it will it 00:22:37.960 --> 00:22:44.840 be as great as it claims to be moving forward is it bringing us what it claims to be bringing us 00:22:45.400 --> 00:22:51.880 or will it be like the great story in Terminator the rise of the machines well that is that is that 00:22:51.880 --> 00:22:58.440 the end that's going to happen how will God use technology to usher in the end of time we don't 00:22:58.440 --> 00:23:07.240 know but technologies do sell a vision we just remember that they sell satisfaction with many 00:23:07.240 --> 00:23:20.360 promises they sell the ability to have whatever we want it's quite interesting I think that the 00:23:20.359 --> 00:23:31.399 the more the the logo of apple is an apple with a bite out of it which maybe speaks back to Genesis 00:23:31.399 --> 00:23:39.559 chapter three and the desire to have what God that I don't know what the fault does anyone know 00:23:39.559 --> 00:23:45.799 what the Genesis of not the Genesis of it as in the Exodus of apple but why that was chosen as a 00:23:45.799 --> 00:23:53.399 more interesting a logo rather might be worth I should just try to find out that but it technology 00:23:53.399 --> 00:23:59.399 you know it promises to satisfy our our comforts doesn't it it's all about how often have you know 00:23:59.399 --> 00:24:06.279 my age of my kind of age or generation of people say you know we've got all these labor saving 00:24:06.279 --> 00:24:11.319 devices the washing machines and dishwashers and I don't know all that kind of stuff and oh we're 00:24:11.319 --> 00:24:17.319 busier than ever that's what we say because it's not really giving us any more time for one another 00:24:17.319 --> 00:24:26.359 or relaxing in many ways or at least sometimes it doesn't allow us so it's important to recognize 00:24:26.359 --> 00:24:34.039 that in God's in God's economy technology is a great servant we've got a lot of things to 00:24:34.039 --> 00:24:41.720 Lord and to praise God and to give thanks for in technology but it is a terrible master and as 00:24:41.720 --> 00:24:46.519 Christians we do need to consider that whether technology masters us or whether we are servants 00:24:46.519 --> 00:24:54.519 of the living God one of the challenges is it kind of blinds us to eternity 00:24:54.519 --> 00:25:05.000 it blinds us to the reality of how short life is if it make it encourages us just to focus on the 00:25:05.000 --> 00:25:10.599 here and now all the time immediate satisfaction immediate pleasure and consumerist thinking 00:25:10.599 --> 00:25:15.639 it's worth asking the question and I'm only throwing I'm going to throw out some question before we 00:25:15.639 --> 00:25:20.759 finish some of which you might discuss at say group if you're there is society today better 00:25:20.759 --> 00:25:28.759 than the world of technology and I think I've said on the questions is the world we live in in 2022 00:25:29.400 --> 00:25:35.319 better than the world of 1922 right you can act there's lots of debate in different ways about 00:25:35.319 --> 00:25:42.039 that of course it is in many ways much much better but are there ways in which it is not any better 00:25:42.039 --> 00:25:48.599 now than it was then it's easy for us I think to be not have nuance on these things to just be black 00:25:48.599 --> 00:25:55.799 and white it's also easy for us just to be thoughtless to be mindless to not consider that although 00:25:55.799 --> 00:26:00.919 these things are neutral morally technologies they are used in ways that are not neutral 00:26:02.599 --> 00:26:11.799 by those who use them what does tech achieve for community in Scotland today probably the 00:26:11.799 --> 00:26:19.480 suicide rate certainly among young men has never been higher isolation is a pandemic 00:26:21.559 --> 00:26:30.119 there's algorithmic division being brought about all the time as technology pushes us towards our 00:26:30.119 --> 00:26:34.440 inclinations and pushes us away from other inclinations all the time and from other people 00:26:34.440 --> 00:26:45.080 and does it inspire love or corruption what is important in your life and what's important in 00:26:45.080 --> 00:26:57.559 mine about our souls how do we feed and nourish and spend time on our created beauty of being in 00:26:57.559 --> 00:27:03.400 relationship with God what is it that we are practically trusting in even though we would 00:27:03.400 --> 00:27:08.759 never say spiritually we trust in technology how does it look in our day what does the division 00:27:08.759 --> 00:27:15.480 of our days look like in terms of commitment and time we spend in building relationships with others 00:27:15.480 --> 00:27:25.240 and with God or God and others and time we spend on our own on technology in different means 00:27:25.240 --> 00:27:32.759 where is this technological advance taking us is it to self destruction or to a new utopia 00:27:33.799 --> 00:27:45.079 and what is truly good in technology what is what and on what basis do we decide what is good in 00:27:45.079 --> 00:27:51.079 technology and there are lots and lots of tremendous things in terms of the advance of health 00:27:51.079 --> 00:27:57.480 comfort serving others the advancement of knowledge good outcomes fulfilling our creation mandate 00:27:57.480 --> 00:28:06.439 lots of good things I certainly I don't want to be a bad humbug person and I don't think I am but 00:28:06.439 --> 00:28:16.599 we do need to I think recognize the limitations of technology and then what you may look at more 00:28:16.599 --> 00:28:24.759 and say groups or maybe next time is how do we live in a technological city 00:28:26.119 --> 00:28:33.319 and a technological age how do we live and I'm just going to finish by reading 00:28:33.799 --> 00:28:41.000 Jeremiah chapter 29 which I think is quite a significant passage in thinking about these things 00:28:41.000 --> 00:28:47.880 and speaking about the city and the city as a kind of hub of technological advance and technological 00:28:47.880 --> 00:28:54.359 focus in most places in the world the next chapter of the book speaks about the city I don't think I 00:28:54.359 --> 00:29:01.319 agree with some of the stuff in that chapter but it's very interesting nonetheless what he says 00:29:01.319 --> 00:29:07.559 and of course speaks about the technology and the technology and the technology and the technology 00:29:07.559 --> 00:29:14.279 and of course speaks about the tower of Babel and then he speaks about Babylon becoming the great 00:29:15.720 --> 00:29:23.079 anti-God technological advanced city of its day and then it relates that to Babylon at the end 00:29:23.079 --> 00:29:28.440 of time in Revelation and the destruction that Babylon speaks of everything as anti-God so there's 00:29:28.440 --> 00:29:38.519 some interesting parallels but in Jeremiah 29 where God speaks to the exiles who have been 00:29:38.519 --> 00:29:44.840 taken from the promised land are in exile in Babylon and the false prophets have said dad don't 00:29:44.840 --> 00:29:50.279 worry about it don't get don't don't don't be concerned you'll be out here in two years and 00:29:50.279 --> 00:29:56.840 you'll be back in the promised land and of course the Jeremiah says that that prophecy of peace and 00:29:56.839 --> 00:30:05.480 of freedom is false prophecy and so in verse 4 there's more to it but we'll just read verses 4 00:30:05.480 --> 00:30:11.480 or 7 thus says the Lord of hosts this is what God said to the people in exile in very well known 00:30:11.480 --> 00:30:17.639 words to us thus says the Lord of hosts the God of Israel to all the exiles who might have sent 00:30:17.639 --> 00:30:23.399 into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon build houses and live in them plant gardens and eat their produce 00:30:23.400 --> 00:30:28.840 take wives and have sons and daughters take wise for your sons and give your daughters in marriage 00:30:28.840 --> 00:30:33.880 that they may bear sons and daughters multiply there do not decrease but seek the welfare of the 00:30:33.880 --> 00:30:39.400 city where I have sent you into exile and pray to the Lord on its behalf for its welfare for you 00:30:39.400 --> 00:30:44.680 will find your welfare for thus says the Lord of hosts the God of Israel do not let your prophets 00:30:44.680 --> 00:30:49.400 and your diviners who are among you deceive you and do not listen to the dreams that they dream 00:30:49.400 --> 00:30:54.680 for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name I did not send them to clears the Lord 00:30:55.240 --> 00:31:01.960 and there's just that interesting provocative challenge from God about living in exile 00:31:03.560 --> 00:31:09.400 but praying for that city and seeking its good seeking its prosperity by living 00:31:10.040 --> 00:31:18.200 appropriately and following God and being light in a dark place and in the questions there's some 00:31:18.200 --> 00:31:24.680 other texts that maybe say something slightly from a different perspective to speak into 00:31:25.960 --> 00:31:31.160 so the limitations of technology I hope it's something that you think about it's something 00:31:31.160 --> 00:31:37.960 we almost think about the amount of time particularly that we use technology we can't avoid it we can't 00:31:37.960 --> 00:31:44.920 run away from it it's very much part of the world we live in but we need to make our servant 00:31:44.920 --> 00:31:50.759 and not be mastered by it because God is our King and Lord