WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.160 Are you a tech pessimist or a tech optimist? 00:00:05.160 --> 00:00:09.240 Meaning, as a Christian, do you think technological 00:00:09.240 --> 00:00:13.400 advancement in the speed that it is advancing, 00:00:13.400 --> 00:00:16.059 what we live in an age net, social scientists 00:00:16.059 --> 00:00:18.440 will now call the age of the technium, 00:00:18.440 --> 00:00:20.800 where it used to be that technological advancement 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:24.039 meant you just farmed your field faster. 00:00:24.039 --> 00:00:28.120 But now the technium is this interconnected web, 00:00:28.120 --> 00:00:29.920 the internet and everything else, 00:00:29.920 --> 00:00:32.880 where any technology now must participate 00:00:32.880 --> 00:00:37.120 within the grid to be a technology that's useful. 00:00:37.120 --> 00:00:37.960 Right? 00:00:37.960 --> 00:00:39.920 So technology is no longer operate apart 00:00:39.920 --> 00:00:41.520 from an international network. 00:00:41.520 --> 00:00:43.120 Every single technology we now create 00:00:43.120 --> 00:00:46.120 seems to attach itself to the web, 00:00:46.120 --> 00:00:48.160 the technium as it's been called. 00:00:48.160 --> 00:00:50.060 And there's all sorts of questions and problems 00:00:50.060 --> 00:00:52.400 that come with that and maybe potential goods. 00:00:52.400 --> 00:00:54.480 But the question is, as a Christian, 00:00:54.480 --> 00:00:57.120 do you consider yourself to be a bit of a Luddite 00:00:58.160 --> 00:00:59.719 or are you a tech optimist? 00:00:59.719 --> 00:01:02.240 Do you think that a lot of what's happening is good? 00:01:02.240 --> 00:01:05.000 So Tony Rankie gives us this line to think about. 00:01:05.000 --> 00:01:08.079 He says, the agnostic technocrat, 00:01:08.079 --> 00:01:12.959 that'd be a tech optimist, agnostic tech optimist 00:01:12.959 --> 00:01:17.960 thinks he must shove God aside to let technology flourish. 00:01:18.519 --> 00:01:20.680 The Christian agrarian, on the other hand, 00:01:20.680 --> 00:01:24.000 thinks that he must shove technology aside, sorry, 00:01:24.000 --> 00:01:26.120 must shove, did I say agnostic technocrat, 00:01:26.120 --> 00:01:27.280 must shove God aside? 00:01:27.280 --> 00:01:29.560 That's what I meant, God aside. 00:01:29.560 --> 00:01:31.320 The Christian agrarian thinks that he must shove 00:01:31.320 --> 00:01:35.359 technology aside in order for faith to thrive. 00:01:35.359 --> 00:01:38.120 But both the tech optimist and the tech pessimist 00:01:38.120 --> 00:01:40.780 sell God's short on technology. 00:01:42.520 --> 00:01:45.920 Even the most procreation material celebrating forms 00:01:45.920 --> 00:01:48.480 of Christianity struggles to know what to do 00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:52.599 with a smartphone, space exploration, and gene-based medicine. 00:01:53.960 --> 00:01:57.540 He says, in Christ we celebrate the material world, 00:01:57.540 --> 00:02:01.000 like freshly brewed coffee, blossoming fruit trees, 00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:04.200 hot bread, soft butter, warm honey, 00:02:04.200 --> 00:02:07.600 nature and gardens and sunshine and play and laughter, 00:02:07.600 --> 00:02:10.040 we know our gifts to be enjoyed, 00:02:10.040 --> 00:02:12.260 so too are dances, weddings. 00:02:13.319 --> 00:02:15.719 But should we also celebrate the smartphone, 00:02:15.719 --> 00:02:19.040 the microprocessor, and the nuclear core? 00:02:19.040 --> 00:02:20.319 Should we celebrate the smartphone, 00:02:20.319 --> 00:02:23.159 the microprocessor and the nuclear core? 00:02:23.159 --> 00:02:25.120 If it plugs into the electrical grid, 00:02:25.120 --> 00:02:27.840 can we celebrate it as a Christian? 00:02:29.039 --> 00:02:31.599 So what I wanna do tonight is talk and think about that, 00:02:31.599 --> 00:02:34.280 about what God thinks about technology. 00:02:34.280 --> 00:02:38.400 Daniel chapter two, verse 31 to 45. 00:02:38.400 --> 00:02:42.159 This is the scene where Nebuchadnezzar shares 00:02:42.159 --> 00:02:45.680 with Daniel his dream, his vision, 00:02:45.680 --> 00:02:48.960 from God about the future. 00:02:48.960 --> 00:02:50.460 And do you remember that dream? 00:02:50.460 --> 00:02:53.319 That dream is where Nebuchadnezzar envisions 00:02:53.319 --> 00:02:56.680 this giant statue and it has all sorts of 00:02:56.680 --> 00:02:59.159 metallic materials from head to toe, 00:02:59.159 --> 00:03:02.120 gold and bronze and iron and clay, 00:03:02.120 --> 00:03:05.560 and God gives Nebuchadnezzar this dream. 00:03:05.560 --> 00:03:07.319 And it's an absolute wonder, 00:03:07.319 --> 00:03:10.439 the statue that he, Nebuchadnezzar will, 00:03:10.439 --> 00:03:12.120 of course, in a way build. 00:03:12.120 --> 00:03:16.439 And we learn there that because God gave Nebuchadnezzar 00:03:16.439 --> 00:03:19.280 this vision for Daniel to interpret, 00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:22.199 that God is telling us the story of history 00:03:22.199 --> 00:03:24.799 is a story of technology as God sees it. 00:03:26.039 --> 00:03:28.199 Because God is the one who gives this vision 00:03:28.199 --> 00:03:31.119 and God, we remember, tells Daniel that the gold 00:03:31.119 --> 00:03:32.919 and the silver and the bronze and the iron 00:03:32.919 --> 00:03:36.159 and the iron and clay all represent kingdoms 00:03:36.159 --> 00:03:38.759 of redemptive history across the biblical timeline. 00:03:39.979 --> 00:03:42.359 And that means God says, 00:03:42.359 --> 00:03:47.359 I am progressing human history through the medium of tech 00:03:47.859 --> 00:03:51.719 and I actually want you to interpret human history 00:03:51.719 --> 00:03:53.240 according to technology. 00:03:53.240 --> 00:03:56.039 The ability to build something that's a gold, 00:03:56.039 --> 00:03:59.879 bronze, iron, clay and iron clay statue is technology. 00:04:00.719 --> 00:04:01.960 And of course we do that too, right? 00:04:01.960 --> 00:04:05.159 We categorize our own history in the same way 00:04:05.159 --> 00:04:07.759 we talk about the stone age, the bronze age, the iron age, 00:04:07.759 --> 00:04:10.800 the nuclear age and now computer age. 00:04:10.800 --> 00:04:13.479 That's how we think about human history. 00:04:13.479 --> 00:04:14.879 So when we get to questions, 00:04:14.879 --> 00:04:17.199 the practical things in this series like, 00:04:17.199 --> 00:04:20.040 what tech is helpful, what tech is harmful, 00:04:20.040 --> 00:04:24.760 how do we walk by faith in this issue in an age where, 00:04:24.760 --> 00:04:28.960 when an age where we may in our lifetime see it possible 00:04:28.960 --> 00:04:31.680 that humans can be largely kept alive 00:04:31.680 --> 00:04:33.920 for extensively longer periods 00:04:33.920 --> 00:04:35.960 by becoming partial machines. 00:04:35.960 --> 00:04:38.040 That's called transhumanism and that's very real 00:04:38.040 --> 00:04:40.080 and very possible and being worked on all the time 00:04:40.080 --> 00:04:40.920 at the moment. 00:04:41.920 --> 00:04:44.520 More practically, maybe you're not so concerned 00:04:44.520 --> 00:04:48.200 about being shifted over into a machine, 00:04:48.199 --> 00:04:51.519 but more practically, what is righteousness for us 00:04:51.519 --> 00:04:53.360 when it comes to Netflix? 00:04:54.560 --> 00:04:55.479 What is righteousness? 00:04:55.479 --> 00:04:56.319 What is good? 00:04:56.319 --> 00:04:59.079 What is righteousness when it comes to the amount of times 00:04:59.079 --> 00:05:01.959 we put our hands in our pocket to pull out the iPhone? 00:05:01.959 --> 00:05:04.159 These are the real questions that we face 00:05:04.159 --> 00:05:07.240 and the daily task of pulling the iPhone in and out 00:05:07.240 --> 00:05:10.639 of the pocket, a lot of theologians have talked about 00:05:10.639 --> 00:05:14.639 as a new form of liturgy, a way of worship. 00:05:14.639 --> 00:05:16.879 The liturgy you come and celebrate the sacraments, 00:05:16.879 --> 00:05:19.000 weekend and week out, you hear preaching week 00:05:19.000 --> 00:05:21.680 or weekend and week out, but now the most dominant 00:05:21.680 --> 00:05:25.040 liturgical act in any human life is pulling the phone 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:26.199 out of the pocket. 00:05:26.199 --> 00:05:28.719 It's redefined who we are as human beings. 00:05:28.719 --> 00:05:33.719 It's given so much money to the PTs of the world, right? 00:05:33.920 --> 00:05:36.759 Everybody's neck is no longer functioning correctly 00:05:36.759 --> 00:05:39.240 because of this new liturgy that we've embraced. 00:05:39.240 --> 00:05:41.920 So let's let the Bible show us what tech tonight, 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:46.120 just for a few minutes, what is technology to get us started 00:05:46.120 --> 00:05:49.360 and how does God view it, okay? 00:05:49.360 --> 00:05:51.680 So first, what is tech? 00:05:52.759 --> 00:05:54.600 One of the things that we're gonna do just to show you 00:05:54.600 --> 00:05:56.800 where we're going from the beginning is we're gonna try 00:05:56.800 --> 00:06:00.079 to dispose ourselves of the churchly myth, 00:06:00.079 --> 00:06:01.600 one of the many churchly myths. 00:06:01.600 --> 00:06:06.600 And the myth is that human innovation, human creativity, 00:06:07.079 --> 00:06:11.560 human development of tech is something that we do 00:06:11.560 --> 00:06:13.800 against God's will. 00:06:13.800 --> 00:06:16.439 And that's a churchly myth, that's not the case at all. 00:06:16.439 --> 00:06:20.920 Or another one that our use of technology is always 00:06:20.920 --> 00:06:22.960 an abuse of creation. 00:06:22.960 --> 00:06:27.240 That's another myth or God is unrelated to the advancements 00:06:27.240 --> 00:06:29.400 of technology throughout history. 00:06:29.400 --> 00:06:30.600 That's not true either. 00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:34.639 And the myth that tech is mostly a problem 00:06:34.639 --> 00:06:36.120 from the Christian perspective. 00:06:36.120 --> 00:06:38.120 And that's just not really where the Bible takes us with it. 00:06:38.120 --> 00:06:39.800 That's not what the Bible says. 00:06:39.800 --> 00:06:42.800 So let me ask you, what do you, how would you, 00:06:42.800 --> 00:06:43.920 let me ask this first. 00:06:43.920 --> 00:06:47.879 What do you think of when we say the word technology? 00:06:47.879 --> 00:06:50.680 What kind of images, objects, things, 00:06:50.680 --> 00:06:53.240 does that bring to your mind? 00:06:53.240 --> 00:06:56.319 Just one or two people to shout. 00:06:56.319 --> 00:07:00.439 What tech, the word technology brings to their mind. 00:07:01.879 --> 00:07:03.720 Elon Musk, yeah. 00:07:03.720 --> 00:07:05.080 Computers, yeah. 00:07:07.759 --> 00:07:09.560 Okay, any kind of crafted tool. 00:07:09.560 --> 00:07:11.879 Medical devices. 00:07:11.879 --> 00:07:14.280 Medical devices, yeah. 00:07:14.280 --> 00:07:16.280 Yeah, so all good answers. 00:07:16.280 --> 00:07:19.360 All right, Tony Rankin gives us a definition of tech. 00:07:19.360 --> 00:07:23.800 And it comes from the original word for tech, 00:07:23.800 --> 00:07:25.759 techne, it's a Greek word. 00:07:25.759 --> 00:07:26.920 It's right there in the Bible. 00:07:26.920 --> 00:07:30.399 We have the word, you know, we have the word technology 00:07:30.399 --> 00:07:32.639 in the Bible a number of times. 00:07:32.639 --> 00:07:37.319 And techne, the original word just means craft 00:07:37.319 --> 00:07:39.040 or craftsmanship. 00:07:39.040 --> 00:07:42.400 It is a word that just means the ability to take something 00:07:42.400 --> 00:07:44.040 and make something out of it. 00:07:44.040 --> 00:07:47.879 So it's just the human capacity for inventive power 00:07:47.879 --> 00:07:51.160 or taking raw material and using technique and skill 00:07:51.160 --> 00:07:52.560 to produce something. 00:07:52.560 --> 00:07:53.600 And so he defines it like this. 00:07:53.600 --> 00:07:58.600 He says tech is applied science in order to amplify power. 00:07:59.480 --> 00:08:02.240 Applied science, which is just skill, 00:08:02.240 --> 00:08:04.439 learning to do something and trying to figure out 00:08:04.439 --> 00:08:06.040 the skills you need to do it. 00:08:06.040 --> 00:08:08.680 So it's applying science to make something 00:08:08.680 --> 00:08:11.280 in order to amplify your power, 00:08:11.280 --> 00:08:12.959 the ability to do that thing. 00:08:12.959 --> 00:08:15.480 All right, so it's a simple definition. 00:08:15.480 --> 00:08:18.959 It's to take raw things, use skill, make something out of them. 00:08:18.959 --> 00:08:23.960 So we think largely Elon Musk, iPhones, computers, 00:08:24.120 --> 00:08:29.120 medical devices, Genesis chapter six to eight, 00:08:31.800 --> 00:08:36.799 God was going to did judge the world by way of a flood 00:08:36.799 --> 00:08:40.919 and at God's command, he told Noah to be the Elon Musk 00:08:40.919 --> 00:08:41.759 of his time. 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:44.799 He said, create something that's never been done before, 00:08:44.799 --> 00:08:47.479 a boat, a ship that's large enough to hold 00:08:47.479 --> 00:08:49.879 an immense amount of animal life. 00:08:49.879 --> 00:08:53.719 And he tells him in that passage to use tar to waterproof it. 00:08:54.919 --> 00:08:59.000 Now this we presume in the time is a technological innovation 00:08:59.000 --> 00:09:02.959 that was spoken by the mouth of God and delivered to Noah 00:09:02.959 --> 00:09:05.399 and said, this is exactly what I've made you for Noah, 00:09:05.399 --> 00:09:07.720 to be this technological innovator, 00:09:07.720 --> 00:09:09.799 this technocrat of your own day 00:09:09.799 --> 00:09:12.399 in order to redeem the human race. 00:09:12.399 --> 00:09:15.439 And this was something that God pronounced. 00:09:15.439 --> 00:09:18.399 And so you can look throughout the Bible 00:09:18.399 --> 00:09:21.039 and see that there are many, many, many, many moments 00:09:21.039 --> 00:09:25.600 where God not only says yes to tech, to technology, 00:09:25.600 --> 00:09:27.759 but he actually commands it. 00:09:27.759 --> 00:09:30.960 And that takes us all the way back to Genesis one, 00:09:30.960 --> 00:09:32.000 26 to 28. 00:09:32.000 --> 00:09:37.000 So Genesis one, 26 to 28 is the commission of humanity 00:09:39.720 --> 00:09:41.480 to produce technology. 00:09:41.480 --> 00:09:44.039 It's at least, it's many things, but it includes that. 00:09:44.039 --> 00:09:47.200 26 to 28, God blessed Adam and Eve, 00:09:47.200 --> 00:09:51.000 the man and the woman, after making them in his own image. 00:09:51.000 --> 00:09:51.840 Sorry, let me back up. 00:09:51.840 --> 00:09:53.679 Then God said, let us make man in our image 00:09:53.679 --> 00:09:56.679 after our likeness, let them have dominion 00:09:56.679 --> 00:09:59.519 over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens 00:09:59.519 --> 00:10:01.480 and over the livestock and over all the earth 00:10:01.480 --> 00:10:03.279 and every creeping thing. 00:10:03.279 --> 00:10:06.279 And so God created man in his own image and his own likeness. 00:10:06.279 --> 00:10:09.039 He created him male and female, he created them. 00:10:09.039 --> 00:10:10.720 And God blessed them and God said to them, 00:10:10.720 --> 00:10:14.320 be fruitful and multiply, fill the earth, subdue it, 00:10:14.320 --> 00:10:16.279 have dominion over it, the fish of the sea, 00:10:16.279 --> 00:10:19.159 the birds, the heavens and everything else. 00:10:19.159 --> 00:10:24.279 All right, so the language there of dominion and subduing 00:10:24.279 --> 00:10:29.279 is the language of applied human capability through skill 00:10:29.279 --> 00:10:33.919 for the sake of organization in order to amplify power. 00:10:33.919 --> 00:10:36.519 That's exactly what God means there. 00:10:36.519 --> 00:10:38.919 We know that even in the very next passage 00:10:38.919 --> 00:10:42.439 when Adam is put into the garden of Eden 00:10:42.439 --> 00:10:44.519 in order to work and keep, 00:10:44.519 --> 00:10:47.480 what's the difference between a garden and a forest? 00:10:49.360 --> 00:10:51.519 Oh, I actually asked the question, what is the difference? 00:10:51.519 --> 00:10:54.199 What's the difference between a garden and a forest? 00:10:55.519 --> 00:10:58.399 A garden is cultivated, it's a technology. 00:10:58.399 --> 00:11:02.159 It is the use of human skill and applied science 00:11:02.159 --> 00:11:03.519 in order to amplify a power. 00:11:03.519 --> 00:11:06.480 And that power is to cultivate, organize, arrange, 00:11:06.480 --> 00:11:09.079 unto beauty instead of chaos. 00:11:09.079 --> 00:11:12.360 And we see immediately technology starting to take shape 00:11:12.360 --> 00:11:14.639 in the earliest portions of the Bible. 00:11:14.639 --> 00:11:17.399 And the big idea here is that it is God 00:11:17.399 --> 00:11:19.959 who not only sanctions it but creates us for it. 00:11:19.959 --> 00:11:21.279 He creates us to do it. 00:11:21.279 --> 00:11:25.079 He creates us to be technological inventive people. 00:11:25.080 --> 00:11:30.080 And so very famously, this is called the cultural mandate. 00:11:30.639 --> 00:11:32.879 This title got picked up in the 20th century 00:11:32.879 --> 00:11:36.440 that technology is simply the command of God 00:11:36.440 --> 00:11:40.720 to make cultures and cultures come by using skills 00:11:40.720 --> 00:11:42.879 to produce things and craft things. 00:11:42.879 --> 00:11:44.200 And so this is commissioned by God. 00:11:44.200 --> 00:11:47.680 Now we have to say this, 00:11:47.680 --> 00:11:49.160 you can't talk about this subject 00:11:49.160 --> 00:11:52.879 without talking about Tolkien, of course. 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:55.720 And in the Lord of the Rings, 00:11:55.720 --> 00:11:58.919 this is actually one of the big ideas that Tolkien had 00:11:58.919 --> 00:12:00.759 in creating the Lord of the Rings universe. 00:12:00.759 --> 00:12:02.919 One of the things he wanted to do 00:12:02.919 --> 00:12:06.659 was talk about the story through the lens of technology. 00:12:07.600 --> 00:12:09.399 And the reason that he wanted to do this 00:12:09.399 --> 00:12:13.600 is because he was especially horrified in his fight 00:12:13.600 --> 00:12:18.600 in World War I by the way technology was being used. 00:12:19.039 --> 00:12:21.399 And he talked about, in one of his essays, 00:12:21.399 --> 00:12:24.240 about the land that gets cleared 00:12:24.240 --> 00:12:28.919 in the time of the first World War II 00:12:28.919 --> 00:12:31.799 in order to fight trench warfare style. 00:12:31.799 --> 00:12:33.000 So what they'll do is they'll go through 00:12:33.000 --> 00:12:37.840 and they'll clear the trees and dig the trenches. 00:12:37.840 --> 00:12:40.439 And it gives you a free line to fight 00:12:40.439 --> 00:12:42.360 and to shoot at one another. 00:12:42.360 --> 00:12:45.199 And there was a real impetus in that 00:12:45.199 --> 00:12:47.439 in the development of the Lord of the Rings, 00:12:47.439 --> 00:12:49.000 if maybe you're a person who's watching, 00:12:49.000 --> 00:12:51.159 the Rings of Power right now. 00:12:51.159 --> 00:12:53.120 And you can see this if you are 00:12:53.120 --> 00:12:55.279 because the way he fleshed this out 00:12:55.279 --> 00:12:59.719 in the Lord of the Rings is that Sauron's evil character 00:12:59.719 --> 00:13:03.360 is one who goes into all the places where there are forests. 00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:05.279 And what does he do? 00:13:05.279 --> 00:13:08.399 He clears them, he cuts down all the trees, 00:13:08.399 --> 00:13:11.279 and then he digs trenches deep down into the mud. 00:13:11.279 --> 00:13:13.839 And what comes up out of the trenches? 00:13:13.839 --> 00:13:14.939 Who knows? 00:13:14.939 --> 00:13:17.639 Somebody knows orcs, yes orcs, right? 00:13:17.639 --> 00:13:18.799 Orcs are the product. 00:13:18.799 --> 00:13:21.519 And his pronouncement there, and he spells this out 00:13:21.519 --> 00:13:24.359 in one of his essays on this, he says that the pronouncement 00:13:24.359 --> 00:13:28.240 there is that there is an evil side of tech. 00:13:28.240 --> 00:13:29.839 There's an evil side of tech, but there's also 00:13:29.839 --> 00:13:32.639 simultaneously a good side of tech. 00:13:32.639 --> 00:13:36.399 And he says in his essay on fairy stories 00:13:36.399 --> 00:13:38.159 that God, the reason he made the Lord of the Rings 00:13:38.159 --> 00:13:40.159 is because God made every single one of us 00:13:40.159 --> 00:13:42.599 to be quote, sub-creators. 00:13:42.599 --> 00:13:46.079 And that a sub-creator is merely an agent of technology. 00:13:46.079 --> 00:13:48.639 It's using the very thing we were called to do 00:13:48.639 --> 00:13:51.759 by God in a way that's in proportion 00:13:51.759 --> 00:13:55.559 to our creational calling and towards righteousness. 00:13:55.559 --> 00:13:58.360 And so there's all sorts of good tech all throughout 00:13:58.360 --> 00:14:00.960 the Lord of the Rings, and he called that the power, 00:14:00.960 --> 00:14:03.960 the ability to be a sub-creator, sub-creation. 00:14:05.279 --> 00:14:07.439 His language for that, his synonym was that 00:14:07.439 --> 00:14:09.360 we're all little makers. 00:14:09.360 --> 00:14:12.600 We're all little makers underneath God, the big maker. 00:14:12.600 --> 00:14:15.319 Now, Tolkien is getting at something there, 00:14:15.319 --> 00:14:18.240 and that's that God sanctions technology 00:14:18.240 --> 00:14:21.399 to be used in human capacity by human skill 00:14:21.399 --> 00:14:24.000 because of exactly what we are, the image of God, 00:14:24.000 --> 00:14:28.000 creators like the creator, but that that can be done 00:14:28.000 --> 00:14:32.759 in incredibly evil ways, even though, even though 00:14:32.759 --> 00:14:37.440 the actual concept of tech is good. 00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:40.840 So we can say that the structure that God has made, 00:14:41.759 --> 00:14:43.799 technology, be a technological person, 00:14:43.799 --> 00:14:46.600 meaning be a creator, make something, 00:14:46.600 --> 00:14:50.320 whether that's photographs or you work for SpaceX 00:14:50.320 --> 00:14:52.080 and you're trying to figure out how to get to Mars 00:14:52.080 --> 00:14:55.320 or you're building iPhones or you're an artist, 00:14:55.320 --> 00:14:58.920 all of it is technological technically. 00:14:58.920 --> 00:15:02.360 And God says do that and be that, 00:15:02.360 --> 00:15:05.519 but there's also very clearly a way to do that poorly. 00:15:05.519 --> 00:15:07.639 There's a structure that is good, 00:15:07.639 --> 00:15:10.800 but you can manipulate the direction 00:15:10.800 --> 00:15:13.680 in terrible, terrible ways, right? 00:15:13.679 --> 00:15:18.399 So the structure, what it is, righteous, basically righteous, 00:15:18.399 --> 00:15:19.759 but you can take it and use it 00:15:19.759 --> 00:15:21.439 in really damaging and harmful ways. 00:15:21.439 --> 00:15:25.359 Now we see that very early in the Bible. 00:15:27.039 --> 00:15:29.399 We see that very early in the Bible 00:15:29.399 --> 00:15:33.959 in one of the ways as soon as you get from the flood story 00:15:33.959 --> 00:15:37.359 where Noah uses tar to waterproof the ark, 00:15:37.359 --> 00:15:41.639 you move on and tar makes a surprising central appearance 00:15:41.639 --> 00:15:43.919 in another narrative just shortly after. 00:15:45.399 --> 00:15:48.080 The Bible usually calls it bitumen, right? 00:15:48.080 --> 00:15:52.519 And it's Genesis 11 at the tower of Babel. 00:15:52.519 --> 00:15:54.799 So the same word that gets used when God says, 00:15:54.799 --> 00:15:58.120 Moses build the ark and save the world 00:15:58.120 --> 00:16:01.199 and use tar to waterproof it, a technological innovation. 00:16:01.199 --> 00:16:03.919 We learn when we flip to Genesis 11 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:05.519 that humanity comes together and says, 00:16:05.519 --> 00:16:08.840 let us make bricks, new bricks, it's an innovation, 00:16:08.840 --> 00:16:11.519 it's a brick that's been better than all the other bricks. 00:16:11.519 --> 00:16:15.360 And to bind those bricks together, they use tar. 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:18.000 And now immediately the same possibilities, 00:16:18.000 --> 00:16:21.759 human craftsmanship, human skill, applied science, 00:16:21.759 --> 00:16:24.360 amplification of power are being used 00:16:24.360 --> 00:16:26.240 in two totally different ways. 00:16:26.240 --> 00:16:28.879 One to save the world and in the next one 00:16:28.879 --> 00:16:32.480 to try to get to heaven so that you can cast God down. 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:35.960 And so the structure we learn of tech is good, 00:16:35.960 --> 00:16:39.279 but the direction of it can always go bad. 00:16:39.279 --> 00:16:43.079 That God says yes, but oftentimes God says no, 00:16:43.079 --> 00:16:44.319 depending on the direction. 00:16:44.319 --> 00:16:47.240 And so what does God do at the tower of Babel story? 00:16:47.240 --> 00:16:48.399 He squashes it, right? 00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:51.519 He destroys the innovation and he uses that 00:16:51.519 --> 00:16:54.039 for his meta-purpose throughout human history. 00:16:55.000 --> 00:17:00.000 All right, let me give you one more surprising definition 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:02.000 of technology, I think, or example. 00:17:03.720 --> 00:17:08.559 Technology, remember, is applying skill for a purpose 00:17:08.559 --> 00:17:12.000 and that God gave us that power and that calling. 00:17:13.279 --> 00:17:18.279 Luke chapter 10, Luke chapter 10 is the famous story 00:17:18.319 --> 00:17:20.440 that Jesus tells of the Good Samaritan. 00:17:21.399 --> 00:17:23.359 And in the Good Samaritan parable, 00:17:24.879 --> 00:17:28.799 the only man that will help the poor, broken stranger 00:17:28.799 --> 00:17:31.720 that's been beaten up and left to die on the side of the road 00:17:31.720 --> 00:17:33.639 is of course this Samaritan. 00:17:35.000 --> 00:17:36.879 And when you read the Samaritan story, 00:17:36.879 --> 00:17:38.039 one of the things that you'll notice 00:17:38.039 --> 00:17:39.879 if you look at the details carefully 00:17:39.879 --> 00:17:42.519 is that when he approaches the bleeding victim, 00:17:42.519 --> 00:17:45.519 it says that he wrapped him in certain cloths, 00:17:45.519 --> 00:17:49.200 he gave him certain medicinal comforts, 00:17:49.200 --> 00:17:53.480 we don't know exactly what, and then he took him to help. 00:17:53.480 --> 00:17:54.960 And one of the things that we see immediately, 00:17:54.960 --> 00:17:57.319 if you think about it and you look through the details, 00:17:57.319 --> 00:17:59.119 one of the things you have to notice 00:17:59.119 --> 00:18:03.259 is that he used human technique and skill 00:18:03.259 --> 00:18:06.079 in medicinal science of the time, 00:18:06.079 --> 00:18:09.079 as far as it had come and as far as he could use it 00:18:09.079 --> 00:18:12.679 to amplify his power to love his neighbor. 00:18:14.159 --> 00:18:19.159 And that means that if you're a technological pessimist, 00:18:20.639 --> 00:18:24.879 you've got to all realize that it's very difficult 00:18:24.879 --> 00:18:28.199 to love anybody without God's gift of techne, 00:18:28.199 --> 00:18:30.599 of technology, of craftsmanship, 00:18:30.599 --> 00:18:33.000 that we use it all the time. 00:18:33.000 --> 00:18:35.199 And that it's a blessing to the world 00:18:35.200 --> 00:18:39.840 that love requires tech, it requires human skill 00:18:39.840 --> 00:18:41.080 applied in the right circumstance, 00:18:41.080 --> 00:18:43.080 according to science, to amplify power. 00:18:44.200 --> 00:18:47.039 And sometimes that just means putting a bandaid 00:18:47.039 --> 00:18:50.519 on a little kid's finger, and it can be so much more, 00:18:50.519 --> 00:18:54.000 the greatest medical device in gene therapy, right? 00:18:54.000 --> 00:18:56.600 These are actually all blessings in ways 00:18:56.600 --> 00:18:59.160 that God loves us and we love other people. 00:18:59.160 --> 00:19:03.080 Augustine in his city of God, great text, 00:19:03.079 --> 00:19:05.839 city of God, he has this little section 00:19:05.839 --> 00:19:08.599 where he praises God for technology and prayer. 00:19:08.599 --> 00:19:10.960 Just wanted to read it to you, it's pretty great. 00:19:10.960 --> 00:19:14.799 He says, he praises, he says, he gives thanks to God 00:19:14.799 --> 00:19:18.799 for quote, textiles, architecture, agriculture, 00:19:18.799 --> 00:19:22.119 navigation, sculptors, painters, composers, 00:19:22.119 --> 00:19:25.839 theater production, humans, capturing, 00:19:25.839 --> 00:19:29.639 domesticating, training, wild animals, medical drugs, 00:19:29.639 --> 00:19:32.480 weapons of war, use for purposes of justice, 00:19:32.480 --> 00:19:35.240 praise development of, and this is where it gets great, 00:19:35.240 --> 00:19:39.400 he has a whole section giving thanks to God for condiments, 00:19:39.400 --> 00:19:44.400 sauces, the new sauces of his day, Chick-fil-A sauce, 00:19:45.319 --> 00:19:47.720 that's not relevant here, other sauces. 00:19:50.000 --> 00:19:54.839 He says condiments and sauces used to give joy to the palate, 00:19:54.839 --> 00:19:57.839 eloquence in speaking and writing of novels, 00:19:57.839 --> 00:20:02.639 poems, musicians, lyric songs, mathematicians, astronomers, 00:20:02.639 --> 00:20:03.639 and he keeps going. 00:20:04.519 --> 00:20:06.679 And he has this wonderful moment where he just gives thanks 00:20:06.679 --> 00:20:09.559 to God for this endless amount of technological advancement 00:20:09.559 --> 00:20:10.519 in his own day. 00:20:12.000 --> 00:20:17.000 I once was in a class with a theologian who's from here, 00:20:17.559 --> 00:20:19.599 well he's English but he married a Scott 00:20:19.599 --> 00:20:21.559 and he's teaching in the States. 00:20:21.559 --> 00:20:23.519 And we were talking about some of these things 00:20:23.519 --> 00:20:26.959 from Genesis 1 Ford and he just asked the question, 00:20:26.960 --> 00:20:29.319 would any of you wanna live in any other age? 00:20:31.319 --> 00:20:33.840 You know, I don't think I would. 00:20:33.840 --> 00:20:37.039 Can you imagine living in pre-modernity? 00:20:37.039 --> 00:20:39.039 After what we've seen, what we can do, 00:20:39.039 --> 00:20:41.079 gene therapies that are coming out, 00:20:42.200 --> 00:20:45.759 would we wanna live, no we actually give thanks to God 00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:48.559 for the beauty and the grandeur of what he has done 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:50.039 in technological advancement. 00:20:51.000 --> 00:20:53.240 And at the same time we recognize that it can be used 00:20:53.240 --> 00:20:56.360 in incredibly evil ways, right? 00:20:56.359 --> 00:20:58.799 So let me draw us to a close here. 00:21:00.799 --> 00:21:03.599 The problem becomes clear as I said when you turn from 00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:07.240 Genesis 6 or Genesis 9, from the tar and the wood 00:21:07.240 --> 00:21:11.879 used for salvation, the story of Noah's Ark is not just 00:21:11.879 --> 00:21:14.359 about saving Noah, of course not. 00:21:14.359 --> 00:21:17.359 It is the early picture of the redemption 00:21:17.359 --> 00:21:20.679 of the entirety of creation that the only way to be saved 00:21:20.679 --> 00:21:23.879 is to pass through the waters of judgment in an Ark. 00:21:23.879 --> 00:21:25.240 And Jesus Christ is that Ark. 00:21:25.240 --> 00:21:28.079 And God was using technology to preach to us 00:21:28.079 --> 00:21:30.519 the ultimate hope of new creation in their early days. 00:21:30.519 --> 00:21:32.440 The Ark is the agent of salvation 00:21:32.440 --> 00:21:34.480 and it's a product of innovation. 00:21:34.480 --> 00:21:36.319 Beautiful, God says. 00:21:36.319 --> 00:21:40.359 You get to Genesis 11 and the same beauty of innovation 00:21:40.359 --> 00:21:43.880 becomes something that is not wrong in itself 00:21:43.880 --> 00:21:46.559 but wrong in the way that it gets used. 00:21:46.559 --> 00:21:49.799 And so God squashes it and he squabbles it 00:21:49.799 --> 00:21:53.519 and he says no to it, even though it's the same exact 00:21:53.519 --> 00:21:56.079 category and structure. 00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:58.160 All right, let me give you some applications, 00:21:58.160 --> 00:22:00.359 some things that we can learn and say and take home 00:22:00.359 --> 00:22:03.759 from this tonight. 00:22:03.759 --> 00:22:07.160 Number one, God created technology 00:22:07.160 --> 00:22:15.200 because he intended his image to be technological. 00:22:15.200 --> 00:22:19.160 Technology exists because humans exist. 00:22:19.160 --> 00:22:22.759 And we are technological beings because we're 00:22:22.759 --> 00:22:24.039 creators. 00:22:24.039 --> 00:22:25.680 We're like God in that. 00:22:25.680 --> 00:22:27.200 Because that's the first thing we learn. 00:22:27.200 --> 00:22:30.480 The second thing, from Genesis 6 to Genesis 9 00:22:30.480 --> 00:22:32.599 and so many other places, God is not 00:22:32.599 --> 00:22:36.400 threatened by human innovations, even when they're 00:22:36.400 --> 00:22:40.279 used in the most evil of ways, not at all. 00:22:40.279 --> 00:22:44.319 God's plans and purposes do not change, 00:22:44.319 --> 00:22:47.240 no matter the wildest imaginations of the transhumanist 00:22:47.240 --> 00:22:50.039 that's trying to turn humanity into a machine. 00:22:50.039 --> 00:22:51.359 God is not threatened by that. 00:22:51.359 --> 00:22:53.399 God's plans haven't changed. 00:22:53.399 --> 00:22:56.679 God will squash everything that he needs to squash 00:22:56.679 --> 00:22:59.159 to make his plan work out. 00:22:59.159 --> 00:23:03.000 God clearly sanctions it and he's not threatened by it. 00:23:03.000 --> 00:23:07.399 God is not deterred by sinful technological use. 00:23:07.399 --> 00:23:10.319 Now we can say something even bigger than that, can't we? 00:23:10.319 --> 00:23:11.119 Even beyond that. 00:23:11.119 --> 00:23:14.000 Now to do that as we close, I want to draw you over. 00:23:14.000 --> 00:23:15.839 If you do have a Bible, this is one passage 00:23:15.839 --> 00:23:17.879 I do want you to look at with me and that's 00:23:17.880 --> 00:23:25.480 Isaiah, just two verses, Isaiah 54, 16 and 17. 00:23:25.480 --> 00:23:30.320 And I love that Isaiah 54 comes after Isaiah 53 00:23:30.320 --> 00:23:32.280 because in Isaiah 53 we have, of course, 00:23:32.280 --> 00:23:38.120 the great prophecies that the man of sorrows, 00:23:38.120 --> 00:23:40.360 the holy servant of God, is coming 00:23:40.360 --> 00:23:42.280 to be crushed for our iniquities. 00:23:42.279 --> 00:23:50.000 And then in 54 we've got this line, 16 and 17. 00:23:50.000 --> 00:23:53.519 Behold, I have created the Smith. 00:23:53.519 --> 00:23:56.799 The Smith, the one who works with metal, 00:23:56.799 --> 00:24:00.879 I've created the Smith who blows the fires of coals 00:24:00.879 --> 00:24:03.639 and produces a weapon for its purpose. 00:24:03.639 --> 00:24:07.359 I've also created the ravager to destroy. 00:24:07.359 --> 00:24:11.160 No weapon that is fashioned against you, that's my people, 00:24:11.160 --> 00:24:12.600 will succeed. 00:24:12.600 --> 00:24:14.680 And you shall refute every tongue that 00:24:14.680 --> 00:24:16.920 rises against you in judgment. 00:24:16.920 --> 00:24:19.560 This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. 00:24:19.560 --> 00:24:22.360 God says, I created the Smith and I 00:24:22.360 --> 00:24:25.360 tell the black Smith to blow onto the coals, 00:24:25.360 --> 00:24:27.800 to burn the fire hotter so he can melt his metals 00:24:27.800 --> 00:24:29.840 and create weapons. 00:24:29.840 --> 00:24:33.920 And he says, I send forth the weapons even. 00:24:33.920 --> 00:24:38.480 And I control the ravager, the one who goes to war. 00:24:38.480 --> 00:24:42.680 And he says, and the one who goes to war with evil intentions 00:24:42.680 --> 00:24:47.920 will not succeed against my people and against my purposes. 00:24:47.920 --> 00:24:50.960 And he's saying there that no matter 00:24:50.960 --> 00:24:55.480 how poorly humans misuse tech, Christians 00:24:55.480 --> 00:24:57.240 have to be a tech optimist. 00:24:57.240 --> 00:25:00.039 We have to be because God is using human innovation, 00:25:00.039 --> 00:25:03.240 he says, to bring about his ultimate purposes and plans, 00:25:03.240 --> 00:25:04.839 even in the most evil moments. 00:25:04.839 --> 00:25:07.839 And so the big claim that we can make here, 00:25:07.839 --> 00:25:10.919 well, let me say it like this. 00:25:10.919 --> 00:25:15.279 It wasn't very long before Isaiah writes this 00:25:15.279 --> 00:25:19.799 that the Persians would, for the first time in all of human 00:25:19.799 --> 00:25:24.599 history, create a unique torture device called the cross. 00:25:24.599 --> 00:25:25.720 The Persians will make it. 00:25:25.720 --> 00:25:28.199 In the time of Isaiah, they'll invent something 00:25:28.199 --> 00:25:31.000 that we now will later enrollment times call the cross. 00:25:31.000 --> 00:25:33.000 It at first was a T bar. 00:25:33.000 --> 00:25:35.519 Well, actually, at first it was thought to be just an X. 00:25:35.519 --> 00:25:36.279 And they called it the cross. 00:25:36.279 --> 00:25:39.039 It was the great torture device of the Persian kingdom. 00:25:39.039 --> 00:25:40.639 And right now, as Isaiah writes this, 00:25:40.639 --> 00:25:43.440 and God says, I send the blacksmith. 00:25:43.440 --> 00:25:47.200 And I even send the ravager with his sword, 00:25:47.200 --> 00:25:50.440 but nothing will ever stop the good of my people 00:25:50.440 --> 00:25:53.839 coming to fruition at the very same moment. 00:25:53.839 --> 00:25:55.759 Not many miles away as Persia tries 00:25:55.759 --> 00:26:00.920 to seek dominance over the land, they're using a cross. 00:26:00.920 --> 00:26:02.759 And oh boy, did God not know. 00:26:02.759 --> 00:26:03.480 Did God not know? 00:26:03.480 --> 00:26:06.400 And when he says this, that he's going to take the man of Isaiah 00:26:06.400 --> 00:26:11.599 53 and hang him on it, the greatest of evils, 00:26:11.599 --> 00:26:13.960 this technology, this innovation, 00:26:13.960 --> 00:26:18.400 and he's going to use it to squash evil itself. 00:26:18.400 --> 00:26:21.799 And so God saves us by tech. 00:26:21.799 --> 00:26:25.480 He saves us by the most evil of tech, 00:26:25.480 --> 00:26:29.400 by the most evil of this technology in human history. 00:26:29.400 --> 00:26:30.839 And that means that we can be confident. 00:26:30.839 --> 00:26:33.919 We can be tech-optimist because God is using tech 00:26:33.919 --> 00:26:37.399 exactly the way he wants it, exactly the way he wants it. 00:26:37.399 --> 00:26:41.480 You can't thwart his purposes with it. 00:26:41.480 --> 00:26:43.879 So to preview next time, and the next couple of times, 00:26:43.879 --> 00:26:50.159 I'll say this as the last word, God sends you out to actually 00:26:50.159 --> 00:26:53.480 out into the world tonight to be technological. 00:26:53.480 --> 00:26:58.000 Now, maybe that for you means putting band-aids 00:26:58.000 --> 00:26:59.720 on the fingers of little children. 00:26:59.720 --> 00:27:04.039 It means painting something across your night 00:27:04.039 --> 00:27:05.519 times when they're free. 00:27:05.519 --> 00:27:10.680 It means, for some of you, I think of Ben Kennedy, who's 00:27:10.680 --> 00:27:12.160 making medicine. 00:27:12.160 --> 00:27:13.480 Isn't that his job, Ben's job? 00:27:13.480 --> 00:27:15.640 He makes medicine. 00:27:15.640 --> 00:27:17.120 That's a wonderful technology. 00:27:17.120 --> 00:27:19.960 Others of you using medical technologies 00:27:19.960 --> 00:27:22.759 to care for people constantly. 00:27:22.759 --> 00:27:25.240 This is God's commission to you. 00:27:25.240 --> 00:27:27.200 God says go and do. 00:27:27.200 --> 00:27:30.799 And I'm pleased, and it glorifies me, 00:27:30.799 --> 00:27:35.080 as long as you're wielding it in love and for the good. 00:27:35.080 --> 00:27:36.840 But the question still remains, how 00:27:36.840 --> 00:27:42.759 do we then approach certain technologies that naturally 00:27:42.759 --> 00:27:45.480 bend us towards evil things? 00:27:48.240 --> 00:27:51.759 And what are those technologies? 00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:55.799 Is Netflix a neutral medium that can be used for good or ill? 00:27:55.799 --> 00:27:58.559 Is the iPhone a neutral medium that 00:27:58.559 --> 00:27:59.839 can be used for good or ill? 00:27:59.839 --> 00:28:02.680 Is social media a neutral technology that 00:28:02.680 --> 00:28:04.200 can be used for good or ill? 00:28:04.200 --> 00:28:05.919 These are huge questions. 00:28:05.919 --> 00:28:07.960 And they're ones that, as Christians, 00:28:07.960 --> 00:28:08.919 we've got to face. 00:28:08.919 --> 00:28:10.200 We've got to ask, am I? 00:28:10.200 --> 00:28:11.919 And here's at least the initial thing 00:28:11.919 --> 00:28:15.240 you can ask yourself for anything that you're wielding. 00:28:15.240 --> 00:28:17.559 Before we get into the details of it later, it's this. 00:28:17.559 --> 00:28:21.639 Am I using this piece of technology, the iPhone, 00:28:21.639 --> 00:28:24.240 whatever it may be, which is made up of Tony Rankey says, 00:28:24.240 --> 00:28:27.480 60 different natural elements exactly. 00:28:27.480 --> 00:28:30.519 60 different natural elements go into this thing we call the iPhone. 00:28:30.519 --> 00:28:31.319 I have one in my pocket. 00:28:31.319 --> 00:28:32.599 I'm holding up my pretend one. 00:28:32.599 --> 00:28:33.359 I actually have one. 00:28:33.359 --> 00:28:34.680 I could have just pulled it out. 00:28:34.680 --> 00:28:40.200 But are you using it, wielding it for the glory of God? 00:28:40.200 --> 00:28:42.120 We're not. 00:28:42.120 --> 00:28:44.319 In what ways are you using it poorly? 00:28:44.319 --> 00:28:48.799 In what ways are you using it like a Tower of Babel moment? 00:28:48.799 --> 00:28:51.440 That's the question for Christians. 00:28:51.440 --> 00:28:52.960 And we ask that question only knowing 00:28:52.960 --> 00:28:56.799 that God took the greatest evil technology of history, the cross, 00:28:56.799 --> 00:28:59.160 the ultimate torture device. 00:28:59.160 --> 00:29:02.240 And he saved us with it through his son. 00:29:02.240 --> 00:29:02.720 All right. 00:29:02.720 --> 00:29:03.559 So let's pray together. 00:29:03.559 --> 00:29:09.799 Father, we ask that you would give us wisdom as we think about tech. 00:29:09.799 --> 00:29:11.840 And we just ask for help, Lord. 00:29:11.840 --> 00:29:16.319 And we give thanks to you that you've made us innovators and creators. 00:29:16.319 --> 00:29:19.200 Oh, the beauty of the city because of technology, 00:29:19.200 --> 00:29:24.039 the beauty of craftsmanship exercised. 00:29:24.039 --> 00:29:27.120 And we just ask, Father, that you would give us a renewed heart 00:29:27.120 --> 00:29:31.680 to care about the way we wield these things that have been made 00:29:31.680 --> 00:29:35.240 by humans, that it would be for your glory, 00:29:35.240 --> 00:29:39.360 and that we would run away from unrighteousness with respect 00:29:39.360 --> 00:29:43.519 to Netflix or iPhones or whatever it may be. 00:29:43.519 --> 00:29:47.519 But actually see and figure out how to use these things well, 00:29:47.519 --> 00:29:47.759 Lord. 00:29:47.759 --> 00:29:49.680 And we ask for this in Christ's name. 00:29:49.680 --> 00:30:19.240 Amen.