Let's see now, where was I? Oh yes, talking technology, using John Dyer's book, From the Garden to the City
. We've looked at how we must have perspective regarding technology; it's not something we came up with in just that past 50 years. No, it's been around since the Garden. And it's not neutral. Then the author had us thinking about how we use tools and technology––to create, to imagine a better world. Does this shape us? Or are we the ones doing all the shaping? As long as we're asking questions here, we might as well ask the big "WHY" question: why do we even use technology in the first place?
This is where we began to see that God gave us the ability to think and imagine, to shape and create. In other words, we reflect Him, His image, in our work. This all happened with Adam before sin had entered the world. Man uses things, images, rituals and language to create and shape the culture around us. If we were still in a Genesis 2 world, this would be good.
Before we examine the Genesis 3 world we live in and how this affects technology, we were given a definition. Technology is the human activity of using tools to transform God's creation for practical purposes. From this, you can see how technology has the potential for great good––we can build, construct, invent, create from the materials around us, even using our imaginations to convey thought and emotion. However, since Genesis 3 exists, technology also has some other potential. Let's look at that briefly in Chapter 5: Rebellion.
"…put yourself in Adam and Eve's position for a moment. You've just committed the world's first sin, introducing suffering and death to all humanity. What your first move be?" (Dyer, page 70).
The answer: make something. Use technology to transform creation for practical purposes. The purpose that is uppermost in Adam and Eve's heart at present is cover-up. Cover-up their nakedness and shame; seek to cover-up the terrible wrong they committed by hiding. You can see how Adam is still reflecting the image of God, even in his new state of sinfulness. He's creating something.
The problem this introduces, however, is man's desire to use tools & technology to save us, to deliver us, to make us all right once again. But it won't work that way. it was never intended to work that way. So God had to come along and, as Dyer puts it, provide the first upgrade. Man's "Covering 1.0" was simply a start. God's "Covering 2.0" would be more than that––it would be a symbol of something so much greater yet to come. The animals skins God used to replace man's leafy frock was going to show that while we still bore the image of God and would function as the reflector of that image, it would require something far more God-centered to "fix" the damage done. Hence, we get the "proto-evangel"––a look into God's provision of redemption for His people, which will eventually lead us to Christ.
From Genesis 3 onward, not only is mankind born in sin, he works and creates in sin. This doesn't mean that nothing good or redemptive comes through; it simply means everything is stained, and sometimes stained badly by our sin. This is why technology can not be viewed as something neutral. We use technology; we are sinful creatures; our "products" will be stained with sin and our use of technology will be stained with sin. So, even while we seek to imagine and create a better world around us using technology, we are just like "dad" (Adam)––we'll hope that our creativity and tools can deliver us from our problems.
In chapter 6, Dyer will some false assumptions that arise by faulty views (sinful views?) of technology. Until then, think on this: what items/tools/technologies do you use to make life better? How do you use them? Why do you use them in that way?
See you next time.