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Technology in the Bible

262 bytes added, 06:03, 10 May 2010
Moral neutrality?: Add 1 Timothy 2:20 - 1 Timothy 2:21
The same materials can have different technological applications. Indeed, the same technology can be used for both war and peace, for good and for evil. For example, the prophets Isaiah and Micah both looked to a future peace in which people will beat their swords into ploughshares and spears into pruning hooks ([[Isaiah 2:4]], [[Micah 4:3]]). On the other hand Joel saw a time when the reverse would be needed ([[Joel 3:10]]).
Paul refers to our bodies as weapons that can either be instruments of wickedness or of righteousness ([[Romans 6:13]], see Vine's ''Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words'' on the interpretation of "instruments" as weapons). People are like tools that, in the cosmic war, are used to advance one side or the other. Our bodies, as technology, are not neutral, nor mindlessly forced into service: Paul calls us to choose the purpose to which purpose we will offer ourselves.  Paul repeats a similar message in [[1 Timothy 2:20]] - [[1 Timothy 2:21]]. It is unimportant whether we are made from gold and silver, or from mere wood and clay. In either case we can choose to become an instrument for either noble or ignoble purposes.
The New Testament writers present a more non-violent attitude than the Old Testament, undermining any belief that God's kingdom should be imposed by military force.

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