Technology in the Bible
This article is a stub. You can help WikiChristian by expanding it. For help please read the WikiChristian Tutorial and our writing guide.
Technology in the Bible | |
RELATED TOPICS | |
SERMONS, ESSAYS AND OPINIONS |
|
CONTENTS |
On the page Biblical references to technology, we have tried to catalogue and comment on specific verses that mention technology of any kind. That catalogue provides the raw data for the more thematic comments on this current page.
There are no passages in the Bible that explicitly prescribe a Christian response to technology. Nevertheless, a close reading of the Bible can inform Christian attitudes in several ways:
- We can correlate the Biblical text to other sources of history to understand the prevalence, cultural assumptions and economic importance of technology.
- We can infer what attitudes and assumptions the Biblical writers held with regard to their experiences of technology in their own age, and use those as case studies to inform our own attitudes and assumptions.
- We can learn about how people have employed technology for both godly and ungodly purposes and derive principles for our own decisions about the value of technology.
In the end, there is no fundamental difference between how Christians should decide about the use of technology and how they should decide about most of life's questions. When there is no definitive Biblical statement on the topic, we apply core principles of Christian discipleship such as the call to stewardship over creation, the Great Commandments (Matthew 22:37 - Matthew 22:40), a desire for holiness, a total reliance on God, a commitment to the community of faith, and an expectation that God will give us his wisdom (James 1:5).
Contents
Metaphoric applications of technology
Many verses in the Bible uses some type of technology as a metaphor for something more spiritual. Examples include:
- Winnowing out the wicked (Proverbs 20:23)
- Job says his days go past as fast as a weaver's shuttle (Job 7:6)
- God is a shield around us (Psalm 3:3 and many other places)
- God's word is a lamp (Psalm 119:105)
- God as refiner (Isaiah 1:25, Isaiah 48:10, Malachi 3:2, Zechariah 13:9)
- Jeremiah was as strong as a fortified city, an iron pillar and a bronze wall (Jeremiah 1:18)
- God uses Israel to 'test the metal' of other nations (Jeremiah 6:27 - Jeremiah 6:30)
- The tongue is like a bow, shooting lies (Jeremiah 9:3, Jeremiah 9:8)
- We are to put on the whole armour of God (Ephesians 6:13 - Ephesians 6:18)
- God's heart laments for Moab like a flute (Jeremiah 48:36)
- God shoots the deadly arrow of famine on Jerusalem (Ezekiel 5:16)
- A yoke symbolises a burden or oppression or a bond, often in the context of God relieving that burden (e.g. Genesis 27:40, Exodus 6:6, Leviticus 26:13, 1 Kings 12:3 - 1 Kings 12:11, Psalm 106:28, Matthew 11:28, 2 Corinthians 6:14, Galatians 5:1)
- The hearts of unrepentant Israel are like a poorly tended baker's oven (Hosea 7:4 - Hosea 7:7)
- A plumb-line provides a standard reference point against which our conduct can be judged (Amos 7:7 - Amos 7:8, Isaiah 28:17)
- The kingdom of God is like a fishing net (Matthew 13:47)
God's use of technology
God needs no technology to accomplish any of God's purposes. Although God uses various techniques, no tools are required. God achieves the desired ends by simply speaking things into being. God's word caused the whole universe to be created (Genesis 1). God's word is sharper than any double-edged sword (Hebrews 4:12) -- by implication, God's word is more effective than any technology.
There are times, however, when God chooses to use technology (normally metaphorically) to interact with humans. For instance, God is a refining fire/furnace, consuming the dross and purifying God's people (Zechariah 13:9, Ezekiel 22:17 - Ezekiel 22:22, Malachi 3:2).
God is often said to use weapons:
- God uses a sword to keep people away from the tree of life (Genesis 3:24)
- God wields Assyria as a weapon against Israel (Isaiah 10:15)
- God uses Babylon as a sword against Israel (Ezekiel 21)
- God punishes with a sword (e.g. Isaiah 27:1, Isaiah 34:5, Isaiah 66:16, Jeremiah 9:16, Jeremiah 12:12)
- Israel is God's weapon (Jeremiah 51:20 - Jeremiah 51:23)
- God gives Israel horns of iron and hoofs of bronze with which to break to pieces many nations (Micah 4:13)
Musical instruments
To the extent that music requires a manufactured instrument, it involves technology. We may think that "technology" only implies modern electronic devices, but at various times in history all musical instruments must have seemed like new-fangled technology. The instruments themselves are tools for achieving some human purpose and hence are a form of technology. The ability to manufacture musical instruments also implies the use of other tools.
The Bible is extremely positive in the way it describes musical instruments, especially in the context of those instruments being used to praise God. Psalm 150 is the prime example of this.
Numerous types of instruments are mentioned in the Bible, including:
- Stringed instruments such as harps, lyres, lutes
- Wind instruments such as trumpets, horns, flutes, pipes
- Percussion instruments such as tambourines, bells, cymbals, sistrum
See the book "Musical Instruments Of The Bible" by Jeremy Montagu.
Metal refining
Craftsmen
Design and construction
In the Old Testament accounts of Noah's Ark, the Tabernacle and the Temple, God dictates a detailed design but not the construction methods.
God's people appropriate technology from other cultures
Communication technology
- Writing
- scrolls
- trumpets, especially for signals during battle or to sound an alarm. Moses was specifically instructed to make two silver trumpets to call the community together (Numbers 10:1 - Numbers 10:10
- libraries and archives
Medicine
Agriculture and biology
Military technology
Swords Spears Siege ramps Bows and arrows Chariots
Idolatry
Measurement
Responsibility
Trust God rather than technology
- Tower of Babel Genesis 11
- Exodus 20:4
- Deuteronomy 6:10 ff, Deuteronomy 8:10 ff
- Job 28
- Psalm 20:7
- Proverbs 18:10 f
- Isaiah 31:1
- Jeremiah 2:13
- John 10:1 - John 10:13 Consider technology playing the role of thief in this parable. Technology cares nothing for the sheep. People who look for a technological shortcut into paradise will be disappointed.
Return to Christianity -> Christianity and technology
Note to users: The wiki is currently operating in safe mode. Editing is limited to users with certain privileges in order to deal with spam. You can create a new user account, and confirm your email ID in order to obtain ability to edit pages. Learn how to be an editor or sysop at WikiChristian.
- Sister projects: WikiMD.com Wellness Encyclopedia & Directory
- Sponsors: WikiChristian is supported by W8MD's medical weight loss and sleep centers.