Technology in the Bible

Technology in the Bible
RELATED TOPICS	Biblical references to technology
SERMONS, ESSAYS AND OPINIONS
CONTENTS

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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).

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)
• 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'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 to interact with humans. For instance, God uses a sword to keep people away from the tree of life (Genesis 3:24), and God wields Assyria as a weapon against Israel (Isaiah 10:15).

There are also many instances when God uses various forms of technology metaphorically. For instance, 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]]).

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.

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.

Communication technology

• Writing
• scrolls
• trumpets, especially for signals during battle
• libraries and archives

Military technology

Swords Spears Siege ramps Bows and arrows Chariots

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.

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