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Honest measures: Jesus also makes it clear that the ''victims'' of technological accidents are not to blame, as though the accident was punishment for their personal sin ([[Leviticus 19Luke 13:354]]).
→Responsibility
== Responsibility ==
Tools are subservient to their user: an axe cannot raise itself above the one who swings it ([[Isaiah 10:15]]). In this context, God is wielding Assyria as a weapon against Israel and it is inappropriate for Assyria -- as the tool -- to think that they acted independently. A similar point is made in several places (e.g. [[Isaiah 29:16]], [[Isaiah 45:9]], [[Deuteronomy 22Romans 9:821]]) about the relationship between a clay pot and the potter. As a more general saying, however, this verse points out that no technology is greater than it's wielder, but merely a tool in the wielder's hand. (As a side note, Jacques Ellul has argued that technology in the modern world has taken on a substantially different mode of operation in which human control plays virtually no part.)
Nevertheless, the Bible accepts that accidents will happen with technology ([[Ecclesiastes 10:9]]) and that nobody may be at fault. One purpose of the designated "cities of refuge" was so that people could escape retribution for such accidents. [[Deuteronomy 19:5]]describes, as an example, how an axe head might fly off and kill someone. As long as there is no malice in the act, the user of technology is not to blame for unintended negative side-effects.
On the other hand, we cannot simply divorce ourselves from the damage that technology may do. Israel's first OH&S policy is recorded in [[Luke Deuteronomy 22:8]]: people should build a railing around their roof to prevent anyone from falling off. From this verse and [[Leviticus 19:16]], we could infer a general principle that people have a responsibility to pre-empt technological dangers. Modern legal interpretations of negligence and duty of care reflect the same idea. People in positions of power have additional responsibilities in their use of technology: * The responsibility to use measuring instruments and standards fairly ([[Leviticus 19:35]] - [[Leviticus 19:36]], [[Deuteronomy 25:13]] - [[Deuteronomy 25:16]], [[Proverbs 11:1]], [[Proverbs 20:10]], [[Proverbs 20:23]], [[Amos 8:5]], [[Micah 6:11]])* The responsibility to not deprive others of the technology they require to make a living. For instance, [[Deuteronomy 24:46]]points out that one should not take someone's millstone as security for a debt.
== Trust God rather than technology ==
