Issues in Biblical Anthropology, Lecture 8
Key Topics
- Technology (throughout)
- Transhumanism (throughout)
- Posthumanism (throughout)
- Creation (throughout)
- Image Bearers (1-34)
- Climate Change (13-24)
- Abortion (21-35)
- Pornography (34-52)
- Addiction (40-56)
Transcript with YouTube timestamps
0:03all right we’re going to move off of wokeness and we’re going to talk now about technology obviously
0:10another massive subject that we could talk about in an entire elective unto itself but we have the joy
0:16of sort of dipping into these things about 40 years ago the cultural commentator neil postman
0:21said this in his epic book amusing ourselves to death a book all of you should read amusing
0:28ourselves to death americans no longer talk to each other
0:34they entertain each other they do not exchange ideas they exchange images
0:41this is about 35 years old as a quote they do not argue with propositions they
0:49argue with good looks celebrities and commercials
0:57is it not funny to hear those words read and think about how different we uh our
1:03society is from 1985 and 2020
1:09it’s very important that we understand that this point that postman has made
1:16about entertainment and by extension that which allows for entertainment
1:21technology has absolutely shaped the church affected the church people do expect to be
1:29entertained now on a regular basis when you come to a church people
1:35think that you’re going to entertain them in a spiritual way
1:40they don’t think that you’re first and foremost going to give you ideas going to give them ideas that is and
1:46they don’t in many cases know how to argue with propositions like postman says now
1:54of course i’m guessing many of you are not going to be in this stream of church life by virtue of being at this seminary even
2:01as many of my students at midwestern in kansas city are not in this stream nonetheless again i repeat myself we’re
2:06in an entertainment driven culture i don’t know if you have caught yourself
2:12thinking this but i have caught myself thinking this that i i have almost a need to be
2:17entertained on a daily basis i i
2:22need to be able to consume after a long day’s work and then plugging in
2:30with my children and loving my wife trying to i need to be able to watch english
2:35premier league soccer and rest i saw i saw fist pump there from reed i like that
2:42we’re going to talk about that soon who you cheer for i want to hear about that uh i need to be able to watch some
2:49basketball i need to be entertained well look we all need mental breaks in some form but
2:55do we need to be entertained and is the church about entertainment is that why we exist to entertain people
3:04with a little theological burst at the end we need to think through these matters
3:09and we need to think much more broadly about the subject of
3:16technology that makes an entertainment culture go in so many respects
3:24in this session together in this time i want to consider how the bible handles technology
3:33now that is a really interesting question isn’t it because you’re not going to find a lot
3:38of sections in scripture explicitly on technology you’re not going to find that
3:44term throughout the bible and yet i’m going to submit to you that what we’re going to see in the
3:49minutes that follow is that the scripture actually has a good bit to say about the subject but before we dive
3:55into that i want to do what we have been doing and i want to think culturally for just a little bit with you
4:00i want to think about our technological age and i want to think about how technology
4:07is speaking theologically in our time specifically then when we have established that we will go
4:13to scripture off the bat we need to say as believers that we don’t have a quarrel with
4:19science in fact science at base is not a world view it’s a method the scientific method
4:25is the means by which claims in the natural world are tested so we do
4:32very much affirm science as christians but we do not affirm scientism scientism is the view that
4:39science alone furnishes us with the truth we need to make sense of the world that is not a perspective we as
4:45christians can affirm the believer is one who recognizes that
4:51all truth is god’s truth but also recognizes that in terms of
4:57technology and the ability to create and make things we’re dealing with the ability
5:02to to make beauty and things that are good but we’re also dealing with the ability to warp the creation and
5:08dishonor god in a profound way in the 21st century this has real
5:14relevance because an emerging school of thought is what is called transhumanism and a related one
5:21post-humanism and so in an elective like this we have the ability uh to talk about these views at a little
5:28greater length michael plato defines transhumanism in these terms
5:33it’s an ideology that promotes striving for immortality through technology let me repeat that an ideology that
5:41promotes striving for immortality through technology and continuing the thought
5:48transhumanists seek to improve human intelligence physical strength and the senses by technological
5:54means i gave reference to this on monday but this is essentially the view that
6:00humanity is not enough that we should augment our humanity and become
6:05really a being that transcends the normal creaturely limits of the human person
6:11that is what transhumanism is after transhumanism is a vision that reimagines humanity along
6:17technological lines to essentially upgrade the human person
6:23humanity in this line of thought needs improvement needs technological
6:31upgrading and there is not a theological vision that limits or shapes that technological
6:39upgrading instead according to many transhumanists
6:44we are free we are completely free to remake the human body and remake the
6:50human person as we see fit and then the second school of thought aligned with transhumanism in
6:57many ways coming out of it is what is called post-humanism posthumanism is according to plato
7:05the rejection of the humanist tradition that centers in human exceptionalism
7:11so the western tradition believes that the human person is the apex of creation and there’s much
7:18that flows from that view but post-humanists argue that humanity is no different from any other
7:25life form and so we should actively seek for the
7:30transcending of human existence transhumanism says
7:35basically upgrade human existence augment it and prove it posthumanism says
7:42we’re fine not simply to upgrade it but even to leave it behind all together we actively
7:49can seek and even should seek a post-human future where
7:56consciousness still exists but it may very well exist in the cloud it may exist
8:04in a kind of robotic form so non-human subjects are just as
8:11human in this sense as the human person post-humanists then don’t view humanity
8:17as the special creation of almighty god post-humanists identify consciousness or mind in all things
8:27so here’s what one voice in the post-humanist community has said
8:32stars hills chairs rocks scraps of paper flakes of skin molecules
8:40each of them possess the same inner glow as a human each of them has singular inner
8:45experiences and sensations so everything that exists is basically at
8:53the same level as the human person including according to this voice rudy rucker
8:59stars chairs like the one i was just lifting up a little bit scraps of paper flakes of skin
9:08the argument here is that everything has consciousness so instead of grounding uh the human
9:15person as image bearer made in god’s image and thus is distinct from
9:21the creation the posthumanist grounds uh human existence in
9:27shared consciousness with all all that exists really i was going to
9:32say every creature but not just creatures uh chairs are not creatures
9:40this is a major anthropological claim as i’m sure you’re picking up the idea that we don’t start with the
9:48uniqueness of humanity as imago day and work from there we start with this concept called
9:54consciousness or mind and then we find it in all sorts of things
10:00so the post-humanist views the eventual
10:06outmoding of humanity not simply as a possible outcome but as an ideal outcome post-humanism therefore
10:15can be said to be anti-human and nihilistic at its core this is not a philosophy that accords
10:23with christian theology now here as in other areas of the course we should
10:30identify soft and hard forms of both transhumanism and posthumanism
10:36we should note that there are transhumanist and post-humanist visions
10:42for example in different movies we watch different entertainment media you think of
10:48uh avatar for example as a movie that’s a movie that has a kind of post-human vision at its core that this
10:56man is in a human body and that he can then transcend his existence by taking on
11:01through sort of merging of consciousness another uh being’s life form well that would be a
11:07an example of soft transhumanism unto posthumanism as one example but then there are other
11:15voices out there that make the claim that uh humanity is not the steward of
11:21creation and was not put here by god to take dominion of the earth actually humanity is the scourge of the
11:28earth and so we should actively pursue the changing of the human person
11:36in order to save the planet uh let me take you for example to an
11:43article by uh several uh thinkers in the secular journal ethics policy
11:51and the environment i interact with this a little bit in re-enchanting humanity as well
11:58and this content sinks that i’m giving you syncs with re-enchanting humanity it’s developed from it
12:05authors who wrote this article liao sandberg and roche argue that
12:10transhumanism is a positive reality humanity and human existence is really a
12:16problem to be solved and earth is the property that needs to be saved so this is what is so interesting about
12:22many transhumanist and post-humanist advocates they don’t believe that humanity should
12:29be esteemed and saved they believe that the earth should be esteemed and saved and really
12:36this is what happens in a lot of environmental visions of the human person as well
12:42uh which is also in a different sense a conversation about technology and human existence of course
12:48there is the priority prioritization excuse me of the earth over humanity when though the bible
12:57calls us to steward the earth humanity is prioritized over the earth but many
13:04environmentalists today and these authors that i’m about to quote are in this stream will argue
13:10that we need to change humanity in order to save the earth where christians would argue that we
13:16need to change the earth in order to save humanity so there’s a kind of reversal of
13:22biblical priorities that you will find in many technological visions the earth needs to be saved the earth is
13:28warming and so what we knew we need to do is we need to reduce humanity’s footprint on
13:34the earth well that is basically what this article that i am citing entitled human engineering and climate
13:40change calls for human engineering and climate change directly links uh tweaking the human
13:48person in a transhumanist way with saving the earth we can warp and re-engineer
13:55humanity because we need to save the planet again that’s a reversal of the biblical
14:02priority it’s not that the earth is unimportant to us but it is the case that the earth was
14:08made for humanity we were not made for the earth the earth is we don’t exist in order that the
14:14earth would exist the earth exists in order that we would exist make sure you understand that
14:19make sure you preach and teach that to people who may be pulled by these ideas the earth is created
14:25for humanity the vice regent of the earth
14:33in this article human engineering and climate change we hear this scientists should alter
14:39the human immune system to induce mild intolerance to meat
14:47so scientists should re-engineer genetically human people so that we have an in-born
14:54intolerance to meet in order actually to shrink humanity
15:02i’m not making this up this is an article in a serious scientific and ethical journal
15:09again ethics policy and environment the argument continues
15:14human ecological footprints are partly correlated with our size reducing the average american height by
15:2015 centimeters would mean a mass reduction a bodily reduction of 23 percent for men
15:27and 25 percent for women with a corresponding reduction of metabolic rate
15:3215 percent for men 18 percent for women since less tissue means lower nutrients
15:39and energy needs you might say but why are these authors calling for this reduction in
15:46diet unto a reduction in actual bodily size it is so that we will actually have
15:54less footprint on the earth what what are you hearing why am i
15:59citing this rather strange argument because you must understand this is a
16:05transhumanist argument whether it intends to be one or not in
16:11other words we should fundamentally alter the nature and constitution of the human person
16:18in order to oppose climate change and to save the earth in addition this journal
16:25article human engineering and climate change argues that we should change the human person
16:30cognitively there seems to be a link between cognition itself and lower birth rates
16:37the authors say so they argue that we should pursue pharmacological enhancements
16:44in order to make humanity more altruistic and empathetic well what is
16:51that language code for that means targeting testosterone
17:00and this is really interesting because according to the authors of this journal article testosterone appears to decrease aspects
17:08of empathy testosterone appears to decrease
17:13aspects of empathy okay i’m citing this journal article you’ve
17:19never heard of in a conversation about a rather strange philosophy called transhumanism which may sound rather esoteric but what
17:26is playing out in this what is this vision i want you to understand again that this is an anti-human technological
17:35vision the technology that humans have developed the scientific advancements that have
17:41been made our greater understanding of diet and how the human constitution works should all be applied
17:47these authors argue in in order to re-engineer humanity in order to make the human
17:55person less of a burden on the earth in order to lower birth rates
18:00in order to increase empathy in order to down play and target
18:08testosterone because testosterone which of course is going to be associated with
18:15manhood is associated with decreased empathy that may actually be true i
18:21think men probably do have decreased apathy in comparison to women but the question you should be asking as
18:28you’re hearing me cite this rather strange article is this is it a good thing that we would
18:34effectively drain the earth of meaningful manhood is that a biblical vision this is a
18:41transhumanist vision this is a vision that seeks to change the human person
18:47in order to change and really preserve the earth technology in this instance in this
18:54article should be employed in order to re-engineer creation
18:59should be employed to change the human person as designed and made
19:06by god and i want you to note very quickly what i just cited that argument against
19:13manhood manhood in different forms is seen as toxic today you heard me
19:19voice that a few class sessions ago but i want you to note that article men being less empathetic
19:28men being less feelings driven is seen as a negative reality by our
19:34society we really in many ways have transitioned from a masculine society to a feminine
19:41society we’ve transitioned from a masculine society to a feminine society
19:47now in noting that which i believe is true we’re not saying things used to be perfect and amazing
19:52and now they’re all ruined a masculine society has many failings and shortcomings just as a
19:58feminine society does but what you need to ask is this more broadly does the bible want there to be a strong
20:05culture of manhood in general in the world certainly in the church
20:10and certainly in the home and that is absolutely the case in the christian worldview isn’t it we talked about this at some length that
20:17god wants men to be strong and being part of a being being a strong man part of that is
20:24leading and leading with conviction and not stepping back leaning back but actually taking
20:32ownership and responsibility and making decisions and exercising authority and taking dominion
20:37so this is at base really when you when you scratch it all
20:43the way through a man hating philosophy and that’s what you should expect
20:48of worldly thinking at some level what what is satan going to want to do
20:55if god has set men up to take leadership well he’s going to want to re-engineer a
21:00society so that men don’t take leadership because that’s contrary to god’s plan to
21:05god’s will to god’s design and that is fascinating to discover embedded in a technical
21:12journal article that almost nobody noted why cite it because this is not
21:17simply an esoteric academic piece of work this is actually telling
21:22you a lot of where elite thinking in the west is we need to save the planet
21:28we need to reduce our footprint it is certainly a positive thing that we would have less children if we need to use abortion we
21:35can use abortion what is abortion as i’ll talk about in a few minutes ago abortion
21:40is the the application of technology to the process of
21:46childbearing child formation and then finally we should actively
21:54medicate men so that they have less testosterone that is a positive
22:00thing actually i read an article uh just this week that said that the average
22:0525 year old man has the testosterone level some decades ago of 66 year old men
22:13and older men as many of you will know uh decrease in testosterone sharply as the years go by
22:19uh different articles that i’ve seen have showed that men have significantly less grip strength it’s been measured than then was true in
22:27the past so i want you to know that we really are seeing the trends play out that these
22:32authors call for men really are actually in physical terms weaker they have less testosterone and
22:39they are socially hearing that they need to step back in many senses and indeed they
22:45are well all of this is theology this isn’t just ethical journal writing
22:52this is these are theological claims that are being made transhumanists don’t simply want
23:00humanity to get a little bit of a boost transhumanists
23:05hold to a secular anthropology doctrine of man they believe in a secular hamartiology
23:11essentially they need to save the planet we’re ruining the planet they quest after a secular soteriology i
23:18just mentioned and they live enthrall to a deeply paranoid secular eschatology
23:25that that if we don’t save the planet everything is ruined a good number of
23:31people out here in california but really all throughout the west have that as their major cause
23:37to save the planet to stop climate change in noting that i’m not saying we never
23:42would pay attention in different dimensions to climate change and stewardship of the earth and these sorts of things we
23:47we surely do because of christian theological convictions derived from the bible but it is to say that this is an
23:53altogether different worldview than the christian worldview it’s part of why we need
23:58to train our people to know about technology and biblical and theological terms
24:05because other people who are engaging in technology and developing it in different forms
24:10don’t have the same world view they’re not operating from the same
24:17standpoint they do not have the same convictions
24:22transhumanists for example have a fundamental evolutionary commitment don’t they
24:28they believe that mankind not only can evolve but actively should pursue
24:35evolution so that’s not an incidental part of our existence that’s a necessary
24:40part of our existence that we evolve that we change that we genetically
24:46re-engineer ourself transhumanists believe then
24:52that our fundamental problem of human existence is not a spiritual one
24:58it’s a physical one you think of silicon valley and the quest of the google co-founders
25:04for example to overcome death uh larry page and sergey brin
25:10as some of you have heard are investing millions upon millions of dollars to
25:15solving trying to solve the problem of human mortality what you’re seeing in such a quest
25:22is a again secular vision of humanity in which salvation is not
25:28spiritual it is physical salvation doesn’t come by divine grace
25:34salvation comes by genetic re-engineering and so humanity and scientists should
25:40have a free hand to rewire the human body to shrink the
25:45human appetite to stop procreating to reduce testosterone by the way
25:50quick word there procreation having children having babies is altogether seen in negative terms in
25:57a transhumanist secular technological vision of the world
26:03having babies is filling the earth is populating the earth is depriving the earth of resources and that is a negative
26:11that is a negative development in our time that’s yet another way along with those
26:17i’ve already mentioned that we see that again this is theology but it’s not sound theology it’s
26:23anti-theology it’s saying that what god pronounces as good is actually bad and this this ideology
26:31is having a major effect in america and in our society a few years ago newsweek ran a cover
26:38story on the childless couple the childless couple this is becoming
26:43increasingly common in our society and even in the church couples that simply decide
26:49we’re not going to procreate we’re not talking a bit we’re not talking here excuse me about couples that struggle to procreate that
26:56is something that different families different couples face and it can be a major challenge and
27:02a real spiritual trial that calls for care and love and help from the local church
27:09so let that be said we’re not talking about an unwanted childlessness we’re talking
27:16about a desired childlessness a transhumanist vision goes hand in glove in many cases
27:24with a kind of perspective that sees having children as for various reasons a
27:30negative reality it’s not good for example to have a big family and if you pay attention to
27:37different cues in our society you’ll hear lots of people sneer at big families at fathers and mothers
27:46no i didn’t say parents who choose to have a number of children there’s a lot to think through in terms
27:51of your own family but i want to encourage you to be a rebel in that sense as much as god would
27:57allow you as much as your family can handle your wife can handle of course i’ve i’ve called you men to be
28:03providers for your family i believe your wife has that god-given vocation of child
28:09raising and nurturing those children as they grow i think that’s a biblical call
28:14she honors and obeys scripture when she when she follows that biblical call just as you honor
28:20god when you follow the biblical call to provide even though that is weight on your shoulders even though that is hard
28:26even though that may involve working multiple jobs even though you may not get the sleep you desire etc and so on
28:33nonetheless the biblical vision of family suffice it to say is targeted
28:38by a transhumanist and secular anthropological vision that is
28:44technology driven we need to make clear in our pulpits in our churches that it
28:50is a blessing when god gives children it is not a hindrance
28:56to our happiness will the will there be all sorts of trials and challenges as we have
29:01children as we have god willing numerous children yes there will
29:07ex we should expect to see our free time and our me time sharply diminish
29:13we should expect that there will be all sorts of complications this is actually the way god wants it to be
29:18for most of us that our lives would not be order around our creature comforts and our plan for
29:24the day and what we would like to do and how we would like to spend our me time this is one of those ways where we
29:30see from an article like the one i cited a few minutes ago that the biblical family
29:35and god’s vision for the family is counter-cultural it’s not the same thing
29:40as a worldly vision of the family but it is a it is a a god blessed
29:47family that has a full quiver whatever exact number that amounts to as many as
29:52you’re able to have through natural means and then through adoptional means but that is all opposed by our modern
30:00secular and neo-pagan order
30:07transhumanism also promotes as does secularism as does neo-paganism
30:15the goodness of abortion abortion is in a biblical
30:22system the most wicked thing you can do i believe what is a worse
30:30action than to kill a helpless baby what is more evil
30:38what is more anti-god what is more anti-image of god
30:44than not just killing an adult person a grown person even a child but killing a helpless
30:51baby but this is what our society encourages us to see as good
30:59we we are told that being pro-choice and a woman having an abortion is not simply allowable but is
31:06effectively virtuous and this is part of what i believe is that kind of religion and
31:13spirituality of neo-paganism in true theology having children
31:19is a blessing and a sign of of virtue in a sense
31:24in an in a neo-pagan worldview in a satanic worldview killing children
31:33is essentially a virtue and a blessing
31:39this is not a new reality abortion is actually not new or at least at the very least
31:44targeting children precious children is not new you think in the ancient near east
31:50of how the canaanites used to sacrifice children to molech for example from archaeological
31:57excavations we know that statutes of statues of of molech would be heated up
32:03to a truly horrific degree and then little babies would be placed by the
32:09canaanites on the statue of molech probably i don’t know 500 600 degrees picture an
32:17oven it’s like placing a baby in an oven and the the canaanites would sacrifice their
32:24children what as an act of worship as an act of worship to their god
32:32i ask you is there a satanic system coursing throughout the bible through
32:38different cultures different societies is there a plan of god and a design of god and is there an
32:45anti-plan to kill to destroy the image bearer and an
32:50anti-design to erase the fact that children especially babies in the womb need
32:57protection and care and love i believe there absolutely is i believe
33:02that abortion is not simply a bad practice of our society
33:08but is a satanic attack upon image bearers who are made for the glory
33:14of god technology please understand then is employed to destroy
33:22and deface the image of god abortion has only been developed
33:30further from the days of the canaanites and just as we can use technology for
33:35good ends as on a zoom session as on a recording as in youtube videos
33:40on and on it goes so we are very much able as human people to use
33:45technology for the most evil ends there are including
33:52the needless slaughter of the unborn what we’re pulling together here men is
33:59we’re pulling together i think an appropriately textured picture and
34:05conception no pun intended of technology we need to think through technology with great care
34:12and i don’t think the bible enfranchises either a full denial of christians
34:18using technology employing it or a full embrace instead i think the bible calls us to a
34:25far more measured and thoughtful position we need to recognize along these lines
34:31that we can use technology for the best of means and ends but we also can use technology for the
34:38worst possible pursuits we think as well not simply of
34:44abortion today in terms of how we use technology to blaspheme god
34:50and harm human beings but pornography modern pornography is the result
34:57of a veritable industry of technology pornography today
35:03is available in myriad forms on innumerable platforms in about
35:10five seconds if you want to find it you can find it in about five seconds you can find
35:17images and videos of things that humanity has long wanted to
35:23contemplate but never could have accessed immediately at its fingertips but now
35:31thanks to growing digital technologies computer-based technologies of course
35:38pornography is basically available at any point in time that we could
35:44desire it any of us who have a smartphone any of us who carry one in our pocket
35:50are carrying at all times an on ramp to some of the most detestable and
35:57abominable sin there is imaginable if you’re going to have
36:03a smartphone if you’re going to use a tablet a computer you have your own set of matters to
36:10handle you have decisions before you i’m not going to say to you what is the one policy everybody should
36:17adopt but i will say that at the very least here is where we’re really starting to
36:23bump up against discipleship aren’t we at the very least you need to have a
36:29theology of your smartphone a theology of your devices more broadly don’t you
36:36you you need to be playing defense and offense to go back to my don’t be taken captive and take every
36:43thought captive well if we switch that a little bit out of uh the intellect ideology versus
36:50the truth and if we apply it that principle in a similar fashion i think we can we can find biblical texts to ground
36:56this surely but if we just use that framework for a minute we need to play defense and offense
37:01against lust don’t we every one of us not some of us
37:08every one of us especially men who on average have a much stronger drive sex drive and and drive to consume
37:16these kind of of of problems than women this is a problem for for men and women
37:21alike today let that be said and pornography usage rates are rising among women today studies are showing
37:27nonetheless at the very least every man who is in ministry or wants to be in ministry needs to be
37:33ready to play defense against lust and against pornography or against evil images and then also to
37:40play offense against it you should have a plan
37:45for how you’re going to use your smartphone you should have a plan for how you’re going to use your tablet and
37:50your computer you and i you and i know alike that it is very
37:56easy not simply to have temptation arise that is unasked and unbidden
38:01but actually to put ourselves in what we could call the neutral zone where maybe we’re not googling uh
38:08pornographic movies or something like this but we’re kind of we’re like that uh young man in proverbs
38:166 and 7. who who is not at home at night he’s not where he should be
38:25in other words is he now he hasn’t gone to a brothel in the context of that part of proverbs
38:32he hasn’t entered a den of iniquity straightforwardly but where is he
38:38he’s out in the streets it’s at night his father says that he should be home
38:46he’s not at home what’s he doing he’s wandering the streets but what’s he
38:52really doing it’s not just that temptation could pop up that happens to all of us
38:57unasked for unbidden it’s that he’s putting himself in a so-called hear the air quotes see them neutral
39:05zone where he’s not directly engaging wickedness
39:12but he’s at the very least putting himself in much closer proximity
39:17to it if you have a tablet a phone device like this
39:24it is not hard let’s put it this way it is not hard for you to wander those streets at night is it
39:33you you need all of this flows from a proper theology of technology i think especially given
39:40our the way our technological devices work today all this means you need to play defense
39:46and offense against your sin
39:51and i’ll say one further word here if you are enslaved to pornography
39:56which happens among young men in particular today you need to you need to pull over to the
40:02side of the road if you are addicted to lust you need to pull over to the side of the road
40:08you need to find a pastor at your church you need to talk to a godly elder
40:14and you should i believe step out for a season of pursuing the ministry
40:21and you should then enact very serious controls on your life
40:27things like not having a smartphone having a so-called dumb phone apologies to those forms of phones
40:35not having a smartphone not having a tablet or computer in your bedroom those sorts of things or wherever the
40:41temptation patterns arise not going to places that cause you to struggle on and on it goes
40:47but men men you and the men you lead should not content yourself with
40:53belonging to an accountability group and staying the way you are
40:59you you should pull off you should not pursue ministry for a season if you
41:04are addicted to these things and you should you should opt out i believe
41:10you may return i hope you do but you should opt out and you should not simply
41:15go to starbucks and tell peers your age
41:21how often you’re falling into patterns of lust and masturbation or whatever it may be
41:27you should seek accountability from elders and pastors
41:34and you should embrace stringent requirements upon yourself you and i
41:41have been many of us educated in a very so-called grace-driven context which
41:48in certain theological forms means that we just keep going back to our vomit over and
41:54over and over again and there’s no there’s no real cost
42:01there’s no change there’s no victory
42:07and and that is please understand me like a dog going back to its vomit over and over again and what you should
42:13do instead is you should recognize that grace drives holiness and holiness
42:22means action driven by desires for god not desires for sin and so you should
42:29embrace whatever is necessary to overcome temptation we’re all going to face
42:37temptation we all will fail we all will sin we all must repent every
42:43one of us on a regular basis i’m not talking about that though i’m talking about addiction
42:49which is rampant even in the church and which must be dealt with by
42:54something stronger than hanging out with your buddies and talking through
43:00how you’ve been tempted you need something much stronger than that you need drastic measures you need a
43:07zero tolerance policy against sin we all do we need a zero tolerance policy
43:13what does pornography do scientists have shown that pornography warps the brain it actually warps the
43:21brain you’re not just looking at bad images and thinking bad things viewing pornography william strothers
43:28writes in an intervarsity book is not an emotionally or physiological
43:33physiologically neutral experience excuse me it is fundamentally different from looking at black and white photos of the
43:40lincoln memorial or taking in a color map of the provinces of canada
43:45men in particular are reflexively drawn to the contents of pornographic material
43:51as such pornography has wide reaching effects to energize a man toward intimacy it is
43:58not a neutral stimulus william strothers writes his book is entitled wired for intimacy i encourage you to
44:04seek it out wired for intimacy it draws us in strothers writes porn is
44:11vicarious and voyeuristic at its core but it is also
44:16something more porn is a whispered promise
44:24it promises more sex better sex endless sex sex on demand
44:31more intense orgasms experiences strathers argues of transcendence
44:39if you wanted to say it simply you could say porn transcends the physical doesn’t it
44:46and it it verges into the spiritual sex does in general it’s not a mere physical act in a way
44:54frankly that is a little bit hard to pin down and define sex is spiritual it’s unitive
45:02it it brings us it brings us into some kind of form of
45:09transcendent experience at least briefly it’s a very
45:15strong human experience sexes and pornography is an approximation of
45:24verisimilitude of that it’s not neutral and it’s not
45:31merely physical struthers argues building off of studies of the brain that have been done
45:41on those who get addicted to pornography
45:46pornography struthers says is a poly drug that’s a technical term a poly drug
45:54p-o-l-y drug it’s effectively a cluster bomb on the
46:02brain of men it it it’s a takeover of the brain
46:10you’re not just looking at a little image it ramps up your emotions it’s hard to
46:16ex it’s hard to trace why but it is this we talked about how humanity
46:24is complex didn’t we we talked about how we don’t reduce to mere clumps of cells and atoms we’re not merely physicalist or materialist or
46:30naturalistic well this is one of those weird in-between places that we see that
46:36this is true because just viewing an image really shouldn’t do all of this but it does it has an
46:43explosive fire bombing effect on the male brain
46:49and and the male person in general it ramps up the emotions as i said
46:54it awakens the senses it energizes the body this is all what
47:02scientists show pornography does god is the one
47:09who wired the man to desire the woman there is no shame
47:17in godly sex and sexuality god has wired men to have explosive
47:24desire we talked about this already in the class but here is an example of how we see
47:30technology easily can warp us and change us and bring us out of the
47:37the normal rhythms of the world god has made and into unnatural rhythms technology will drive
47:45us into unnatural territory very quickly if we are not careful and that is a
47:51dangerous place to be that is not a pleasure palace as our society says it
47:57is to be driven into the realm of the unnatural the realm made by man not made by god
48:06is a very precarious place to be
48:20we have said already men and women alike who view pornography
48:26think that they are free but in truth they are enslaved
48:33this isn’t a class on you know improving your marriage or something like this but let it be said that
48:41sometimes even in the church we approach sex as if marriage is going to solve all
48:47our problems along the lines of lust and sexual desire and fulfillment and these sorts of of
48:55of matters and sex is a god-made reality pre-fall for god’s glory song of song
49:03shows us that that there’s beauty in it of course it’s the way the human race
49:08perpetuates itself there’s a lot to say in this discussion we said some things already earlier in the class
49:14but suffice it to say that god god wants us to inhabit the natural world
49:20doesn’t he and not the unnatural world
49:25you can put on a headset and enter virtual reality now and it’s it’s pretty it’s pretty
49:31powerful as an experience you can fire up your video games
49:37or on your computer and you can have a very immersive experience for hour after hour
49:45video gaming is such an engaging experience and i used to play
49:50video games when i was younger i know of what i speak that young men in different countries
49:56wear diapers when they play video games so that they literally do not have to stop
50:02even to go to the bathroom that’s telling you something about how
50:08immersive technology is what’s what is that saying that’s saying
50:13that the unnatural world has a major pull doesn’t it
50:20it will draw you in as far as you are willing to go and if we’re handling technology
50:27uncritically we can just promote it as good it’s good we’ve got aspirin out of technology we
50:32can make phone calls out of technology we can teach the bible on technology on
50:37and on it goes all that is true it is also true that you can live in unreality and you
50:44can embrace the unnatural world and when applied let’s say for example
50:50to marriage what technology through pornography will allow you to do
50:55is slip into a frictionless world where there are no challenges
51:06where you don’t have to actually engage a living wife where you don’t have to
51:13live with her in an understanding way you don’t have to live with pornography in an understanding way do you
51:19where where you don’t have to navigate the challenges of children
51:26and family and schedules and tiredness and changes to bodies post
51:32kids and all sorts of things and hardship and disease and struggle
51:39and lack of fulfillment and all the things that when you get into pastoral ministry you’re going to be appointed
51:46to deal with you may be dealing with now to walk people through listen marriage
51:51is a gift of god there’s tremendous good in it and blessing in it and and sex is
51:57incorporated into all of that but no area of life is untouched by the
52:03fall including this area including marriage and including even god-directed sex god-glorifying
52:11covenantal union but what you are doing you may not even know
52:17it what you are doing when you pursue unnatural sex is you’re leaving all those
52:22challenges and difficulties behind and those challenges and difficulties they’re not fun but they are part of
52:29your sanctification so what technology in different forms offer us
52:34is a frictionless existence a frictionless life you can go to war
52:42on your video game platform but you don’t bleed you can pursue a woman and get her
52:51and you don’t have to understand her and you don’t have to lay down your life for her
52:56in an ephesians 5 way you can have experiences and travel the
53:02world but you don’t have to do any heavy lifting you don’t have to save your money we could play this out further the point
53:08is playing god hasn’t made us to live in an unnatural world god wants us in a stubbornly natural existence
53:17it’s not an easy existence it’s not supposed to be it’s supposed to
53:24challenge us it’s supposed to be death to self
53:30it’s supposed to be tough it’s supposed to kill selfishness
53:38isn’t it striking how how much of the technology accessible to us enables us
53:45to be selfish when the entire gravity of the christian
53:52faith is directly counter to selfishness it is the mortification
54:02of selfishness but there’s addiction beyond sexual
54:07addiction there’s addiction to digital culture a rising field of study in our time
54:15it’s remarkable that in a context that is featuring far too
54:21much addiction to technology this pandemic and lockdown that has played
54:28out recently in our time has only made existence far more virtually connected
54:36if you’re paying attention to trends in the world you could almost read that you may well
54:41read that as a form of judgment upon our society
54:48that which is unhealthy for us we are now getting more and more of
54:56here’s what one researcher said about social media addiction
55:02technological addiction yes not only did smartphone use and depression
55:07increase in tandem together but time spent online as this researcher
55:15studied these issues was linked to mental health issues across two different data sets we found that
55:21teens who spent five or more hours a day online were 71 percent more likely than those
55:29who spent only one hour a day to have at least one suicide risk factor and those
55:34factors include depression thinking about suicide making a suicide plan or attempting
55:41suicide overall suicide risk factors rose significantly after
55:48two or more hours a day of time online this according to gene twenge in a washington post article based on a
55:55study published in clinical psychological science in 2018 a medical
56:01journal overall suicide risk factors rose significantly
56:10after two or more hours a day of time online
56:19that data point should get our attention
56:24this is not an a far-flung discussion that we’ve worked into this class on
56:29issues in biblical anthropology this is right here right now this is
56:34where people are this is what pastoral care is going to look like increasingly
56:41this is not the puritans generation we have the puritan’s theology in many senses and we need the puritan solutions
56:48to what ails us insofar as they drew on scripture but just note that this is a this really is a brave new world
56:55the children in the congregations you lead as god blesses and allows
57:00are going to be facing a deluge a flood of technological usage
57:08many schools now in our time in 2021 have done away with textbooks for example actual physical
57:14books that’s in schools kids don’t have a choice here they’re on ipads all the time
57:21they’re on computers all the time now again a lot of us use computers
57:28a lot i certainly do i use technology a great deal
57:33but my point is you have to have a proper theology of technology in order to use
57:40it well as a christian in order in order to not be mastered by it in order to not
57:47let it plunge you into sin and darkness and despair do not believe a theology of
57:54technology that simply reads it as neutral
57:59or positive in all respects it can be neutral it can be positive it is in many
58:05respects it also can destroy you scrolling on images
58:12studies show looking at lots of curated images of other people
58:19causes positive thinking rightly correlated understood to plummet
58:28there is an unnaturalness here let’s bring that concept back in
58:33to the digital world that has sharp effects on many people
58:40some of you have some of you have faced depressive thoughts some of you
58:47have probably contemplated dark things like suicide at different points because of
58:53technology if you haven’t please know for certain
58:59that people in your church have please know for certain that youth
59:06you minister to have and will
59:12these things are not far off from us probably you and i are more in that
59:18subset of humanity that still likes reading books a lot at least some of you i i’m very glad to
59:25be in the fellowship of theology nerds in that sense but but just know that if that’s true of you as
59:31i’m guessing it is for a good number of you that a lot of people are leading digital lives
59:36a lot of youth in particular are always on smartphones kids are getting smartphones
59:42before they’re 10 years old and almost nobody is thinking through these
59:47things and very few churches are teaching on these things and not just teaching in a broad
59:53sense very few pastors are offering wisdom and warning
1:00:00and guidance i’m not talking about fundamentalistic legalism i’m talking about
1:00:05pastors saying things like you should be very careful knowing what
1:00:11we know about these kind of stats about giving a child or even i would say a teen
1:00:18their own smartphone i wouldn’t do it personally and if i was a pastor i wouldn’t say
1:00:25this is the mark of being a christian or not so hear that hear me trying to be careful but i would
1:00:31encourage parents not to give their children smartphones
1:00:36i would encourage parents to strongly limit the amount of time on screens
1:00:42i’m not talking about having to be on screens for school or something like this that’s almost a necessity for many
1:00:49children now sadly sadly i am saying
1:00:54beyond whatever you have to do be careful encourage fathers and mothers to
1:01:00be very careful to limit screen time to shove kids out the front
1:01:05door and say go play play outside even if there’s just a small little area they have access to or if they if
1:01:12they walk across the street to a park walk with them as need be and i would say furthermore to fathers and mothers
1:01:19and adults you get off your phone you get off your devices
1:01:24get exercise be outside as much as you can it’s challenging in some respects i know today
1:01:31but get out as much as you can be off devices be off screens be in prayer be in
1:01:37meditation go for a walk and and and clear your mind
1:01:43get exercise you’re not a gnostic being only this sort of consumptive
1:01:50brain in the vat drinking in technology at all times god made you
1:01:55god made you an embodied soul treat yourself as if you are that
1:02:03bless yourself in a sense or or better said drink in god’s blessing by being out in
1:02:10the world god has made and again off your phone when you’re talking with your spouse
1:02:16don’t be on your phone when you’re spending time with your kids kick the phone across the room put it
1:02:24upstairs take action i don’t even know how this
1:02:31sounds to a seminary class i don’t know if this sounds like a weird tangent
1:02:36or like a sub theological area uh i don’t know how it sounds but
1:02:43this is the world we’re in and i don’t know how how many churches and ministry leaders
1:02:50are actually they’re using technology by the bushel but i don’t know how much they’re
1:02:56discipling people who are in a technological age
1:03:06and are drinking technology by the gallon in many cases
1:03:12unreflectively and un un spiritually not approaching
1:03:18technology spiritually
1:03:24maybe you or professors or pastors you have had maybe you you think this is kind of like
1:03:31us this is not really that spiritual i think this is this is this isn’t the way i i set up the board
1:03:38i i don’t i want to be i’m from maine man i’m from maine a bunch of my family
1:03:45members still don’t have smartphones it’s the green the green texts you know
1:03:50when you text them it’s not the blue texting you get what i’m saying
1:03:56a bunch of bunch of people i know back in new england still have rotary phones
1:04:03or corded phones that’s the new rotary phone
1:04:08i love getting out in nature but i know that people are swimming in
1:04:14this and i don’t know that we’re getting a lot of discipleship to handle
1:04:19this this brave new world well and i think this is part of why
1:04:25preaching is not simply proclamation right
1:04:30it better be proclamation it better be exposition but it also needs to be application and
1:04:38i’ll put myself on record here i think our application yes is going to dovetail with previous generations
1:04:43so we’re going to be giving application that spurgeon would give or edwards would give or calvin would give
1:04:51but we’re also i think going to give specific application that
1:04:56they would not have given i don’t think you and i should simply
1:05:02assume that if we say honor god with every minute you have in the day if that’s the
1:05:08the major immediate theological takeaway of the text before us which is a beautiful takeaway i don’t
1:05:14know that you should assume that everybody in your congregation is just magically going to apply that in a
1:05:20holistic comprehensive way to their devices and their digital engagement
1:05:27i think a lot of people are not
1:05:33so i think these matters need to be thought about let me pause quickly and sit and ask if
1:05:39there are any questions or even reflection at this point there doesn’t need to be i
1:05:45have plenty more to cover but jared
1:05:51yeah i’m glad you brought this up um it’s on my mind a couple days ago i had a guy on
1:05:56discipline in ministry uh he’s 18 so he’s not that much younger than me
1:06:02but there’s a clear like i don’t know generations the right word there’s a clear difference in between
1:06:08somebody my age and the amount of time that they would be in with a screen and then him
1:06:14and it actually caught my attention just as he was staying with me how much time he spent
1:06:20uh on social media or whatever and so i was i mean now that you’re bringing this up from thinking through like
1:06:27uh what do you think are appropriate or wise ways to talk about that with
1:06:32somebody like what what would be the alternative if they’re on social media two hours or five
1:06:37hours or whatever what should i challenge them to do instead i guess you said prayer and all those things yeah great question
1:06:44jared i think i would say oh man
1:06:51you guys can pick up probably that i’m a fairly bold individual and like yeah let’s get into the
1:06:57trenches and figure it out but here here i really do feel when i try to start engaging this
1:07:02as if we really are facing a kind of 40-foot wave
1:07:07and it’s like we got a little kids you know pink bucket and we’re and and so the odds are the
1:07:14bucket against the wave here especially with the younger generation in discipleship
1:07:21though i do think we have plenty of resources and i think what i’m going to try to communicate to this
1:07:26this young man is he needs to he needs to lead a full life in the world that god has made
1:07:34um he needs to be careful with social media um we want to be feeding our soul we
1:07:41want to be serving our church we want to be working our vocation
1:07:47we want to be growing our mind sharpening our mind
1:07:52we want to be getting exercise and caring for our body as the the vessel that the spirit
1:07:59indwells we want to love our neighbor and share the gospel with our we have a lot to do
1:08:07and so i think i i think if you lay out for him even if it’s not a direct assault on his
1:08:13technological investment you could do that too but um you also you can do you can challenge
1:08:19him but you also can simply lay out i think we need to lay out for people that the life dwindled on devices is
1:08:27not a fully god-centered life
1:08:32i mean you guys know what i mean look we all spend time i’m guessing online and websites and i don’t know sports or
1:08:40our interests or hobbies but after a certain amount of engagement it it really
1:08:45dwindles in quality and you’re you’re just sort of i think i think i saw somebody call it the other
1:08:50day doom scrolling you’re sort of like you’re sort of half depressed so you fire up twitter and
1:08:57like look at what what does that produce does that produce a veritable
1:09:03overflowing fountain of of you know sort of overturned joy
1:09:08unto god no it produces it produces just this malaise and
1:09:14ickiness at least for me when i’m on it too much so i just i want to be a voice to myself
1:09:22because we all stumble in many ways me included of again you heard me say it like
1:09:28viscerally getting off devices you know what i do
1:09:33increasingly i just turn my phone off
1:09:38just turn it off and then i go live life with my family
1:09:48and you you guys some of you guys know this turning your phone off now feels like a radical act
1:09:56like can i do that am i allowed to do that but we need to take those kind of
1:10:02drastic actions i think it’s not even that drastic maybe we shouldn’t have a phone i don’t know maybe you should have a dumb phone
1:10:09i’m i’m open to different things i have a smartphone but if i’m going to have a smartphone here’s
1:10:14a deal okay i’m going to i’m going to play defense and offense
1:10:22different people are in different places right i’m not setting up one policy and one policy alone here in
1:10:28what i’m saying but i am i am playing defense and offense and part of how you do that is you
1:10:34embrace your god-given callings in life and they do not involve you being
1:10:40perpetually distracted because you’re scrolling stupidly on your social media
1:10:47it involves a lot of the time i think at the very least putting my phone aside
1:10:53and then having time to read jared having time to pray having time to go on a walk having time
1:11:00to run having time to lift weights having time to serve the church in different ministries
1:11:05uh having time to read a deep theology book for an hour not read here again not reading a book
1:11:13and checking twitter every four and a half minutes not reading a book and even tweeting a quote from the book
1:11:19or putting it on instagram just reading a book just read the book even that’s a radical
1:11:26act now reading a book for an hour for some of us feels like an olympic mental exercise
1:11:33why because frankly guys we’re drenched in technology it’s too much
1:11:39most people are not in too little technology a lot of us are in too much of it
1:11:46and we need to we need to take defensive and offensive steps away from it
1:11:52sorry i’m going on here but the core of this is medita is is reading scripture
1:11:57and praying i believe in your devotional time
1:12:05put certainly then at the least put your phone away by all means
1:12:16we need more rigor many of us we’re not talking about legalism we’re
1:12:22talking about grace driven holiness we need more rigor we need more rules for ourselves
1:12:28we do it may not be rules that other people need to keep we need rules for ourselves i do
1:12:36okay i’ll stop i’ll stop the uh
1:12:41the jag here uh i’m gonna go to read and then steve and then ben
1:12:49well first i reed want to say thanks for all that you said i think it’s just been helpful to think through and i
1:12:54honestly uh doing youth ministry had more and more parents asking about technology
1:13:00um and what to do with that so you gave a lot to think about with that the question i had i’ve had
1:13:06some parents asking for resources um on just technology and thinking through
1:13:13that and from like a level of apparent not necessarily on the theological level but just
1:13:18one that a parent could read and digest and think do you have any resources that you would suggest um just on everything you’ve
1:13:26been talking about yes um andy crouch who i wouldn’t agree
1:13:32with on every issue might be a little different kind of footing in the kingdom but
1:13:38um he has written some good stuff on devices and parenting i’m
1:13:44here i am on my smartphone um so that’s great i’m just looking up the title my wife
1:13:50and i read some of this together the techwise family i’d commend that i think that’s a good
1:13:56book helpful book not in a christian sense but um cal newport
1:14:03some of you have heard this name i think i commended deep the book deep work to you the other day
1:14:08uh cal newport has written a book called digital minimalism that is excellent it’s not going to be a
1:14:15deep dive into theology obviously but it is really good in terms of practices
1:14:21and i would also say deep work here again because so much of what
1:14:28we’re we’re talking about as a problem here is shallowness okay even a
1:14:35bigger issue i think we could say than technology the zoomed out issue before us
1:14:40that we’re grappling with and facing is shallowness living in an entertained like the
1:14:48postman quote at the beginning of class at the beginning of this section living in entertained shallow surfing
1:14:56little life and so newport’s book on deep work
1:15:05calls for us not to do shallow work it’s in the it’s in the area of work so he’s saying
1:15:11don’t don’t multitask basically stop multitasking everybody
1:15:17prides themselves on multitasking he’s basically the anti-multitasker he’s
1:15:22saying do one task and not just for 11 minutes and then pat yourself on the back
1:15:28do one task for three hours newport’s argument is that our attention
1:15:34is our most valuable commodity here again not a christian but this this
1:15:40would be a contact point i think honestly with what the bible teaches
1:15:46you can find this biblically if you go looking for it our attention is really our most
1:15:52valuable commodity what does god want what is god after what is worship involved
1:15:58it’s not shallow it’s not distracted it’s not half-hearted it’s our attention it’s our attention
1:16:06but what do what do so much of our technological programs and systems devices do
1:16:15divide our attention split it carve it up into little bitty pieces
1:16:22so from different angles newport’s work will help us i think um recover a proper christian
1:16:30because we’ll we’ll we’ll bring theology we’ll see this we’ll see this not as an
1:16:36insight of a georgetown university professor who wrote these books it’ll actually drive us to see oh
1:16:41wait the bible is making the case that i should pay attention to god what is the shema you you can get this
1:16:49gets theological in about 0.1 seconds what is the shema hear o israel
1:16:57what what is israel’s problem so frequently in the old testament what are they not doing paying attention
1:17:05what is our problem so frequently as christians it’s not most of us that we’ve like got
1:17:13carving knives and we’re about to go hunt somebody down and kill them in cold blood occasionally a
1:17:19problem maybe a much more common problem for most of us would simply be paying attention so
1:17:28those are some those are some quick thoughts uh
1:17:35tony reinke of desiring god has written a book i believe it’s called
1:17:4112 ways your smartphone is changing you or iphone is changing you something like that tony reinke r-e-i-n-k-e i’m sure
1:17:49you’ve heard that but that’s a strong book too so anyway good good question and good
1:17:56thoughts ben yeah
1:18:14do you think that social media is helpful in shepherding your local flock or does
1:18:21it hurt relationships in terms of
1:18:26feeling like you’re engaging with them but you’re really not and then also does it hurt the church at
1:18:33large in terms of unity and what are your thoughts of social media to pastor i think that social media is
1:18:41kind of a digital version of life
1:18:46so insofar as we as christian ministers seek to proclaim
1:18:53and contend for the faith in real life human interaction
1:19:00so i think we can use social media to do that so that’s my take i don’t i’m not one
1:19:07who says pastors don’t be on social media as some kind of edict but for some of the reasons you
1:19:14mentioned in your in your perceptive question i would urge pastors especially to be
1:19:21careful on social media and to model james one excuse me 19 to
1:19:2720 to model being slow to speak being slow to anger being quick to
1:19:35listen and i would want pastors to understand
1:19:40that they really need to bring the fruits of the spirit to bear in that con
1:19:45context excuse me let’s say of twitter where the fruits of the spirit are not always carrying the day
1:19:53shall we say but i i think christians have an opportunity on social media as frankly in tons of
1:20:01places in life to stand out to be distinct
1:20:07to be a witness so i’m glad for christians to be on social media i’m on social media i’m on instagram
1:20:13i’m on facebook i’m on twitter but i i have to bring my christianity with me
1:20:21to social media and i need to pray
1:20:28hard to be a leader on social media and i think for most
1:20:35pastors that is going to mean not a lot of social media engagement frankly
1:20:42so pastors who say you know i think i’m going to be on it okay i’m personally fine with that i mean i’m even
1:20:48good with that in terms of having men who promote sound doctrine on these different platforms good but
1:20:56do so carefully do so humbly and do so sparingly
1:21:07that’s what i would say a pastor who’s on and you see this i see this you see this
1:21:14you see pastors who are tweeting 25 times a day 15 times a day and you’re just like
1:21:22what are you doing do you you have a fair amount i know your church
1:21:28you have a fair amount to do so those are some of the things i would
1:21:34say no christian should let social media i think dominate their existence some some
1:21:41believers may work for companies as you know social media coordinator or whatever so so we have
1:21:46some play here but we should not let social media dominate our existence
1:21:53we shouldn’t we should approach it carefully circumspectly humbly and i think as much
1:22:00as is possible sparingly people in our churches are going to have tech jobs
1:22:06so let that be said but even those people were trying to train in those rhythms
1:22:14i don’t think this is going to get easier by the way i think this is going to get harder
1:22:20i think i think you guys you guys are the next generation by and large like i think you
1:22:26guys need to get equipped on this and i think you guys need to enter your your pastorate if you haven’t already
1:22:32with a developed theology of technology and i think you need to be ready to do sunday school classes or equipping
1:22:40sessions on friday night or or or um three-part series in the fall
1:22:46or sermon series i think you need to be ready to to really dig into this with people
1:22:54and i do not think you should give once every six months a stray remark
1:23:00you know kind of a quick aside brush off of facebook or something i mean i get it these platforms frankly
1:23:07are kind of silly twitter’s kind of silly facebook is kind of silly instagram etc but people are on them
1:23:14so more than just brushing it off as if that makes it go away you need to
1:23:20shape people’s engagement of it do a six-part series on technology a
1:23:28sermon series do a three-part series do a 10-part equipping class whatever
1:23:34your church has on technology and it it’s not it’s not you know
1:23:40just your stray thoughts it’s a it’s it’s a biblical engagement of it
1:23:46think it through any uh uh steve did you have your
1:23:53virtual hand up a minute ago i did
1:24:00a little bit of um maybe guidance i’ve got kids in basically every age range and so
1:24:07um you you did suggest a couple of books that look helpful um one of the things was asking about
1:24:15specifically as you mentioned not you know you’re not being comfortable giving your kids uh
1:24:20smartphones when they’re you know even in high school um and it was just one of the things
1:24:28i’ve noticed with in the church specifically is you know once kids have to have the
1:24:35freedom to do something and they haven’t been taught how to engage uniquely with with technology or
1:24:42really really anything they kind of have a tendency to go off the rails i was wondering maybe generally if you had any wisdom to
1:24:48shed on that problem i think you’re right steve i think you
1:24:53cannot put the water back in the dam once it breaks
1:24:59so you’re you’re picking up rightly that thread that i was just giving
1:25:04i’m holding back water not because it’s all evil not because i i think my my kids my
1:25:10three children won’t use technology i think they will they they are now
1:25:16in different forms they do watch shows on the ipad you know we do watch tv they use the computer in
1:25:23certain forms very very carefully and the computer is right in the middle of the house for us but
1:25:31i’m not raising ah technological children but i am holding back a lot
1:25:38and that’s part of what a dad does by the way father does i’m not setting this up as if the woman
1:25:43the wife just is always saying yes i don’t mean that but part of what we do as fathers for
1:25:49example is is we say no we are a
1:25:55we are a sturdy demonstration uh of hopefully godly
1:26:02loving authority and part of that in in a world that is fallen is saying
1:26:10no and and not doing certain things and holding things back as much as we
1:26:15can now don’t misunderstand this isn’t a legalistic understanding of fatherhood or
1:26:21or parenting where the parenting task is reduced to no and not being cultural
1:26:28in any form that’s that’s not where i am i think i made that clear
1:26:33but there are a lot of things to say no to so there there is a no in the strand home
1:26:40unapologetic and unqualified to to smartphones being possessed by any of the strand children
1:26:46until they are in college that’s that’s my current framing of the policy i see no reason why it will change
1:26:54and so if i’m a pastor if i’m an elder i’m just conveying that i’m giving
1:26:59reasons why i’m making the case but i want to embrace technology
1:27:05increasingly only with great care because it does have that tendency it’s
1:27:11hard to pin down why but it has that tendency once it’s in to reshape
1:27:17to take over its environment it’s hard to be it’s hard to be uh balanced with
1:27:23technology it’s hard to play video games for 36 minutes a day
1:27:31it’s kind of like preaching long versus preaching short
1:27:37it’s easy to preach long isn’t it as you get older oh i didn’t have time to cut that sermon
1:27:44down hard it’s hard to engage technology short
1:27:50it’s hard to play video games for 13 and a half minutes it’s hard to watch basketball for for 17 minutes it’s easy to watch it
1:27:57for three hours why why strand i have no idea
1:28:04the nature of the beast so i think we approach these things as fathers and mothers from a posture of
1:28:12carefulness and that means that we’re weird
1:28:18to a serious degree in our community and then also to some degree for for a lot of us even in our church
1:28:27we’re weird not just as fathers and mothers we ourselves are weird
1:28:32some of us already pre-qualify for that but the way we structure our life is
1:28:37intentionally spiritual it is intentionally god-centered
1:28:43it is intentionally biblical as much as we can get it there
1:28:48well congratulations welcome to the world of weirdness
1:28:54it’s not having kids over and watching movies at the stran house you know cultural movies uh we’re not
1:29:01we’re we’re going to be very careful about that my kids do watch movies to be clear uh
1:29:06occasionally but we’re not my what i mean is we’re not going to just we’re not just going to bring friends
1:29:12over and entertain them with whatever the culture is watching and likes
1:29:18we’re going to stand out here it’s going to be hard we’re going to make hard choices we’re going to try to protect our kids
1:29:23as much as we can we can’t make them christians we can’t unfallenize the world as a father and mother bethany and i
1:29:30cannot do that but we’re going to work very hard to protect i am the protector of my wife and i am
1:29:37the protector of my three children and i take that deadly seriously
1:29:43and i take it seriously not just in the physical sense i take it seriously in all senses including the digital
1:29:49sense there’s a lot more to flesh out no pun intended but uh
1:29:56that’s at least a quick word all right home stretch here we go let’s
1:30:03talk about technology in the bible the bible begins with the doctrine of creation
1:30:09so the doctrine of creation is not purely technological i suppose
1:30:17but note where we are already and what i just said what does god do how does the bible
1:30:23introduce us to god it doesn’t introduce god with a lengthy section on his attributes it doesn’t give us an
1:30:30encyclopedia article on the inner workings of the godhead the bible begins with
1:30:35the doctrine of divine creation the bible begins with an acting god
1:30:42a god who is doing dynamic work and what does he do specifically he
1:30:48creates a world that is teeming with life
1:30:56god creates as many of you have heard ex nihilo from the latin from nothing
1:31:04that tells us something about the the nature and character of god he loves life he
1:31:11wanted there to be a world a world that would be intimately bound up with him not
1:31:18such that it is part of him or he is part of it of course not that he is dependent on it in any
1:31:23way he is perfectly free and yet he decided that he would put his
1:31:29glory on display the father planned all these things ephesians 1 3 to 14 as i’m going to be talking about
1:31:36to the csun student ministry this afternoon this evening that is at about seven i
1:31:42think we preaching this the father decided that the world would exist in order that there would be a people
1:31:48for himself saved by the blood of his son through faith in the name of the son
1:31:54god decided that we’re not dealing therefore in biblical terms with an abstract god
1:32:01who fundamentally doesn’t really care whether there is a world that exists
1:32:08god decided there would be a world he created the world out of his magnificent infinite freedom
1:32:15in order to put his glory on display i am edwardian in that sense in many senses including that one that the reason all
1:32:21things exist the purpose the end for which god created the world was the display of his own glory
1:32:27therefore the reason we who follow god by his grace do anything is not first and foremost to get people
1:32:33saved or to grow a church numerically or something like that the reason we do
1:32:39anything is for the glory of god that’s the first reason we do things
1:32:45rick holland my pastor in kansas city preached a great sermon on being a father and a mother
1:32:50and that was his first point in being a father and mother it’s not actually to get your children saved it’s not to make them a christian it’s not
1:32:56it’s not first and foremost that they would be a disciple of the lord jesus christ the first end in being a father and
1:33:02mother in parenting is to glorify god
1:33:08the first end in being a pastor is not to grow a church it’s to glorify god the first end in
1:33:15being an individual christian as you surely are is to glorify god
1:33:20that’s the ultimate end of all things that’s why god created and what god creates on the sixth day is
1:33:28the human person as we have talked about and the human body is truly a wonder
1:33:34if you want to use this term of technology isn’t it the body of mankind is not really just
1:33:41one supercomputer it’s many supercomputers working together often seamlessly not always
1:33:47of course in a fallen world tragically in order to flourish in order for the
1:33:53human person to exist the body is truly a marvel a
1:33:58feat of making of creation here is what michael behe has said for
1:34:03example about how we see the biochemistry of vision he calls it
1:34:11when light first strikes the retina a photon interacts with a molecule called 11-cis
1:34:18retinal which rearranges within picoseconds to trans-retinal
1:34:23the change in the shape of retinal forces a change in the shape of the protein rhodopsin
1:34:29to which the retinal is tightly bound he continues a little bit further when attached to
1:34:34activated rhodopsin in its entourage the phosphodiesterase acquires the
1:34:40ability to chemically cut a molecule called cgmp another
1:34:46membrane protein that binds cgmp is called an ion channel when the amount of cgmp is
1:34:52reduced because of cleavage by the phosphodiesterase the ion channel closes causing the
1:34:58cellular concentration of positively charged sodium ions to be reduced i know you were just thinking that to yourself
1:35:03of course that’s what happens this causes an imbalance of charge across the cell membrane which finally
1:35:09causes a current to be transmitted down the optic nerve to the brain the result when interpreted
1:35:15by the brain is vision
1:35:20and that was a greatly reduced summary which i read to you of how we see
1:35:27you seeing me right now on your screen involved all of that light
1:35:34first striking your retina and then a photon interacting with 11 cis retinal
1:35:41and then there were 13 other steps to follow what’s what’s the point the point is
1:35:48that something so simple as seeing my face on your screen
1:35:53poor you involves extreme complexity
1:36:00extreme complexity and god hardwired all of this i read that
1:36:08because we take for granted so much that god has done we we are such uninterested creatures
1:36:16really and ungrateful creatures frankly in our natural state and yet look at what has to happen in
1:36:24order for us simply to see an image all of that
1:36:29how does god design the human body well he designs man and woman so that they can come
1:36:35together in sexual union procreate and then the woman and the woman alone of course
1:36:40can nurture and then bear a child in her womb that’s not technically technology i
1:36:47suppose but nonetheless do not miss the wonder of of human procreation
1:36:56no one activates that process in terms of like the formation of the
1:37:02child i mean you don’t have a prompt right that comes up and you choose uh
1:37:07when this body part is going to be developed in the bait by it in the baby’s body in the womb no one
1:37:13makes those decisions god hardwires the body so that all this happens
1:37:19well this is giving us something of a theology of of these matters isn’t it it’s telling
1:37:25us something about creation the human person and if you’re being careful in your
1:37:31terms technology
1:37:39in genesis 11 we see mankind tragically not using the human body
1:37:46for good but actually working in technological avenues for the
1:37:52glorification of man genesis 11 1 the whole earth had the
1:37:57same language and vocabulary as people migrated from the east they found a valley in the land of shinar and
1:38:03settled there they said to each other come let us make oven-fired bricks and by the way parenthesis that
1:38:10means that they use brick for stone and asphalt for mortar they said come let us build ourselves a
1:38:16city in a tower with its top in the sky let us make a name for ourselves
1:38:21otherwise we will be scattered throughout the earth here’s what john walton says in his
1:38:28commentary about this passage mud brick is not durable so it was a
1:38:34great technological development to discover that baking the brick made it as durable as stone
1:38:40this was still an expensive process since the kilns had to be fueled as a result mud brick
1:38:46was used as much as possible with baked brick used only for outer shells of important buildings or where
1:38:52waterproofing was desirable you and i read genesis 11 when we think what an ancient world making oven-fired bricks
1:39:00as this major technological feat that actually was a very expensive and intricate
1:39:06technological process if you pay attention in scripture
1:39:11there’s there’s a lot of technology beneath the surface including in genesis 11. of course we know sadly that what is
1:39:19not transpiring here is the worship of the living god thankfulness to god in fact this tower
1:39:24in babel is being built to blaspheme god by exalting human ingenuity human making
1:39:31the people wanted as i read a name for themselves they and they were using scientific and
1:39:38technological means to get there they were sinning against god through
1:39:43this technological advancement so there technology facilitated
1:39:49evil the bible’s telling you something this is a multi-faceted chapter and event but one thing we are
1:39:58learning if we are paying attention is that technology can easily facilitate
1:40:03evil in a fallen world now interestingly going back for just a
1:40:10minute the call to take dominion would tell us that it’s not it cannot necessarily be wrong
1:40:18to bring technological means to steward god’s creation that can’t be
1:40:25wrong what are what was adam supposed to do take dominion of the earth and subdue
1:40:32the earth well that’s going to involve all sorts of human creativity isn’t it in back in
1:40:39genesis 1 26-28 so if we’re working carefully here building
1:40:46text upon text unto systematic theology then we need to understand
1:40:51that the scripture in the pre-fall world has not said that taking dominion of the world is an
1:40:57evil thing it’s a good thing to take dominion of the world which is going to involve processes of ingenuity creativity and
1:41:04technology but those same abilities and proclivities can easily go wrong
1:41:13in a post-genesis 3 world as they do in babel
1:41:20what did the people want to build they wanted to build a city and a tower the tower was to be a beacon
1:41:28of humanly transcendence instead of a majestic structure that
1:41:34pointed to heaven to lift people to heaven it seems clear that
1:41:40this structure was pointed downward not at the greatness of god but at the
1:41:45greatness of man and that still takes place in our world
1:41:51think of skyscrapers but not just physical structures of course but skyscrapers are one example
1:41:56well cathedrals point us to god or at least supposed to in different forms
1:42:02some skyscrapers are supposed to be a monument not to what is above to what is below to mankind
1:42:12babel then is an early shot across the bow in the biblical storyline that warns us
1:42:17to be very careful of our capacities for creation for creativity steward
1:42:25this carefully is one lesson god is saying to us do not use
1:42:33technology for pride prideful means to make yourself great
1:42:40a temptation that is not only found in physical building of structures but is
1:42:46found in all dimensions of life i mean we think about how we all have to steward ambition for
1:42:52example we have to steward spiritual ambition and not fall into selfish ambition
1:42:59that’s not an easy reality to adjudicate in certain cases we need to be careful even today in those regards
1:43:07but of course that’s not the only picture of craftsmanship and making that we have in exodus 31 moving ahead in the
1:43:15biblical narrative the lord specially indicates his blessing on bezel-l
1:43:21the craftsman exodus 31 verse 3.
1:43:28we learn that bezel l is filled with god’s spirit with wisdom understanding and ability in
1:43:36every craft to design artistic works in gold silver and bronze to cut gemstones for mounting
1:43:45and to carve wood for work in every craft
1:43:55here is clearly god blessing no less than sending his spirit not upon
1:44:02a king not upon a judge or a priest on who
1:44:08a craftsman a physical worker
1:44:15designing the tabernacle building it the physical structure of it
1:44:24the spirit came upon bezel-l in order that he would build something
1:44:29beautiful to god design artistic works the bible says the bible is not down on art the bible
1:44:36is not down on beauty the bible is not down on craftsmanship and creativity the bible is not down on vocations that
1:44:44are that are non-ministerial the spirit came upon bezel-l so that he
1:44:50would carve wood for work isn’t that beautiful you understand how
1:44:56significant that is for our understanding i’m getting into tomorrow’s lesson but
1:45:02our understanding of vocation look we have a high calling i think the
1:45:08highest calling in christian ministry not not proudly but for god’s glory nonetheless do not miss
1:45:18that god highly esteems other vocations outside of the priesthood in the old
1:45:24testament context for example god blessed bezel l in order
1:45:30to be seriously creative and to work really hard and for a long
1:45:36time to do things like cut gemstones well i think if you frame this rightly
1:45:43package it accurately you’re recognizing that essentially boiling it down god blesses bezel l’s
1:45:52technological craftsmanship to make something that didn’t exist
1:45:58for the worship of the living god so too with o holy app and the faithful designers who labor on
1:46:05the tabernacle they create an ark a pure gold lamp stand multiple altars specially woven garments
1:46:14on and on it goes they create a ton of things look it takes technology to make a pure
1:46:21gold lamp stand you have to do a number of processes you
1:46:27don’t just you know go into the old testament hobby lobby and come out with a
1:46:33pure gold lamp stand somebody has to build that somebody has to make that now
1:46:40interestingly one chapter over from this clearly divinely blessed
1:46:45craftsmanship and vocation that involves numerous technological processes what does aaron do
1:46:52in exodus 32 aaron forms un idol
1:47:01a golden calf how did aaron do it
1:47:08the details of the bible are so compelling aren’t they when you actually look for them you’re
1:47:15at a school that encourages you to look for them exegetically expositionally praise god as does mine
1:47:21costum burgers at my school others of that nature deroshi some of you may come to
1:47:27midwestern to do a phd even along those lines well look at exodus 32
1:47:334 what is aaron how does aaron form the idol through an engraving tool
1:47:38do you think you go to a tree and pluck an engraving tool off of it no somebody has to make
1:47:44that how do you make it technologically man
1:47:50and then what do you do with it aaron makes a golden calf he doesn’t go into the storehouse
1:47:55facility and come out with the golden calf he makes it he engraves it
1:48:01he shapes it he forms it wow that’s really interesting
1:48:08we’ve got within the span of two chapters godly holy craftsmanship and blasphemous
1:48:15idolatrous craftsmanship you see the contrast i wonder you know honestly if we’re
1:48:21supposed to pick that up as we’re paying attention paying attention to the bible
1:48:30the construction of the the construction of the golden calf is the mirror opposite
1:48:36of the construction of the tabernacle both involve craftsmanship
1:48:42the construction of the tabernacle going back just a quick minute required spinners weavers tailors dyers metal
1:48:49ager metallurgists workers with iron silversmiths woodworkers lapidaries
1:48:54perfumers tanners it’s a lot of technology there sadly
1:49:02the formation of the golden calf probably brought into play a lot of
1:49:08those same skills and workers you understand
1:49:13so one one group is led by bezel l and others into godly
1:49:19use of human creative abilities and another group is led to use their
1:49:27capacities to blaspheme god if we’re paying attention i think
1:49:35scripture is giving us a theology of technology a complex one
1:49:43what about the new testament the greatest anthropological miracle that has ever
1:49:48happened in human history is the coming of christ to earth as a man to die for our sins
1:49:59isn’t that interesting as gifted as humankind is
1:50:07the greatest miracle that happens does not happen because of anything man does or plans
1:50:13but happens because of the initiation of almighty god
1:50:19in a world that obsesses over and idolizes technology
1:50:24the greatest thing that has happened is nothing no human mind has ever done or called for it is only that which god
1:50:31has done this divine intrusion through the incarnation of jesus christ
1:50:39there’s a rebuke there if you’re paying attention to a man-centered anthropology
1:50:47jesus is the true miracle not any device not any platform and jesus is that which
1:50:55should draw our interest more than anything else
1:51:02interestingly jesus was a carpenter as you will know jesus worked a
1:51:10technological trade in a rudimentary form didn’t he jesus built structures with his hands jesus created
1:51:18something physically that did not exist
1:51:24even as god the father has executed creation through the sun
1:51:30the spirit hovering over the waters in genesis 1 correlating that with john 1.
1:51:36even as god has built the world what does jesus do in his earthly vocation he builds structures
1:51:45when he enters his earthly ministry jesus the carpenter made frequent references to the material
1:51:53world much of it existing due to human technology we probably miss these at least from
1:52:00this technological angle but jesus spoke of several things for example cities and lamps
1:52:07matthew 5 14-16 he spoke of houses built on different
1:52:14foundations jesus built houses he’s a carpenter matthew 7
1:52:2124-27 he spoke of city gates matthew 7 13-14
1:52:30he referenced fishing nets matthew 13 47 to 50. oil lamps
1:52:38matthew 25 1-13 investing money activity dependent on
1:52:46market exchange matthew 25 14 to 30.
1:52:51there’s a little bit more here than we thought wasn’t there in terms of technology this is this is compelling
1:53:01everything i just mentioned involves building and creativity and craftsmanship and making
1:53:07and in different forms the use of technology many of jesus teachings are situated
1:53:13therefore in engagement with the technology of his
1:53:18day he’s not teaching some sort of
1:53:23non-contextual doctrine is he no he’s actually referencing frequently
1:53:32the material culture and built environment of his world
1:53:37don’t take my word for granted study it search it out cities lamps houses
1:53:44fishing nets oil lamps gates that’s just a sampling i’m sure there’s more
1:53:54interestingly the lord’s supper depends upon technological processes
1:54:01matthew 26 26 and following as they were eating jesus took bread
1:54:07bread blessed and broke it gave it to the disciples and said take and eat it this
1:54:13is my body then he took a cup cup and after giving thanks he gave it to them and said
1:54:18drink from it all of you for this is my blood of the covenant which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins but i tell you i
1:54:25will not drink from this fruit of the vine from now on until the day when i drink it new with you
1:54:31in my father’s kingdom after singing a hymn they went out to the mount of olives i
1:54:37would guess that a lot of christians have never thought of the lord’s supper in association with technological
1:54:44craftsmanship but think about this a meal that memorializes the very
1:54:52epicenter of our salvation the accomplishment of our redemption
1:54:58depends on bread making and grape
1:55:04pressing the formation of bread and the making of wine
1:55:14in order to celebrate the atoning work of jesus following his death
1:55:19the church needed access to those who could harvest wheat mill it create the right dough
1:55:26mixture and bake it in order to take the cup someone had to
1:55:34grow grapes which is no easy thing harvest them
1:55:39crush them and ferment them guys we don’t pay attention to the word
1:55:46of god we don’t think these things through when we read these things especially if we’ve been in the church for a long time
1:55:53you don’t just get bread and wine you don’t go out and it’s it’s there on a table right
1:55:59technology has to be engaged at a very ingenious level
1:56:04in order to get the lord’s supper
1:56:10no i’m not trying to overdo this i’m not trying to make the bible a technology textbook or something
1:56:18but i i am trying to think about even the subterranean level of our faith
1:56:26and see that there’s actually a lot here to think through
1:56:33with regard to pulling together a whole bible doctrine of technology i don’t think this whole bible doctrine
1:56:40reduces neatly to only one reality but i do think there’s a lot here think about think about the
1:56:48transmission of scripture we tend to think of the first century
1:56:54world is a kind of ancient world almost prehistoric yes the
1:56:59inscripturation of the bible transpired through a technical process
1:57:06a very material process
1:57:12the holy spirit of course speaks through the human authors and to record
1:57:18divine revelation the biblical author takes a stylus or a quill which doesn’t grow on trees it has to be
1:57:25fashioned and then takes parchment which again doesn’t fall out of the air
1:57:31has to be formed and then the original manuscripts are transcribed
1:57:37and then they’re copied and passed on eventually centuries later they’ll be
1:57:43bound and more centuries after that in the
1:57:4815th century poor gutenberg will go into debt that he
1:57:53never recovers from even into the 16th century and will
1:58:00print the works of luther and others now we’re extra biblical of course just to make that plain
1:58:06suffice it to say that the christian faith advances massively how
1:58:14technology even go back for a minute the early church takes the gospel
1:58:22to jerusalem judea samaria to the other ends of the earth right
1:58:28what does that involve how did they do that did they just walk wherever they wanted
1:58:33to go frequently they traveled on what
1:58:38roman roads and in terms of the sea roman ships
1:58:47do those emerge from the skies fully formed no no they don’t
1:59:02a proper theology of technology as we wrap up today neither unreservedly cheers it
1:59:10nor unequivocally denounces it as i seek to be faithful
1:59:16to these different biblical realities these details really in a lot of cases
1:59:21that actually i think speak more loudly than we might think they do
1:59:30it should definitely be the case instead that we exercise real scrutiny
1:59:37when it comes to technological claims at the worldview level
1:59:44and that we exercise scrutiny when it comes to the actual processes we undergo
1:59:51the bible said more simply is teaching us that there are limits in what we should
1:59:58do in terms of technology we talked about that most significantly of course with babel
2:00:04do not assume because human beings are doing it and building it that it is good
2:00:09and god honoring do not assume because it engages human creativity and ingenuity
2:00:16that it honors god would be one major takeaway of a
2:00:21biblical theology of technology do not assume that
2:00:28in fact what is being developed along these lines may be intentionally designed
2:00:35to blaspheme god well we need to think that through on
2:00:41the other hand do not dismiss technology you wouldn’t have the lord’s supper
2:00:48without technological processes to cite just one example
2:00:55so i think we can recognize that there is a proper stewardship of technology that we need
2:01:00to make disciples better understand by divine grace we need to communicate that
2:01:09we’re going to avail ourselves of technology in all sorts of ways
2:01:14as human beings men and women in this world in the god-made world what did god do when he wanted to put his glory on
2:01:22display going back to the very beginning of this little unit he made a
2:01:28world he embodied humanity
2:01:36don’t need to pretend that we are disembodied beings for we are not
2:01:45but what does the what does the end vision of the new jerusalem look like in
2:01:52revelation 21. we’ll close with this
2:01:58for today revelation 21 19 the foundations of the city wall were
2:02:04adorned with every kind of precious stone the first foundation jasper the second
2:02:09sapphire the third calcidon the fourth emerald the fifth sardonyx the sixth carnelian
2:02:16the seventh chrysolite the eighth barrel the ninth topaz
2:02:21the tenth chrisopreys the eleventh jasonth the twelfth amazon the twelve gates
2:02:28are twelve pearls each individual gate was made of a single pearl the broad
2:02:34street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass
2:02:39what’s the point the point is that at the end of all things in the eternal
2:02:46state this city is gloriously beautiful
2:02:51that the same god who made the world who created the world has now created a new world where we
2:02:57dwell together with god in perfect love and in perfect harmony in fact he has remade the world to undo the curse
2:03:07and to truly beautify it god then is the original
2:03:13and god is the recreator theologically that’s a key part of what we understand
2:03:21biblically of god all of this tells us then that we are in no position
2:03:30to despise technology to dismiss it but we must steward it carefully
2:03:37we must seek as we talked about some in the q a in particular to honor god through technological means
2:03:45we do not want to participate in the usage of technology that blasphemes god and dishonors him
2:03:52and it is not hard at all for that to happen and we must recognize that many around us today
2:03:59are not just engaging technology too much that’s a real problem
2:04:04but they are in fact as we talked about with transhumanism and posthumanism believing in a secular or neo-pagan
2:04:11technological vision that is directly opposed to god and to all of these
2:04:17problems and challenges and opportunities we bring the gospel and the whole
2:04:23counsel of god and you and i need to seek increasingly to make disciples
2:04:29who engage technology well who are not mastered by it but who use it
Standing Before God, This We Are and No More 