“And God blessed them and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish... the fowl... and over every living thing” (Genesis 1:28).

The First Great Commission

Adam was the crown of God’s creation in the new, perfectly created earth. He was made a steward with a duty to fulfill. This “dominion mandate” given to man (Genesis 1:28) was his first “great commission.” Man was given a charge to restrain and bring the animals into his service, take minerals and metal ores out of the earth, find healing drugs that God put in nature, and such like. He was to enter into enterprise and develop resources for his survival and success. Science is the acquisition of knowledge. Technology includes the techniques, tools, and processes with which people put knowledge to use in daily life.

Laboring Against the Curse

When Adam and Eve disobeyed God and fell from their first state, life became more difficult. “Unto Adam he said,... cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; thorns and thistles shall it bring forth to thee... in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground” (Genesis 3:17-19).

The principle of entropy (degeneration) causes our goods to rust, rot, and fail. Much of our labor is to repair, replace, improve, regain health, and prevent future loss. As this earth “waxeth old as doth a garment” (Psalm 102:26), its resources are depleted and we battle against deteriorating materials. Coal is mined out of mountains in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, and in its place, mountains of garbage are covered with grass. Man also fights against disease, sickness, and death. Vast fortunes are spent to preserve and recover health. The Bible calls this “the bondage of corruption” in which “the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now” (Romans 8:21-25). Through “miracle” drugs today, many more people are living longer. But “We with patience wait ... for the redemption of our body.”

Early Technology

Man was developing technology from the most primitive beginning of shaping a wooden stick, to breaking up the ground, to harnessing an animal to plow a field. In the first world man was advised that there was gold in the land of Havilah “and the gold of that land is good: there is bdellium and the onyx stone” (Genesis 2:12). (Thousands of years later, gold foil and rare metals would be used in space modules to land on the moon.) It wasn’t long until men were developing livestock and teaching the skills of fabricating brass and iron. Other inventors catered to man’s “soulish” love for beauty and harmony by developing “the harp and organ” (Genesis 4:20-22).

God made man a free moral agent. He could live in a God-honoring way, developing and utilizing his resources and inventions, or he could spoil and deplete them for selfish purposes. Throughout history, cultures rose and fell according to their righteousness or wickedness in using resources. There were many early advanced cultures in Egypt, Babylon, China, and the Americas, where many people today subsist in poverty. Where these cultures fell, some technologies were lost, never to be regained again. The ancients alloyed metals and moved massive weights of rock in ways unknown today. Archaeologists find evidence of advanced mathematics, electroplating, and other surprising artifacts.

Advances in Technology

While many in third world countries are still commuting by walking or donkey cart, the industrialized nations have made advances that are now progressing at exponential rates. The proof of man’s distinction from animals is that a human baby starts with little but learns and learns with no apparent stopping place. As technology advanced throughout history, knowledge was built upon the discoveries of others. We have little original thought today.

Block printing (700 A.D.) and gunpowder (900 A.D.) came from the Chinese in the Far East. By the 1500s changeable type presses made books widely available in Europe. Scientists like Galileo and Isaac Newton advanced the scientific method of experimentation, observation, and mathematical analysis.

Rapid technological innovation sprang up in the 1700s, producing an industrial revolution. Machines brought mass production, and dramatic changes came to the way people lived and worked. Roads and railroads developed to transport goods and people from place to place. Interchangeable parts, brought in by such inventors as Eli Whitney and Henry Ford, made life’s conveniences more usable and affordable. Many people moved to cities to work in factories. People’s lifestyles were permanently changed.

The Age of Electronic Technology

At the turn of the 19th century, the use of electricity and electromagnetism brought in the age of electronics. Electric motors could now do work that once had been done by hand. Inventions produced many devices that make life easier at home and at work. But the greatest advances were in communication. Telephones, radio, and television made it possible for people around the world to receive sound and pictures almost instantly.

The computer age began in the 1940s. Thousands of calculations could now be done per second. Large masses of data could be stored and utilized. Then the transistor was made to control minute amounts of current. In the 1960’s, the integrated circuit was developed. Thousands of transistors were put on a small silicon chip. These could even act as small computers called microprocessors. These are in our cars (ABS systems) and phones and keep many of our other gadgets working smoothly. Computers became smaller, lighter, faster, and affordable for everyone. This technology in the 1960s launched the space age. In the 1970s and 1980s, the government, universities, and businesses were using telephone lines to link their computers into networks. By 1990, thousands of networks were joined into one network called the Internet.

A portion of the internet called the World Wide Web now provides graphics, text, sound, and moving pictures. The World Wide Web has become a way of life for much of society. Instant information and graphics are now freely transferred between businesses, stores, and individuals. Medical records are available for all doctors and hospitals to see. And the information explosion goes on. The more knowledge that is discovered, the more areas that are waiting to expand.

Biotechnology can solve medical problems and aid industrial processes. Genetic manipulation provides new ways to fight disease. Plants are made resistant to disease and insects, producing larger crops to feed the world. Research into the atom has led to treating cancer with radiation. X-rays help doctors see inside the body and do noninvasive surgery. These inventions are possible because God has created life and established fixed laws in nature. Man should give God the glory for what He has done.

The Christian Response to Technology

The Christian will feed at the springs of living water in church fellowship where true love and the fruit of the Spirit build character. We must keep a safe distance from the world and be slow to accept new things until they have proved to have a practical and not harmful value in home and business. Technology has made life easier. We are no longer strapped down just providing the necessities of life. We have more time for family life, Christian service, and personal pursuits.

Apprehension has grown concerning the use of electronic technology and of numbers to identify people. Was taking a Social Security number joining us to the antichrist system? Do credit cards with a chip in them give the system a way to watch us? Is using the Internet, as communications are united into one information superhighway, joining the antichrist system? Technology is often first developed for war, space travel, and the popular entertainment culture—atomic bomb research led to radiation cures in medicine.

Multitudes are bound by materialism, lust, and the occult today through the internet. Satanic influences lead people to occult contacts, body piercing, and mass murders. Immorality and deranged characters are prevalent among Satan’s victims who were enticed by “fun” and occult power.

Identification numbers, along with many other conditions of the end times, are upon us. The nations are affiliated as a “global village” under the United Nations. With bloody evil systems at large on the world scene, nations are ripe for an ecumenical leader.

However, we should not let Satan create hysteria and divisions because of the changing times. “Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this” (Ecclesiastes 7:10). If we would try to avoid all potential evil influences, we would need to go out of the world. Jesus knew these times were coming and prayed for us that we would be kept from the evil in the world (John 17:15, 16). Jesus left the Holy Spirit with us, giving power to discern and reject the evil and choose the good (John 16:7, 13).

It is God who established scientific principles and mandated their correct use. Satan often puts them to an evil purpose, but it is up to the Christian to honor and serve God with them where he can. However, much pornography and other corruptions have pervaded such technology as the World Wide Web. Christians must abstain from uses of this and other technology that would ruin morals and destroy our relationship with Christ. Many opportunities for good lie before Christians if they are faithful to the Bible and use God’s gifts wisely.

Resources:
World Book Encyclopedia
Unlocking the Mysteries of Creation: Dennis Peterson

From: Reaching Out

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