Progress in Technology - Creation Moments

Genesis 4:20-22
“And Adah bare Jabal: he was the father of such as dwell in tents, and of such as have cattle. And his brother’s name was Jubal: he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. And Zillah, she also bare Tubalcain, an instructer of every artificer in brass and iron: and the sister of Tubalcain was Naamah.”

I was talking to a group of young children, perhaps 10 or 11 years old, and they were looking at a partly mud-covered house. This house had gotten covered in mud at the time of the 1980 eruption of Mount St Helens. Meanwhile, close by was a fridge, which had been washed out of the house, at the time of the mudflow. One boy was incredulous. “Did they really have fridges in 1980?”, he asked, genuinely shocked.

We all had a laugh at this. Yes, I confirmed, there were indeed fridges in 1980. However, our lives were hard, because we couldn’t report to the world on the details of our lives, using Facebook or Twitter. We were not carrying smartphones around with us in the 80s, so we were not permanently connected to the Internet. How did we get by without such technologies? Did we not experience deprivation?

Of course we did not, because we had no notion that such things would come about. So, technologically speaking, the world is getting better and better, while we see the world sinking downhill fast in terms of its moral standard.

Technological progress has always been available to us. Even before the Flood, we read about people like the sons of Lamech, who were pushing forward the boundaries of technology in husbandry, metallurgy, and music. This is a part of the way God has made us, and we should thank Him for it.

Prayer: Thank You, Father, for all the technology that we have. We are aware that we can use it for Your glory, or we can misuse it. Help us to glorify Your name, through our use of technology. Amen.

Author: Paul F. Taylor

Image: Adobe Stock images, licensed to author.