The Pursuit of Technology

Genesis 1:28 “And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.”

If my mother were still alive, she would have been a hundred years old this year, as I write this script. One of her favorite things as a child was to look at the Moon.

She was sure she could see a man’s face on its surface. But in later years, she told me she didn’t like the Moon anymore.

“They’ve spoiled it for me,” she said. “They’ve spoiled it by putting their dirty great footprints all over it.”

So she was not a fan as I was of the Apollo Moon program. While I watched spellbound, as astronauts bounced their way around the craters, she was worried about how taking Moon rock back to Earth was somehow leaving the Moon damaged.

Perhaps there was a tendency among some of that generation to be concerned about the rapid march of progress and technology. And we are well aware today that not every technological achievement has been beneficial to mankind.

But God gave humanity the so-called Cultural Mandate, in Genesis 1:28. We are to “fill the earth and subdue it.” This subduing of the earth requires the development of technology – some of which is described in Genesis 4:20-22, with the first husbandry, musician and metalsmith. While we must always be cognizant of the impact of our technology on the environment, we are, after all, supposed to be stewards of this planet. The forward march of technology is a good thing, even if it does leave dirty great footprints all over the Moon!     

Author: Paul F. Taylor

Prayer: Thank You, Lord, that You have given people talents and abilities in all sorts of areas of expertise – especially thinking of those whose work in technology and science pushes back the frontiers of human abilities. Amen.

Ref: Enyclopaedia Britannica, <https://www.britannica.com/science/Apollo-space-program >, accessed 5/31/2018. Image: NASA, Public Domain.