Dive into the complexities of technology with a Christian perspective, exploring the moral implications and risks associated with advanced technology and knowledge. From the historical roots of medicinal remedies to the cautionary tales of AI reliance, the podcast highlights the importance of discernment, wisdom, and reliance on God's guidance when navigating the ever-evolving landscape of technology.
01:46:42
forum Ask episode
web_stories AI Snips
view_agenda Chapters
auto_awesome Transcript
info_circle Episode notes
insights INSIGHT
What Is Technology?
Technology is a material application of knowledge to achieve a human purpose with intentionality.
It includes simple tools like aspirin and complex ones like quantum computers, all serving deliberate ends.
question_answer ANECDOTE
Psychedelics as Spiritual Technology
Indigenous peoples used natural hallucinogens like peyote and ayahuasca as technologies to achieve spiritual ends.
These substances physically affect the body but were intentionally used to open minds to spiritual realms.
volunteer_activism ADVICE
Use Wisdom Over Legalism
Christians should apply wisdom rather than demand explicit Bible verses to judge technologies.
Evaluate technology by its nature and intention, recognizing some may be inherently destructive yet can be used for good.
Get the Snipd Podcast app to discover more snips from this episode
Technology is a part of our daily lives. In fact, technology has been a part of the daily life of man from the beginning. Whether that technology is relatively simple — a garden hoe or a flint knife — or incredibly complex — a nuclear reactor or a quantum computer — it is, nevertheless, technology, which is to say that it is a material application of science (i.e., knowledge) to achieve a human end.
Technology may be good, bad, or neutral, but it cannot be truly or fully assessed in the absence of an assessment of the attendant intention of the men who develop and deploy it. For the Christian, there are additional considerations. Some technologies bring with them intrinsic or even inherent risks, and this grows more pressing by the day. We must be intentional with our use of technology, and we must recognize that neither is all knowledge good nor is all ignorance evil.
Neither knowledge nor its material application (i.e., technology) is amoral. As Christians, we must be aware of the risks and of the right mindset with regard to technology and our use of it. The Church faces novel threats and we do not have the benefit of any insight from past Christians, for what we face they could not even conceive. We are in an uncharted land, because we are the ones who have been tasked with making the charts.
Subscribe to the podcast here.
Show Notes
See Also
Further Reading
“Before the Deluge”
Parental Warnings
We discuss the demonic in this episode.