Morality of Confiscating Technology

Deuteronomy 24:6 is part of the law code of ancient Israel. It states that one cannot require a mill or upper millstone be taken in pledge for a debt. In other words, you can't take someone's technology that they require for their livelihood as collateral.

A few things I take away from this:

• God knows the centrality of technology in how we make a living
• God himself has a high view of that technology and seeks to protect it
• We must not take away someone's means/technology to make a legitimate livelihood

Tim Challies Video on Technology

Great insights & well presented:

Tim Challies: "The Next Story" from Ligonier on Vimeo.

Tim Challies also has a new book out I just started reading: The Next Story: Life and Faith after the Digital Explosion

The Technology You Meant for Evil...

With Good Friday and Easter this week, I've reflected on that event and all it entailed. Keeping with the theme of this blog, I thought about the technology involved in the events of those days. Mainly on how evil they were, yet how God used even these for good.

The Pope: Technology Cannot Replace God

I have to agree with what the Pope said recently about technology. His basic point (according to the article) is that while technology has allowed us to do great things, it has also increased our capacity for evil. We must abandon our pride of wanting to be God - to be all-powerful. We can never attain it anyway.

A healthy dose of humility will benefit anyone working with technology.

Remember God as the Source of Technology

You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. -Deuteronomy 8:18

This passage speaks to any means we may use to gain wealth, including creating technology. Two main points I see here:

1) God gives the power - it is He that gives us wisdom, knowledge, and skill to work with technology and to earn a living from that.

2) We are to remember this. It seems obvious, but we can all think of times when we forget this to be the case. For me, I struggle with pride and so consider my skill to be something I have personally achieved rather than having it given to me from God. If we believe in a sovereign God, we can see that He directed us to and provided the means for our education, including all the institutions and teachers that provided it.

Are there other ways we don't remember God as the one who gives us the ability to make and use technology?

Appropriate Technology

Interesting post on appropriate technology. I agree with this - we too often rush ahead and implement a technology without thinking through how it may disrupt good patterns in life.

The Bible's Building Code

When you build a new house, you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house, if anyone should fall from it.
Deuteronomy 22:8

This verse is one of the earliest building codes. If we understand what this verse teaches, we can apply it to many other situations where we must incorporate some safety mechanism in technology.

One of the best results of technology

The Kimyal People Receive the New Testament from UFM Worldwide on Vimeo.

(Hat tip: Gabe Taviano)