Posts Tagged ‘bible’

From the Garden to the City book review

From the Garden to the City: The Redeeming and Corrupting Power of Technology
John Dyer

John Dyer is a web programmer and a theologian. I’ve played with his Javascript app Browser Bible and I’ve followed his blog Don’t Eat the Fruit for some time. In 2011 he published From the Garden to the City. I read it last year, and am now digging out my notes to share some of the ways it influenced me.

Technology is not neutral

I had always thought that technology was neutral. When I was growing up, my mom would try to get me to stop spending so much time on the computer. The computer is bad, she would say. It didn’t seem so particularly bad to me. I knew that it could be used in moral or immoral ways. For example, I could use it to watch porn, or I could use it to do my homework. But if I spent too much time using it, surely that wasn’t because the computer was bad—maybe I just needed to go play in the park every once in a while.

My neutral view of technology was too simplistic. The computer is not so much neutral as it is transformative. It changes me, it changes my family, it changes society. It brings tendencies, for example, a tendency to be used by only one person at a time. It brings a tendency toward distraction because the computer can be downloading a file, installing an update, and playing music all while I’m trying to write a research paper. It tends to make communication easier, bringing people closer through social networks. Saying that a computer is neutral would wrongly ignore its more nuanced characteristics.

In Dyer’s book, he gives three examples of technologies that are not neutral. The first example is a simple one: a shovel. A shovel is a tool used to make holes in the ground. It can be used for good purposes, say to plant a tree, or for bad purposes, say to conceal stolen treasure. But regardless of the purpose it is used for, the shovel has (1) made digging holes easier, and (2) given somebody blisters in the process, and maybe even a sore back. It makes it easier to shape the gound, and may inspire somebody to plant a tree.

The second example is Twitter, a digital communication tool used to share 140-character messages with the public. A person can choose what tweets they want to read. So one person follows Seth Godin, and another person follows Justin Bieber. Obviously there is a difference in what benefit they will get out of the content of the tweets. But another, more subtle difference, is that the more tweets they read, the more they train their mind to process information in very short snippets.

The third example is a book, a communication tool which became common about 500 years ago with the invention of the printing press. Again, a person can choose what books they read. One person reads Richard Dawkin, and another person reads Wayne Grudem. Obviously both people get different benefits out of the content that they read. But the technology of the printed book has also changed the way their mind processes information. After reading a few books, their mind will become adept at processing information in multiple chapters and pages, and understanding complex arguments. If reading Tweets trains the mind to process information in short snippets, then reading a book does the opposite.

Redemption through technology

One section of the book that inspired me was the way technology is involved in redemption. Technology can be used by God and humans to temporarily overcome the effects of the fall. God uses it for his grand purposes of redemption, and it points to the Redeemer who will makes all things new

One example is the technology of written words. Prior to written words, people remembered by telling stories. Memory was important, and the person with the most memory had authority and wisdom. Written words have a different sort of authority. If someone reads aloud the written words, they obviously are not the authority. The authority comes from the person who originally recorded those words.

God used this technology when he recorded the law to his people on Mount Sinai. The recorded commandments indicated God’s authority, so that the person who read them (and obeyed them!) had to acknowledge their original source. What’s more, God used this technology right when it came out! Around the same time of the Exodus, other civilizations were beginning to adopt alphabets as a way to write down their spoken languages.

A contemporary example of technology having a redemptive effect is medical technology. We are able to partially reverse the effects of the fall by aiding the body in the process of healing.

Conclusion

Another story from my years of growing up is my affinity for “how stuff works” books. My favorite by far is the one that featured cartoon woolly mammoths (The New Way Things Work). These whimsical mammoths would appear in the cutaway drawings of different gadgets and gizmos. For example, on the page about how the electric guitar works, there was a mammoth doing a tightrope walk down the guitar string.

Mammoths aside, the history of science in the last few hundred years is fascinating. This invention led to that one. That scientist made this discovery. However, the story of technology is more than a historical timeline of inventions. It is the story of technology influencing society and vice versa, and God influencing them both, directing them to his glorious purposes.

Spies, surveillance, and God’s power

Also known as: A theology of government surveillance (part 2). Part 1 was here.

The Bible is 2,000 years old. Technology back then was pretty simple. So I don’t read the Bible because I’m looking for exact answers on what to do. Instead, I read it to learn principles. These principles transcend the technology that is here today and obsolete tomorrow. These principles address who we are as humans, and who God is as the creator.

The creatures and the Creator

  • Achan sinned by taking the spoils of war that were to be dedicated to God. The consequences were dire: Israel lost a battle. Achan’s sin was not kept private, but “all Israel” participated in the stoning of him and his family (Joshua 7:25).
  • God sent spies to the promised land. They were asked to report on the reality of the land that they were attacking, and Moses told them to “be of good courage” (Numbers 13:20). When the spies came back and gave their report, their courage was lacking. They said “We are not able to go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are” (Numbers 13:31). These spies disobeyed because they forgot the reality that God is great. However, the spies’s words led the whole congregation astray, and the people complained bitterly. They failed to trust in God to be stronger than the nations they were opposing. The consequence for the false report was 40 years of wandering in the desert!
  • Through the coming of the wise men, Herod learned that the king of the Jews was born. He was afraid of this new information, so he asked the wise men to tell him where Jesus was. When they did not, Herod ordered that all male children under two years be killed in Bethlehem.  But Joseph was warned, and Jesus was not in Bethlehem when the killing happened. It seems that God was in control over the situation. Herod knew something (the king of the Jews is under two years old and in Bethlehem), yet he didn’t know something (where he is located). Joseph knew something (that he should flee to Egypt), but he didn’t know something (the exact nature of the threat). Yet God was in control, and prophecy was fulfilled by the tragic actions that happened. (See Matthew chapter 2)
  • While David is on the roof of the king’s house, he sees a woman bathing. While this woman might have wished that her naked body remain private, David now sees that she is beautiful. David has not sinned up to this point, but what he does next is entirely his responsibility. He inquires about the woman and learns her name is Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11:3). Spies may or may not gather certain information that we wish to be held private, but it is their responsibility what they do with that information.

Reading these stories (can you think of others?) helped me remember that God is in control and I am not. I am reminded of God’s attributes (as I wrote about earlier) and of my position before him as a child of God, clothed in righteousness because of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Now I am ready to respond to the situation in front of me!

Our response

When faced with recent revelation that the United States government is overstepping its constitutional bounds in searching and seizing our data, how should we respond? I don’t think we should panic or become paranoid. After all, we should not fear those who kill the body, or spy on it, and after that have nothing more that they can do. But fear him who sees all and has authority to cast into hell! (Luke 12:4-5)

So if you’re reading this and you don’t know Jesus and trust in him for the forgiveness of your sins and to change your eternal destiny, please trust him now! His work has been done, and that is good news. (Others have written and spoken about this–here’s a good starting place.)

If you do know Jesus, then God has an interesting kind of surveillance over your heart: “O Lord you have searched me and known me” (Psalm 139). Indeed, the very hairs on your head are numbered (Luke 12:7). (Even the NSA and the CIA don’t know that.)

Getting practical

I love the reminders from the Bible. They help me worship God. Still, my original issue is unanswered, how do I maintain the security of my data in the face of government surveillance?

Much of this surveillance is in response to the terror attacks of 2001. I ask myself, what is my response when tragic events happen in the world? In Luke 13:1-5, Jesus uses some contemporary tragic events to make the point that we should repent. Terror attacks remind us that life is short, and we need to be ready to die. I think that many Americans have failed to see this reminder, and our government has decided that what is best for us is to be “safer.” So we change some security rules, hoping that someone will notice that we tried to make our country “safer.”

An ideal government would do what is best for the people. But I know that I live in a fallen world. Sin affects the relationship between people and their God, and it affects the relationships among people. Therefore, I am not surprised when my government is imperfect. I can pray for my government leaders and (praise God) I live in a country where I can write my representative leaders and vote in elections.

Still, in the short-term I would like to keep my data private. Some people will say, if I haven’t done anything wrong, why should I worry? I can’t address the answer to this question here, because it would take too long, but Daniel J. Solove has written an excellent answer in his article Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have ‘Nothing to Hide’.

After reading that article, do some research and learn how much information about you is being collected: by the government, by the cloud services we voluntarily use, and by the advertising agencies that track us on the web. Then do something about it. Maybe delete a few cloud services, and install a cookie blocker on your web browser. Some changes will be minor, some may be a little inconvenient, and some are more drastic. It is up to you.