Why bother to SUBDUE YOUR TECH? Some thoughts, from a Christian perspective.
Consider the following scriptures:
Genesis 1:26
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness… "
Genesis 1:28
And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and SUBDUE it … "
The history of technology is in one sense a story of humanity subduing the earth. While we have learnt to fly, eradicate countless diseases (whilst making some of our own…) and drastically increase life expectancy, the story of technology is not free from corruption. Technology is also being used to control speech and thought; to abuse and manipulate both mind and body; to destroy the family unit; to exploit the weak and unassuming; and to convince many to welcome such change. These corrupt uses point not to the subduing of the earth to the flourishing of man, but to a “subduing of man” to the flourishing of multi-brillion corporations and their CEOs. A sinister reversal.
Such a reversal is an affront to the image of God which all human beings bear. Much of modern technology has been designed to permit self-authorized strangers—predators, more accurately—to gain intimate access into individuals’ lives, creating a vantage point from which the redirecting of many precious hearts and minds can be remotely executed. Regrettably, the allure of a convenience and the illusion of a scarcity of viable options is embedding this vantage point in a great number of people.
For one to accept this kind of technology—and those behind it—into the home and the mind (and into children’s minds) is to forget the inexpressible value imparted to all humans directly from God Himself. And for one to allow their “subduing muscles” (forgive me) to atrophy in the endless pursuit of convenience is for that person to forget their call.
Just as God called the first man to SUBDUE the earth, he calls all who follow after to do likewise.
Reject all which dulls your image bearing.
Selected scriptures#
The following scriptures are submitted with no further explanation.
Let the reader understand.
Genesis 1:26-28
26 Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. 28 And God blessed them. And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?
Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.
1 Corinthians 6:12
“All things are lawful for me,” but not all things are helpful. “All things are lawful for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything.
2 Corinthians 2:11
… so that we would not be outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.
Galatians 5:22-24
22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
1 Timothy 6:10
For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils…
James 1:27
Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.