Redemption of Technology
This series has been looking at the Biblical view on technology and the problems which arise from over reliance on it.
But can a culture who has turned a tool into a god, ever be redeemed without collapsing and become overwhelmed by a Flood?
In 2 Kings 6, we see a strange story where a novice prophet tries to cut down a tree with an axe.
The axe head then flies off the end of the shaft and falls into the river. The Prophet Elisha throws a stick into the water, and the axe head rises to the surface.
The axe head can symbolically represent technology. In Genesis 4, we see Tubal-Cain forged all kinds of tools out of bronze and iron. He is part of Cain’s line. The line which brought technology to the World.
Symbolism of the Tree
In the Bible, trees can symbolically mean the natural order or nature. Or even, how reality is laid out.
Think about a tree and the structure of nerves and veins in your body. And also think about how a city has its own ‘arteries and roots’. The pattern of a tree is seen throughout the natural and man-made world.
Losing The Axe Head
The reason the young prophets went to the Jordan was to create their own space. They chose to leave the Prophet. This reminds me of Cain leaving the First Family and setting up His own city.
This was not God’s choice or the Elisha’s decision. It was wholly the desire of the young prophets.
By taking an axe to a tree and losing the axe head, the story is symbolically saying human desire (outside of God’s will or a moral component) combined with technology cannot help itself and will threaten the pattern of reality and eventually result in sin, corruption and societal collapse.
Think about Cain’s line in Genesis and how it ended in the Great Flood.
Redeeming Technology
In the story, the Prophet comes to the rescue. He throws a stick into the River Jordan and then the axe head floats.
The stick can symbolically represent the rod which parted the Red Sea. Whereas the Egyptians, who relied on their technology were killed, the story in 2 Kings inverts this pattern and raises the ‘technology’ from the river. Redeeming the axe head.
The stick could also represent the Cross on which Christ died. This would suggest that technology can be redeemed, along with the rest of Creation. Technology, is not evil or sinful, it just needs to be used appropriately.
Practically, we can do this by using it within a transcendent moral framework.
Treat it as a servant and resist making it the master.
Technology can be redeemed, but only if a culture is willing to re-establish a God-given moral framework.
I’m also fascinated by the role of trees in our life and thought. Truth trees, genealogical trees, decision trees... our thinking seems easily to take that shape.
I think this has it backward. Technology doesn't need redemption. Technology's creators do, i.e. human beings do.
Unlike our distant ancestors who lived much closer to nature and depended on its "cooperation" for their survival, we have built up a protective artificial shell of material and technological components around us. But we are discovering that the artificial shell we have wrapped around ourselves also exacts a toll. And this time around, it isn't the arbitrary and capricious forces of nature that haunt the dark corners of our imagination; it's the nuts and bolts holding the artificial shell that demands our submission. We are doing it to ourselves!
To say that technology can be redeemed is to miss the point. It's kinda like saying turnips can be redeemed--which is true, but also underwhelming. This is to mistake the effect for the cause--and the cause is sin which is rooted in the human heart.