Making use of technological change is not always crucial …
by Joyce Sasse
Face-book, twitter, blogs, blackberries and GPS – some of us get it. Some of us don’t. For those over a certain age, technology and the massive strides in the communication field can be a mystery. Too much change too fast. And do we really need it? Is there any connection between this and our faith? It is as if the world of technology threatens to take over our thinking capacity. GPS now tells you how to drive down a road you once could have followed on the road map. Your cell phone puts you in immediate touch so you don’t need to remember the shopping list till you get to the store. Your car knows how to park itself. Skype makes it so that a youth may travel overseas, but never feel like he/she has left home. Who is there to help us determine whether we need these features and whether or not they are an asset in our lives? Surrendering our God-given capacity for discernment can lead us astray. Remember the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden story? It was from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The implication suggested that if you ate this you could become as the gods, knowing all things! The couple ate the fruit, so the story says, and immediately they faced the consequence. Throughout the ancient times, people tried to again re-enter the paradise when peace, justice and joy prevailed. But they fell short of their goal. In our technological age it is easy to believe these new devices will be all that we need to find our fulfillment. But what out our God-given capacity for discernment – for using the natural gifts God gives us to live faithfully and fruitfully? Technology can help us, but it should never be allowed to over-take us.
