I was listening to NPR today and I heard this quote from Biz Stone, co-founder of Twitter,
“People are basically good and if you give them a tool to do good they will.”
How often do we think that way? We assume that the natural bent of man is to do good, and to use technology (Twitter, in this case) for good.
No…the natural state of man is, as Dallas Willard says, “utter ruin” and “radical evil”. We cannot assume that our use of anything will be for the betterment of the world or of mankind. In fact, it is safe to assume the opposite.
Throw in to the mix that Technology itself isn’t neutral, and you have to be extremely careful with your use and adoption of it.
Thoughts? Does the opposite of Biz’s quote hold true? If people are basically sinful and you give them a tool to do evil they will? Or how about “People are basically sinful and if you give them a tool to do good they will do evil?”
Obviously we speak in extremes, but is that the prevailing trend?
As man is fallen so too is all of creation. However God can and is using His people to redeem it. Case in point, this blog.
Love the Willard tie-in. I agree!
Ryan, I like the argument that maybe there may not be mere neutrality in technology/tools/things in general. This is very interesting to think about. If unregenerate man utilizes anything, it will be for sin. For unregenerate man is a slave to sin, thus anything he/she uses would be for some sort of sin. Something I will have to think through….
Nextly, I am not sure I agree with the use of the word “redeem” in Brandon’s repsonse. I don’t think Ryan’s blog is redeeming technology as a whole. But you are probably not trying to make that argument either. I hear similar arguments that Christians ought to “redeem the arts and take it over.” Or “redeem rap music” or “redeem the film industry.” I am skeptical of this type of language. I think redeem is used in an overly utopian sense.
Even believing humanity is not redeemed in full. Christ paid the down payment for our salvation, but we are not fully redeemed until the mighty return of the Lord. The phrase “already, not yet” explains the fullness of salvation in Christ, yet the expectation of his future coming.
All this is to say, I do know if there is any “redeeming” of arts or technology or any other tools. But rather, it seems to me, that there is now the opportunity for believers to use the tools that were once used for evil to be placed into and reflect the light of glory.
This may seem like semantics but I really don’t think it is.
Spoken like a true seminarian! Love the response Mark. Very good points!