the tindog coffeehouse

This is Part 7 of my chapter-by-chapter analysis of From the Garden to the City: The Redeeming and Corrupting Power of Technology by John Dyer.

Up to this point, it seems like we’ve mostly focused on the corrupting potential of technology. Technology, after all, isn’t neutral. While the raw materials may be (Kline’s “technology as hardware” and “technology as manufacturing”), how they’re used certainly isn’t (“technology as methodology” and “technology as usage”). We saw in Chapter 5 how Adam and Eve used technology in the form of fig lives after sinning and how their son Cain used technology to build the first city. In each case, the point was to separate themselves from God, moving from interdependence to a state of independence.

If the story ended there, it would be easy to conclude, then, that technology is inherently a bad thing. But thankfully it doesn’t.

Continue reading…

I’m currently blogging my way through From the Garden to the City: The Redeeming and Corrupting Power of Technology by John Dyer, and today’s chapter focuses heavily on the “corrupting” part.

In Chapter 4, Dyer established a working definition of technology as “the human activity of using tools to transform God’s creation for practical purposes.” In the Garden of Eden, those purposes were to till the garden and cultivate the land. But once sin enters the picture, everything changes.

Rebellion.

Dyer picks up where Chapter 3 left off, with Adam and Eve still in the Garden. Technology, he pointed out earlier, was introduced by God before the Fall when He instructed Adam to “tend and watch over it” (Genesis 2:15). But after the Fall, it takes on a very different role. The first thing Adam and Eve do after sinning against God is to make something: their first set of clothes, fashioned from fig leaves (Genesis 3:7). Were the clothes a tool created for a practical purpose? Of course. But was it what God originally intended? No.

Continue reading…

This is the third part of my chapter-by-chapter analysis of From the Garden to the City: The Redeeming and Corrupting Power of Technology by John Dyer, and I have to say this has been the most enlightening chapter thus far.

Reflection.

One thing I love about this book is that Dyer is just as qualified to talk about Christianity as he is about technology. He has a Masters in Theology from Dallas Theological Seminary but is also a highly regarded programmer and web developer, having done work for companies like Harley-Davidson, Apple, and Anheuser Busch. In short, he knows his stuff.

The reason why this is important is because most people who would write a book like this are either tech experts or theologians but not both. They either really know technology and only have a basic understanding of Scripture, or they really know Scripture but only have a basic understanding of technology. And in most cases that would be painfully obvious to the reader.

Continue reading…

Last September, our pastor challenged the church to read through the Bible in a year, something that for some reason I had never done. I had read much of the Bible but never the whole thing and never for a whole year straight. I decided it was time to change that, and so I took the challenge.

And three days ago, I finished it.

Continue reading…

Most people are familiar with the Old Testament story of Job, the innocent man allowed to be tormented by Satan as a test of his faith. Satan took away all of his livestock, killed his servants, and then killed his 10 children. When Job remained faithful to God, Satan then cursed him with terrible boils from head to toe. But still Job didn’t sin. Convinced that he was being punished for some past transgression, his three friends plead with him to repent, but although he felt sorry for himself, he could only defend his innocence.

Then a young man named Elihu confronted him, angry at Job for refusing to admit his guilt and sure that he knew exactly why God was doing the things He was doing. Elihu said confidently:

Continue reading…

Welcome to summer! I’m officially 9 months into my year-long commitment to read through the Bible, and perhaps more importantly, I’m officially done with the historical and prophetic books of the Old Testament. After falling behind in Jeremiah, I moved on and came back as soon as I had the chance, and now I’m happy to report I’m fully back on schedule. Which means that after five months of being in the Old Testament, I can finally get back to the New Testament starting this week. I’m really looking forward these last few months as the remaining books are probably the most applicable to day-to-day life. (Not that I don’t love books like Habakkuk and Obadiah, of course.)

Continue reading…