Wednesday, March 22, 2006
Worship And Technology
Last week, I looked at the sale of "worship technology" and some comments of JollyBlogger to opine that perhaps the "business model" of churches these days was looking in the wrong place. Over the weekend, David quoted David Wells and asked an interesting question
Has technology become an idol? I think so, without question. I have been in far too many church leadership meetings where I was told it was impossible to do "decent worship" without sound system X and video projector Y. I always respond by asking how the church managed worship for the prior two millenia, but am usually discarded as a curmudgeon.
But I think we need to look a little deeper at the issue. In the end, technology is no different that any other creative enterprise. Just like art can be used to uplift or to offend, so technology can be used to reveal God or be a barrier to revelation. I think most understand how it can be a barrier, but how can it be revelatory?
Being creative, whether your medium is oil paints or plastics, modelling clay or silicon, the violin or the audio speaker, is exercising part of the image of God that we hold - He created and we create. But just as we must create beauty in art, so should we in technology. How do we judge "beauty" in technology?
My answer to that question would be in whther it uplifts our humanity. So, for example, reproductive technology largely dehumanizes us, reduces us to chemicals and solutions, formulas and freezers - this is ugly technology. Computers, on the other hand, have freed our minds for expressions and discussion unlike any previous instrument. Yes, it can be used for mischeif yet, but it can be used beautifully.
So, in answer to David's question, yes there is a link, but not a necessary one.
Related Tags: worship, technology, idolatry, good, evil, beauty
I sort of want to give David a hard time here because, of course, when you worship anything other than the Lord Himself, you have a problem, so I think I want to rephrase the question a little.Technology per se does not assault the gospel, but a technological society will find the gospel irrelevant. What can be said of technology can also be said of many other facets of culture that are similarly laden with value (p. 11).Could there be a link between our culture's worship of technology and it's disdain for Sabbath worship as well as the gospel?
Has technology become an idol? I think so, without question. I have been in far too many church leadership meetings where I was told it was impossible to do "decent worship" without sound system X and video projector Y. I always respond by asking how the church managed worship for the prior two millenia, but am usually discarded as a curmudgeon.
But I think we need to look a little deeper at the issue. In the end, technology is no different that any other creative enterprise. Just like art can be used to uplift or to offend, so technology can be used to reveal God or be a barrier to revelation. I think most understand how it can be a barrier, but how can it be revelatory?
Being creative, whether your medium is oil paints or plastics, modelling clay or silicon, the violin or the audio speaker, is exercising part of the image of God that we hold - He created and we create. But just as we must create beauty in art, so should we in technology. How do we judge "beauty" in technology?
My answer to that question would be in whther it uplifts our humanity. So, for example, reproductive technology largely dehumanizes us, reduces us to chemicals and solutions, formulas and freezers - this is ugly technology. Computers, on the other hand, have freed our minds for expressions and discussion unlike any previous instrument. Yes, it can be used for mischeif yet, but it can be used beautifully.
So, in answer to David's question, yes there is a link, but not a necessary one.
Related Tags: worship, technology, idolatry, good, evil, beauty
