Technology, Creativity, and Worship

One of my favorite parts of January is the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). This international show of all things tech showcases most of all the latest and greatest things that are being developed. Some of these may be mere novelty product that’ll never find their way onto the store shelves. Many of them will go though multiple revisions before officially launched, and may not look much like they do at the CES. Yet, all of these products showcase the human creativity that God has placed in each of us.
After all, creativity essential to worship, and technology has been part of that process all the way through the ages. Whether it’s organizing words on a page to be repeated later on, crafting metal into precise horns, harps, and other musical instruments, constructing places of worship, creating stained-glass windows to share the Bible with those who could not read or understand Latin, using modern sound equipment…. It’s all worship, all heavy in creativity, and all requires technology.

But it goes much further than this. Take it back to the very beginning. What were the first two jobs given to Adam? To tend to the garden (Genesis 2:15) and to name the animals (Genesis 2:19-20). Before the fall of man, God commanded Adam to create; to build upon the very creation that God had given him.

Later on in the Old Testament, we see technology and engineering at work with building of alters. God commands Noah to build a massive ship. Then the creation of the Tabernacle, and of course the Temple is later constructed. Technology used in the creative forms of worship to God.

Lastly, we see John’s depiction of the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:9-27). A city with a wall, gates, roads of gold, foundations. All of these things came into existance (from a human standpoint) through technology. Why not have a garden come down from heaven like in the beginning? Why a city? God obviously embraces technology in the worship process as He places it in His everlasting dwelling on Earth.

Sure, technology can be used for negative and even evil actions, but so can any object. The wood that God created can be used to build a hospital or to beat a man. The actions are what is evil, not the stuff. Objects don’t have the capability to be good or evil. Does a knife get to choose whether it serves hungry children in an orphanage meal after meal, or if it is used to stab someone? No, it simply exists for the purpose of the person holding it. Does a brick get to choose if it is used to shelter the homeless or used as a weapon? No, it simply exists.

Technology itself should never be blamed for the negative actions of humanity. Just because objects are placed together to create an object intended for malicious usage doesn’t mean the technology behind the abuse is inherently bad as well.

As I look at all the neat – if not nearly useless – stuff that has been created and showcased at the CES, I can’t help but wonder which of these will end up in an act of worship. Probably not the fork and spoon that records your eating habits to tell you to slow down. Maybe the neat tactile touch-screen. Could the 52″ flexible TV screen be used as part of worship? Is it NEEDED? No, but nearly all technology isn’t NEEDED. Buildings and chairs aren’t needed. Neither are roads or 200 feet thick walls that are 1,400 miles high. But I’m certainly not going to argue with how God creatively uses technology.