I think it would be right to make a case that Christian believers always stand to lose more than they gain if they unthinkingly embrace every new technology or when they embrace it without taking God’s glory and sovereignty into account.
Last Thursday night I spoke to the youth at my church and one thing I drove home a few times was that there is no “on duty” and “off duty” modes of operation in the Christian life. Technology and entertainment are not a back door into a magical land where choices don’t matter, carry no consequence, and fall outside of God’s caring eye. I think many adults function this way as well.
Mark 12: 29-31 was the backbone of the two most important discernment tools I gave the youth. Loving God, Loving Others. Our choices must take into account 1) a love for God and 2) a love for others. Each action we take, each thing we examine and test, each movie we watch, each song we listen to, must be judged on the foundation of these two commandments. Can what I’m doing in any way be loving towards God and beneficial towards others?
From a more technical, less content perspective, remaining oblivious or willfully ignorant of the of the costs and liabilities of new technology is another result of unrestrained capitalism. In order to sell something you draw attention to the good and try to keep the bad out of sight.
Profit (and war) is now the main driver of technological innovation – that was not the case when Gutenberg made it possible to print Bibles.
