There are countless examples of technology serving to influence and even define the boundaries of right and wrong and the limits of acceptable behavior. Indeed, that is one of the unintended consequences of technology -- it sometimes establishes norms even without the discussion or even consent of people. That is especially true of matters of sex and gender. If it were more difficult to prevent pregnancy or that imposed a difficult burden upon the couple or it was costly to obtain, birth control would surely be less prevalent than it is today. If it were more difficult to end a pregnancy and there was no pill available to cast the unwanted child from the womb, the numbers of abortions would be smaller. Technology has decided this for us and most folks follow along like mindless sheep to the slaughter.
What I fear is that technology is leading us to go too quickly where we have not even decided to go. I can well recall when the mantra of those opposed to abortion chanted safe, legal, and rare. We do not seem to be that concerned about the last part of that slogan. Indeed, we seem not to even care how many children are killed in the womb so long as it is cheap, reliable, readily available, and relatively safe to end the life of the unborn. When technology gets ahead of our reasonable deliberation on such things, we tend to end up where we had not planned to go. When, in 1930, the Anglican Communion opened the door to birth control, who would have foreseen that within one hundred years marriage would become a more optional choice for people and children even less optional? Who could have foreseen that whole sections of the civilized world would literally be in population decline as the birth rate declined to a rate in which we are not even replacing ourselves but shrinking?
The wisdom of St. Paul ought to prevail. Things possible are not necessarily beneficial. As I have spoken of before, the sexual revolution left our primary institutions in shatters with home and family trying desperately to keep up but lacking behind. Liberty became its own end and was no longer tied to the desire to live freely responsible and upright lives. We learned simply to live and to live primarily for ourselves. Maybe it is time to reconsider the regularity of birth control and the normalcy of abortion. Maybe now is the time for the Church to teach the faithful and those on the fringes of the church's life that what became normal to us (non-married and largely childless lives for those who are married). Maybe it is time to admit that we were not ourselves and spoke in haste, enamored as we were with the setting as well as the numbers of those who inhabit that setting. Will we continue to simply follow the judgment of the moment in deciding what is good, right, and salutary, or will we learn to speak to our family the values that undergird the fabric of our lives?
In one sense I might be saying that technology can tell us something is right and, even though it is wrong, it remains an enticement to us simply because we like being told what we want is right. That is certainly the problem inherent with the problem of marriage and children becoming optional while sexual relations outside of marriage with the normal expectation of preventing a pregnancy and the assurance that if it was not prevented, it could be easily, cheaply, and safely eliminated. Technology can make us think that sin, at least sexual sins, are normal and safe. That is Satan's lie in Eden repeated again and again and again.
3 comments:
Technology may make [some] sin medically safe, but politicians and judges are the ones who make sin legally safe. And it is the people, who willingly support one specific political party in the United States and who have elected that party’s politicians and judges to carry out all kinds of wickedness.
Setting aside the secular wants and needs of the heathen societies of the past and present, one who follows Christ should remember that our walk should be different. If we are born again, and being transformed and undergoing a slow yet steady departure from assimilating and conforming to the ways of the ungodly and carnal, there must be a rejection of living in the same sinful manner of the lost. The devil seeks to lure the child of God into the ways of the culture, and he has many schemes at his disposal. Technology is one vehicle. Public scorn of Christianity as archaic and irrelevant is another way to force believers in Jesus to either conform or face isolation, and even benign persecution will sometimes result in the surrender of one’s witness for Christ. The Bible speaks loudly and clearly that perseverance is the quality of the faithful Christian. Secure in Christ and in what we have been taught, and a willingness to practice the faith we believe are the marks of one who will not abandon the faith regardless of the storms to be endured. As Peter said, “We must obey God rather than man.” Technology is not going away. Societies feed on progress and change, but our faith in Christ is unchanging, and our food is the meat of God’s word. Technology cannot take away our knowledge of God and the moral laws He has ordered, although it can assault and deceive the unwary. Let us pray we ourselves do not join with the unwary, making shipwreck of our souls. Soli Deo Gloria
I would agree. The political party which has promoted and done much evil to this society is primarily the Democratic Party, while both parties have compromised. You will still find Republicans and conservatives who are pro-life, support religious faith, practice their faith, and are unashamed of mentioning the name of Christ, however, among the Democrats there are none that I have known. There is corruption in both parties, but the very worst scoundrels flock to the Democrats, where they find fellow travelers and a big tent for the most immoral and outrageous ideas imaginable.
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