The Principles of Redeeming Technology

Clarify the Biblical foundations

1. God: The one true and triune God - Father, Son and Spirit - is the creator, sustainer and redeemer of this world. He is working all things together for the pleasure of His good and perfect will.

2. Mankind: We are the centrepiece of God’s world, created in His image with inherent dignity and value, to glorify Him and to enjoy Him forever in every area of life. 

3. Technology: Technology is any created thing which amplifies human capability. It is mankind’s work of sub-creation, within God's created world. It is one of the most pervasive and powerful influences in our world today, and this is likely only to grow. 

4. Sovereignty: Technology is ultimately God's idea, not Man's. God is not intimidated by technology, nor does it surprise him. It's under his control, and part of his glorious plan of redemption.

Appreciate the monumental task

1. Responsibility: We are stewards of technology, called to faithfully use it as we live up to our obligations in each area of responsibility. These areas include our work, relationships, financial stewardship, personal productivity and health, with our spiritual life shaping every other area.

2. Understanding: Technology shapes us in a plethora of ways, including by its structure, function, incentives, messaging and capabilities. In both overt and subtle ways, it tells us a story of how to think, feel and act in relation to ourselves, others and God. This story is often fundamentally at odds with the gospel.

3. Ultimatum: At present, artificial intelligence, and its adjacent technologies, represents one of the most pertinent challenges to personal, societal, ecclesial, familial, political, economic and spiritual flourishing. Almost every area of life is being affected by technology, and AI is often the ultimate identifiable cause in which these complex forces emerge from. As such, it is the hardest, and most important, area of technology to understand and respond to wisely.

4. Motivation: We ought to use technology to fulfil our purpose out of joyful submission to God. We will one day give God an account for our stewardship of these resources. He expects us to use technology in service of His Kingdom and His purposes, rather than to further our selfish ends.

5. Alignment: In our fast-paced, constantly evolving technological landscape, there is no short-cutting the need to do the hard graft to figure out how to apply biblical wisdom to redeem technology towards God-honouring ends. This requires prayerfully aligning our learning, researching, experimenting, reflecting, speaking, parenting, preaching, debating, adapting, engineering, manufacturing, legislating, campaigning, enculturation and the careful management of inherent risk, towards that end.

Triage with tested wisdom

1. Reject: Technology is twisted by the fall and by our sin, and therefore is often inclined to influence our thoughts, hearts, words and behaviour, enslaving us and bending us away from God, often in ways we find hard to perceive. Harmful technology must be warned against, and rejected.

2. Receive: As part of God’s common grace, technology offers countless blessings which should be received with gratitude and enthusiasm, returning whatever is profited back to God for His honour. 

3. Redeem: While technology is sometimes a clear danger or blessing, it more often operate as a double-edged sword, requiring wisdom, discernment, discipline and nuance to steward wisely. We can neither evade it, not unthinkingly embrace it. Rather, we must apply Biblical wisdom to redeem it for our God-given purpose, in each domain of responsibility. With hindsight, it would be a notable sadness for us to one day realise that we had responded poorly to future forms of emerging technology. 

4. Prayer: Above all, redeeming technology calls for prayer for wisdom, and the constant weighing of our use of technology against both scripture and received wisdom. “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you” (James 1:5). 

Implement with confident faith

1. Action: In view of the clarity of our purpose, the solemnity of our responsibilities, our confidence in God’s sovereignty and the urgency of the mission of the church, our task is to be the most well defended, ambitious, creative, courageous, thoughtful and discerning users of technology, as we seek to redeem it for God-honouring purposes.

2. Redemption: Technology has frequently been part of God’s redemptive story throughout salvation history. However, technology itself must never be our final hope of redemption. The cross of Christ is the only piece of technology used in God’s specific work of atonement, through which we can be truly redeemed: from sin, death and judgement. The gospel of salvation is our only ultimate hope of redemption, life and restoration. Our technological environment creates acute challenges as well as enormous opportunities to courageously speak the life of the gospel into our culture. Most urgently, we need a widespread spiritual renewal. 

3. Restoration: In the New Creation - the garden city - technology will be purified and perfected. It will exist in complete alignment with God’s perfect will. This can enable us to enjoy contentment, peace and hope now, even in the presence of technological disruption. Our confusion and anxiety today can be given to God, in confident expectation of our life forever with Him.