First, why do Christians initially think that new technology is from the devil? I think it is because we see God as some ancient, agrarian being who has no interest in cities or civilization, and whose goal is to get us all back to the simple "garden life" of Eden. He wants us au natural - oui?

But since God is the source of ideas and inspiration, and all good and perfect gifts come from above, I think it is safe to say that all inventions and discoveries that help mankind in any way can be attributed to Him and His Spirit working in people. I would bet that if the trail of discovery for every invention were traced back to its origin, there would be a believer involved. But God also uses unbelievers for His purposes, so I don't doubt that He has used them to help develop some of these ideas. So it is foolish, superstitious and untrusting for believers to think that, just because something is new or being used by the world, it is from the devil.

Second, why does it take Christians so long to accept and use new technology for good? Not just new technology - ANY technology? The Beatles showed us back in the 60's that pop music could be used to change culture and influence people's thinking. Yet, it took three decades before Christians even started doing anything with pop music.

How long have novels been around? Except for C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, can you name one Christian novelist? It has taken J.K. Rowling to wake Christians up to the powerful influence novels have on children. And, since the introduction of Harry Potter, we still haven't come up with a single novelist whose works even come close to rivaling Rowling's.

Movies have been around for 100 years. So why is it that we are just now starting to think about using them for the Kingdom? Why did it never cross a single Christian's mind, sitting through movie after movie through all those years–except maybe Cecil B. DeMille and a few others–to take the medium of the feature film and use it to promote the Gospel, until Mel Gibson showed us all the possibilities.

What's scary to me is that I'm afraid that most Christians have been drawn to music, novel writing and filmmaking because of the money-making possibilities - not because of the life- or culture-changing ones. I'm sure there are Christians out there right now who are working on novels, who looked at the fact that J.K. Rowling is richer now than even the queen of England and said, "I could do that." How come they didn't have that thought BEFORE they heard about Rowling's wealth? Or filmmakers that heard The Passion Of The Christ grossed $400,000,000 and thought, "I could do that." Isn't that exactly what the big studios have done? Isn't that why they've all added Christian film divisions to their companies? Are we no better than they?

Why, when a new invention or new piece of technology comes along, don't Christians think, "God is giving this to me to use for His people's good and His glory?" Why don't we think that way? Could it be because we aren't interested in His people's good or His glory?

And finally, why is it that, once Christians do get involved in some new technology, they end up being so ineffective and mediocre? Why is it that "Christian films" have such a bad rap? I actually do think I have an answer for that one.

God says He doesn't call the strong or the smart or the talented. He chooses the foolish and the weak. (I Corinthians 1:27) Why? So we will have to trust Him. If we trust our flesh, because we are foolish and weak, we will end up making fools out of ourselves and have weak results. But isn't that exactly what has been happening? Is there anyone that believes that what has been accepted as "Christian films" up until now aren't foolish and weak?

But what happens when we trust God instead of our flesh? His Spirit works mightily in us, and through His Spirit we end up "jumping over a wall and running through a troop," to quote David. God's people can do valiantly, but only when we put our trust in Him. When we trust our own abilities, we fall far short of the mark.

We need to be quicker on the uptake. We need to be at the forefront of new technology. We need to become culture changers, not followers. But to do that, we need to learn to walk by the Spirit and stop trying to work things out through our own abilities. It is only through His wisdom and strength that we can hope to do anything remarkable. God is a warrior - let Him fight.



Text and photo © 2007 Waitsel Smith. All Rights Reserved.