Prophets, Priests, and Kings of Technology

What we have to do is identify the proper place of computer technology. Instead of allowing it to render our responsibility superfluous, we have to realize that it increases our responsibility.

Egbert Schuurman, Perspectives on Technology and Culture (Sioux Center, IA: Dordt College Press,1995), 110.

As we saw earlier in the Heidelburg Catechism, by virtue of Christ believers are annointed as prophets, priests, and kings. Let's take a look a how these offices we hold could be interpreted when dealing with technology.

A prophet in the Old Testament occasionally foretold future events. More often, however, the prophet brought God's word to the people. Prophets pointed out the sin of the people and called for repentance. Christians are called to a similar task. We must keep a vigilant eye on information technology, publicly decrying the ill effects of sin within the technology, whether that be computer crime, pornography, plagiarism, or estrangement of persons from God and others. We must also proclaim the good that we find in computers, exhorting computer designers, marketers, and consumers to use those features we believe to be good, to use them wisely, and to be willing to pay for them.

A priest in the Old Testament reconciled the people to God through sacrifices and prayers offered on their behalf. Christians are now a nation of priests, standing as mediators between God and the world. As such, we can offer God's healing to the nations through information technology. We are to be living sacrifices for God. This means that we offer ourselves (including our technology) in service to God and to the building of his kingdom.

An example of this might be the development of a Christian website concerned with sex and marriage. In the face of an onslaught of pornography and cybersex sites, such a site could provide healing for those who either have been addicted to cyberporn or have suffered the consequences of such sin. It could provide Christian resources for dealing with marriage, divorce, and sex. Rather than hiding from talk about sex, it could provide real help and guidelines for sex as God intended it to be.

Christ rules over all creation, the true and only King of our universe. We are anointed as kings in his name. Recalling our creational heritage, we are placed at the pinnacle of his creation as stewards to rule wisely over his creation. Such a calling means that we cannot be afraid of technology, nor can we let it run beyond our control. We must rule over technology and use it as our tool. We have decision-making authority over creation, but we also have a responsibility to care for the technology we create, just as we have a responsibility to care for the earth itself.

An example of this might be the judicious use of an e-mail filtering system. Many e-mail users are inundated with a massive number of e-mail messages each day. Ruling over e-mail would mean controlling it so that it works for you, and not you for it. An e-mail filtering system would use algorithms to sort out junk mail (and perhaps automatically delete it), and categorize the remaining e-mail into folders sorted by the sender's name, or by the subject of the e-mail.