Television was when it really started taking hold, the drugging of modern society with technology. I realize it began well before with the radio, and before that with the telegraph, and before that with the discovery of electricity. But with the invention of the television, the perfect mechanism was created to inject, via electricity, mass amounts of eager people with passive entertainment, in as large a dose as desired with no consideration as to its consequences. Never before had the masses been able to obtain sedation in this way; sit down, press a button, and walah! instant visual stimulation for as long as one wanted. No age limits were imposed, no warnings given, no thought to how this seemingly innocuous box could and would negatively impact our future society at every level.
We still do not see it. Because we have been lulled to sleep as is so typical of the devil. Technology fueled by its sister Science, has leaped forth exponentially with gadget after gadget vying for our attention and money. Kind of like how those graven images of old were so hated by God and is what the 2nd of the 10 Commandments is all about. Anything that wedges itself between us and God is an IDOL. We work to pay our cable and cell phone bills, considered necessary expenditures in our modern economy. Even the parents of 10 year olds feel like their children are ill-equipped for life if they are not toting a phone. Add in ipods and ipads (and their equivalents), and it is obvious we are more obsessed with technology than ever before.
It used to be considered a marker of prestige if one had indoor plumbing. Then that mindset gave way to every family above the poverty level needing to have access to electricity. Once electricity was in the house, there was no stopping ‘progress’ then. What an inventor’s dream! Soon every family owned a radio and a television. Even if one could make a weak argument for technology in that it fostered a healthy family pasttime, that argument implodes on itself now with the advent of the smart phone and the ipod. What kid is content with only watching television with his family? If they are not constantly toggling back and forth, trolling facebook and reddit, they might miss some important tidbit of Information, the holy grail of modern life. And parents are no exception. Texting and news must pour forth uninterrupted, even while doing any other activity, including driving, and eating, and even during holidays with friends and family! Each person has abandoned his nuclear family and become a world unto himself with the aid of electronic embellishments.
But I even need to go further back. Back to Science. Essentially explored as its own concept beginning in the 4th century BC by Aristotle, the father of scientific thought. For him and his students, God was Science. This carved out a diametrically opposed way of believing only in God to believing in the world. It also gave a valid outlet to those Gentiles who might practice paganism by having something worthy to put their belief and faith in! Instead of praying to the fertility icons of Ashoreth and Baal, which were so plentiful in those days almost every family had many of them (sound familiar?), they could now scientifically study the seasons and understand agrarian methods, informed by science. It is easy to see here how Science literally replaced idols, and is an IDOL itself.
The Old Testament had been written down 200 years by that time, and Moses had led the Chosen People of God out of Egypt in or around 1300 BC. So it took about 1000 years for the negative and evil forces against good and God to amass themselves and gain a foothold with what would prove to be the best vehicle for the Enemy’s advancement, even over lustly tempations and money: the pursuit of Knowledge. As time goes by, it is apparent that Science is growing not only stronger, but not unlike a bad virus, is able to mutate and adapt to its surroundings, evidenced by it gaining more and more of a foothold in our youth! By the time our children are adults, they have been so thoroughly bathed in technology and its dopaminergic effects, they are not only sold on it, but they are its most loyal advocates.
Breaking the 2nd commandment is so so terrible to God, but where this technology is leading us is so so terrible to us… Remember Adam and Eve? They were kicked out of the Garden of Eden for eating of the Tree of Knowledge, lest they would obtain God’s power over Life. In the book of Jeremiah, there resides a seemingly hidden prophecy of what will happen if we continue on this quest to obtain God’s Knowledge. We will be annihilated from the face of the earth.
He has the power to stop the universe from expanding into nothingness. He has to power to delay the Endtimes as He wishes, based on His grace and our behavior. However, if we continue on our current course, God will allow our own evil pursuit of Scienctific Idolatry to wipe us out with its own bastard creation, Technology.
We just cannot see that this is where we are heading. And make no mistake: God is very displeased about our itinerary.
~Song of Mary~ 