Inventions Good and Bad

by Ord L Morrow

Bluetooth Pens
Carry a computer inside their belly!

Of all the creatures on the earth, man is the great inventor.  It would not surprise me if every person dreams of inventing something that will make the world happy—and make them rich!  I have always wanted to invent a house that did not need cleaning or come up with some gadget that one could step into, fly a thousand miles in, step out of, fold up, and put under one’s arm as he went about his business.  I don’t know about girls, but every boy in his imagination has flown to the moon and back—Buck Rogers and others heroes notwithstanding.  I have a lot of ideas that I would like to make work if I were to get the time.  There is nothing wrong with inventions if they are used properly.    We are no more holy reading by candlelight than we are by using electricity.  We are no more holy doing our wash on an old piece of tin that we are by letting Maytag do it for us.

We live in exciting times.  We can listen to music or news as we drive down the high way in our air-conditioned cars or as we plow the fields in our air-conditioned tractors.  Think of the thousands of jobs that electricity does for us.  Who has not been amazed as he stood and watched a computer do in seconds what a man could not do in a lifetime?  I know that we sometimes do crazy things with our inventions.  We invent a flying machine, and about the first thing we think of a flying up over the heads of our brothers and dropping bombs down on them.  But the fault is not with the plane.  Likewise, the automobile may turn out to be more of a blight that a blessing.  As for me, I enjoy living in a world where there are many inventions, and I do not doubt that we have seen but the beginning.

Now we must contend with a word from Solomon:  “Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions” (Eccles. 7:29).  What was the cleaver king referring to?  Note that he was contrasting inventions with uprightness.  He was talking about our inventing ways of appearing upright when, in fact, we are not upright at all.  He was speaking about things we invent to make us appear to seek uprightness and morality while all the time we continue on in our own course.  We invent little mottoes and stick them around for all to see, in order that they will be impressed with our upright position!  We give a pittance to the poor, help the weak and once in a while go to the house of worship, and it all may be nothing more than an invention to make us appear upright when, in fact, our hearts have not known change at all.

The Word of God says plainly,  “All have sinned” (Rom. 3:23).  Do we accept that word?  Not at all.  We invent a way around that by saying, “Now, how in the world can that be?  After all, we are just creatures of chance and change.  We are the products of our environment.  We were not made, we just happened.  We are not responsible to anyone!”   Who says we are not Clever  inventors?  The eternal decree has it:  “There is none righteous” (Rom. 3:10).  But we invent a thousand little ways to make ourselves appear righteous at least to each other.

God’s Plan for us is to partake of a righteousness of another, and this righteousness is not an invention—it is a gift.  Only those who surrender to the righteous One will ever known this righteousness.  A surrender to this righteous Lord not only makes one righteous, it actually changes a man’s total outlook on life.

Touchscreen Invention.
One of the greatest electronic inventions of the decade

I expect that man will go on inventing a thousand gadgets which will make life on earth a bit easier, and I am glad.  It is said that the next ten years will change our world more than our total past history, and I think we will be excited about these strange and wonderful inventions.  Our danger is that we continue to invent excuses so that we may continue on in our sin.  Our danger is that we will invent ways, ideas and philosophies which will give us a false hope of righteousness.

Righteousness is an issue that we must meet head-on and settle in God’s way. 

Coming to know the righteous One means that we will never invent another way of making ourselves appear to be what we are not.  We will never again invent a wall which will shut us in and shut God out.  After all, that is not inventiveness that is insanity.  As we come to make the righteous One Lord, we will desire to walk only in the ways that please Him and will spurn every invention to the contrary.  God made us upright in the beginning, and we spoiled it.  Let us throw out our foolish humanistic inventions and ask Him to make us upright once again END

Source:
Confident Living Magazine for Bible Teaching (Bacl to the Bible)
Pic. Credit: Gizmowatch.com (Bluetooth pens)
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