A New god on TechnΩlympus

Yesterday I picked up the Wall Street Journal, and what’s the first thing I see? Cameras flashing, reporters crowding around like a flock of wild animals, techno-geeks with the know-it-all faces, managers and salesmen, their proud and confident faces leering over the crowds, and teenagers, wide-eyed at the newest god on the phone market, drooling at the slim new beauty called Galaxy S6, encased in its spotless show box for all to see.

“My goodness,” I told myself, “where has the world gone?”
The article mentioned that Samsung had put all its hopes on the new Galaxy S6, especially after the “tragic” and “unfortunate” sales of the previous version, the S5.

Then I thought, “Who cares?”Who cares, Br Alphonse? Are you nuts? Of course everyone cares! Just look at the world around you! The catchy motto for the Galaxy S6 marketing is “What’s Next” and “Next is Now,” effectively dragging the drooling young faces of enamored teenagers and students, dying to give the phone a try and wondering when they’ll be showing off their new S6 in school. Maybe I really didn’t care, but the world worships it, and that’s a problem.

Today, no one believes in the gods of human sacrifice or Baal or an Emperor Augustus. Some believe in Jesus, but almost all believe in the gods and goddesses of TechnOlympus. That’s a problem too.
Our world wants to live both now and tomorrow. She wants to experience both the present and future at the same time. There’s only today, but she loves to pretend like it’s the future.
And yet, for all her foresight and infinitesimally accurate predictions, she’s near-sighted. What will the S6 be doing in 2016? In 5 years? In 200 years? How about 1000 years? What about 10, 000 years? Guess what, folks, it’ll be left on a forgotten shelf, lost in a sewer, or found in a trash dump all shattered and ruined. In other words, it won’t be the god of the Techno-world anymore.

Now, don’t get me wrong; I’m not saying that technology is bad and that we’ve all got to live like a bunch of primitive cavemen. Technology is useful and good, but it can’t become a god that we secretly (or not so secretly) worship.
When I was in 6th grade, my uncle bought me an iPod touch. It was the very first one that came out, slender and small, no camera, 16GB iPod with a touchscreen. Even though I had never had an Xbox or been really addicted to computer games, I became instantaneously enamored by my new tech-idol. I found myself spending all my after-school hours downloaded tons of useless apps, listening to ear-piercing hard rock, chatting for hours on end on Facebook, and upgrading its internal software, so much so that I wasn’t getting my homework done or getting enough exercise. The i-touch became my TechnOlympian idol. I spent a reluctant hour a week half-heartedly praising God, while I was investing the rest of the week in burning incense to my little tiny iPod.

If you still don’t believe me, here’s another story for you. A family once invited me to a dinner, and I was chatting with the parents after the meal. At one point the dad pulled out his new Smartphone and began to tell me all about its advantages and the various apps that he knew of. Then the mom turned to me and joked, “Yeah, you know, he loves that thing more than me.” Then she casually added, “It’s his new friend. You have no idea how much time he spends on that stupid thing.” Sure, it was a funny comment, but a comment nevertheless. Inside she wanted quality time with her husband, but he was too engaged with his new Smartphone. It had become an idol for him.
You get the point.

I’m pretty sure in the Bible the Lord God mentions something about avoiding idolatry… Does this sound familiar? I hope it does. Go figure, it’s the first commandment that he gives: The Lord God is God alone, and you shall NOT have other gods besides me.

While the world offers her incense to her gods of TechnOlympus, we, Christian believers can’t just stand around doing nothing or even worse, join the crowd. The S6 might be treated like a god, but it ain’t one, and it’s our job to let the world know that there’s only one true God that He’s the one worth dying for, and that there can be no other gods besides Him.

Br. Alphonse studies humanities at the Legion of Christ Novitiate and College of Humanities in Cheshire.
Photo credit: digitaltrends.com