The news lately has been all about the star at the center of our solar system, Sol. For those unaware, our sun has been reaching its solar peak early, following its multi-year cycle, and at its highest peak we witness solar activity that can impact the earth. The last major solar event that took place, and that of immense magnitude, was in 1859, referred to as the Carrington Event. The solar flare during that event arrived in a matter of hours, as opposed to the usual days, and caused major telegram interruptions, including electrical shocks and even lighting telegram paper afire. It was reported that even with the telegram systems down and disconnected from their batteries, messages were still able to be transmitted. Such is the power of the sun. A solar storm of comparable strength today would do much more damage than what was recorded in the Carrington Event. It would fry satellites, causing global internet blackouts, and knock out electrical grids. Some repairs could be done in a matter of days, while others a matter of months. At least, that’s what we’re told. And that has the West in a frenzy. Can you imagine how the world would fare without the internet? We have become so dependent on it, obsessed over it, that if it were to be taken away, you would have mass panic and hysteria. Of course, most of the young people fret about their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, etc. But they have not thought about debit and credit card transactions, bill payments, media, communication, etc. You just might have the resurgence of cash and the print newspaper!
Now, the likelihood of such a solar event happening is said to be once every five-hundred years, and it has not been five-hundred years since the Carrington Event. But the little that has been reported during the sun’s current solar cycle has drummed up the hysteria, and it has left us asking: What is wrong with us? Why can we not make do without the internet for a time? There is certainly an economic side to it, but that is not what has bothered people. As a human race we have been able to survive just fine without the internet, so why all the hysteria over something that is so unlikely to happen? The answer is idolatry (the worship of an idol), at the surface, of our technology, but deep down, of ourselves.
Techno-Saviours
When God created man, He created Him in His image (Gen. 1:27), and this included all the necessary faculties to create and build things from our created world’s raw materials. Over the course of history man has made astronomical strides in what he can create and build. Go back 2,000 years to the time of the Romans and you find that people traveled by foot, horse, chariot, or boat. Fast forward to today and people travel by bicycle, car, train, airplane, modern cruise ships, and yes by foot too, but this time with Fitbits to measure our steps and distances. To get from one point to the other required various steps of innovation, experimentation, and learning, but we did it. And to think that this has all been just scratching the surface of man’s potential to create and build. Envisioning a colony on the moon or Mars is not far off. What was it that God said about man when he was building the tower of Babel? “Behold… nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them” (Gen. 1:6). There’s nothing inherently wrong with creating and building, as a matter of fact, it is what we were created for. Genesis 1:26-28 tells us that man was to exercise dominion, subject to God, and this implied cultivating creation into a godly civilization. The very act of creating and building, which is presupposed in the cultivation of creation (or the development of creation) reflects our Creator God, it images who He is and what He did. We cannot therefore deny that man reflects the image of God through his cultural activities. But we live in a fallen world, and in this world of fallenness, sin has corrupted the heart of man and led him down the path of cultivating creation for his own glory. We might put it this way: Whereas man was created to cultivate creation into a godly civilization for the glory of God, sin has led him to cultivate an apostate civilization for his own sake. It is, in every sense, man’s statement that he is his own god. The tower of Babel was one such statement, as was Babylon and the ancient Roman Empire. There are several instances in history where we can discern such statements. The point is this: the natural man deeply believes that he is his own god, and one of the ways in which he believes he can throw his weight around as his own “god” has been through his own scientific achievements and advancements. The cure for cancer? (Speaking hypothetically, of course). Man would get both the credit and the glory today. The first manned landing on Mars? Man would also get the credit and the glory. Whatever the lofty achievement, whatever happens to be created and built in our world, is not ultimately credited to the One who created us in His image. It is credited to the one who images God, while at the same time denying that we have any divine image to reflect.
This helps us to understand man’s thinking in relation to creation. With all that he has achieved, man very much feels in control. Just think about it. He can forecast the weather, he can adapt to seasons of drought and aplenty, he can genetically engineer crops, he can purify the drinking water supply, he can treat sickness with medicine and vaccines, he can genetically modify human offspring, etc. But even though man feels in control, he recognizes that there are still things outside of his control, and it drives him mad. One primary example? Death. This is why there is a transhumanist movement today that seeks to overcome our own mortality. The movie Transcendence, featuring Johnny Depp, may be science fiction, but it conveys what man hopes to achieve in the future. Well, it now makes sense why the idea of a solar storm knocking out the internet for a few months can cause mass hysteria. On the surface, we worship our technology, what we have created and built for our own benefit, but deep down, we really worship ourselves, the ones who brought about such technology to begin with. And to think that nature might best us, that it might defy us and show us to be less than actual gods. Well, the human psyche, under the curse of sin, cannot really handle that truth well. The natural man thinks himself to be a “techno-saviour” with all his intelligence and craftiness, but he is no such thing. If it is salvation he yearns for, if it is safety and refuge, if it is a restoration of creation, a return to the idyllic state of Eden, then man needs to stop looking within himself and towards the One whose image we reflect.
The Creator of the Heavens and the Earth
Let us say that somehow, in some way, we experience something similar to the Carrington Event. What then? Is it the end of the world? No, not really. We did just fine as a human race before the invention of computers and the internet. And no doubt we will come up with a series of contingency plans to ensure that essential services are provided for. But whether or not that happens should not be the focus of our attention. Maybe we will endure an “internet apocalypse”, maybe we need to. How many times has God dashed to pieces our idols as a demonstration of what is false and what is true? No, our focus should instead be on the One who created the heavens and the earth. What does the Proverb say?
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding (Prov. 3:5).
What does the prophet Isaiah say?
Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid… (Isa. 12:2a).
And what does the apostle Paul say?
And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together (Col. 1:17).
Should we not trust in the One who upholds all things? The One in whom all things hold together? Should we not rest in the knowledge that the God who created all things, who sent His Son for the salvation of His people, will preserve His creation for that promised day of renewal? While it is true that death, for example, may remind us that we are not ultimately in control, is there not a God who conquered death? Is there not a God who promises us eternal life in His Son? When the powers of nature seem overwhelming, should we look to our own devices, our own inventions, our own accomplishments? We may be able to create and build wonders, after all, we were created in God’s image. But time and again nature has trumped our ingenuity. While not abandoning what makes us human, what reflects the image of the One who created us, we should turn to the One who holds all things together, in whom all things have their being. We should place our trust, not in human ingenuity, but in the One who created the heavens and the earth (Gen. 1:1); the One who split the Red Sea (Exodus 14:19-31); the One who made the earth stand still (Josh. 10:12-14); the One who walked on water (Matt. 14:22-33); the One who commands the wind and the sea (Matt. 8:23-27); and the One who raised the dead back to life (Matt. 9:18-26; Jn. 11:1-44). In ancient times, man placed his trust in idols made of wood and rock, and when the day came that they needed salvation, they were left with no hope. Today, man places his trust in the robots, computers, and machines of his own making, but when the day comes when they need salvation, unless they turn to the One whose image they reflect, they will have no hope. In what do we place our trust? In whom?
The latest hysteria of an “internet-apocalypse”, and who knows what else, is indicative of a people who have placed their trust in things that pass away. It has exposed our idols, what we depend on, what we claim we cannot live without, and it should serve as a signpost pointing to the One will not pass away, the One who is sovereign over all creation, who does not allow anything to come to pass unless it is His will. We who pride ourselves in our human achievements and advances should turn to the One who first made those achievements and advancements possible. The One from whom all intelligence, innovation, and ingenuity flows. The one from whom all things were made, “and without him was not anything made that was made” (Jn. 1:3).