If My Work Can Be Used for Evil, What Should I Do?

00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)

00:00:02.580 | - On Tuesday we talked about paying taxes

00:00:07.680 | to a government that funds abortions,

00:00:10.000 | and today the question is different,

00:00:11.440 | although somewhat related in the ethical entailments

00:00:13.820 | of proximity.

00:00:15.600 | The question comes in to us from Adam in Sydney, Australia,

00:00:18.560 | who asks this, "Pastor John, as a software developer,

00:00:21.320 | "I worry my code could end up running a porn site

00:00:24.360 | "or a warplane in the future.

00:00:26.860 | "Do developers of new technologies have responsibilities

00:00:29.500 | "over how an innovation may be reapplied

00:00:31.880 | "for evil in the future?

00:00:34.240 | "I think of examples like nuclear science and the atom bomb,

00:00:37.520 | "or a more contemporary example

00:00:38.920 | "would be artificial intelligence

00:00:40.520 | "and sexually submissive robotics."

00:00:43.760 | So Pastor John, what advice would you have for Adam?

00:00:46.480 | - Three factors come to mind for Adam to ponder

00:00:50.560 | and take into consideration,

00:00:51.800 | which I hope will give some guidance.

00:00:55.480 | The first one is that some things are so good

00:00:59.980 | and so right and so necessary that we should go ahead

00:01:04.060 | and do them or speak them or create them,

00:01:08.700 | even though we are relatively sure

00:01:11.780 | they're going to be misused.

00:01:13.540 | And the example in the Bible that I think about

00:01:16.360 | is Paul's doctrine of justification by faith.

00:01:20.060 | He says in Romans 3.28,

00:01:22.360 | "We hold that one is justified by faith

00:01:26.980 | "apart from works of the law."

00:01:29.740 | Now, when he put that doctrine forward

00:01:32.940 | among people who are hostile,

00:01:34.780 | he knew what they would do with it.

00:01:37.100 | They would twist it and they would make it mean,

00:01:40.540 | "Oh, cool, I don't have to do any works."

00:01:44.820 | So Romans 3.8, "Why not do evil that good may come

00:01:50.780 | "as some people slanderously charge us

00:01:53.840 | "with saying their condemnation is just?"

00:01:56.920 | So Paul was being accused of saying,

00:02:00.720 | "Let's do evil that good may come,"

00:02:02.440 | because he taught that law and law-keeping

00:02:06.040 | are not the foundation of our justification before God.

00:02:10.200 | Same thing in Romans 5.20,

00:02:12.300 | "Where sin increased, grace abounded all the more."

00:02:16.400 | What then?

00:02:17.480 | Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?

00:02:20.900 | By no means.

00:02:22.060 | How can we who died to sin still live in it?

00:02:24.980 | So Paul knew on various hands,

00:02:28.060 | so did Peter, by the way,

00:02:29.300 | when grace was turned to licentiousness in 2 Peter,

00:02:33.140 | Paul and Peter knew that when they preached the truth,

00:02:37.540 | the whole counsel of God,

00:02:39.700 | there were glorious aspects of it

00:02:42.260 | that would be twisted and misused

00:02:44.540 | to people's very destruction,

00:02:46.380 | just like an atom bomb.

00:02:47.700 | In fact, my guess is more people are in hell today

00:02:51.240 | because of the twisting of Paul's language

00:02:53.540 | than from the atom bomb.

00:02:54.820 | I think I could say that

00:02:55.660 | with pretty serious degree of confidence

00:02:59.180 | that the false teaching of depending on works

00:03:02.880 | has damned more souls than the atom bomb ever destroyed,

00:03:07.880 | and yet Paul went on teaching the truth.

00:03:12.780 | So I think with regard to many inventions, this is true.

00:03:17.420 | I mean, maybe all of them,

00:03:18.900 | roads, wine, hunting guns, cars, smartphones,

00:03:23.900 | hundreds of others can all be used for good

00:03:28.540 | or turned for evil.

00:03:31.020 | And the potential for good, I would argue,

00:03:34.400 | is worth the effort.

00:03:36.860 | And those who design the good

00:03:39.900 | are not necessarily responsible for the evil.

00:03:43.340 | So that's my first thing for Adam to consider.

00:03:47.140 | Here's the second one.

00:03:47.980 | This one's short.

00:03:48.900 | A second thing to ponder

00:03:53.220 | is whether the code that he's working on, or whatever,

00:03:57.100 | that we develop and bring about

00:04:00.700 | is minimally useful for good

00:04:03.860 | and maximally useful for evil.

00:04:06.140 | In other words, there's a certain proportionality

00:04:08.500 | that should figure in here.

00:04:10.180 | A tiny possibility of some good

00:04:12.680 | and a huge possibility of much evil

00:04:15.500 | would, I think, cause a Christian

00:04:17.660 | to put his creative efforts in another direction.

00:04:21.340 | And here's the last one,

00:04:22.300 | the last factor to take into consideration.

00:04:25.700 | Are there controls that can be attached

00:04:30.020 | to the invention that would limit its misuse?

00:04:34.340 | Something like patent rights or the like.

00:04:37.820 | I don't know the laws here or the possibilities,

00:04:39.980 | but the principle holds

00:04:41.500 | that if you bring something into being

00:04:44.700 | that could hurt others,

00:04:46.660 | it would be justifiable and loving

00:04:50.060 | to find ways of limiting the misuse of the invention.

00:04:55.060 | Here's an analogy I thought of.

00:04:57.220 | Truett, Cathy, created the Chick-fil-A sandwich.

00:05:00.700 | It's a good sandwich, especially the spicy one.

00:05:03.780 | And he maintained such control over this sandwich

00:05:08.780 | that you can't buy one on Sunday.

00:05:11.840 | Why do you do that?

00:05:13.700 | Well, he just said, "That's a use.

00:05:16.900 | I don't want to be made of my sandwich.

00:05:19.320 | I don't want my sandwich to be used that way.

00:05:21.460 | And I don't want my stores to be used that way.

00:05:23.140 | And so I'm gonna control it."

00:05:24.820 | Now, that means there are various ways

00:05:27.800 | you can use to control things.

00:05:31.000 | And I think Adam should seriously consider that.

00:05:35.780 | So here they are.

00:05:36.620 | Let me summarize them.

00:05:37.620 | Number one, the potential for great good

00:05:40.900 | is worth the risk of misuse.

00:05:42.820 | Number two, small potential for good

00:05:46.780 | and great potential for evil

00:05:48.340 | would, I think, direct our energies in another way.

00:05:51.380 | And third, appropriate controls on what we create

00:05:55.380 | to channel it to the best use and minimize its misuse.

00:06:00.820 | Thank you, Pastor John.

00:06:02.220 | And thank you for the excellent question, Adam.

00:06:05.300 | For everything related to this podcast that you need,

00:06:07.700 | go to desiringguide.org/askpastorjohn.

00:06:10.820 | And there you can send us a brief and specific question

00:06:13.780 | like this one from Adam.

00:06:15.820 | Tomorrow is Friday, and we will close out the week

00:06:17.900 | in epic fashion by talking about, I can't spoil it.

00:06:21.900 | I'm your host, Todrick.

00:06:22.740 | We'll see you tomorrow.

00:06:23.860 | (upbeat music)

00:06:26.440 | (upbeat music)

00:06:29.020 | [BLANK_AUDIO]

If My Work Can Be Used for Evil, What Should I Do?

Chapters