Today not only does one sort of machine or the other run our world, but machines are controlling our physical lifestyle also. We wake up to the sound of an alarm clock, turn up a dial to set the room temperature to a desired degree, turn on the coffeemaker, and jump into the bathtub for a warm bath, we dry our hair with a blow dryer and drive off in a car to work, where the process begins all over again using different machines. Our lives are so controlled by these devices that if one of them fails to work the whole day does not go right. How does this relate to Christianity? When we work with machines, they tend to draw us away from our spirit and its needs. The Christian religion considers the needs of the spirit before that of the body, this therefore pulls the Christian away from his beliefs and his God. An ancient text from the Far East illustrates this point.

When Tse Gung a disciple of Confucius came into the region north of the river Han, he saw an old man busy in his vegetable garden. He had dug ditches for watering. He himself climbed into the well, brought up a container full of water in his arms, and emptied it. He exerted himself to the utmost limit but achieved very little. Tse Gung spoke: "There is an arrangement with which it is possible to fill a hundred ditches with water every day, with little effort much is accomplished, Wouldn't you like to use it?" The Gardener rose up, looked at him and said, "What would that be?" Tse said, "A lever is used, heavy at one end and light at the other. In this way water can be drawn so that it gushes. It is known as a draw well. At that, anger rose up in the face of the old man and he laughed, saying "I have heard my teacher say: 'when a man uses a machine he carries on all his business in a machinelike manner. Whoever does his business in the manner of a machine develops a machine heart. Whoever has a machine heart loses his simplicity. Whoever loses his simplicity becomes uncertain in the impulses of his spirit. Uncertainty in the impulses of the spirit is something that is incompatible with truth'. Not that I am unfamiliar with such devices; I am ashamed of them." 2

The old man's words were "Whoever does his business with a machine developes a machine heart". This is true with most Christians of today. Technology has provided us with different kinds of machines, both for use at home and at the workplace. Most Christians end up working more with machines than with fellow humans. This according to the passage will cause spiritual uncertainty in the hearts of the Christian. This spiritual uncertainty is characteristic of our Christian society today due to the effects of machines on man, and the Christian is at a loss to say where he stands spiritually.

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James Legge, "The Text of Taoism" Ed. F. Max Muller Sacred books of the East
London, Oxford University Press, 1927, p320.