The Divine Programmer

In the history of computers there has never been a program where the computer veered from the instructions we give it. If the instructions are off, it will throw an error and stop working. Never will the computer change the rules of logic to make the broken program work. No matter how complicated the machine, it will only do what you tell it to. With technology, there is no room for error.

Technology creates a society where man is like a machine – if he makes one mistake, he can no longer function. How many people have had their careers, accomplishments, and dreams torpedoed by one mistake done in the past. It's like man is a machine and one small slip ruins his entire life program. However, technology is not a good analogy for a society run by Hashem’s rules.

The machine Hashem created called man can, and does, make mistakes. From the first hour G- d made Adam, He gave him a single instruction and Adam failed to execute it.

Did the world end? No. G-d changed everything to accommodate an imperfect being. Instead of living eternally in the Garden of Eden, Adam had leave and work for his bread. He still gave birth to Seth, who gave birth to Enosh whose family line included Noah, and Avraham , and his descendants – us!

While broken computer code kills a program in a computer, in Hashem's system, the process feeds on error. We are put in this world to correct our mistakes and change history. We can return to Hashem, fix our past mistakes, and move forward. We are the only species with free will, capable of making independent decisions not based on instinct. Only humans have the ability to go against our Creator, and at the same time, willfully choose to serve Him.

This is what overthrows technology. The understanding of teshuva (repentance) displaces the Greek philosophy behind technology, which believes that the world is a machine where Hashem flipped the power switch and walked away to let the system to run by itself. If this were true, within the first hour of Adam's life, the system would have crashed.

Do We Mistakenly Live by the Technology Society?

Do we live by these standards without even thinking about it? Putting aside what people say they believe in, and basing ourselves solely on our actual actions in this world – do we work according to the assumption that we are all a part of The Matrix running on autopilot?

The only explanation for the permissiveness all around us is that we don't believe G-d is watching. We don't think G-d is here. Nobody talks about G-d on TV. He is never mentioned in the press. How often does He get mentioned in social media, your Smartphone, on the radio? How many leaders speak of His Name more than once at the end of a speech?

We are force fed a cunning version of reality where it doesn't matter if G-d does or doesn't exist because we act as if He isn't here – according to the Greek vision of creation. The way they explain that the system hasn't broken down due to our sins, is that the Programmer is out to lunch.

The truth is that G-d is at the controls, managing and overseeing every aspect of creation, society, and our lives. The reason why things haven't broken down is that He is waiting for us to return to Him, and fix things with His help.

Every moment we let pass without doing something spiritually productive, is one where we passively agree with the Greek gods who say eat, drink, and be merry because nothingwe do really matters. In the end, we die, and nothing is left of us, G-d forbid.

Nothing could be farther from the truth!

Every act of returning to G-d is an act of rebellion against this pagan worldview. It's an overthrow of the regime of progressive permissiveness, and a statement that we make changes because we know He is watching. The first of the Ten Commandments is I am Hashem your G-d – both yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

It's a bold advance on the world we pray for three times a day in the Alienu prayer: "Hashem will reign over all the earth. As it is said: G-d will be King over the earth. On that day, Hashem will be One and His Name will be One."

Technology, like philosophy, comes and goes. Coming closer to G-d in a world truly run by G-d, is everlasting and eternal.