The dangers of abusing knowledge

"Woe to you experts in the law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered, and you have hindered those who were entering."
Luke 11:52

I was reading a post from a blog I frequent that is called R.A.G.E. Media. This is how they describe their mission

"R.A.G.E. Stands for Rebellious Affirmation of Greater Existence.

The phrase has a double meaning: First, that there is a greater existence for humanity than we generally realize. We sell ourselves short, in other words, of our potential and our purpose. Secondly, that there is a superior being greater than ourselves. "

The post was about embryonic stem cell research specifically, but I have been thinking a lot about how many scientists are abusing the knowledge that our creator gave to us as a gift. Their is great danger in doing so. It sounds silly, but you can look at old science fiction novels to see where our society is headed and how eerily accurate they have been so far. Yes, it is still fiction, but all fiction is rooted in some fact. Schindler's list is a good example of this point. The blog quotes a sci fi computer game where a robot sings about science. Read the lyrics and blog here. One of the things the robot says is 'we do what we must because we can.' It really struck a cord with me. This seems to be the philosophy of the many unethical scientists of today. It must have been a divine appointment then when I was reading C.S. Lewis' Out of the Silent Planet and came across these quotes:

"You cannot be so small minded as to think that the rights or the life of an individual or of a million individuals are of the slightest importance in comparison with this [advancement of science] "

"I happen to disagree," said Ransom, "and I always have disagreed even about vivisection[animal dissection/testing]... " (pg.29)

I added the words in the brackets to elaborate. It just chills me that some people really feel this way. So, what will history say about us? That we wasted the brain God gave us or that we used our knowledge wisely? That we created something terrible and monstrous such as in the movie I am Legend or that we created (ethically) something that enriched and/or saved lives? Will the history books declare "Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.(Deuteronomy 4:6) With the way things are going I am glad we have a master author with a plan.