Blessings or curse?

This title is taken from today's Our Daily Bread devotion material, which I have been using for quite some time already. Stating that today is the 63rd anniversary of the atomic bombing in Hiroshima, Japan, Dean Ohlman (the author of today's ODB article) further elaborated on the significance of the casualties, where as many as 30 million human beings perished in a single instant in tragedy. Who contributed to the creation and development of this awful weapon of destruction? They are the scientists, engineers, and technicians - brilliant minds with the intention to pursue the highest level of scientific achievements, in a wrong way.

The bible named the pioneers of specific aspects of human development - Jubal, in animal husbandry, Jabal, in musical instruments and Tubal-Cain, in metallurgy (Gen. 4). However, these names are written as an opening account of the impact of original sin on humankind, which eventually led to God's destruction of the world's first civilization. Human development is already mentioned in tandem with human good and evil right from the beginning.

I, as a member of the world scientific community, cannot help to comprehend the depth of the scientific contribution made to human development. For instance, mobile cellphones are initially created for the purpose of telecommunication convenience, but in reality, you see people abusing these convenience in meeting rooms or churches via sms, mms etc.

I have always wanted to contribute as well as to develop myself as a sound and skillful engineer, but often met situations which contradicts with my moral and spiritual stances. I have handled projects which are politically and financially sensitive, met clients who wants to ignore the safety issues of the projects for more financial profit etc. It's not easy being a member of the scientific community. Sure, it is definitely a highly viewed profession, I would agree on that, but with that comes with bigger responsibilities and commitments. I remembered reading about the regrets of Albert Einstein in his involvement with the atomic bomb invention. Who wouldn't? 30 million people died because of this! We can't just simply be like Pontius Pilates, washed his hand as a sign of his uninvolvement to the crucifixion of Christ. Whether we want to admit or not, we have to realize that no matter how willing we are to be in the state of denial, we are already involved in this from the very beginning.

That's why, as Christians, it is extremely important to stay grounded on our faith. Human development itself it's not evil. Ideally, people will use their God-given creativity to develop God-created resources for the good of mankind. If it has been God's calling to be a part of the scientific community, make fully use of the opportunity, not for selfish gain, for gaining advantage over the poor and helpless, for careless distruction or for the slaughter of others who bear the image of God, but first and foremost, to uphold and glorify to the utmost, the name of the Lord. I have always believed that church ministries are not only confined in a church building. With that, I too believe, by faith, that it has originally been in God's plan for me to become an engineer, with the purpose to become a channel of God's blessings to impact my life and also the life of others.