Analysis of the Industrial Revolution

The Industrial Revolution brought profound change to human life.  As with all change, the question is asked, "Was it good or bad?"  We as Christians ask, "How are we to view this Industrial Revolution?"  There are several aspects this question.

In Genesis 1:28, God commanded man to "subdue the earth."  By this he meant that man should delve into the wonders of the creation and use its resources to the praise of the God who created all.  A close look at the Industrial Revolution will show that this was not the aim of most of the inventors, bosses, workers, capitalists, and philosophers of the Industrial Revolution.  Rather, their aim was the greater material good of man, their own advancement and success in this world, and the establishment of a perfect utopia, or heaven on earth.  Unjust employers squeezed as much out of their workers as they could get for as little as possible.  Workers banded together at the call of Karl Marx, "WORKERS OF THE WORLD, UNITE," and formed labor unions by which they forced their will on their employers.  The Bible condemns both unjust bosses and rebellious workers.  James 5: 4-6 forcefully rebukes the fraudulent employer, "Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which of you is kept back by fraud, crieth; and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.  Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.  Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth not resist you."  Ephesians 6: 5-8 exhorts workers to be honest in their labor, and and obedient to their employer, and to leave judgment to the Lord, "Servants, be obedient to your own masters according to the flesh with fear and trembling, in singleness of your heart, as unto Christ.  Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart: With good will doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men."  Verse 9 of Ephesians 6 gives the promise of God to obedient laborers, "Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free."

It cannot be denied that the Industrial Revolution brought great benefits to the lives of the common people.  Tasks formerly performed by hand, that may have taken days to complete, could now be done by hand in half or a quarter of the time.  All the labor saving devices that we today take for granted and barely glance at as we stroll through our homes, so common are they to us, are the results of many hard hours, months, or years of work by inventors.  The fact that today's children and young people sit in a school and learn all day instead of working twelve to sixteen gruelling hours in a dank, dark factory, with a cruel taskmaster cracking a whip over our heads is the result of many years hard work by reformers to bring better lives for the common working man.  Today, as computers and robots take control of more and more factories, people are left with even more free time on their hands.

Sadly, however, this free time is not used to strenghten family relationships, to teach children about the greatness of the covenant God, and to enjoy the company of friends.  Rather, man uses this oppurtunity for his own recreation.  He lolls on the beach or on the golf course, or in the casino.  He devotes himself to the pursuit of a health and wealth lifestyle, and says to his neighbor, "Let us eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die!"  He turns his inventions to the service of sin, as Jabal, Jubal, and Tubal-cain of long ago.  He even goes so far as to invent new contraptions for the express purpose that they help him increase sin and its pleasures.  So Genesis 6:5 speaks of our day that "every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually."  The Industrial Revolution spurs history with ever-increasing speed toward the judgment day.

But there is encouragement for the child of God.  His labor shall be blessed by the Lord.  The regenerated child of God of the new dispensation realizes his responsibility to use the talents God has given him, the wealth and success that God may give him, and the inventions that are produced to the service of God his maker and redeemer, and his calling to be a steward in this world.  I Corinthians 15: 58 gives renewed zeal to the believer, "Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, for as much as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord."  Our goal in our labor is not a utopia, is not material prosperity, but it is the glorifying of God's name, and for the betterment of His church.

We as Christians conclude that the Industrial Revolution brought about great changes.  Some of these were improvements.  Most, however, have revealed the depravity of man, man's pride in himself, and his utter rejection for the Word and glory of God.  The Industrial Revolution, as stated above, has spurred mankind, and does spur him with increasing speed, towards the judgment of Jehovah God, before Whom all are equal, and with Whom is no respect of persons.

Bibliography:

1. "New Ways of Thinking." World History: The Modern Era.  Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005.

2. "Hardships of Early Industrial Life."  World History: The Modern Era.  Upper Saddle River, New Jersey:  Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005.

3. The King James Version of the Bible. Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 1989.