What is the Reformed Doctrine of Air Conditioning?

Some have asked how we can believe in magic…or more to the point, in God…when we live in a world cooled by air conditioning. Has not modern man found out all the secrets of the universe? Has he not uncovered the truth that there is no supernatural, and there is no God, but only particles and elements and atoms and electrons? After all, he has harnessed the power of electricity to ice out indoor spaces even in the very heat of summer. Is there any mystery left?

The Fall and the Fall

Fall swooped in to save ancient (pre-1900s) man from the plight of that heat which slays. The cooling breeze of autumn was as the atmosphere of heaven itself come down. But another Fall is what brought the heat (and the cold) in the first place. Sin ruined much good. So now we bear the elements as a living picture of the soul-scorching (or bone-chilling) heinousness of sin.

The Reformed Doctrine of AC

But oh, what a time to be alive! Through the scientific advances of our species we have attained to the glorious helps of modern living. There is much good left in this creation, as a testimony to God’s own goodness, and he has allowed modern humanity to harvest much more of it than ever before. The other-worldly powers of electricity bear witness to God as much as the mysteries of old did.

This God has orchestrated human history so as to place each of us where—and when—we are. So let us use the modern advantages we have, not to ignore God and the supernatural, but to make him known all the more. Because of Christ we can enjoy lovely air conditioned spaces even as we battle principalities and powers unseen.