The Danger of Counting

We live in the age of Big Data. The most popular class offered to undergraduates at Harvard University is now Introduction to Statistics. It enrolls more than seven hundred each year, out of a total undergrad population of about six thousand. Oh, and there I am too, rattling off statistics with which to make my case. Maybe most statistics are indeed made up on the spot, but the fact that you feel you need statistics to make your claim credible says something about the era in which we live.

You may not have realized this, but the Bible directly addresses the concept of Big Data, particularly in terms of the basic idea behind it, which is that counting allows control and is thus a legitimate part of humanity's mission of taking dominion. That said, though counting is a legitimate part of taking dominion, it is a dangerous thing to do.

You may have thought Big Data was dangerous. You're right; it is. According to Scripture, it is far more dangerous than the mainstream naysayers of our day claim. But the solution to the threat posed by the power of Big Data is also radically simpler than you would guess. As we'll see, the numbering of God's people unleashes plague and demands atonement — atonement which takes the form of giving money to God in a curiously regressive tax. For us, the application is simple: make sure that your exercise of power through counting is matched by acts of financial devotion. Let's dive into the text.