Earlier today, I was listening to a podcast. The subject was AI, and it was two ministry leaders discussing this topic, basically the pros and the cons, the right and wrong usage and whatnot. And it got me thinking and processing. Now, before I go into that, I just wanted to make a mention real quick that back in March, I'm looking at it right now, Justin and I did an episode on artificial intelligence. It's titled Justin versus Artificial Intelligence. So if you want a bit of a deeper dive on artificial intelligence, that would be a place to go. But today's going to be a little bit of more of a conversation and with myself. But first and foremost, I want to make sure that it's understood that this isn't meant to be a defense of AI either. It's literally just a layman's commentary on a developing cultural topic. And this is something that I really believe is going to continue to be an issue or a topic of controversy. And not just within, you know, the average cultural moment, you know, but also within church communities. I see this being an issue. And I understand why these two ministry leaders are resistant and hesitant and basically cautioning people within the church. So I understand with empathy, this isn't, like I said, this isn't a defense of AI. It's just more of a different angle and perspective. And the truth is, some of you may not even use AI, right? It's going to be something that's going to be utilized more and more as younger generations get older. And it's going to be something that old gener older generations are going to have to adapt to. But the truth is, is today, some of you might not even be using it. And to be quite honest, some of you don't even care. And that's totally fine, right? Whether it's influential or impactful, you're like, I really just don't care. Everything's going to be all right. Human beings have figured out issues in the past. We're going to figure out the issues to continue to move into the future. And that's totally okay. If this isn't a subject or topic you want to listen to, I don't take it personally. However, AI is shaping a younger generation's connection to technology. And consequently, this is connected to the way they live and experience reality. And because of this, every time God's words find a new medium, God's people get nervous. They freak out. First it was oral tradition, right? Then scrolls, then the printing press, now AI. The fear is always the same. What if people misinterpret, misinform, or simply just get it wrong? But what if God has always worked through people getting it wrong? Now you might hear that and be, oh my gosh, this sounds interesting. This sounds wrong, right? Ironically. But I would argue that maybe human error isn't a threat. Maybe it's the place where trusting God shows up. Every human tool humanity has ever invented exposes not only our creativity and our progress towards the future, but it also exposes our own insecurities. Today many voices warn that AI will misquote scripture or mislead people. But beneath the concern is something much older and more common. Now, this isn't a monolithic idea, this isn't the only idea, but there's a fear of losing interpretive control. The same fear echoed through every shift in how truth was shared and dispersed. From prophets to print, revelation always provokes anxiety because it breaks monopoly. Now I'm not talking about the game, but the centralized power of control. Is the concern really about truth? Or about who gets to define what truth is? Now, mind you, these are questions. These aren't challenges in the sense of like prodding or probing or provoking like I guess hostility. These are just genuine questions that I think should challenge us to think more deeply on the subject. Before scrolls, revelation was oral, right? They had oral tradition, memorized, repeated, lived. Something very powerful about that, very visceral. Then came writing, an innovation, a technology that lets words travel beyond the moment, beyond one's lifespan. You can almost hear someone saying, once you write it down, someone can twist it, manipulate it. At least when we spoke it, we knew who said it. That's the first quote-unquote AI panic, right? This technology, this new thing. Yet God chose to let his word be written. Right? Trusted, trusting human hands to hold divine speech. Now we get to things like the Dead Sea Scroll. The scrolls, specifically these Dead Sea Scrolls, show human imperfection in holy work, spelling changes, word swaps, margin notes. Now, this isn't necessarily what the argument is from those against AI specifically interpreting scripture because they obviously they bring up good points about hallucinations and whatnot. But when it comes to the Dead Sea Scrolls, comparing to later manuscripts, their faithfulness is astonishing, right? God doesn't require mechanical precision to preserve spiritual truth. God has always entrusted his message to imperfect messengers. And maybe God isn't looking for flawless scribes, but faithful stewards. When the printing press appeared, church leaders panicked again. People will misread, translate poorly, spread heresy. And they were right. All of that did happen. But the scriptures also spread. Literacy rose, people met God in their own language. The Protestant Reformation itself was born from decentralizing religious power and giving it back to the everyday ordinary person, providing them, providing them with the Bible, right, that they could understand in their own language, they could connect with and resonate with, and made sense and helped them to live a life that was faithful to Jesus. So was it worth it? Because that's the same question we're facing with AI. Older generations see AI's hallucinations, as I mentioned a second ago, as dangerous. Younger generations grew up in a digital world where perfection isn't the point, right? These Gen Generation Z, maybe millennials can be lumped in there, maybe the younger ones, but they grew up in an entirely digital world, Gen Z, where perfection isn't the point, progress is. The truth is, is the younger generations are going to utilize AI and its succeeding proponents and the things that come after it, they're gonna use it, regardless of what myself or any older generation tells them to do. So the question isn't how do we stop them? It's how do we disciple them while they're using it. That's the real pastoral responsibility. Guiding use, not policing curiosity. Technology doesn't disciple people. People do. The question is, will we? The church can't outwarn the internet, but it can out form it. Teaching people to think critically, right? To verify what they read, compare translations, uh, visit, uh, you know, uh listen for the spirit beneath the syntax, process faith and community. I think that's probably one of the biggest ones, is that we as we have conversations and community, we we begin to influence one another, right? We get we begin to see a fuller and more robust picture of who Jesus is. We come to a greater knowledge of the truth within community as we join in what God is doing. In short, we need to move from gatekeeping to guiding. Discipleship in the AI era means teaching discernment, not demanding obedience. The Bible is holy, but it's not the Holy Spirit. The Spirit still guides us into all truth, as it says in John 16, verse 13. Scripture is inspired, it makes that claim that all scripture is inspired, right? And within Paul's letter to Timothy. Jesus is incarnate, he's the living word, not the printed one. The point of reading scripture is not to trust the text more, but to trust the person that the text reveals more. John says uh it in his gospel, or rather, Jesus says in John's gospel, you study the scriptures diligently because you think in them you have eternal life. These are the very scriptures that testify about me, yet you refuse to come to me to have life. And the life he's talking about is God's future life today, the thing that Jesus gives, right? Which is to live in that life in knowing God and being known by God, to be in relationship with him, to commune with him, and to join in what he's doing today. The Bible points, Jesus heals, the Bible informs, Jesus transforms, the Bible reveals truth, Jesus is the truth. So read the Bible, attuned to the spirit and open-hearted. It's God's story told through imperfect humans. And there's something very beautiful about that, because even in our mistakes, God still is doing his redemptive and healing work. When we treat the Bible as flawless and final rather than faithful and formative, it becomes an idol. That might sound very offensive to people who are listening to this right now, but it's the truth. That's what bibliolatry is. We had to make up a word for it, which Paul, by the way, did when he wrote many of his letters. Bibliolatry is worshiping the words about God instead of the word made flesh. You can know a lot about God with never knowing God. If that wasn't the case, Jesus would have never told some of those at the end of the age, right? Depart from me. I'm sorry, I'm just totally it just hit me. Sorry. It's just uh because it's sad. Depart from me for I never knew you. There's just something about being known by God and knowing God. It's heavy. It's heavy when God doesn't know you intimately, relationally. And so I think that we can we can rely so much on our knowledge, on our understanding, on our memorization of the Bible, and never really connect with God very deeply. To never know him relationally. Or even if we did at one time in our life, we we've lost our way, and now we mistake our our knowledge of of scripture as as if we're okay relationally with him. So, anyways, uh I guess the example that I that I was thinking through as I wrote down these notes was when the Israelites began to idolize Aaron's staff, a tool that of God's power became an object of misplaced devotion. The Bible is not the antidote to distrust. Jesus is. Scripture is sacred because it leads us to him, not because it replaces him. This is why I encourage people to read the scriptures. Yes, knowing the Bible is important, but when it becomes our only means of connecting with him relationally, then there's a problem. We we we need to connect to him heart to heart. And if we know a lot about him, but we don't know him personally, then that becomes the issue. And by the way, this isn't even me pointing it out against anybody that's listening to this. Like this is something that I've had seasons of my life and probably will in the future too, where I was distant from God, but misinterpreted my knowledge of the Bible and the theology that I study as if it can replace that relationship. So it's worth having that introspective moment and asking those questions of ourselves. Have we fallen into bibliolatry or some effect, you know, some some uh I guess iteration or of that, right? Which it doesn't necessarily have to be scripture, but it could be something else. You know, perhaps it's music, you know, perhaps it's anything that we've placed before Jesus. We trust hand-copied scrolls from 2,000 years ago, written without spell check, yet we panic over AI, an AI model that can be tested and corrected, right? You know, maybe the issue isn't accuracy. This is a question we have to ask. Maybe it isn't about accuracy, maybe it's about authority. We're afraid of losing control over how God speaks. But God has survived every medium humans have ever feared. Tablets, scrolls, uh, you know, uh CODIC's, uh printing presses, radio. It's funny, funny to say that, but radio, television, internet, and he'll outlast algorithms too. And maybe what offends us isn't the machines, you know, isn't that machines make mistakes, right? That they have hallucinations and they mess up. It's that they make visible how often we do. The truth is, is these programs, right? You know, these AI models and language models, they they reflect humanity pretty well, actually, because we're the ones that program it. You know, it it shows human flaw when it comes to interpretation of the Bible. Why else do you have so many different denominations, so many different theological positions, is because do we really know all these things to be the exact to be the exact truth, right? And so every time revelation expands, misunderstandings expand with it. But that's how truth grows through trial, conversation, correction, and above all, grace. I think that's really what we need today is grace for one another. And the goal isn't flawless theology, it's faithful formation. Perfection isn't the goal. Progress is, right? It's it's those, you know, as the Christians would say, moving from glory to glory, right? We're being formed into Jesus, right? The Holy Spirit's work is his transformational work in our lives, making us appear more like Jesus characteristically, right? That our character is formed to be more loving and humble and joyful. That's progress. The Spirit has always led the church through confusion into clarity, and he'll do it again. He'll do it during this time. So, what do we do? Stop warning from a distance, right? Start, we need to start walking with people through discernment to not just defend the Bible, but embody Jesus, right? You know, now personally, I have I I I'm not a uh what do you call those guys again? The um I can't think of the word. You're probably listening, and I'm thinking of the the the guys who go out and argue and debate, and I'm just having a completely human moment right now with uh apologetics. I'm not an apologist going out and arguing to defend the Bible. That's not my stance, you know. And you know, God bless you if that's what you do, right? It's something God's called you to. But every Christian, even the one who's completely immersed in apologetics, uh is called vocationally, uh, given that responsibility rather to embody Jesus. We're all called to that. And we we can't fear error here, you know. Fos you know, we need to foster an encounter with God's spirit, and we all need to experience that. And the kingdom advances not through control, but through courageous, messy participation. When we join God and what he's doing, it's messy. You know, it could be anything from you know, a church merger that fell through. God's working in that. It could be anything from uh, you know, say, gosh, I don't know. You can fill in the blank there. It's just the reality is that God works through our mess. It could be through this imperfect understanding of AI. I don't have all the answers here. And someone could easily listen to this and criticize what I'm saying. I mean, I can do it to myself, you know, criticize myself and be, oh, that's a that's a hole there. That's oh, oh, this, you know, that's a mistake there. You know, but may we we be a people who trust the presence more than the process, you know, the spirit more than the system, the progress more than the perfection. From scrolls to servers, God's word has survived every human flaw because it was never dependent on our perfection, only on his presence. The goal isn't flawless theology, it's faithful formation into the person of Jesus. So when it comes to AI, people are going to utilize these tools. It's the way that it goes. And regardless of how much the church warns people, like of the hallucinations and the concerns and the which, by the way, these caveats, these concerns, these issues are real. They're legitimate. And with every technology that has developed throughout human history, this has been a problem. But humanity has moved forward. The church has moved forward, and it's actually brought us to a point of where we actually have personal Bibles in our hands. People have died for that. Technology has evolved so that that could happen, that we could have multiple Bibles in a household in custom leather, right? So I think as we move forward, it's it's gonna be more about a shared community that we're gonna have to gather together and have these dialogues, these conversations. We're gonna have to help people understand, like, hey, that's not true. You know, that's actually if you follow that, it can be harmful, but we we don't necessarily need even my voice here on a podcast, let alone other people on podcasts telling other people. What's most important is to invest in your church community and invest in and be there, be present, and have these conversations. Ask these questions and don't be scared if you don't have the answers. I think it's okay to not have answers. It's okay to make mistakes in the way you communicate it. I think that's really what not just this younger generation, but I think that's really what people are hungering for. It's just an authentic, transparent, open-hearted, willing to make mistakes, willing to fail, and willing to move forward together as a united front, right? And so I hope this was at least helpful to some degree. I it's I know it's a response, you know, to a podcast I was listening to, and it's something that I really want to be able to vocalize. And like I said, this is my opinion, these are my thoughts, and you you can disagree with me all you want, especially because I'm not just talking about AI, I'm talking about a lot of different subjects, including infallibility and inerrancy, and a lot of biblical theology that is definitely um, yeah, been been placed there as a defense for a really long time, but also has kind of put us in a position now where we have to backtrack and go, look, it we're here to help people, we're here to serve people, we're here to point them to Jesus, we're here to love them, to tend to them. We're to do it in a humble and kind and generous and respectful way, because every single human being has been made in the image of God and deserves the dignity that God gives to them. So this is why these subjects matter, is because there are a lot of people out there that are utilizing these tools. And if they hear pastors pass, you know, you know, discouraging people, you know, from using these tools that have been very helpful for them, that can turn into a very harmful thing. And we're not just talking about AI, but this has happened throughout history. This is an opportunity for the church and for church leadership to step up and discuss the issues that culture is asking in a way that's more complicated and nuanced and not black and white and say, no, that's wrong. That's demonic, you know, that's that's sinful. It's like, no, maybe, maybe it's not. Maybe we just have to learn how to be responsible with the life that God's given to us and to be helpful and guiding and discipling. So I know that's a lot. I hope this was a beneficial uh podcast. And uh, as always, I'm open to challenge, I'm open to honesty, I'm open to dialogue, and this is uh subject that's close to my heart, and uh because I try to be more forward thinking, and and I tend to think very differently about things. And so hopefully some of these thoughts were helpful, and I'll catch you on the next episode.