AI and Religion
Predictably it has happened. The Methodist Violet Crown City Church in Austin Texas conducted a Sunday service using ChatGPT — otherwise known as AI. The pastor claimed that he did it so parishioners could consider the nature of truth and challenge our assumptions about what God can make sacred and inspired.
The pastor also said, “To update an old saying, Christians need to approach life and a life of faith with the Bible in one hand and a smartphone in the other.” I hope he means that any information we glean from secular sources must be checked against the truth of the Bible.
God’s people are set apart (sanctified) by His truth and we are to regard His word as truth.
One thing is certain, as AI gains traction and begins to filter into almost all aspects of our lives, our regard of truth is going to be tested. AI cannot of itself generate truth, it gleans its information from sources that it is programmed to seek — that is, already existing information. Under the heading of religion, there is a huge amount of error for it to pick up on – like the trinity, for example. Most Christian religions regard that as sacred or inspired truth. Truth and error make a dangerous mix.
If more churches turn to AI we are going to see some incredibly deceptive proclamations of what truth from a religious source really is. Will it be an aspect of Satan’s deception? Most certainly!
All this means that we had better value very highly the access to truth that we have. God’s truth and His Spirit are inseparable. The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of truth (John 14:17). This Spirit is given to us upon repentance and whole heartedly surrendering to God. This means that we will be led by the Spirit. “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God” (Romans 8:14).
We need to keep our lamps trimmed – filled with oil. Ready to meet the coming onslaught against God’s truth. The coming Feast of Tabernacles is a great opportunity to check our lamps.
Brian Orchard
