I am thankful for this podcast. I want to comment on the most recent episode about AI. But before I do, I first want to say something to each host. JT, as a Colorado native, thank you for preaching faithfully in my old stomping grounds. Jen, I love your heart for women and for the OT. My favorite places in Scripture are words that lie within the pages of the OT. Cheers! Kyle, my favorite interview with you as the host is actually when you and Rebecca McLaughlin interviewed Esau McCaulley on Confronting Christianity for Easter in 2023. I might have listened to that episode about 15 times. Thank you.
I did want to comment on the episode entitled, “Is it Wrong to Use AI?’ Interesting title since as you have already mentioned, folks in the evangelical world are already drawing lines. But another thought occurred to me as I was doing life. Why are Christians talking so much about AI? It has literally flooded my email inbox from publishers I subscribe to - Articles, blog posts, new books, etc. are all talking about AI. As a Christian I believe we should be informed and think wisely and biblically about the times in which we live. One cannot be informed if one hides ones face in the sand and pretends all is fine and well. It just seems that there is a heightened sense and almost frenzy among Christians about AI. If I am honest, I struggle with this a bit. I am not sure this is what God wants for me, for my children, for churches. I think of the words in Ps. 131 where David writes, “I do not occupy myself with things too great and too marvelous for me. But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me. O Israel, hope in the LORD from this time forth and forevermore” (vv.1b-3)
After raising five children and now being a grandmother, I have seen the Lord’s faithfulness in many highs and lows. I have seen the public schools change. I have seen churches go through tumultuous trends. I have seen the political climate become something I don’t even recognized. I have seen the news cycles become and endless parade of the the folly of man. I have had to kneel before the Lord and simply trust that God is bringing us through these earthly storms to to our celestial shore in glory. I have also had to somewhat distance myself from the chaotic discussions-not because discussions are unnecessary, but because they seems to reveal something within me and perhaps within others: idolatry.
Is there an idolatrous focus among Christians about AI? I’m just wondering if the bigger question here is not AI, but what does massive AI interest reveal about us as Christians? Who do we really fear? What is really our focus? This should not preclude a healthy knowledge of AI, but rather help us put AI and its ramifications in their proper places. I think the questions in all of these advances and shifting tides are, Do we believe in the God of the ages? Can I trust him when I am tempted to fear this massive technological advances? At the end of the day, can I sit contentedly at the feet of my Heavenly Father, not consumed with thoughts too lofty for me, but rather his goodness and glory. If “…with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day” (2 Peter 3:8) is true, then I probably need to heed Moses’ prayer, “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).
This in the end is what humbles me, shapes me, gives me faith for the days to come, not an exhaustive knowledge about AI or even whether or not using AI is wrong. (Though I agreed with you all on what you shared.) Sometimes I wonder if we need to ask better questions for every “new” thing that arrives.
Again, thank you for all you do and also for the laughter. As an “older” woman, I now appreciate the words, “She laughs at the time to come” (Prov. 31:25b). Keep up the good work!
